About IronWifi
IronWiFi is a cloud-based SaaS management platform that enables spaces to build, operate, grow, and monetize their Wi-Fi networks in a scalable way.
With IronWiFi, spaces are able to control access to their networks with advanced authentication mechanisms based on certificates and custom policies all via the cloud.
About the IronWifi Integration
Prerequisites: In order to use this integration, you must have an active account with IronWifi and have access to their cloud portal. IronWifi works with dozens of the most popular hardware for wifi. Please make sure your space is compatible and view the supported vendors here.
The Coworks + IronWifi integration allows you to seamlessly control and manage access to your wifi networks for your members and customers. With this integration, you can automatically grant access to specific networks in your space whenever adding or signing up members via Coworks. Additionally, they can access the networks by simply inputting their Coworks credentials so that you can verify they are an active member.
Setting up the integration
Create your Captive Portals
What is a captive portal?
A Captive Portal is simply a webpage that is displayed to users when they try to connect to your wifi network. This page typically prompts the user to login or accept some terms before using your network.
The Coworks+IronWifi integration leverages these portals to force your members to authenticate via their Coworks email/password before being able to access your network.
This allows you to protect your network and ensure only paying members can have access without worrying about sharing wifi codes or passwords.
Create your portals
Start by creating some captive portals from within the IronWifi console .
Go to the "Networks" tab on the lefthand navigation menu and then click "Captive Portals" from the top tab.
Click "New Captive Portal".
Give your portal a name and connect it to whichever wifi network in your space you would like to grant access to. Please choose the correct hardware under vendor based on what's installed in your space. Finally, click "Create" to finish your portal.
Repeat these steps for any networks or groups you want to be able to grant access to via Coworks.
Activate the integration in Coworks
Warning: Make sure you've created your Captive Portals before doing this step.
To activate the IronWifi integration, first go to the "Integrations" tab in Coworks located under Community/integrations or here.
Under "Discover" find the IroWifi integration and click "Connect"
Add your API key.
To authenticate your ironWifi account in Coworks, you first need to generate an API key in IronWifi.Find or create an API key in IronWifi by logging in to your console and clicking on the "Account Tab" on the left-hand side.
Scroll down the "API Keys" section and choose "create key" to create a new key.
Give your key a name and select "owner" role.
Save this code in a secure and safe place. You will need to copy and paste this code into Coworks in the next step.
Add the API Key from above into the integration settings in Coworks in addition to the ironWifi dashboard region.
Note: Be sure to select the proper region! Your ironWIfi region is located in the top navigation bar within IronWifi.
Click the "Sync Captive Portals" button to sync all of your captive portals and update them to use Coworks for authentication.
Adding members to ironWifi
Once the integration is setup you can now add members directly to IronWifi when adding them to Coworks.
Simply turn on the "Add to Network Access" toggle when adding the members and choose which captive portal(s) to add the member to.
Connecting to your network
When members attempt to access your wifi networks, they will be brought to a splash page that will prompt to login. Members can simply use their Coworks credentials to login and access your network.
To edit the look of your splash page and conduct tests, go to your captive portals section and click on the portal you want to test.
Click on the splash page URL link to see what the member experience looks like and try logging in with your Coworks credentials.
Once the member enters their Coworks credentials, we will check to make sure they are an active member in your space and have been granted access to that captive portal. If so they will see a success page and be connected to your network
Happy Coworking!