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Installing Beambox on Aruba Central

Paul Babasoro avatar
Written by Paul Babasoro
Updated over a week ago

Note: While we do provide technical support and step by step guidance, Beambox self-install guides are generally written for IT consultants and those who are familiar with managing their own networks.

Use this step by step guide to quickly be able to create or edit an existing Aruba wireless network, with your Beambox WiFi login. This is accomplished using the existing features available through Aruba Central and requires no additional hardware.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, here's a checklist of the things you will need.

  1. An active network managed through Aruba Central

  2. An Aruba Central login with permissions to edit and create networks

  3. Familiarity with your network topology and Aruba Central

  4. Your login URL, which can be found on your Beambox dashboard

Installing Beambox on your Aruba Central networks

To get started, log in to Aruba Central and head over to your WLANs list. This can be found under the Devices section in the menu.

Edit or create a new SSID.

1. General

While your network name can be anything, we recommend keeping it short and sweet. A combination of your business name and "Free WiFi" usually works best. For example, "Bald's Bistro Free WiFi".

2. VLANs

For your VLAN settings, we recommend the following configuration.

  • Client IP Assignment - Instant AP assigned

  • Client VLAN Assignment - Internal VLAN

3. Security

For your Security settings, we recommend the following configuration.

  • Security Level - Captive Portal

  • Captive Portal Type - External

  • Captive Portal Profile - Create New

When adding a new captive portal profile, you will be presented with a form which should have the following inputs.

  • Name - Beambox

  • Authentication Type - RADIUS Authentication

  • IP or Hostname - aruba.yourhotspot.net

  • URL - This should be your login page URL, which you can find in the Beambox dashboard. It will be in the format /6/login/7 for example

  • Port - 80

  • Use HTTPS - No

  • Captive Portal Failure - Deny Internet

  • Automatic URL Whitelisting - No

  • Server offload - No

  • Prevent Frame Overlay - No

  • Use VC IP in Redirect URL - No

  • Redirect URL - No

Once you have added your captive portal profile, resume with the following security settings.

  • Primary Server - InternalServer

Next, in the 'users' section select 'Add User' and enter the following details.

  • Username - guest

  • Password - guest

  • Type - Guest

Once the user is added, finish off your Security settings.

  • Encryption - No

  • Key Management - Open

4. Access

In the Access settings, we will define the websites that the guest can visit before logging into your WiFi. This is important so that the login page and social logins can be accessed prior to authentication.

  • Access rules - Role Based

  • Downloadable - No

On the left-hand side, select 'Add Role' and name it 'Initial Role'. With 'Initial Role' selected, click 'Add Rule' on the right-hand side.

While the dialogue has lots of options, we will only need to change the following two.

  • Destination - To a Domain Name

  • Domain Name - Enter the domain name value here.

You will need to repeat this step and add a rule for all of the following domains. If you have social logins enabled on your WiFi login, add the corresponding domains.

Required domains

yourhotspot.net
beambox.com
amazonaws.com
s3.amazonaws.com
s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com

Facebook domains

facebook.com
*.facebook.com
*.fbcdn.net
facebook.net
*.facebook.net
*.akamaihd.net

Twitter domains

twitter.com
api.twitter.com
*.twimg.com
*.akamaihd.net

Once you have added your access rules, assign your 'Initial Role' for pre-authentication using the checkbox and dropdown below.

  • Assign Pre-Authentication Role - Yes (Initial Role)

5. Summary

Use this stage and the above image to check that all of your configurations are correct. Small changes can cause incompatibilities for the WiFi login, so it's important to start with the same configuration and then make any required changes incrementally.

Troubleshooting

We aren't currently aware of any configuration incompatibilities with Beambox and Aruba Central. If you face any issues, we recommend replicating the exact set up described above and then observe any changes.

Get in touch with our team if need help diagnosing your network.

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