Customizing captive portal pages

These pages are defined in replacement messages. Defaults are provided. In the web-based manager, you can modify the default messages in the SSID configuration by selecting Customize Portal Messages. Each SSID can have its own unique portal content.

The captive portal contains the following default web pages:

• Login page—requests user credentials

Typical modifications for this page would be to change the logo and modify some of the text.

You can change any text that is not part of the HTML code nor a special tag enclosed in double percent (%) characters.

There is an exception to this rule. The line “Please enter your credentials to continue” is provided by the

%%QUESTION%% tag. You can replace this tag with text of your choice. Except for this item, you should not remove any tags because they may carry information that the FortiGate unit needs.

• Login failed page—reports that the entered credentials were incorrect and enables the user to try again.

The Login failed page is similar to the Login page. It even contains the same login form. You can change any text that is not part of the HTML code nor a special tag enclosed in double percent (%) characters.

There is an exception to this rule. The line “Firewall authentication failed. Please try again.” is provided by the %%FAILED_MESSAGE%% tag. You can replace this tag with text of your choice. Except for this item, you should not remove any tags because they may carry information that the FortiGate unit needs.

• Disclaimer page—is a statement of the legal responsibilities of the user and the host organization to which the user must agree before proceeding.(WiFi or SSL VPN only)
• Declined disclaimer page—is displayed if the user does not agree to the statement on the Disclaimer page. Access is denied until the user agrees to the disclaimer.

 

Changing images in portal messages

You can replace the default Fortinet logo with your organization’s logo. First, import the logo file into the FortiGate unit and then modify the Login page code to reference your file.

 

To import a logo file:

1. Go to System > Config > Replacement Messages and select Manage Images.

2. Select Create New.

3. Enter a Name for the logo and select the appropriate Content Type.

The file must not exceed 24 Kilo bytes.

4. Select Browse, find your logo file and then select Open.

5. Select OK.

 

To specify the new logo in the replacement message:

1. Go to System > Network > Interfaces and edit the interface.

The Security Mode must be Captive Portal.

2. Select the portal message to edit.

• In SSL VPN or WiFi interfaces, in Customize Portal Messages click the link to the portal messages that you want to edit.
• In other interfaces, make sure that Customize Portal Messages is selected, select the adjacent Edit icon, then select the message that you want to edit.

3. In the HTML message text, find the %%IMAGE tag.

By default it specifies the Fortinet logo: %%IMAGE:logo_fw_auth%%

4. Change the image name to the one you provided for your logo.

The tag should now read, for example, %%IMAGE:mylogo%%

5. Select Save.

6. Select OK.

 

Modifying text in portal messages

Generally, you can change any text that is not part of the HTML code nor a special tag enclosed in double percent (%) characters. You should not remove any tags because they may carry information that the FortiGate unit needs. See the preceding section for any exceptions to this rule for particular pages.

 

To modify portal page text

1. Go to System > Network > Interfaces and edit the interface.

The SSID Security Mode must be Captive Portal.

2. Select the portal message to edit.

• In SSL VPN or WiFi interfaces, in Customize Portal Messages click the link to the portal messages that you want to edit.
• In other interfaces, make sure that Customize Portal Messages is selected, select the adjacent Edit icon, then select the message that you want to edit.

3. Edit the HTML message text, then select Save.

4. Select OK.

 

Configuring a captive portal

Captive portals are configured on network interfaces. On a physical (wired) network interface, you edit the interface configuration in System > Network > Interfaces and set Security Mode to Captive Portal. A WiFi interface does not exist until the WiFi SSID is created. You can configure a WiFi captive portal at the time that you create the SSID. Afterwards, the captive portal settings will also be available by editing the WiFi network interface in System > Network > Interfaces.

 

To configure a wired Captive Portal – web-based manager:

1. Go to System > Network > Interfaces and edit the interface to which the users connect.

2. In Security Mode select Captive Portal.

3. Enter

 

Authentication Portal                Local – portal hosted on the FortiGate unit.

Remote – enter FQDN or IP address of external portal.

User Groups                               Select permitted user groups or select Use Groups from Policies, which permits the groups specified in the security policy.

Use Groups from Policies is not available in WiFi captive portals.

