Citrix Gateway RADIUS Integration with AuthPoint

Deployment Overview

This document describes how to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Citrix Gateway with AuthPoint as an identity provider. Citrix Gateway must already be configured and deployed before you set up MFA with AuthPoint.

Citrix Gateway can be configured to support MFA in several modes. For this integration, we configure Citrix Gateway to use the PAP authentication protocol to authenticate local AuthPoint users. To configure SAML authentication for Citrix Gateway, see Citrix Gateway SAML Integration with AuthPoint.

To authenticate users synced from Active Directory or an LDAP database, you must configure Citrix Gateway to use the MS-CHAPv2 authentication protocol and enable MS-CHAPv2 for your RADIUS resource in AuthPoint. You must also configure NPS. OTP authentication is not supported for MS-CHAPv2 RADIUS resources.

To use RADIUS authentication with Citrix Gateway, you must install and configure the AuthPoint Gateway. The AuthPoint Gateway functions as a RADIUS server and must be installed somewhere on your network that has Internet access and that can connect to your RADIUS clients. For more information, see About Gateways.

This integration was tested with NS13.1: Build 12.11.nc of Citrix ADC (Citrix Gateway is a part of Citrix ADC).

Citrix Gateway Authentication Data Flow with AuthPoint

AuthPoint communicates with various cloud-based services and service providers with the RADIUS protocol. This diagram shows the data flow of an MFA transaction for a Citrix Gateway.

Before You Begin

Before you begin these procedures, make sure that:

  • End-users can log in to Citrix Gateway
  • A token is assigned to a user in AuthPoint

Configure Citrix Gateway

Create a RADIUS Authentication Policy and Server

  1. Log in to the Citrix Gateway administrator web console
  2. Select the Configuration tab.
  3. Select Citrix Gateway > Policies > Authentication > RADIUS.

  1. Click Add.
  2. In the Name text box, type a name for the policy.

  1. Next to the Server text box, click Add.
  2. In the Name text box, type a name for the server.
  3. Select Server IP.
  4. In the IP Address text box, type the IP address of the AuthPoint Gateway.
  5. In the Port text box, type the port for the AuthPoint Gateway. The default port for the Gateway is 1812.
  6. In the Secret Key and Confirm Secret Key text boxes, type a shared secret.
  7. In the Time-out text box, type 30.
  8. Click Create.

  1. From the Saved Policy Expressions drop-down list, select ns_true.

  1. Click Create.
  2. If you receive a warning about classic authentication policies, click OK.

Bind RADIUS to the Virtual Server

  1. Select the Configuration tab.
  2. Select Citrix Gateway > Virtual Servers.
  3. Select your virtual servers. For detailed steps to create virtual servers, see the Citrix documentation.

  1. Click Edit.
  2. Next to Basic Authentication, click +.

  1. From the Choose Policy drop-down list, select RADIUS.
  2. From the Choose Type drop-down list, select Primary. Click Continue.

  1. In the Policy Binding section, next to Select Policy click >.

  1. Select the RADIUS policy that you created.
  2. Click Select.

  1. Click Bind.

Configure AuthPoint

Before AuthPoint can receive authentication requests from Citrix Gateway, you must specify Citrix Gateway as a RADIUS client resource in AuthPoint. You must also create a Zero Trust authentication policy for the Citrix Gateway resource and you must bind the Citrix Gateway resource to the AuthPoint Gateway.

Add a Citrix Gateway Resource in AuthPoint

From the AuthPoint management UI:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Resources. Click Add Resource.
    The Add Resource page opens.

  1. From the Type drop-down list, select RADIUS Client.
    Additional fields appear.

  1. In the Name text box, type a descriptive name for the resource. In our example, we name the resource Citrix Gateway.
  2. In the RADIUS client trusted IP or FQDN text box, type the IP address that your RADIUS client uses to send RADIUS packets to the AuthPoint Gateway. This must be a private IP address.
  3. From the Value sent for RADIUS attribute 11 (Filter-Id) drop-down list, specify what is sent for the attribute 11 (Filter-ID) value in RADIUS responses. You can choose to send the user's AuthPoint group or the user's Active Directory groups.
  4. In the Shared Secret text box, type the password that the RADIUS server (AuthPoint Gateway) and the RADIUS client will use to communicate.
  5. Click Save.

Add a Group in AuthPoint

You must have at least one user group in AuthPoint to configure MFA. If you already have a group, you do not have to add another group.

To add a WatchGuard Cloud-hosted group to the WatchGuard Cloud Directory:

  1. Go to Configure > Directories and Domain Services.
  2. Click the WatchGuard Cloud Directory domain name. If you have not yet added the WatchGuard Cloud Directory, click Add Authentication Domain and select the WatchGuard Cloud Directory.
    The New Group page appears.

Screenshot that shows the Directories and Domain Services page.

  1. In the Groups tab, click Add Group.
  2. In the Group Name text box, type a descriptive name for the group.
  3. (Optional) In the Description text box, type a description of the group.

Screen shot of the Add Group page.

  1. Click Save.
    Your group is added to the WatchGuard Cloud Directory and to AuthPoint.

Add a Zero Trust Authentication Policy

Zero Trust policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use.

You must have at least one Zero Trust authentication policy that includes the Citrix Gateway resource. If you already have Zero Trust authentication policies, you do not have to create a new authentication policy. You can add this resource to your existing authentication policies.

Users that do not have an authentication policy for a specific resource cannot authenticate to log in to that resource.

