Setup Guest Portal

10 min

Overview

Nile supports the following guest portals: Click-Through, Email Approval (Normal & Restricted), Access Code (Generic & User Specific), and SMS.

Click-Through: Use this for an open SSID captive portal that requires guests to accept your company’s terms and conditions before accessing the guest network.

Email Approval - Normal: Guests provide their name, email address, host’s name, and the host’s email address (the employee’s email address). The host then receives an email to approve or deny the guest’s access to the guest network.

Email Approval - Restricted: Guests enter only their own name and email address. Approval requests are limited to a defined group of approved sponsors.

Access Code - Generic: Administrators can create a single shared access code for all guests, with a validity period that can be either fixed or indefinite.

Access Code - User Specific: Administrators can generate a unique access code for each guest. Each code is associated with the guest’s name and email address and can be configured with a fixed or indefinite validity period.

SMS: SMS authentication allows guests to access the guest network by verifying their phone number with a one-time code sent via SMS. The phone number serves as the guest’s primary identifier, and administrators can optionally collect additional information.

For more information, please visit the Nile Guest Access documentation.

Prerequisites

Prepare your company's terms and conditions. Nile also provides default terms you can use.

For Email Approval, add your company email domains as allowed domains. Nile only sends the approval email if the host's email domain is valid for your tenant.

For SMS authentication, please contact Nile to enable it for your tenant.

Configuring the Guest Portal

Click-Through

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile Click-Through).

Then choose Click-Through.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Optionally, enable SSO if IdP integration is complete.

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save.

Guest Experience: The guest connects to the SSID, sees the terms page, clicks Agree and Connect, and gets access.

Email Approval - Normal

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile Email Approval).

Then choose Email Approval.

Under Approver Options, don't enable the Restrict approvers toggle button.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Optionally, enable SSO if IdP integration is complete.

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save.

Guest Experience: The guest is presented with a form requesting their name and email address, along with the host’s name and email address. After accepting the Terms of Service, the guest clicks Request Access and sees the following message: “An employee from your organization must approve your request for Internet access.” Once the host approves the request, the guest is granted access to the internet.

Email Approval - Restricted Group

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile Email Approval).

Then choose Email Approval.

Under Approver Options, enable the Restrict approvers toggle button.

Add the email group or the individual email addresses allowed to approve guests, and the geo scope for the sponsor if applicable.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Optionally, enable SSO if IdP integration is complete.

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save.

Guest Experience: The guest is presented with a form requesting their name and email address. After accepting the Terms of Service, the guest clicks Request Access and sees the following message: “An employee from your organization must approve your request for Internet access.” The approval request is sent only to the designated sponsors in the Restrict Approvers group. Once a sponsor approves the request, the guest is granted access to the internet.

Access Code - Generic

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile Access Code).

Then choose Access Code.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Optionally, enable SSO if IdP integration is complete.

Enable "Use generic access code" toggle button. You will see a message "Please add access codes after you have added the new guest server."

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save to apply the changes.

Navigate again to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest.

Click the portal name you created (Nile Access Code) and scroll down to the Access Code Options section.

Ensure "Use generic access code" toggle button is enabled.

Click + to add an access code.

Enter the desired access code.

If needed, enable the expiry option and configure the start and end times.

Click Save to save the access code.

Click Save again to apply the changes to portal.

Guest Experience: Guests connect to the designated SSID and are redirected to the guest portal, where they enter the shared access code. The code can be distributed verbally, displayed on signage, shared via email, or provided through a QR code. Access is granted if the code is valid and, when an expiry period is configured, falls within its specified validity window.

Access Code - User Specific

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile Access Code).

Then choose Access Code.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Optionally, enable SSO if IdP integration is complete.

For user-specific authentication, ensure the Use generic access code toggle is disabled. You will see the following message: ‘Please add access codes after you have added the new guest server.’

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save to apply the changes.

Navigate again to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest.

Click the portal name you created (Nile Access Code) and scroll down to the Access Code Options section.

Click +. In the Add Access Code window, enter the access code (or leave it blank for a random one), the Guest Name and the Guest Email ID. Enable Expires if required and set the start and end times. Then click Save in the window.

Repeat step 10 for each guest.

Click Save again to apply the changes to portal.

Guest Experience: Guests connect to the designated SSID and are redirected to the guest portal. They enter their email address and individual access code to authenticate themselves. The access code can be shared via email, verbally, on signage, or through a QR code. Access is granted when the submitted details are valid and the code is within its configured validity period.

Access codes can also be created and managed using API. For detailed steps, please refer to Guest Access Codes API documentation.

SMS Authentication

Navigate to Network Setup > Authentication > Nile Guest and enter a name for the portal (e.g., Nile SMS Access Code).

Then choose SMS - Access Code.

Set the Session Timeout. The default is 24 hours and can be changed.

Select the Geo Scope (site, building, floor, zone or tag).

Under Security Options, optionally enable SSO if IdP integration is completed.

Under Customer Login Page, select the information to collect from guests:

Phone Number: Required.

Name: Optional.

Email ID: Optional.

Under Allowed Device Count, set the maximum number of devices allowed per access code. The maximum value is 5.

Under Access Code Time Limit, set how long each access code is valid and select the time unit (Minutes/Hours).

Update the default terms and conditions.

Click Save.

Guest Experience: Guests connect to the designated SSID and are redirected to the guest portal. They enter their phone number, including the country code, and any additional information requested. They receive a one-time access code by SMS and enter it on the portal. After the code is verified, network access is granted for the configured session timeout and access code validity period.