openwisp / openwisp/openwisp-controller

Support for IoT/Endpoint Device Management with PPSK in OpenWISP Controller

Open
#1,068 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

enhancement
Dominant language
Python
Stars
773
Forks
315
Avg merge
2d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
14

Description

Description

First-time GitHub issue, apologies for any missteps.

Managing numerous legacy IoT devices using PPSK (Private Pre-Shared Key) with RADIUS authentication on OpenWISP. PPSK benefits include:

  • Unified SSID: Single SSID across sites with per-device passphrases, ensuring Layer 2 isolation, seamless roaming, and reduced RF overhead.
  • Seamless Mobility: Devices stay connected across access points and sites.
  • Security & Compatibility: Strong encryption without enterprise credentials, ideal for legacy IoT devices not supporting Passpoint.
  • Mechanism: PPSK uses a MIC Resolver in the WPA2 4-way handshake, cycling through valid passphrases to match the client’s MIC.

Currently, the OpenWISP Controller's "Devices" menu is non-collapsible and assumes all devices are access points/routers, limiting IoT/endpoint device management with PPSK.

Proposed Enhancement
Extend the "Devices" menu to support IoT/Endpoint devices alongside Access Points/Routers by making the "Devices" menu collapsible, similar to "Configuration" (e.g., Templates | VPN Servers | Access Credentials | Device Groups), with two sub-entries:

  • Access Points: Existing functionality for access points/routers.
  • IoT/Endpoint Devices: New section for managing IoT devices.

Add two new screens:

IoT/Endpoint Device View: Summary table view linked from the "IoT/Endpoint Devices" menu entry, displaying registered IoT devices and attributes:

  • Organization
  • User
  • MAC Address
  • Serial Number
  • PPSK state

Add IoT/Endpoint Device View: Form for adding new IoT devices with the following attributes:

  • Organization (required)
  • User (optional)
  • MAC Address (required)
  • Serial Number (optional)
  • PPSK Support:
    -- Checkbox to enable PPSK.
    -- Option to manually enter or auto-generate a unique PPSK.

Automatic RADIUS Integration:
Upon saving an IoT device, create entries in openwisp-radius:

radCheck:

  • Username: device MAC address
  • Organization: device organization
  • Attribute: Cleartext-Password
  • Operator: :=
  • Value: device MAC address

radReply:

  • Username: device MAC address
  • Organization: device organization
  • Attribute: Tunnel-Password
  • Operator: :=
  • Value: unique device PPSK

Use Case
Managing multiple legacy IoT devices which only support WPA2-Personal across a multi-access point, multi-site WiFi network using PPSK for secure, high-capacity data offloads. Device MAC addresses and PPSKs need registration in OpenWISP with automatic RADIUS updates for seamless authentication.

Benefits

  • Simplifies IoT device onboarding and PPSK management.
  • Enhances OpenWISP for diverse IoT use cases
  • Streamlines RADIUS configuration, reducing manual errors.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the existing Devices menu and the Configuration navigation to understand how the proposed Access Points and IoT/Endpoint Devices sections should fit. Then inspect the controller's existing device forms and the openwisp-radius integration points. Done means the new list and form support the stated fields and saving an IoT device creates the specified radCheck and radReply entries.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
authentication, backend, frontend, networking
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.