https portal ip address or fqdn Configuration and Setup Guide

To configure and set up an HTTPS portal with an IP address or FQDN, you'll need to obtain a valid SSL/TLS certificate for your chosen address. This is a crucial step in establishing a secure connection between your portal and users' browsers.

A common approach is to use a self-signed certificate for testing purposes, but for production environments, it's recommended to obtain a certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). This ensures your users' browsers trust your portal's SSL/TLS certificate.

For an IP address configuration, you can use a static IP address, which remains the same even when your device reboots or is moved to a different network. This is particularly useful for servers or devices that need to maintain a consistent IP address.

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To set up the guest portal, you'll need to specify the FQDN. You can do this by going into the ISE client provisioning portal settings, but you won't find it there. Instead, look for the portal test URL in the guest portal settings, which will open a new tab with the IP address of your PAN.

You'll need to manually type in the FQDN with the port specified to get it to work correctly. This is because the A record is working correctly, but the guest portal settings don't allow you to specify the name.

If you have Gig0 selected, ISE will return the FQDN you configured, which is the same as the one to access the ISE. You'll need to go into the CLI and add a FQDN using the command ip host, and also add the right record A on your DNS to resolve this FQDN to GigX IP.

You can also try pointing to a FQDN that redirects to Gigabit Ethernet 1 of ISE from your wireless controller, but you'll need to make sure the initial guest page loads on 443. The Portal Settings say you have to specify a port in the range 8000-8999, but you might be able to change this in the CLI if needed.

Changing the authorization profile to enter a static portal FQDN for the guest might also work, allowing guest pages to open depending on which ISE nodes the request hit.

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Using a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is essential for virtual host configurations, as it ensures the web server can correctly identify and apply the appropriate virtual host settings.

Web servers like Apache and Nginx use virtual host configurations to serve different content based on the domain name in the request.

Accessing a service using its IP address can lead to a failure in serving the correct content, as the web server may not be able to determine which virtual host configuration to apply.

Many services, particularly web servers, are configured to bind only to specific domain names rather than IP addresses.

This means that these services are set to respond to requests made to their domain names and may ignore or reject requests made directly to their IP addresses.

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SSL/TLS certificates are crucial for securing communications over the internet, but they can sometimes cause issues when accessing services via their IP addresses.

If you're trying to access a service directly via its IP address, you might encounter a security warning or a failed connection due to the SSL/TLS handshake failing.

This is because the server's SSL/TLS certificate contains domain names but not IP addresses, making it impossible to validate against the IP address.

To troubleshoot this issue, try accessing the service via its fully qualified domain name (FQDN) instead of its IP address.

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SSL/TLS Certificate Issues can be frustrating to deal with, especially if you're not familiar with how they work. SSL/TLS certificates are issued for specific domain names and contain fields like the Common Name (CN) and Subject Alternative Name (SAN) that specify the domain names for which the certificate is valid.

The client, such as a web browser or curl, sends the domain name in the request when accessing a service using an FQDN. This is crucial for the server's SSL/TLS certificate to be validated against the domain name.

If the certificate matches the domain, the SSL/TLS handshake is successful, establishing a secure connection. However, if the client accesses a service directly via its IP address, the handshake will fail.

The server's SSL/TLS certificate contains domain names but not IP addresses, making it impossible to validate against the IP address. This results in a security warning or a failed connection.

Firewalls and access control lists (ACLs) are frequently configured to allow or deny access based on domain names rather than IP addresses.

Directly accessing a service via its IP address may violate these access control rules, resulting in blocked connections. Using an FQDN ensures compliance with these rules and allows the connection to proceed.

Firewalls can block connections if you try to access a service by its IP address instead of its domain name. This is because many organizations configure their firewalls to block direct IP access.

Using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) can help you bypass these access control rules and establish a connection. This is especially useful when troubleshooting issues with firewalls and access control.

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You should always access the portal using its fully qualified name, rather than its IP address. This is a best practice to avoid any potential issues.

SAP Note 604208 and SAP Note 815814 support this approach, and it's also mentioned that using an IP address for the portal will not work.

Cookees, whatever they are, also don't function properly if you try to use an IP address instead of the fully qualified name.