US Patent 8955055 Customer extendable AAA framework for network elements

In one example, a network device includes computer-readable storage media configured to store information defining a default dictionary associated with one or more default services provided by the network service, one or more interfaces configured to receive configuration data defining a customer dictionary associated with one or more additional services beyond the one or more default services and a to receive a request to access one of the additional services from a subscriber device, and a control unit configured to determine whether an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server grants access to the requested one of the additional services to the subscriber device, and to configure forwarding information of the network device to cause network traffic associated with the subscriber device to be forwarded to a service unit to perform the one of the additional services when the AAA server grants access to the subscriber device based on the determination.