Quick start steps with Portnox Cloud

In this topic, you will learn the first steps that you need to take to use Portnox™ Cloud for RADIUS network authentication and network access control.

If you already completed some of the steps, proceed to the next steps.

Create a Portnox Cloud tenant to access the service.
In this step, you create an account with Portnox Cloud and your own tenant. You only need to do this once.
Log in to Portnox Cloud to start working with the service.
In this step, you access the tenant that you created earlier. You must complete this step every time you want to work with Portnox Cloud.
Create and configure your individual Portnox Cloud RADIUS servers.
In this step, you create RADIUS server or servers. These servers are used by your network devices to authenticate, authorize, and account network clients. You only need to do this once.
Integrate Portnox Cloud with directory services to authenticate users (select options below).
In this step, you connect Portnox Cloud to your existing directory services. Cloud checks these directories when users/devices want to connect to your networks.
To test Portnox Cloud, you can start with one directory service. If you use many directory services, later you can integrate with all of them.
If your organization does not use any directory services, you will be able to use Cloud to manage users when you create accounts, so you can skip this step.
Set up groups in Portnox Cloud to configure network access privileges.
In this step, you configure the network access layers that your devices will use to access your networks. Network access layers are configured for a group of accounts. You can start by creating one group and then create more as needed.
Set up accounts in Portnox Cloud that represent users and devices (select options below).
In this step, you create accounts to represent users and/or devices that will access your networks..
- Map directory groups to groups in Portnox Cloud to create accounts automatically if your organization uses directory services.
- Create accounts for your users if your organization does not use directory services or create accounts for IoT devices and contractors.
Configure network devices to access the Portnox Cloud RADIUS servers (select options below).
In this step, you configure your network devices such as Ethernet switches, Wi-Fi access points, or VPN gateways, to access the RADIUS servers created in the previous step.
Configure user devices to authenticate with the Portnox Cloud RADIUS server when accessing your networks (select options below).
In this step, you configure user devices such as computers, mobiles, IoT devices, to access your secure network. They will no longer just use a single SSID and a password for Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable for wired connections. This process is called onboarding.

Try one of the example onboarding processes listed below. To see instructions for other devices and systems, see the following topic: What is onboarding in Portnox Cloud?.
To test Portnox Cloud, you can start with one device. Depending on the access privileges you set for the group, you may be able to onboard your devices using different methods or you may have to use one method only.

Result: You completed basic steps needed to use Portnox Cloud.