To configure a Zero Trust authentication policy:

  1. Go to Configure > Zero Trust. If you have a Service Provider account, you must select an account from Account Manager.
  2. Click Add Policy.
  3. Type a name for this policy.
  4. In the Target section, from the Content drop-down list, select which groups this policy applies to. You can make multiple selections to add multiple groups.
  5. In the Resources section, select the AuthPoint resources this policy applies to.
  6. In the Conditions section, select the conditions that apply to this policy. When you add a condition to an authentication policy, the policy applies only to user authentications that match the policy and the policy conditions. For example, if you add a time schedule to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that occur within that time schedule. Users who only have a policy that includes a time schedule do not get access to the resource when they authenticate outside of the allowed times (because they do not have a policy that applies, not because authentication is denied). For more information, go to About Zero Trust Conditions

    For RADIUS authentication, policies that have a Network Location do not apply because AuthPoint does not have the IP address of the user.

    1. (Optional) To create a new condition, click Add New Condition. After you create a new condition, you must still add the condition to the policy.
    2. From the Type drop-down list, select the type of condition to add to the policy.
    3. From the Name drop-down list, select which condition of the chosen type to add to the policy.
    4. To add more conditions, repeat Step 6.

      If you add conditions to a policy, we recommend that you create a second policy for the same groups and resources without the conditions. Assign a higher priority to the policy with the policy objects. For more information about priority, go to About Zero Trust Policy Precedence.

  7. In the Action section, select an option to specify whether to allow or deny authentications for the resources in this policy. In our example, we want to allow authentications.
    • Allow — Allow user groups in this policy access to the resources associated with this policy.
    • Deny — Deny authentications when users in the groups associated with this policy try to authenticate to the resources associated with this policy.
  8. If you allow access with this policy, select the check box for each authentication option users can select when they authenticate to resources in this policy with MFA.

    If you enable the push and OTP authentication methods for a policy, RADIUS client resources associated with that policy use push notifications to authenticate users.

    QR code authentication is not supported for RADIUS client resources.

    For RADIUS authentication, you append your OTP to the end of your password. Do not add a space. For example, password112233.

  9. Click Save.
    Your policy is created and added to the end of the policy list.
  10. Review the order of your policies and adjust as necessary. For more information about priority, go to About Zero Trust Policy Precedence.

Bind the RADIUS Resource to a Gateway

To use RADIUS authentication with AuthPoint, you must have the AuthPoint Gateway installed on your corporate network and you must assign your RADIUS resources to the Gateway in the AuthPoint management UI. The Gateway functions as a RADIUS server.

If you have not already configured and installed the AuthPoint Gateway, see About Gateways.

To assign your RADIUS resources to the Gateway:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Gateway.
  2. Select the Name of the Gateway.

  3. From the RADIUS section, in the Port text box, type the port number used to communicate with the Gateway. The default ports are 1812 and 1645.

    If you already have a RADIUS server installed that uses port 1812 or 1645, you must use a different port for the AuthPoint Gateway.

  4. From the Select a RADIUS Resource drop-down list, select your RADIUS client resource.
  5. Click Save.

Add Users to AuthPoint

Before you assign users to a group, you must add the users to AuthPoint. There are two ways to add AuthPoint user accounts:

  • Sync users from an external user database
  • Add WatchGuard Cloud-hosted AuthPoint users

Each user must be a member of a group. You must add at least one group before you can add users to AuthPoint.

To import users from Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, or an LDAP database, you must add an external identity in the AuthPoint management UI. External identities connect to user databases to get user account information and validate passwords.

  • To sync users from Active Directory or an LDAP database, you must add an LDAP external identity
  • To sync users from Microsoft Entra ID, you must add a Microsoft Entra ID external identity

When you sync users from an external user database, you can sync any number of users and they are all added to AuthPoint at one time. Users synced from an external user database use the password defined for their user account as their AuthPoint password.

To learn how to sync users, go to Sync Users from Active Directory or LDAP and Sync Users from Azure Active Directory.

You create WatchGuard Cloud-hosted users and groups from the WatchGuard Cloud Directory in WatchGuard Cloud. Directories and Domain Services is where you add shared authentication domains for WatchGuard Cloud devices and services, such as AuthPoint.

Users that you add to the WatchGuard Cloud Directory are automatically added to AuthPoint as well.

You add local AuthPoint users form Directories and Domain Services. You manage the users in AuthPoint on the Users page.

When you add WatchGuard Cloud-hosted AuthPoint users, you choose whether the user is an MFA user or a non-MFA user.

  • MFA users are user accounts that will use AuthPoint multi-factor authentication to authenticate. This is not related to the AuthPoint Multi-Factor Authentication license type.
  • Non-MFA users are users that will only ever authenticate with a password, such as a service account user. Non-MFA users do not consume an AuthPoint user license and cannot authenticate to resources that require MFA. They can only authenticate to protected resources if the non-MFA user account has a password only authentication policy for that resource.

After you add a user, you can edit the user account if you need to change their account type. When you change a user account from MFA to non-MFA, AuthPoint deletes the tokens and password vault (if applicable) that belong to the user. This action cannot be undone.

Unlike users synced from an external user database, WatchGuard Cloud-hosted AuthPoint users define and manage their own AuthPoint password. When you add a WatchGuard Cloud-hosted user account, the user receives an email that prompts them to set their password.

To learn how to add WatchGuard Cloud-hosted AuthPoint user accounts to the WatchGuard Cloud Directory, go to Add Local Users to an Authentication Domain.

Test the Integration

To test the integration of AuthPoint and configuration of your Citrix Gateway, you can authenticate with a mobile token on your mobile device. For RADIUS resources, you can choose one-time password (OTP) or push.

In this example, we show the one-time password authentication method.

  1. In a web browser, go to the virtual server login page
  2. Type your AuthPoint user name and password.
  3. Click Log On.
  4. Approve the authentication request that is sent to your mobile device.
    You are logged in through Citrix Gateway.