What firewall rules does the connector need?
One outbound rule to the internet, and one outbound rule on the LAN. Nothing inbound, from anywhere. The connector opens every connection it takes part in, which is what lets it work behind NAT and CGNAT.
Passbeam
connector.passbeam.co.uk
Outbound TCP 443
The only connection leaving your network. Nothing inbound from the internet, ever.
Connector
A container on the customer's own network, run with --network host
Outbound UDP 3799
Disconnect and CoA, to private addresses only. The reply comes back on the same flow, so no inbound rule is needed.
Access point, switch or VPN gateway
Must have disconnect requests enabled, and the connector's address in its RADIUS profile
The reply to a disconnect returns on the flow the connector opened, so a stateful firewall needs no rule for it. Scope the LAN rule to your network equipment rather than to the whole subnet. The connector refuses anything else itself — private addresses only, those two ports only, and only RADIUS codes 40 and 43 — but a rule that says the same thing does not depend on trusting our code.
| Direction | Protocol | Port | Other end | What for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbound, to the internet | TCP | 443 | connector.passbeam.co.uk | The only external connection: enrolment, waiting for work, and reporting results |
| Outbound, to the internet | UDP/TCP | 53 | Your own resolver | To resolve that name. Not needed if the firewall resolves on its behalf |
| Outbound, on the LAN | UDP | 3799 | Your access points, switches and gateways | RFC 5176 Disconnect and CoA. The reason the connector exists |
| Outbound, on the LAN | UDP | 1700 | Your access points, switches and gateways | The same, for equipment using Cisco's older port. Omit if none of yours do |
| Inbound, from the LAN | UDP | 1812 | Your equipment | RADIUS proxy only, and it ships switched off. Not needed for disconnect |
| Inbound, from the LAN | UDP | 1813 | Your equipment | RADIUS proxy only, and it ships switched off. Not needed for disconnect |
| Inbound, from the internet | — | None | — | There is no rule to add, and you should not add one |
`connector.passbeam.co.uk` is served through Cloudflare, so it has no stable IP address and we will not pretend otherwise. Write the rule against the name if your firewall supports it, or allow Cloudflare's published ranges — wider than ideal, and we would rather say so. If neither works for you, tell us: Passbeam already publishes its RADIUS listeners on fixed addresses, so an endpoint on one is something we know how to do.
The two inbound rows are for the RADIUS proxy, which ships switched off. That is the other half of the connector — your equipment pointing authentication and accounting at it, and the connector forwarding them to Passbeam over the connection it already holds. On a default install it listens on nothing at all, so skip those rows unless you have deliberately turned it on.
One requirement that is not a firewall rule: the clock has to be roughly right, within a few minutes, or TLS validation fails. Any normal time sync will do.
Related questions
- RADIUS or RADSec — which should I use?
- Is standard RADIUS safe enough to use?
- What address and port do I point my equipment at?
- A printer keeps failing with a TLS error. Why would I let a site accept older TLS?
- A camera or printer is still refused after I allowed older TLS. What now?
- Can Passbeam authenticate our VPN as well as the network?
- Our VPN concentrator serves several clients from one address. Will Passbeam tell them apart?
- Can I let only some people use the VPN, but everyone use the office network?
- Can I require a second factor on the VPN?
- Do you support PEAP, MSCHAPv2 or EAP-TTLS?
- Do you support RADIUS accounting?
- How do I disconnect a device that is already connected?
Still stuck? Ask us, or read the rest of the knowledge base.