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.
Complete the following steps to deploy a guest Wi-Fi network.
  1. Select Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Networks > Wi-Fi Networks List > Add.
    The Add Wi-Fi Network wizard is displayed.
  2. In the Network Details page, complete the following settings:
    1. Enter a name for the guest Wi-Fi network. The guest name must be from 1 through 32 characters in length.
    2. For Usage Type, select Guest Access.
    3. For Authentication Method, Open is the only option available for Guest Wi-Fi network and is selected by Default.
      Open: No authentication method is used. Open authentication allows the use of WPA2, WPA3, WPA2/WPA3-Mixed, OWE, or no encryption. Open authentication + WPA2 encryption (also known as WPA-PSK) is the most common type of WLAN encryption method and should be the default configuration if there are no special requirements for authentication or encryption.

      Creating a New Guest Wi-Fi Network

    4. For Encryption Method, select one of the following options:
      • WPA2: Encrypts wireless traffic with WPA2 encryption. If this option is selected, users will still be required to enter the WPA2 passphrase to access the open guest WLAN, even with None selected as the guest authentication type. Enter a passphrase of at least eight characters in length in the Password field. PSK Passphrase can only contain between 8 and 63 characters or 64 hexadecimal (HEX) characters, and cannot start or end with a space.
      • WPA3: Announced in January 2018, the WPA3 standard replaces WPA2 with several security enhancements. Enter a passphrase of at least eight characters in length in the SAE Password field. SAE Passphrase can only contain between 8 and 63 characters, and cannot start or end with a space.
      • WPA2/WPA3-Mixed: Allows mixed networks of WPA2- and WPA3-compliant devices. Enter a passphrase of at least eight characters in length in both the PSK Password and SAE Password fields.
      • OWE: Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) provides encrypted communications for open Wi-Fi networks without needing passwords. Choose this option to allow users to access the network without needing to enter a password for authentication.
      • None (default): Without encryption, anyone can access this WLAN with no passphrase or Guest Pass login required. (Guests may still be required to visit a captive portal landing page, if configured.)
      Note: Only the WPA3 and OWE encryption methods are supported on 6 GHz radio.
    5. For Accounting Server, select an accounting server from the drop-down list or click the icon to create a new RADIUS accounting server entry. By default, this option is disabled.
  3. Click Next.
  4. In the Guest Details page, complete the following settings:

    Note that options vary depending on the settings you choose.

    1. (Optional) Onboarding Portal: Enables Zero-IT device registration from the Guest portal. Toggle the Onboarding Portal switch to on to select whether to allow guests the option to register their devices on your internal (non-guest) Wi-Fi network using the Onboarding portal. By default, this option is disabled.
      Select one of the following options to display when connecting to the Onboarding portal:
      • Guest Pass + Device Registration: Shows both options (Guest Access and Register Device). The Guest Authentication settings appear only when you select this option. For more information, refer to Using the BYOD Onboarding Portal.
      • Device Registration: Shows Zero-IT Device Registration option only. Select Device Registration, Guest portal language, and click Next.
    2. For Guest Authentication, select one of the following options:
      • Guest Pass and Social Login (default): Allows social media login and Guest Pass
      • Social Login only: Allows social media login only
      • None: No password is required
    3. The following settngs appear only when you select Guest Pass and Social Login for Guest Authentication:
      • For Guest Password, select one from the following options:
        • Unique password for each guest (default): Guest Passes must first be generated, in batch or individually, for each visitor before they will be able to log in using a Guest Pass. For more information, refer to Working with Guest Passes.
        • Single shared password among all guests: This option allows you to skip the Guest Pass requirement, and simply provide a single password for all visitors.
      • Guest Friendly Key is enabled by default when a user creates a new Wi-Fi network with guest access (Guest Authentication is set to Guest pass and Social login). Includes only numbers in the guest-friendly key.
        Note: Guest Friendly Key is disabled in the guest access Wi-Fi network during migration.

