This Help topic describes how to configure and use NAC Manager's pre-registration feature as a part of Secure Guest Access or Authenticated Registration. With pre-registration, guest users can be registered in advance and given a username and password, allowing for a more streamlined and simple registration process when the guest user connects to the network. This can be particularly useful in scenarios where guest users will be attending a company presentation, sales seminar, or a training session.
Pre-registration allows IT to delegate control of the network registration process to less technical personnel such as company receptionists, administrative assistants, or training personnel. Using the pre-registration web portal, selected personnel can easily register guest users in advance of an event, and print out a registration voucher that provides the guest user with their appropriate registration credentials. The guest user then follows the instructions on the voucher to connect to the corporate network.
This topic includes information and instructions on:
Configuring Pre-Registration
Following are instructions for configuring pre-registration in your portal configuration.
- Use the NAC Manager
toolbar button to open the NAC
Configuration window. - In the left-panel tree, expand the Portal icon and click on the Secure Guest Access view or the Authenticated Registration view (depending on the access type you are configuring).
- Select the Enable Pre-Registration Portal checkbox and specify whether personnel will be able to register a single user, multiple users, or both single and multiple users.
- Set the Generate Password Characters and Generate Password Length options. NAC Manager will use these options when generating passwords for guest users to use when connecting to the network. These settings are shared by Authenticated Registration and Secure Guest Access. Changing it for one access type will also change it for the other.
- For Authenticated Registration, click on the Network Settings view to configure the connection URL
that will be specified on the Guest User Voucher (for example, www.ExtremeNetworks.com). Enter the URL in the Redirection To URL field.
For Secure Guest Access, the Guest User Voucher will provide instructions for connecting directly to the secure SSID.
- Click on the Administration view to configure administrative login privileges for the users that will have access to the Pre-Registration Portal. These users will then be able to log in to the Pre-Registration Portal and pre-register guests. For information on how to configure users, see Administrative Login Configuration.
- Click Save to save your changes. Enforce your NAC Configuration to your appliances.
- Access the Pre-Registration Portal using the Appliance Portal Pages button at the bottom of the NAC Configuration window or by entering the following URL in
a browser window:
https://<NACApplianceIP>/pre_registration
- At the top of the portal web page you will see instructions for the people who will be performing the pre-registrations. To
modify and edit these instructions:
- In the NAC Configuration window, access the Look and Feel view.
- Click on the Message Strings "change" link. The Message Strings Editor window opens.
- Scroll down to the "preregIntroMulti" or "preregIntroSingle" message key and double-click that line. The Modify Localized Entry window
opens.
- Enter any changes or modifications you wish to make to the instructions, and click OK to close the windows.
- Enforce the changes to your appliances.
- Refresh the browser window to see the new instructions in the Pre-Registration Portal.
- In the NAC Configuration window, access the Look and Feel view.
- The following sections provides information on how to pre-register a single user (when you want to pre-register one user at time) or multiple users (when you have a larger group of users to pre-register).
Pre-Registering Guest Users
After you have configured pre-registration, provide the URL for the Pre-Registration Portal (https://<NACApplianceIP>/pre_registration) to the personnel who will be pre-registering guests. This may be network administrators or it may be personnel such as company receptionists, administrative assistants, or training personnel. (These users must be configured with administrative login privileges to access the web page).
The following sections provide steps for pre-registering single or multiple users in the Pre-Registration Portal.
Pre-Registering a Single User
Use the instructions in this section to pre-register a single end user using the
Single User panel in the Pre-Registration Portal.
- Enter the information for the guest user you want to pre-register. Fields with a red asterisk are required.
- User Name - Enter the user name that the guest user will use when connecting to the network. Usernames must be unique and cannot already exist in the local password repository. Usernames are case sensitive. For example, "JSmith" and "jsmith" would be considered two different usernames.
- First Name/Last Name - Enter the guest user's first and last name. The name will be printed on the voucher along with their registration credentials.
- Password/Confirm Password - Enter and confirm the password that the guest user will use when connecting to the network. Select the Generate Password checkbox if you want NAC Manager to automatically generate a password for you.
