How to enable Two Factor Authentication for Amazon (AWS) Workspace
Enhance the security of Amazon WorkSpaces with miniOrange Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), adding an extra layer of protection by requiring a second factor of authentication alongside the username and password.
For organizations without a RADIUS or OTP server, miniOrange provides 15+ authentication methods, including Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, and miniOrange Authenticator, to easily set up MFA for AWS WorkSpaces. Users verify their identity through virtual or hardware MFA solutions after entering their credentials.
Follow our detailed guide to configure MFA for AWS WorkSpaces.
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miniOrange MFA authentication for AWS WorkSpaces Login
miniOrange accomplishes this by acting as a RADIUS server that accepts the username/password of the user entered as a RADIUS request and validates the user against the user store as Active Directory (AD). After the first level of authentication, miniOrange prompts the user with 2-factor authentication (2FA) and either grants/revokes access based on the input by the user.
Primary authentication initiates with the user submitting his Username and Password for AWS WorkSpaces.
User request acts as an authentication request to RADIUS Server(miniOrange).
miniOrange RADIUS server passes user credentials to validate against the credentials stored in AD (Active Directory) / Database.
Once the user's first level of authentication gets validated AD sends the confirmation to RADIUS Server.
Now miniOrange RADIUS Server asks for a 2-factor authentication challenge (2FA) to the user.
Here user submits the response/code which he receives on his hardware/phone.
User response is checked at miniOrange’s RADIUS Server side.
On successful 2nd factor authentication (2FA) the user is granted access to AWS Workspaces i.e., for Amazon Workspace MFA
Connect with any External Directories
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external directories such as miniOrange Directory, Microsoft AD, Microsoft Entra ID/LDAP, AWS Cognito and many more.
Go to Directory Services and Choose the directory ID link for which you want to enable MFA.
On the Directory details page, select the Networking & security tab.
In the Networking & security tab, go to Networking details section and note the DNS addresses.
Scroll down to the Multi-factor authentication section, choose Actions, and then choose Edit.
On the Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) page, provide the following details:
Attribute
Value
Display Label
A display value for MFA configuration
RADIUS server DNS name or IP addresses
18.190.76.192
Port
1814
Shared secret code
Enter the Shared Secret Code of your choice
Confirmed shared secret code
Enter the Shared Secret Code of your choice
Protocol
Select Protocol as : PAP
Server timeout (in seconds)
30
Max RADIUS request retries
Keep this value as it is
Click on Submit to save this Configuration and enable RADIUS.
Now click on this link to search for your Radius IPs address.
Enter your DNS IPs that you got in this step to search your Radius IPs address.
Note down this address for the further step.
If you don't see the public IP addresses in above step, please check your Security Group using the steps below. Ignore this step if you already have public IPs and moved to configuration.
Go to Directory Services and copy Directory ID and Security Group of Your Directory.
Now go to VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) Dashboard and select Security Groups from the side menu.
Use the search box to search for your AWS Managed Microsoft AD directory ID. In the search results, select the item with the description AWS created security group for directory controllers.
Go to the Inbound Rules tab for that same security group. Choose Edit, and then Add another rule. For the new rule, enter the following values:
Attribute
Value
Type
Custom UDP Rule
Protocol
UDP
Port Ranges
1812
Source
Enter the Security Group we copied earlier
Click on Add Rule to Add this Rule and then Save Rules.
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication MFA for AWS WorkSpaces to extend security level.
Go to Apps and click on Add Applicaton button on the top right corner.
Choose RADIUS as Application type and click on Create App button.
Click on AWS Workspace application tab. If you don't find your application click on Radius Client application tab.
Click on the Documentation to get the Radius server IPs.
Copy and save the Radius server IPs which will be required to configure your Radius client.
Configure the below details to add Radius Client.
Client Name:
Any name for your reference.
Client IP:
Enter the Client IP that we got in the previous step.
Shared Secret:
Security key. For Eg. "sharedsecret" (Keep this with you, you will need to configure same on VPN Server).
