Connect People's Devices with Activation Codes

Connecting people's devices with Activation Codes is similar to using Airwall Invitations. The only difference is you distribute the Activation Code or Codes yourself rather than automatically sending emails.

You send Activation codes to invite people to connect to your Airwall secure network. It can be as simple as generating and distributing the Activation codes. With a bit of preparation, though, you can also automatically set up device access and trust as people connect their devices.

The possibilities include setting up which Overlay networks people belong to, what groups they’re a part of, which Airwall Edge Services and devices they can access, and when a person’s access to your Airwall secure network expires.

Before you begin

  • Group people by the types of access permissions they need.
  • (Optional) Create Airwall groups for the people you want to add. For example, you may want Employees and Contractors Airwall groups.
  • (Optional) Create tags for the types of people and access.
  • (Optional) Create Smart Device Groups to automatically add people to Device groups as they activate their Airwall Agents. See Managing devices dynamically with Smart Device Groups.

By doing a bit more planning and preparation in the optional steps above, you will save time in making sure people are able to access the resources they need.

  1. Go to Airwalls, and open the Airwall Invitations tab.
  2. If you have already created Activation Codes or Airwall Invitations with the details you need, you can open the drop down next to an invitation and select Use as Template to send a similar invitation to more people. To create new Activation Codes, select New Airwall Invitations, and select either Download activation codes and distribute them manually or Download a single activation code that can be used many times.
  3. Enter the number of activation codes to generate, or how many times the single activation code can be used.
  4. Select Next.
  5. Enter the following options as needed. Setting these options automates more of the process for the people trying to connect:
    • Generated Airwall name – Sets the name the Airwall Agent has in the Conductor when the user activates it. The default value sets it to the Airwall Agent type. See the help when you select this box to see other options for autogenerating names.
    • Activation codes should expire – Check to have the activation codes expire
    • Activation code expiration date – If you've checked the box above, sets the date the Airwall Invitation expires.
  6. Select Next.
  7. Enter additional settings to automate people’s access as their devices connect:
    • Overlay device IP network (CIDR) – (Optional) The network from which to assign IP addresses to devices as the connect.
      Note: If you use the same IP network in subsequent Invitations, IP addresses will keep incrementing. For instance, if you send out one Invitation starting at 192.168.1.15 with 10 emails and then another with the same IP with 10 emails they all just get a free IP from the network as they come online.
    • Overlay networks – (Optional) The Overlay networks to add devices to.
    • Device groups – Select the Device groups to add devices to.
    • Airwall groups – Select Airwall groups to add devices to. For example, you might assign this group to the Employee, Admin, or Vendor group. Make sure this group has access to an Airwall Relay, if needed.
    • Tags – Create or assign tags to people’s devices. For example, if you’re using tags to create Smart Device Groups that add people’s devices to the right overlays, enter these tags now.
  8. Select Generate.
  9. Download or copy the Activation codes and distribute to the people you want to connect. To help your users receiving Activation codes to connect, point them to this help topic: I have an Activation code.

To ensure people have access to the resources they need, add trust between their Airwall Agents and the resources they need to access on the overlays. And, if needed, add their devices to the Airwall Relay they'll use to access your Airwall secure network.

  1. Adding and removing device trust on the Overlay between the device group for the people's Airwall Agents and the resources they need access to.
  2. If needed, add the device group to any Relay rules they'll need to use to access resources. See Set Up an Airwall Relay.