Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN
miniOrange integration with Sonicwall Global VPN offers a seamless and efficient way to enhance security for remote access. The process is straightforward, and you can configure 2FA on your Sonicwall Global VPN within minutes. The integration provides an additional layer of security to ensure that only authorized users have access to it while connecting with the VPN.
In today's hybrid working culture, having a secure remote access environment has become increasingly important. The two-factor authentication feature provided by miniOrange ensures that even if a user's login credentials are compromised, their access to the Sonicwall Global VPN VPN will still be protected by the additional authentication factor. This provides a strong defence against potential cyber threats and ensures that your organization's data and resources remain secure
miniOrange provides secure access to your Sonicwall Global VPN by enabling strong authentication with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) using miniOrange RADIUS server. When you integrate Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on your Sonicwall Global VPN Server, your users need to enter their username and password (first factor) as usual, and as a second factor they have to enter an authentication code which will be shared virtually on their device or in the form of a hardware token. This 2FA solution adds an additional security measure to prevent unwanted users getting access to your Sonicwall Global VPN server.
miniOrange MFA/2FA authentication for Sonicwall Global VPN Login
miniOrange accomplishes this by acting as a RADIUS server that accepts the username/password of the user entered as a RADIUS request and validates the user against the user store as Active Directory (AD). After the first level of authentication, miniOrange prompts the user with 2-factor authentication and either grants/revokes access based on the input by the user.
- Primary authentication initiates with the user submitting his Username and Password for Sonicwall Global VPN .
- User request acts as an authentication request to RADIUS Server(miniOrange).
- miniOrange RADIUS server passes user credentials to validate against the credentials stored in AD (Active Directory) / Database.
- Once the user's first level of authentication gets validated AD sends the confirmation to RADIUS Server.
- Now miniOrange RADIUS Server asks for a 2-factor authentication challenge to the user.
- Here user submits the response/code which he receives on his hardware/phone.
- User response is checked at miniOrange’s RADIUS Server side.
- On successful 2nd factor authentication the user is granted access to login.
Connect with any External Directories
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external directories such as miniOrange Directory, Microsoft AD, Microsoft Entra ID/LDAP, AWS Cognito and many more.
Can't find your Directory? Contact us on idpsupport@xecurify.com
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miniOrange offers free POC and help through a consultation call with our System Engineers to Setup Multi-Factor Authentication for Sonicwall Global VPN in your environment with 30-day trial.
For this, you need to just send us an email at idpsupport@xecurify.com to get free POC and we'll help you setting up our solution in no time.
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1. Configure Sonicwall Global VPN in miniOrange
2. Configure RADIUS in Sonicwall Global VPN
- Go To Users >> Settings >> Authentication method for login and select RADIUS. Click on Configure.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Authentication Method for Login](/images/sonic-wall/Settings.webp)
- Enter the IP address of the Primary RADIUS Server and the radius port 1812. If you are looking for a high availability setup for RADIUS servers, you can enter the details of the secondary server.
- Enter the shared secret in the Shared Secret field. The alphanumeric Shared Secret can range from 1 to 31 characters in length. The shared secret is case sensitive. This Shared secret is used in an encryption process to obscure certain details in RADIUS messages such as user passwords.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Shared secret field](/images/sonic-wall/shared-secret.webp)
- Click on RADIUS Users tab. Select appropriate mechanism for setting user group membership. If you’re unsure, use RADIUS filter-Id attribute on RADIUS Server option and click on apply.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Radius Users](/images/sonic-wall/radius-user.webp)
- Log in to the SonicWall administrative interface.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Log in to Sonicwall Administrative interface](/images/sonic-wall/sonic-wall-vpn-administrative-interface.png)
- Search Manage and go to Settings section under Users and click Configure Radius.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Admin Settings](/images/sonic-wall/sonic-wall-vpn-admin-settings.png)
- Click Add and then Enter the IP address of the Primary RADIUS Server and the radius port. Enter the RADIUS server shared secret in the Shared Secret field.
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : Submit Ip address and shares secret key](/images/sonic-wall/sonic-wall-vpn-admin-ip.png)
![Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) for Sonicwall Global VPN VPN : User settings](/images/sonic-wall/sonic-wall-vpn-admin-user-settings.png)
Add a local group in Sonicwall
- Click the Add Group button to display the Add Group window.