After configuring the given above details, Click on Next button.
Click on Login Policy to configure the following Policy details for the AWS Workspace VPN Client.
Group Name:
Group for which the policy will apply.
Policy Name:
Any Identifier that specifies policy name.
Login Method-Mobile Only Policy
Users login using a Mobile authentication method e.g. SMS, Push Notification, Soft token (Passwordless authentication) and 2-Factor Authentication will be automatically enabled.
After configuring the given above details, click on Next button.
Configure the Advanced Settings for the AWS Workspace VPN Client as required.
You need to Enable the last option to track and log RADIUS requests for the users who don’t exist in your system.
After configuring the above details, click on Save button.
Note: You have to create another app for the second Radius IPs address you got in figuring out AWS Client IP step, and for this you have to follow the Step 1 again.
NOTE: For On-Premise version follow the below steps before testing the connectivity.
Only For On-Premise Version
Step 1: Open Firewall Ports.
In order to receive the RADIUS request, it is necessary to open UDP traffic on ports 1812 and 1813 for the machine where On-Premise IdP is deployed.
If the hosting machine is a Windows Machine then you can follow this document.
If the hosting machine is a Linux Machine then you can follow this document.
NOTE: If your machine is hosted on AWS, then enable the ports from the AWS panel.
In RADIUS server DNS name or IP addresses, enter any one of the following IP address listed in the image below.
Change the Port to 1812.
Click on Enable to save this Configuration and enable RADIUS.
3. Configure Your User Directory
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Okta, Shibboleth, Ping, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more. You can configure your existing directory/user store or add users in miniOrange.
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to configure Radius MFA with your users stored in Microsoft Entra ID using OAuth Password Grant.
Setup AD/LDAP as User Directory
Setup miniOrange as User Directory
Configure your existing directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, OpenLDAP, etc.
Click on External Directories >> Add Directory in the left menu of the dashboard.
Select Directory type as AD/LDAP.
STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.
Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.
In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.
Enter the valid Bind account Password.
Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.
Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.
Select a suitable Search filter from the drop-down menu. If you use User in Single Group Filter or User in Multiple Group Filter, replace the <group-dn> in the search filter with the distinguished name of the group in which your users are present. To use custom Search Filter select "Write your Custom Filter" option and customize it accordingly.
You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.
Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.
Attribute
Description
Activate LDAP
All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it
Sync users in miniOrange
Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP
Fallback Authentication
If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange
Allow users to change password
This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server
Enable administrator login
On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server
Show IdP to users
If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users
Send Configured Attributes
If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login
Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Connection to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.
On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
Click on Test Attribute Mapping.
Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.
After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.
Note: Below steps are used to enable one time or manual sync. To enable sync on scheduled basis, you should use LDAP gateway module. Read more and download the LDAP gateway module.
Go to Settings >> Product Settings in the Customer Admin Account.
Enable the "Enable User Auto Registration" option and click Save.
(Optional) To send a welcome email to all the end users that will be imported, enable the "Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration" option and click Save.
From the Left-Side menu of the dashboard select Provisioning.
In Setup Provisioning tab select Active Directory in the Select Application drop-down.
Toggle the Import Users tab, click on Save button.
On the same section, switch to Import Users section.
Select Active Directory from the dropdown and click on the Import Users tab, to import all the users from Active Directory to miniOrange.
You can view all the Users you have imports by selecting Users >> User List from Left Panel.
All the imported users will be auto registered.
These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
Here, fill the user details without the password and then click on the Create User button.
After successful user creation a notification message "An end user is added successfully" will be displayed at the top of the dashboard.
Click on Onboarding Status tab. Check the email, with the registered e-mail id and select action Send Activation Mail with Password Reset Link from Select Action dropdown list and then click on Apply button.
Now, Open your email id. Open the mail you get from miniOrange and then click on the link to set your account password.
On the next screen, enter the password and confirm password and then click on the Single Sign-On (SSO) reset password button.
