wifi setting wpa psk + mac filter

shlomoi
Getting noticed

wifi setting wpa psk + mac filter

Hi,

 

can anyone help with WPA PSK encryption settings + user MAC filter. I don't have a radius server in the area

Thanks

13 Replies 13
MarcP
Kind of a big deal

Don´t get your question...

 

Maybe you are searching for this?

"Identity PSK without RADIUS

Devices are assigned a group policy based on its passphrase"
shlomoi
Getting noticed

I mean connecting a password in PSK and also allowing access only to a specific MAC, meaning that the user will enter a password but if his MAC is not enabled he will not be able to connect.

 

Thank you

alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

MAC filtering doesn't work without a RADIUS server.

 

Perhaps iPSK is the best option for your situation.

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
shlomoi
Getting noticed

What is iPSK and how do I set it up

Thank you

MarcP
Kind of a big deal
alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

When setting up an enterprise wireless network, it is common to configure WPA2 Password authentication to onboard users onto the wireless network. However, this method has limitations. For example, IT administrators cannot use different passwords on the same SSIDs to assign different VLANs or firewall rules to groups of users. While using 802.1X authentication, IT administrators can provide this level of granularity; however, it’s not always possible to use 802.1X because not all devices support it.

Therefore, IT administrators are left with two options: 

  • They can provision a new SSID with a dedicated password for each device type. Unfortunately, this creates a lot of RF overhead and lowers possible throughputs.

  • They can create a single SSID with one password shared among all devices incapable of 802.1X (RADIUS) authentication. However, this approach has significant security and management overhead issues. IT administrators must reconfigure every device with a new password if this single password gets compromised.

Meraki solves this use case with Identity Pre-Shared Key (IPSK) without RADIUS. This feature allows you to configure multiple passwords for a single SSID and assign different Group Policies to each password without the added complexity of configuring and maintaining a RADIUS server. Furthermore, devices that cannot use 802.1X authentication (e.g., IoT devices) can also benefit from this feature.

 

 

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Design_and_Configure/Configuration_Guides/Encryption_and_Authent...

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
shlomoi
Getting noticed

Does this solution allow me to connect a specific mac because I am afraid that the users will pass the password between themselves or to external employees.

Thank you

alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Unfortunately not, you can only restrict via MAC address with a Radius server.

 

Another option would be to use a block list, however:

Note: The device will still receive an IP address and will be able to resolve DNS names.

Note: The EAP exchange will still be allowed for wireless clients, and devices will be able to associate with an SSID. The block will apply to client traffic after the 4-way handshake is completed.

Blocking or Allow listing a Client 

There are two ways to allow list or block a client on the Cisco Meraki dashboard.

Note: There is a limit of 3000 clients for allow listing and 3000 clients for blocking. An error will appear when attempting to allow list or block more than 3000 clients.

 

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Cross-Platform_Content/Blocking_and_Allowing...

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
shlomoi
Getting noticed

Thanks but after I put users under the whitelisted
How do I block everyone else from connecting

 

 

shlomoi_0-1762424822166.png

 

Thanks

alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Select the users and then change the policy.
The documentation has this same image.

 

alemabrahao_0-1762426110255.png

 

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
shlomoi
Getting noticed

Hi, sorry, maybe I didn't understand correctly, does this option prevent new users from connecting without my knowledge?
I want to prevent employees from passing on the password to someone outside without my knowledge. Is it possible to allow the whitelist and block everyone else before they connect?

Thanks

alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

No, unfortunately not. In that case, consider using 802.1x.

 

Note: The device will still receive an IP address and will be able to resolve DNS names.

Note: The EAP exchange will still be allowed for wireless clients, and devices will be able to associate with an SSID. The block will apply to client traffic after the 4-way handshake is completed.

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.
jimmyt234
Head in the Cloud

If you didn't want to stand up your own RADIUS infrastructure to support true MAC auth, you could look at Access Manager: Access Manager - Architecture And Example Use Cases - Cisco Meraki Documentation

 

There are licensing requirements in order to achieve this.

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