Authentication procedures between network devices and clients

A network device comprising:

• a hardware processor;
• and
• a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the hardware processor to:
• receive, at the network device from an orchestration server, a name for use in obtaining a first certificate of the network device, the name received from the orchestration server being a same name as used by an authentication server to obtain a second certificate of the authentication server;
• send, from the network device to a certificate enrollment server, a certificate request comprising the name;
• receive, at the network device from the certificate enrollment server, a response to the certificate request, the response comprising information of the first certificate that is based on the name in the certificate request;
• derive the first certificate from the information of the first certificate;
• and
• store the first certificate in a memory of the network device for use in an authentication procedure performed by the network device responsive to the authentication server being unavailable.

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a network device from an orchestration server, identifying information identifying a certificate enrollment server and parameters for inclusion in a certificate request, the parameters comprising a name for use in obtaining a certificate;
• sending, from the network device to the certificate enrollment server identified by the identifying information, a certificate request comprising the parameters;
• receiving, at the network device from the certificate enrollment server, a response to the certificate request, the response comprising information of the certificate that is based on the name included as one of the parameters in the certificate request;
• detecting, by the network device, that an authentication server is unavailable for an authentication procedure for a client coupled to the network device;
• and
• based on detecting that the authentication server is unavailable, using, by the authentication server, the certificate based on the name in the certificate request as part of the authentication procedure between the network device and the client.