Guest WLANs

By creating a guest WLAN, visitors to your organization can be allowed limited (or unlimited) access to your wireless network, with configurable guest access policies.

Visitors can be given the option to self-activate their devices using social media login or a self-service Guest Pass, or to self-authenticate to any of your internal WLANs using Zero-IT activation by way of the BYOD Onboarding Portal.

The following options are available for different types of guest WLANs:

  • No authentication (open WLAN): Any client can connect, and no password is required.
  • Social media login: Visitors log in using an existing social media account to access the wireless network.
  • Authentication with shared key: Any client can connect using the same shared password.
  • Authentication with unique key (Guest Pass): Guest Pass keys must be generated for each guest, either by an adminstrator (each Guest Pass must be generated by a Guest Pass operator) or using the self-service Guest Pass.

    Self-service Guest Pass users can self-authenticate their clients to the guest WLAN in one of two ways:

    • No sponsor approval: No restrictions. Any client can request a Guest Pass, and it will be provided immediately.
    • Sponsor approval: Guests are required to request a Guest Pass, which must be approved by a sponsor before being delivered to the user by way of email or SMS.

In this section:

  1. Deploying a Guest WLAN
    You can customize the guest wireless networks in terms of how users connect and defining their access privileges are given after they connect.
  2. Deploying a Guest WLAN
    You can customize the guest wireless networks in terms of how users connect and what access privileges are given once connected.
  3. Configuring Email Server Settings
  4. Configuring SMS Server Settings
  5. Creating a Guest Pass Operator
    Guest Pass operators are individuals within an organization who have the authority to generate Guest Passes for visitors.
  6. Configuring Guest Subnet Restrictions
    By default, Guest Pass users are automatically blocked from the network subnet (format: A.B.C.D/M) and the subnet of the AP to which the guest user is connected.
  7. Using the BYOD Onboarding Portal
    The Onboarding Portal feature provides a series of intuitive option screens allowing mobile users to choose whether to connect devices to a Guest WLAN or to self-configure their mobile devices to authenticate to an internal WLAN using Zero-IT activation.
  8. Working with Guest Passes
    Guest Passes are temporary privileges granted to guests to allow access wireless LANs.
  9. Social Media WLANs
    Social media WLANs allow guest users to access the Internet using a social media account instead of using a WPA password or Guest Pass to log in.
  10. Guest Access Walled Garden
    A walled garden is a list of network destinations (URLs or IP addresses) that users can access without going through authentication.
Parent topic: WLAN Configuration