Exempt List                                Select exempt lists whose members will not be subject to captive portal authentication.

Customize Portal

Messages

Enable, then select Edit. See Customizing captive portal pages on page 516.

4. Select OK.

 

To configure a WiFi Captive Portal – web-based manager:

1. Go to WiFi Controller > WiFi Network > SSID and create your SSID.

If the SSID already exists, you can edit the SSID or you can edit the WiFi interface in System > Network > Interfaces.

2. In Security Mode, select Captive Portal.

3. Enter

 

Portal Type                                 The portal can provide authentication and/or disclaimer, or perform user email address collection. See Introduction to Captive Portals on page 514.

Authentication Portal                Local – portal hosted on the FortiGate unit.

Remote – enter FQDN or IP address of external portal.

User Groups                               Select permitted user groups.

Exempt List                                Select exempt lists whose members will not be subject to captive portal authentication.

Customize Portal Messages     Click the link of the portal page that you want to modify. See “Captive portals” on page 516.

4. Select OK.

 

Exemption from the captive portal

A captive portal requires all users on the interface to authenticate. But some devices are not able to authenticate. You can create an exemption list of these devices. For example, a printer might need to access the Internet for firmware upgrades. Using the CLI, you can create an exemption list to exempt all printers from authentication.

config user security-exempt-list edit r_exempt

config rule edit 1

set devices printer end

end

Captive portals

A captive portal is a convenient way to authenticate web users on wired or WiFi networks. This section describes:

• Introduction to Captive Portals
• Configuring a captive portal
• Customizing captive portal pages

 

Introduction to Captive Portals

You can authenticate your users on a web page that requests the user’s name and password. Until the user authenticates successfully, the authentication page is returned in response to any HTTP request. This is called a captive portal.

After successful authentication, the user accesses the requested URL and can access other web resources, as permitted by security policies. Optionally, the captive portal itself can allow web access to only the members of specified user group.

The captive portal can be hosted on the FortiGate unit or on an external authentication server. You can configure captive portal authentication on any network interface, including WiFi and VLAN interfaces.

When a captive portal is configured on a WiFi interface, the access point initially appears open. The wireless client can connect to the access point with no security credentials, but sees only the captive portal authentication page.

 

WiFi captive portal types:

• Authentication — until the user enters valid credentials, no communication beyond the AP is permitted.
• Disclaimer + Authentication — immediately after successful authentication, the portal presents the disclaimer page—an acceptable use policy or other legal statement—to which the user must agree before proceeding.
• Disclaimer Only — the portal presents the disclaimer page—an acceptable use policy or other legal statement—to which the user must agree before proceeding. The authentication page is not presented.
• Email Collection — the portal presents a page requesting the user’s email address, for the purpose of contacting the person in future. This is often used by businesses who provide free WiFi access to their customers. The authentication page is not presented.

Configuring authenticated access

When you have configured authentication servers, users, and user groups, you are ready to configure security policies and certain types of VPNs to require user authentication.

This section describes:

• Authentication timeout
• Password policy
• Authentication protocols
• Authentication in Captive Portals
• Authentication in security policies
• VPN authentication

 

Authentication timeout

An important feature of the security provided by authentication is that it is temporary—a user must re- authenticate after logging out. Also if a user is logged on and authenticated for an extended period of time, it is a good policy to have them re-authenticate at set periods. This ensures a user’s session is cannot be spoofed and used maliciously for extended periods of time — re-authentication will cut any spoof attempts short. Shorter timeout values are more secure.

 

Security authentication timeout

You set the security user authentication timeout to control how long an authenticated connection can be idle before the user must authenticate again. The maximum timeout is 1440 minutes (24 hours).

To set the security authentication timeout – web-based manager:

1. Go to User & Device > Authentication > Settings.

2. Enter the Authentication Timeout value in minutes.

The default authentication timeout is 5 minutes.

3. Select Apply.

 

SSL VPN authentication timeout

You set the SSL VPN user authentication timeout (Idle Timeout) to control how long an authenticated connection can be idle before the user must authenticate again. The maximum timeout is 259 200 seconds. The default timeout is 300 seconds.