- Password Repository - When you pre-register the user, their credentials are automatically added to the local password repository specified here. Local Password Repositories are configured in the AAA Configuration window. (You only see this field if you have multiple repositories.)
- Expires Time - Select a registration expiration date from the calendar. The time is automatically set to 0:00:00, which is midnight. You can enter a specific time, if desired.
- Click the Pre-Register User button to register the user. The user will be added to the local password repository and added to the Registration Administration web page.
- A voucher (see example below) will be generated that provides registration instructions and the guest user's registration credentials. Print out this voucher to give to the guest user.
- To register another user, you must re-access the Pre-Registration page by using the browser's back button or re-entering the URL.
| NOTE: | You can add additional fields to be displayed here using the Manage Custom
Fields window accessed from the
Customize
Fields link in the Edit Portal Configuration window's Authenticated Registration view or Secure Guest Access view. However the Pre-Registration web page will always display the First Name and Last
Name fields even if they are not selected as visible/required in the Manage
Custom Fields window. This is because it is important for the first and last name
to be included on the pre-registration voucher that will be printed out. |
|---|
| IMPORTANT: | The voucher must be printed out immediately, as there is no way to go back
and print out a voucher once you leave the web page. If you do not print out the
voucher, the voucher will have to be created by hand. In the event that the
"Generate Password" option was used, you will need to modify the guest user
password using the registration administration page or local repository
administration. |
|---|
Pre-Registering Multiple Users
Use the instructions in this section to pre-register multiple end users at one
time using the
Multiple Users panel in the Pre-Registration Portal. When pre-registering
multiple users, create a CSV file to provide all the user credential
information in table form. Then, upload the file to NAC Manager to
perform the pre-registration.
- Click the CSV
Template link to open a template CSV file where you will create your list of
guest users to pre-register. You can use a CSV template that includes password
and password repository fields or not, depending on your network requirements. Do not change any of the column headings in the file.
Following is an explanation of the columns that need to be filled in for each user, depending on the template you selected.- User Name - Enter the username that the guest user will use when connecting to the network. Usernames must be unique and cannot already exist in the local password repository. Usernames are case sensitive. For example, "JSmith" and "jsmith" would be considered two different usernames. (If you do try to pre-register existing usernames along with new usernames, you will be notified of the error and given the option to continue registering the new names.)
- Password - Enter the password that the guest user will use when connecting to the network. If you want NAC Manager to automatically generate end user passwords, leave the password column blank and select the Generate Passwords checkbox on the Multiple Users panel.
- Password Repository - When you pre-register the user, their credentials will automatically be added to the local password repository specified here. Local Password Repositories are configured in the AAA Configuration window. If you are using the Default repository, you can use the Password Repository drop-down list (in the Multiple Users section) to select Default, and then you don't have to enter the Password Repository for each entry.
- First Name/Last Name - Enter the guest user's first and last name. The name will be printed on the voucher along with their registration credentials.
NOTE: You can add additional columns to be included in the template using the Manage Custom Fields window accessed from the Customize Fields link in the Edit Portal Configuration window's Authenticated Registration view and Secure Guest Access view. However the template will always display the First Name and Last Name fields even if they are not selected as visible/required in the Manage Custom Fields window. This is because it is important for the first and last name to be included on the pre-registration voucher that will be printed out. - When you have finished entering the guest user information, save and close the file.
- Back in the Multiple Users panel, enter the path and filename for the CSV file by using the Browse button to browse to the file on your system.
- If your CSV file includes a Password Repository, use the Password Repository drop-down list to specify whether to use the default repository or the repository specified in the file.
- Click the Upload button. Users will be added to the local password repository and to the Registration Administration web page.
- Individual vouchers (see an example below) will be generated that provide registration instructions and the guest user's registration credentials for each guest user. Print out these vouchers to give to the guest users.
- To register another user, you must re-access the Pre-Registration Portal by using the browser's back button or re-entering the URL.
| IMPORTANT: | Vouchers must be printed out immediately, as there is no way to go back
and print out a voucher once you leave the web page. If you do not print out the
vouchers, the vouchers will have to be created by hand. In the event that the
"Generate Password" option was used, you will need to modify the guest user
passwords using the registration administration page or local repository
administration. |
|---|