![Add Group in Sonicwall Global VPN](/images/sonic-wall/add-group.webp)
- On the Settings tab, type a user name into the Name field and it should be same as that of miniOrange which you got from Step1.
Optionally, you may select the Members go straight to the management UI on web login checkbox. This selection will only apply if this new group is subsequently given membership in another administrative group.
You may also select the Require one-time passwords checkbox to require SSL VPN users to submit a system-generated password for two-factor authentication. Users must have their email addresses set when this feature is enabled.
- Click the Members tab to add users and other groups to this group.
![add memebers in user local group](/images/sonic-wall/users-local-groups-add-members.webp)
- Select the user or group from the Non-Members Users and Groups list and then click the right arrow -> button.
- Click the VPN Access tab to configure which network resources VPN users (either GVC, NetExtender, or Virtual Office bookmarks) can access.
![VPN access](/images/sonic-wall/add-group-vpn-access.webp)
- Select one or more networks from the Networks list and click the right arrow button (->) to move them to the Access List column. To remove the user’s access to a network, select the network from the Access List, and click the left arrow button (<-).< /li>
3. Configure Your User Directory
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Azure AD, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Okta, Shibboleth, Ping, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more. You can configure your existing directory/user store or add users in miniOrange.
Configure your existing directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, Azure, OpenLDAP, etc.
- Click on External Directories >> Add Directory in the left menu of the dashboard.
![2FA: Configure User Store](/images/common-template-saml-images/add-user-store.webp)
- Select Directory type as AD/LDAP.
![2FA: Select AD/LDAP as user store](/images/common-template-saml-images/select-ad-ldap.webp)
- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.
![Two-Factor Authentication : Select ad/ldap user store type](/images/common-template-saml-images/ldap-user-store.webp)
- Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
- Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
- Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
- Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.
![2FA/2FA: Configure LDAP server URL Connection](/images/common-template-saml-images/test-ldap-connection.webp)
- In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.
![2FA: Configure user bind account domain name](/images/common-template-saml-images/adfs-distinguished-name.webp)
- Enter the valid Bind account Password.
- Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.
![2FA: Check bind account credentials](/images/common-template-saml-images/test-bind-account-credentials.webp)
- Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.
![2FA : Configure user search base](/images/common-template-saml-images/adfs-search-base.webp)
- Select a suitable Search filter from the drop-down menu. To use custom Search Filter select "Write your Custom Filter" option and customize it accordingly.
![2FA/2FA : Select user search filter](/images/common-template-saml-images/adfs-search-filter.webp)
- You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.
![2FA : Activate LDAP options](/images/common-template-saml-images/ldap-options.webp)
Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.
Attribute |
Description |
Activate LDAP |
All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it |
Sync users in miniOrange |
Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP |
Fallback Authentication |
If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange |
Allow users to change password |
This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server |
Enable administrator login |
On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server |
Show IdP to users |
If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users |
Send Configured Attributes |
If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login |
- Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Connection to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.
![2FA: Test AD/Ldap connection](/images/common-template-saml-images/ldap-test-connections.webp)
- On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
- Click on Test Attribute Mapping.
![LDAP successful connection](/images/common-template-saml-images/attribute-mapping.webp)
- Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.
![2FA: Fetch mapped attributes for user](/images/common-template-saml-images/active-directory-fetched-attributes.webp)
- After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.
Refer our guide to setup LDAPS on windows server.
User Import and Provisioning from AD
Note: Below steps are used to enable one time or manual sync. To enable sync on scheduled basis, you should use LDAP gateway module. Read more and download the LDAP gateway module.
- Go to Settings >> Product Settings in the Customer Admin Account.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN miniOrange dashboard](/images/template-images/switch-to-settings.webp)
- Enable the "Enable User Auto Registration" option and click Save.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Enable User Auto Registration](/images/common/enable-user-auto-register.webp)
- (Optional) To send a welcome email to all the end users that will be imported, enable the "Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration" option and click Save.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration](/images/common/enable-sending-welcome-emails-after-user-registration.webp)
- From the Left-Side menu of the dashboard select Provisioning.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN User Sync/Provisioning](/images/vpn-template/vpn-user-sync.webp)
- In Setup Provisioning tab select Active Directory in the Select Application drop-down.
- Toggle the Import Users tab, click on Save button.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN User Sync Active Directory Configuration](/images/template-images/ad-user-sync.webp)
- On the same section, switch to Import Users section.