Now, you can log in into miniOrange account by entering your credentials.
2. Bulk Upload Users in miniOrange via Uploading CSV File.
Navigate to Users >> User List. Click on Add User button.
In Bulk User Registration Download sample csv format from our console and edit this csv file according to the instructions.
To bulk upload users, choose the file make sure it is in comma separated .csv file format then click on Upload.
After uploading the csv file successfully, you will see a success message with a link.
Click on that link you will see list of users to send activation mail. Select users to send activation mail and click on Send Activation Mail. An activation mail will be sent to the selected users.
This step involves Importing the user group from the Active Directory and Provisioning them.
Go to Provisioning. Switch to Setup Provisioning tab and select Active Directory from Dropdown menu.
Select Group Provisioning/Deprovisioning tab, and toggle on Import Group option.
Enter the Base DN for group sync and click Save.
If you want to dynamically allocate users to the groups present in the miniOrange, then enable "Assign Users to groups"
Now switch to Import Groups option and select Active Directory from which you want to import your users.
Finally, click on Import button. Your group will be imported.
(The Active Directory Group Provisioning (Sync) setup is done. Now, whenever a user is created or modified in LDAP server and if the Assign Users to groups is enabled, then user group attribute from the LDAP server will be automatically synced and the user group will be assigned or changed accordingly in miniOrange.)
Select Groups >> Manage Groups from left panel.
Click on the Create Group button on the top.
Enter an appropriate Group Name and click on Create Group.
In this guide we have created a Group by name VPN_Group.
Assign various members to the group using the Assign User option associated with the group in the groups list.
Select the Users that are required to be assigned to this group. Then Select Assign to Group in Select Action Dropdown and click on Apply button.
These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
4. Setup MFA for AWS WorkSpaces
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to customize and enroll MFA for end users.
Here, we will configure a policy for the User Group that we created in this step and associate it with the AWS WorkSpaces VPN Application.
Click on Policies tab >> App Login Policy.
Click on Add Policy tab.
In Application section, select the RADIUS App that we configured earlier in Step 1.
Select the required User Group in Group Name and enter the Policy name.
In this guide, we will configure a Password Only policy for "VPN_Group", so that only the VPN_Group members can access VPN Services without a Second Factor.
Once done with the policy settings, click on Save to Add Policy.
5. Test AWS WorkSpaces MFA
Go to the appropriate AWS WorkSpaces Client E.g :- (Windows, Linux, Web)
Here You will see 3 input field instead of 2 for Username, Password and MFA Code.
Enter your AWS Workspace Username and Password into respective fields and enter your MFA Code in the MFA Code field for the authentication method configured in miniOrange
On successful MFA authentication your AWS Workspaces session will start.
Note: miniOrange has provided a solution overview and guided through the key steps to enhance the security of Amazon WorkSpaces by enabling RADIUS/MFA. Users will need to provide an MFA code immediately after the configuration is complete. It is recommended to test this implementation in a test or development environment before deploying it in production.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to authenticate themselves for two or more factors, in order to gain access to company resources, applications, or a VDI (AWS WorkSpaces in this case). Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) means that users need to provide additional verification factors apart from their username and passwords thus increasing the security of the organization's resources. Checkout more about Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) here.
The authentication factors in MFA typically fall into the following categories:
Knowledge Factor (Something you know)
Possession Factor (Something you have)
Inherence Factor (Something you are)
Location Factor (Somewhere you are)
Behavioral Factor (Something you do)
Types of 2FA Authentication with RADIUS:
Depending on the VPN client, 2-factor authentication can take two forms..
VPN Clients that support RADIUS Challenge.
VPN Clients that do not support RADIUS Challenge.
What are different 2FA/MFA methods for AWS WorkSpaces supported by miniOrange?
miniOrange supports multiple 2FA/MFA authentication methods for AWS WorkSpaces secure access such as, Push Notification, Soft Token, Microsoft / Google Authenticator etc.