 

To set the SSL VPN authentication timeout – web-based manager:

1. Go to VPN > SSL > Settings.

2. Under Idle Logout, make sure that Logout users when inactive for specified period is enabled and enter the Inactive For value (seconds).

3. Select Apply.

Managing Guest Access

Visitors to your premises might need user accounts on your network for the duration of their stay. If you are hosting a large event such as a conference, you might need to create many such temporary accounts. The FortiOS Guest Management feature is designed for this purpose.

A guest user account User ID can be the user’s email address, a randomly generated string, or an ID that the administrator assigns. Similarly, the password can be administrator-assigned or randomly generated.

You can create many guest accounts at once using randomly-generated User IDs and passwords. This reduces administrator workload for large events.

 

User’s view of guest access

1. The user receives an email, SMS message, or printout from a FortiOS administrator listing a User ID and password.

2. The user logs onto the network with the provided credentials.

3. After the expiry time, the credentials are no longer valid.

 

Administrator’s view of guest access

1. Create one or more guest user groups.

All members of the group have the same characteristics: type of User ID, type of password, information fields used, type and time of expiry.

2. Create guest accounts using Guest Management.

3. Use captive portal authentication and select the appropriate guest group.

 

Configuring guest user access

To set up guest user access, you need to create at least one guest user group and add guest user accounts. Optionally, you can create a guest management administrator whose only function is the creation of guest accounts in specific guest user groups. Otherwise, any administrator can do guest management.

 

Creating guest management administrators

To create a guest management administrator

1. Go to System > Admin > Administrators and create a regular administrator account.

For detailed information see the System Administration chapter.

2. Select Restrict to Provision Guest Accounts.

3. In Guest Groups, add the guest groups that this administrator manages.

 

Creating guest user groups

The guest group configuration determines the fields that are provided when you create a guest user account.

 

To create a guest user group:

1. Go to User & Device > User > User Groups and select Create New.

2. Enter the following information:

Name                                           Enter a name for the group.

Type                                            Guest

Viewing, editing and deleting user groups

To view the list of FortiGate user groups, go to User & Device > User > User Groups.

 

Editing a user group

When editing a user group in the CLI you must set the type of group this will be — either a firewall group, a Fortinet Single Sign-On Service group (FSSO), a Radius based Single Sign-On Service group (RSSO), or a guest group. Once the type of group is set, and members are added you cannot change the group type without removing the members.

In the web-based manager, if you change the type of the group any members will be removed automatically.

 

To edit a user group – web-based manager:

1. Go to User & Device > User > User Groups.

2. Select the user group that you want to edit.

3. Select the Edit button.

4. Modify the user group as needed.

5. Select OK.

 

 

To edit a user group – CLI example:

This example adds user3 to Group1. Note that you must re-specify the full list of users:

config user group edit Group1

set group-type firewall

set member user2 user4 user3 end

 

 

Deleting a user group

Before you delete a user group, you must ensure there are no objects referring to, it such as security policies. If there are, you must remove those references before you are able to delete the user group.

 

To remove a user group – web-based manager:

1. Go to User & Device > User > User Groups.

2. Select the user group that you want to remove.

3. Select the Delete button.

4. Select OK.

 

 

To remove a user group – CLI example:

config user group delete Group2

end

 

Configuring Peer user groups

Peer user groups can only be configured using the CLI. Peers are digital certificate holders defined using the config user peer command. The peer groups you define here are used in dialup IPsec VPN configurations that accept RSA certificate authentication from members of a peer certificate group.

 

To create a peer group – CLI example:

config user peergrp edit vpn_peergrp1

set member pki_user1 pki_user2 pki_user3 end

SSO user groups

SSO user groups are part of FSSO authentication and contain only Windows or Novell network users. No other user types are permitted as members. Information about the Windows or Novell user groups and the logon activities of their members is provided by the Fortinet Single Sign On (FSSO) which is installed on the network domain controllers.

You can specify FSSO user groups in security policies in the same way as you specify firewall user groups. FSSO user groups cannot have SSL VPN or dialup IPsec VPN access.

For information about configuring FSSO user groups, see Creating Fortinet Single Sign-On (FSSO) user groups on page 589. For complete information about installing and configuring FSSO, see Agent-based FSSO on page 553.