- Select Active Directory from the dropdown and click on the Import Users tab, to import all the users from Active Directory to miniOrange.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN User Sync Import Operation](/images/template-images/import-users.webp)
- You can view all the Users you have imports by selecting Users >> User List from Left Panel.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN User List](/images/template-images/check-users-list.webp)
- All the imported users will be auto registered.
- These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
Creating User Groups (Recommended)
- Select Groups >> Manage Groups from left panel.
- Click on the Create Group button on the top.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Manage Groups](/images/template-images/manage-groups.webp)
- Enter an appropriate Group Name and click on Create Group.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Create Groups](/images/template-images/create-group.webp)
- In this guide we have created a Group by name VPN_Group.
- Assign various members to the group using the Assign User option associated with the group in the groups list.
![Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN User Assign](/images/template-images/assign-users.webp)
- Select the Users that are required to be assigned to this group. Then Select Assign to Group in Select Action Dropdown and click on Apply button.
![Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Assignment to Group](/images/template-images/assign-users-to-group.webp)
- These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
4. Setup 2FA for Sonicwall Global VPN
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to customize and enroll 2FA for end users.
- Here, we will configure a policy for the User Group that we created in this step and associate it with the Sonicwall Global VPN VPN Application.
- Click on Policies tab >> App Login Policy.
![2FA/Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN App Authentication Policy](/images/template-images/select-app-login-policy.webp)
- Click on Add Policy tab.
- In Application section, select the RADIUS App that we configured earlier in Step 1.
- Select the required User Group in Group Name and enter the Policy name.
- In this guide, we will configure a Password Only policy for "VPN_Group", so that only the VPN_Group members can access VPN Services without a Second Factor.
- Once done with the policy settings, click on Save to Add Policy.
![Two-Factor Authentication(2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN App Add Policy](/images/vpn-template/save-vpn-policy.webp)
5. Test Sonicwall Global VPN 2FA
- Connect to Sonicwall Global VPN by entering the hostname of the server.
- Enter your AD username & password and click on Connect.
- Now, you are prompted for the 2-factor authentication code. Enter the 2FA code and click on Continue to get access to Sonicwall Global VPN.
- After successful validation, you are securely connected to Sonicwall Global VPN via .
With the help of this guide you will be able to configure Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for Sonicwall Global VPN Login.
Troubleshooting
How can I check RADIUS User audit logs in miniOrange admin dashboard?
- Login to miniOrange Admin Dashboard.
- Click on Reports >> Radius User Authentication Report.
![2FA 2FA two-factor authentication for Sonicwall Global VPN : Authentication Reports](/images/vpn-template/radius-audit-reports.webp)
- Enter Enduser Identifier and Date range.
- Click on Search.
![2FA 2FA two-factor authentication for Sonicwall Global VPN : Enduser Authentication Logs](/images/vpn-template/radius-audit-logs.webp)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)?
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is an authentication method that requires the user to authenticate themselves for two or more factors, in order to gain access to company resources, applications, or a VPN (Sonicwall Global VPN in this case). Enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) means that users need to provide additional verification factors apart from their username and passwords thus increasing the security of the organization's resources. Checkout more about Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) here.
Three common authentication methods for 2FA security are:
- Knowledge: Something that the user knows.
- Possession: Something that the user possesses or has.
- Inherence: Usually referred to a biometric factor.
Types of 2FA Authentication with RADIUS:
Depending on the VPN client, 2-factor authentication can take two forms..
- VPN Clients that support RADIUS Challenge.
- VPN Clients that do not support RADIUS Challenge.
What are different 2FA methods for Sonicwall Global VPN supported by miniOrange?
miniOrange supports multiple 2FA/MFA authentication methods for Sonicwall Global VPN secure access such as, Push Notification, Soft Token, Microsoft / Google Authenticator etc.
Authentication Type | Method | Supported |
miniOrange Authenticator | Soft Token | |
miniOrange Push Notification | |
Mobile Token | Google Authenticator | |
Microsoft Authenticator | |
Authy Authenticator | |
SMS | OTP Over SMS | |
SMS with Link | |
Email | OTP Over Email | |
Email with Link | |
Call Verification | OTP Over Call | |
Hardware Token | YubiKey Hardware Token | |
Display Hardware Token | |
Further References