RADIUS in the Cloud. Finally.
Tired of babysitting FreeRADIUS, patching NPS, or paying for Cisco ISE licenses? IronWiFi runs your RADIUS authentication in the cloud - with built-in certificates, policies, and device trust. Set up in minutes, not weeks. No servers, no maintenance, no headaches.
Cloud RADIUS is a fully managed RADIUS-as-a-Service that eliminates the need for on-premise authentication servers. IronWiFi delivers cloud-hosted RADIUS with built-in certificate management, access policies, and device trust across six global regions, supporting 50+ hardware vendors with setup in under fifteen minutes and multi-region availability.
What Is Cloud RADIUS (and Why Is It More Than RADIUS)?
Network authentication without the server room
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) is the protocol that decides who gets on your network. Every time someone connects to WiFi with their own credentials instead of a shared password, a RADIUS server is doing the work behind the scenes.
Traditionally, that meant running your own server - FreeRADIUS on Linux, Microsoft NPS on Windows Server, or Cisco ISE for the enterprise crowd. All of them require hardware, patching, certificate management, and someone who knows how to keep them running.
A cloud RADIUS server does the same job, but IronWiFi runs the infrastructure for you. You point your access points at our servers, connect your identity provider, and you're done. We handle the uptime, the updates, and the global distribution.
Think of it as RADIUS-as-a-Service: all the authentication power, none of the operational burden.
Fully Managed
No servers to install, patch, or monitor. We handle all of it.
Globally Distributed
6 regions worldwide for low-latency authentication everywhere.
Standards-Based
RFC 2865 compliant. Works with any RADIUS-capable hardware.
Always Available
Multi-region redundancy with automatic failover between regions.
How Does Cloud RADIUS Work?
Four steps between your user and secure network access
The Authentication Flow
When someone connects to your network, here is what happens behind the scenes - in milliseconds:
Device Connects
A user or device joins your WiFi and presents credentials (username/password) or a certificate to the access point.
Access Point Forwards to IronWiFi
Your access point sends the RADIUS request to IronWiFi's nearest cloud server. No on-premise RADIUS needed.
Identity Verification
IronWiFi checks the credentials against your identity provider - Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta, or your LDAP directory.
Access Granted with Policies
The user gets network access with the right VLAN, bandwidth limits, and access policies applied automatically.
Why This Architecture Matters
Zero On-Prem Footprint
No servers in your closet. No VMs to maintain. Just point your APs at our cloud.
Automatic Failover
If one region has an issue, your traffic routes to the nearest healthy one instantly.
End-to-End Encryption
RADIUS traffic encrypted via RadSec (RADIUS over TLS) between your AP and our cloud.
Full Audit Trail
Every authentication attempt logged with timestamps, device info, and results.
Why Upgrade from On-Prem RADIUS to a Full Identity Stack?
See how IronWiFi stacks up against the servers you are maintaining today
Who Uses Cloud RADIUS?
Organizations of every size rely on IronWiFi for secure network authentication
Enterprise WPA-Enterprise
Certificate-based WiFi authentication that eliminates shared passwords and ensures only authorized devices connect to corporate networks.
Education & eduroam
Secure campus networks for students, faculty, and visitors with eduroam federation support and role-based VLAN assignment.
Healthcare
HIPAA-compliant wireless authentication that segments medical devices, staff, and patient networks with full audit trails.
Multi-Site Retail
Centralized authentication across hundreds of store locations with one dashboard. No per-site RADIUS servers needed.
MSPs & Multi-Tenant
Managed service providers use IronWiFi to offer multi-tenant RADIUS with isolated client environments and white-label options.
IoT Device Authentication
Authenticate and segment IoT devices like sensors, cameras, and kiosks with MAC-based or certificate-based RADIUS policies.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Built for organizations that take network security seriously
Works With Your Existing Hardware
Any RADIUS-capable access point works out of the box. No hardware changes needed.
"We migrated from on-prem FreeRADIUS to IronWiFi's Cloud RADIUS in a single afternoon. Zero downtime, and our IT team got back 15 hours a month they used to spend on maintenance."
Director of IT, Pacific Health Network
Frequently Asked Questions About Cloud RADIUS
Common questions about RADIUS-as-a-Service
What is a Cloud RADIUS server?
A Cloud RADIUS server handles WiFi authentication without on-premise hardware. Instead of maintaining your own FreeRADIUS, NPS, or Cisco ISE installation, IronWiFi runs the RADIUS infrastructure for you in the cloud across 6 global regions with automatic failover.
How is Cloud RADIUS different from FreeRADIUS?
With FreeRADIUS, you maintain the server, apply patches, manage certificates, and configure failover yourself. Cloud RADIUS eliminates all of that - IronWiFi handles the infrastructure, updates, redundancy, and global distribution while you configure policies through a simple dashboard.
What identity providers does it work with?
IronWiFi integrates natively with Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta, OneLogin, JumpCloud, and any LDAP or Active Directory. Configuration takes minutes - your users authenticate with their existing credentials.
How long does migration take?
Most organizations migrate in under 15 minutes with our guided setup. You point your access points at IronWiFi's RADIUS servers, connect your identity provider, and you're live. No downtime required.
Is Cloud RADIUS secure enough for healthcare?
Yes. IronWiFi is SOC 2 Type II certified and HIPAA-ready with 256-bit TLS encryption on all RADIUS traffic. We provide complete audit trails for every authentication event, and support EAP-TLS certificate-based authentication for the highest security.
What happens if the cloud goes down?
We run RADIUS servers across 6 global regions with automatic failover. If one region has an issue, traffic routes to the nearest healthy region instantly. We back this with a 99.9% uptime SLA, and most access points cache authenticated sessions locally as a safety net.
Talk to a WiFi Identity Specialist
- See IronWiFi working with your hardware
- Get a deployment plan for your network
- 30-minute call — no pitch deck
Set up in under 15 minutes — no credit card required