Cisco Umbrella WLAN (OpenDNS)

Cisco Umbrella WLAN (OpenDNS)

The Cisco Umbrella WLAN (OpenDNS) provides a cloud-delivered network security service at the Domain Name System (DNS) level, with automatic detection of both known and emergent threats.

This feature allows you to block sites that host malware, bot networks, and phishing before they actually become malicious.

Cisco Umbrella WLAN provides:

  • Policy configuration per user group at a single point.

  • Policy configuration per network, group, user, device, or IP address.

    The following is policy priority order:

    1. Local policy

    2. AP group

    3. WLAN

  • Visual security activity dashboard in real time with aggregated reports.

  • Schedule and send reports through email.

  • Support up to 60 content categories, with a provision to add custom allowed list and blocked list entries.

This feature does not work in the following scenarios:

  • If an application or host use an IP address directly, instead of using DNS to query domain names.

  • If a client is connected to a web proxy and does not send a DNS query to resolve the server address.


Note

For more information about integrating this feature, see the Cisco Umbrella WLAN Integration Guide at

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-4/b_cisco_umbrella_wlan_integration_guide.html

.

Configuring Cisco Umbrella WLAN (GUI)

Before you begin

  • You should have an account with Cisco Umbrella.

  • You should have an API token from Cisco Umbrella.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Security > OpenDNS > General.

The OpenDNS General Configuration window is displayed.

Step 2

Check the OpenDNS Global Status check box to enable OpenDNS configuration.

Step 3

In the OpenDns-ApiToken field, enter the API-token obtained from the OpenDNS Server account.

Step 4

In the Profile Name field, enter the profile name that is to be used in the OpenDNS configuration.

Step 5

Click Add.

Step 6

Map the profile to the corresponding WLAN or AP group.

  1. To map the profile to a WLAN, choose WLAN > WLAN ID > Advanced, and from the OpenDNS Profile, select the desired profile.

    Note 

    An administrator can configure OpenDNS in a WLAN in the following modes under the WLAN advanced tab:

    • DHCP Proxy for DNS override̶̶－This is the interface-level configuration, which forms part of the DHCP process to propagate OpenDNS IP address to all WLANs associated to the interface.

    • OpenDNS Mode Force (default)－ This mode is enforced per WLAN, which blocks intentional client activity after client is associated to aWLAN.

    • OpenDNS Mode Ignore (default)－The Cisco WLC honors the DNS server used by the client, which could be OpenDNS server or enterprise/external DNS.

  2. To map the profile to an AP group, choose WLANs > Advanced > AP Groups, select the corresponding AP group, click the WLAN tab, and mouse over the blue button and select OpenDNS Profile.

To view OpenDNS mapping, choose Security > OpenDNS > General and click the Profile Mapped Summary hyperlink.

Note 

Each Cisco Umbrella profile will have a unique OpenDNS-Identity generated on the controller (in the format WLC name _profile name). This will be pushed to the associated Cisco Umbrella account in the cloud.

Step 7

Click Apply.

What to do next

  1. From Cisco Umbrella Dashboard, verify that your Cisco WLC shows up under Device Name, along with their identities

  2. Create classification rules for the user roles, for example, rules for employees and nonemployees.

  3. Configure policies on the Cisco Umbrella server.

Configuring Cisco Umbrella WLAN (CLI)

This section describes the procedure to configure Cisco Umbrella for a wireless LAN (WLAN) or an access point (AP) group in a WLAN.

Before you begin

  • You should have an account with Cisco Umbrella.

  • You should have an API token from Cisco Umbrella.

Procedure

Step 1

config network dns serverip server-ip

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config network dns serverip 208.67.222.222

Configures the DNS server IP address of the network.
Step 2

config opendns enable

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config opendns enable

Enables the Cisco Umbrella global configuration.
Step 3

config opendns api-token api-token

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config opendns api-token 
D72996C18DC334FB2E3AA46148D600A4001E5997

Registers the Cisco Umbrella API token on the network.
Step 4

config opendns profile create profilename

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config opendns profile create profile1

Creates an Cisco Umbrella profile that can be applied over a WLAN.
Step 5

config wlan opendns-profile wlan-id profile-name enable

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config wlan opendns-profile wlan1 profile1 enable

Applies the Cisco Umbrella profile to a WLAN.
Step 6

config wlan apgroup opendns-profile wlan-id site-name profile-name enable

Example:

(Cisco Controller) >config wlan apgroup opendns-profile wlan1 apgrp1 profile1

(Optional) Applies the Cisco Umbrella profile to an AP group with the WLAN.
Step 7

config policy policy-name create

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config policy ipad create

Creates a policy name.

In Cisco WLC, policy is generic term that specifies a rule and the associated action when that rule criteria is met for given client.

You can create policy and have rule on that by saying if the rolename from AAA server comes as employee take an action to apply Cisco Umbrella profile associated to that policy. Cisco Umbrella profile is applied to the client if the WLAN of that client is mapped for this policy.

Step 8

config policy policy-name action opendns-profile-name enable

Example:

(Cisco Controller) > config policy ipad action opendns-profile-name enable

Attaches the policy name to the Cisco Umbrella profile.

What to do next

Configure policies in opendns.com.

  • Configure granular policies to block sites based on the category of each profile (profiles are listed as identities).

  • Add allowed list and blocked list rules for each profile.

Configuring Local Policies for Cisco Umbrella (GUI)

When mapped to local policy, the Cisco Umbrella allows for a granular differentiated user browsing experience based on dynamic evaluation of attributes (user role, device type, and so on).

Use this procedure to configure user role based local policy and tie the corresponding Cisco Umbrella profile to it. This procedure also provides information about how to map a local policy to a WLAN.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Security > Local Policies > New.

This opens the new policy creation page.

  1. In the Policy Name field, enter the local policy name.

  2. Click Apply.

Step 2

From the policies listed under Policy List, choose a Policy Name to configure the Cisco Umbrella profile.

  1. From the Match Criteria sub-section, enter the Match Role String.

  2. From the Action sub-section, select the required option from the OpenDNS Profile drop-down list.

  3. Click Apply.

Step 3

Choose WLAN > WLAN ID > Policy Mapping.

  1. In the Priority Index field, enter the priority index number.

  2. From the Local Policy drop-down list, choose a value.

  3. Click Add.

What to do next

Verify whether the policies you created are working, by connecting a client to the WLAN.