Manage Batch Guest Users

Applies To: Wi-Fi Cloud-managed Access Points (AP120, AP125, AP225W, AP320, AP322, AP325, AP327X, AP420)

You can create a large number of guest user accounts for specific events such as conferences or other large events where creating individual guest user accounts could take a lot of time.

Create Batch Guest Users

To create a batch of guest user accounts:

  1. Select Portals.
  2. Click a portal name to configure the Guestbook plug-in.
  3. Select the Plug-in Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Guestbook icon.

The Guestbook icon is available only if you selected the Guestbook plug-in when you created the portal. If the Guestbook icon does not appear, you must first edit the portal to include the Guestbook plug-in.

  1. Click the View Guestbook link.
  2. In the Batches tab, click New Batch.
  3. Provide the user batch information:
  • Username Prefix — Prefix for the guest user accounts batch. This is applied to all the users in the batch.
  • Batch Type — Select Random Users to generate random users in the guest user batch. You can also select Incrementing Users to generate user names with the specified prefix and an incremental index in the batch.
  • Username Length — Length of the randomly generated user name. This field is shown only if you select Random Users.
  • Password Length — Length of the password.
  • Starting Index— The starting number that is appended for an incrementing user batch. This field is shown only if you select Incrementing Users.
  • Number of Users — The number of users to create in the batch.
  • Expires At — Date and time of expiration of guest user accounts in the batch. Guests cannot use the accounts beyond this date. Use the calendar icon and the clock icon to select the expiration date and time.
  • Batch Description — Description of the batch. Any text giving details of what the batch represents can be entered here. For example, if the batch has been created for a conference, you can specify the details of the conference.
  • Device Limit — The maximum number of devices through which a guest user can simultaneously log in with a single user account. The default value is N/A, which means that there is no such device limit. The device limit can be set at the Guestbook portal level, guest batch level and the guest user level. If all or two of these device limits are set, the device limit set at the guest user level has the highest priority followed by the device limit at the guest batch level The device limit at the guestbook portal level has the lowest priority among the three levels.
  1. Configure the Quality of Service Settings:
  • Login Timeout — The time period, in the format hours: minutes, after which the guest user session for the plug-in expires. The guest user must re-authenticate with login credentials to continue using Wi-Fi. A value of zero indicates that the user session does not time out and the user must explicitly log out from the portal. A non-zero timeout configured on the plug-in takes precedence over the timeout configured on the portal.
  • Blackout Time — The time period in minutes during which a user cannot log in to the portal after the last successful login times out. A value of zero indicates no blackout time. The blackout time, including the zero value configured on the plug-in, takes precedence over the blackout time configured on the portal.
  • Max Download Bandwidth — The maximum download bandwidth, in Kbps, for the guest user.
  • Min Download Bandwidth — The minimum download bandwidth, in Kbps, for the guest user.
  1. Click Save.

To view the guest user accounts created by the batch, click Users on the Guestbook page.

Export Batch Guest Users

You can export the guest user accounts created by a batch to a CSV file.

To export guest user accounts of a batch:

  1. Select Portals.
  2. Click the portal name for which you want to configure the Guestbook plug-in.
  3. Click the Plug-in Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Guestbook icon.

The Guestbook plug-in configuration details appear. The Guestbook icon is available only if you selected the Guestbook plug-in when you created the portal. If the Guestbook icon does not appear, you must first edit the portal to include the Guestbook plug-in.

  1. Click the View Guestbook link.
  2. In the Batches tab, select the batch you want to export from the table displayed on the page.
  3. Select Export from the More list.

The guest user accounts created by the batch are exported to a CSV file, users.csv, and downloaded on to your computer device.

Delete Batch Guest Users

You can delete a batch of guest user accounts from your guestbook for the portal when they are no longer required.

To delete a batch of guest user accounts:

  1. Select Portals.
  2. Click a portal name.
  3. Click the Plug-in Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Guestbook icon.

The Guestbook plug-in configuration details appear. The Guestbook icon is available only if you selected the Guestbook plug-in when you created the portal. If the Guestbook icon does not appear, you must first edit the portal to include the Guestbook plug-in.

  1. Click the View Guestbook link.
  2. In the Batches tab, select the batches that you want to delete.
  3. Select Delete from the More Actions list.
  4. Click OK to confirm the batch deletion.

The batches and the corresponding guest user accounts are deleted from the guestbook.

You can also delete an individual batch and the guest user accounts created by the batch from the Guestbook page of the portal.