hostapd does not issue EAP Identify challenge

[Bob Friesenhahn]

Under Linux (a MIPS-based router/bridge device), I am using hostapd 
with the 'wired' driver (no Wi-Fi support included) and am 
encountering the issue that while authentication is successful if the 
supplicant issues an unsolicited identity request (e.g. due to 
unplug/plug the Ethernet cable), hostapd does not itself initiate 
authentication by periodically transmitting EAP-Request Identity 
frames (to address 01:80:C2:00:00:03) after being started.

This is a fundamental part of the 802.1x protocol.

Since hostapd does not periocially issue the EAP-Request Identity 
frames, the client never engages in authentication.

What might be wrong with the hostapd configuration to cause this 
issue?

Configuration parameters used when compiling hostapd are:

CONFIG_DRIVER_WIRED=y
CONFIG_EAP=y
CONFIG_ERP=y
CONFIG_EAP_MD5=y
CONFIG_EAP_TLS=y
CONFIG_EAP_MSCHAPV2=y
CONFIG_EAP_PEAP=y
CONFIG_EAP_GTC=y
CONFIG_EAP_TTLS=y
CONFIG_PKCS12=y
CONFIG_IPV6=y
CONFIG_DEBUG_FILE=y
CONFIG_TLS=openssl

Configuration file options used for testing are:

interface=eth1.802.1x
driver=wired
logger_syslog=0
logger_syslog_level=2
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=3
debug=2
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ctrl_interface_group=0
ieee8021x=1
eap_reauth_period=3600
use_pae_group_addr=1
erp_send_reauth_start=0
radius_client_addr=196.196.13.140
nas_identifier=IPHO00510C5A
auth_server_addr=10.26.10.103
auth_server_port=1812
auth_server_shared_secret=secret2

Thanks in advance for any useful answers or questions.

Bob
-- 
Bob Friesenhahn
bfriesen at simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/