Wi-Fi employee access – Ubiquiti

In this topic, you will learn how to configure Ubiquiti access points to work together with Portnox™ Cloud and 802.1X RADIUS authentication for Wi-Fi connections.

Warning: We tested this configuration on a Ubiquiti Dream Router, but we cannot guarantee that it will cover every Ubiquiti product and version. Also, the configuration is generic and may not fit every single environment. Therefore, to get the most accurate and current configuration guidance on 802.1X configuration, we strongly recommend that you refer to the documentation provided by Ubiquiti on these topics for your particular device models.

Create a RADIUS profile

In this section, you will create a RADIUS profile for Portnox™ Cloud RADIUS servers. You can then apply this profile to Wi-Fi configurations and Ethernet port profiles.

  1. In the Ubiquiti web interface, go to the Network tab, and in the left-hand side menu, click on the following menu options:  ⚙  > Profiles.

  2. In the right-hand side pane, click on the RADIUS tab, and then click on the Create New link to create a new RADIUS profile.

  3. Configure the new RADIUS profile:

    1. In the Name field, enter a name for this profile.
      Note: You will use this name when assigning the profile to Wi-Fi configurations and port profiles.
    2. In the RADIUS Assigned VLAN Support section, activate the Enable checkboxes for Wired Networks and Wireless Networks.
      Note: If you intend to use this RADIUS profile with only one type of networks, you can activate just one of these checkboxes.
    3. In the RADIUS Settings > Authentication Servers section, in the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the Portnox Cloud RADIUS server that you created earlier, in the Port field, enter the authentication port for this RADIUS server, and in the Shared Secret field, enter the shared secret for this server. Then, click on the Add button.
      Note: The Cloud RADIUS IP, the Authentication port, and the Shared Secret are all displayed after you create the Cloud RADIUS server.
    4. If you use two Cloud RADIUS servers in both regions, repeat the above steps for the second radius server.
    5. Activate the Enable checkbox next to the Accounting label.
    6. Repeat the above steps in the RADIUS Accounting Servers section, entering the same IP address and shared secret, and the Accounting port number from your Cloud RADIUS server configuration (for one or two servers, depending on your configuration).

Create a Wi-Fi configuration for the 802.1X network

In this section, you will create a configuration for a Wi-Fi network with WPA2 Enterprise authentication (802.1X) and assign the RADIUS profile to this network.

Note: In this example, we used an unprotected Wi-Fi configuration for SSID DD8C19, as well as a working network configuration called VORLON.
  1. In the Ubiquiti web interface, go to the Network tab, and in the left-hand side menu, click on the following menu options:  ⚙  > WiFi.

  2. In the right-hand side pane, click on the Create New link to create a new Wi-Fi configuration.

  3. Complete the new Wi-Fi configuration:
    1. In the Advanced section, click on the Manual option. This will cause some of the fields to change and other fields to become active.

    2. In the Name field, enter the SSID for the new network.

    3. In the Network field, select your existing network configuration.

      Note: You can use the same network that was configured for your non-secured Wi-Fi. After testing the secured Wi-Fi configuration, you can delete the non-secured Wi-Fi configuration.
    4. In the Security Protocol field, select the WPA2 Enterprise option.

    5. In the RADIUS Profile field, select the name of the RADIUS profile that you created earlier for connection to Portnox Cloud RADIUS servers.

    6. Configure any other fields as required for your environment, and then click on the Add WiFi Network button to add the new Wi-Fi configuration.

Result: Your Wi-Fi devices can now access the protected Wi-Fi network, using the Portnox Cloud RADIUS servers for authentication.