      Selecting a Single Shared Password or Unique Password for Each Guest

    4. Grace Period is enabled by default with a value of 480 minutes. Allows users to reconnect without re-authentication. Toggle the Grace Period to off to disable the grace period.
    5. Guest Pass Self-Service: Allow users to self-authenticate their clients to your guest Wi-Fi network using a Guest Pass generated automatically for each guest user. For more information, refer to Guest Pass Self-Service.
    6. Effective Date of Validity Period: Select one of the following options:
      • Effective from the creation time: Guest Passes are valid from the time they are created
      • Effective from first use, expire if not used (default): Guest Passes are valid on first use. Enter a value for the number of days after which the Guest Passes will expire if not used. The default value is 7 days.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In the Portal Settings page, complete the following settings:
    • (Optional) Social Media Logins: Allow users to log in using their social media accounts. Refer to Social Media WLANs.
    • User Redirection URL: Click Redirect to website user intends to visit (default) to redirect to the website the user intended to visit after successful login or click Redirect user to this website to redirect the user to a specified URL. If you select Redirect user to this website, enter the URL of the website in the field.
    • (Optional) Terms and Conditions: Toggle the switch to on to display the terms and conditions before guests can access your network. By default, this option is disabled. You can also edit the default terms and conditions by clicking Edit. In the Terms and Conditions sidebar, replace the default text with any text you choose and click OK to save the changes.
    • Guest Portal Language: Select your preferred guest portal language for guest Wi-Fi configuration. By default, English is selected.
      Note: The default language is the same as the system language. The guest portal preview page and the guest portal page will follow the guest portal language in the Wi-Fi network. The guest portal language will not work on customized text.
      Note: The portal language is not applicable for the following two types of guest Wi-Fi networks:
      • A Facebook login for the guest Wi-Fi network only.
        Note: The portal language is supported if the Facebook login method is combined with other login options.
      • A no-authentication guest WLAN without Terms and Conditions and Customize Captive Portal.
    • Language Switch: This option is available only when the selected guest portal language is not English. By default, Language Switch option is selected. Only when the Language Switch option is selected, the English (EN) toggle switch will be displayed in the guest portal page. You can change the portal language between the default language and English.
    • (Optional) Insert WiFi4EU Snippet: Toggle the switch to on to insert a WiFi4EU snippet in the head tag of the web authentication portal page. This allows the Wi-Fi network to be used by members of the WiFi4EU "digital single market" for EU member states.
      • Network Identifier: Enter a unique IP address to identify the Wi-Fi network.
      • Portal Language: Select a portal language from the list.
      • Enable self-test modus: Toggle the switch to on for identification and troubleshooting purposes.

      Inserting a WiFi4EU Snippet

    • Customize Captive Portal: Click the icons to customize the banner, background image, background color, logo, welcome message, and opacity level. Click Preview to choose the preview device and dimensions of the preview screen and click OK to save your changes.
  7. Click Next.
  8. (Optional) In the Advanced Options page, configure any advanced options, such as restricted subnet access, WLAN priority, access controls, radio control, walled garden, application visibility, and so on. Complete the advanced Wi-Fi configuration settings. Refer to Advanced WLAN Configuration for more information.
  9. Click Add to save your changes on the Create Wi-Fi Network page.

    The Share Wi-Fi QR Code sidebar appears. You can save or print the QR code to share it with your users. Close the sidebar if you prefer to view the QR code later by seleting Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Networks > Wi-Fi Network List, then select the radio button for a specific Wi-Fi network, and click the Show QR Code option. Refer to Using a QR Code to Join a Wi-Fi Network for more information.

    A pop-up message appears prompting you to begin the configuration for email and SMS delivery of Guest Passes. Click OK to configure email and SMS settings or click Cancel to configure these settings later from the Admin & Services page, if you prefer. Refer to Configuring Email Server Settings for more information.

  10. For Guest Pass management, in the How do you want to manage Guest Pass? sidebar,select one of the following options:

    Creating a Guest Pass Now

    1. Create Guest Pass now: Select Create Guest Pass now and click OK. You are redirected to the Guest Access > Generated Guest Passes page. You can create Guest Passes by clicking Add > Generated Guest Pass. Refer to Generating a Guest Pass for more information.

      You can configure the Guest Pass later by selecting Services > Guest Access > Generated Guest Passes sub-tab and click Add > Generated Guest Pass.

      Generated Guest Passes

    2. Create a Guest Pass Operator to manage: Select Create a Guest Pass Operator to manage and click OK to configure the Guest Pass Manager role settings. Refer to Creating a Guest Pass Manager for more information.

      You can configure the Guest Pass Manager role settings later by completing the following steps:

      • Create a new user role by selecting Administrator > User Account > Roles > Add. Select the Wi-Fi networks, and select the Guest Pass Manager option.
      • Administrator > User Account > Users > Add, create a new user (for guest pass manager) and associate the role to the user.
      • Guest pass manager can login to https://[host_ip_address]/guestpass using the user credentials.
Parent topic: Guest WLANs