Authentication & Password Management
Your account security is important to us and we constantly strive to provide you with a more secure infrastructure. The authentication mechanism is the first layer of our Zenportal (cloud central management portal) and very important. Password-based authentication is used to access the portal. Beware that the stronger your password is, the more reliable and resistant your account to attacks. Cybercriminals use seriously advanced software that can crack usernames and passwords and they also use other techniques to phish for credentials from employees. Since adding additional authentication mechanisms to the authentication process typically provides an extra layer of security, Zenportal (Cloud Central Management Portal) supports two-factor authentication as an optional feature. We strongly recommend you use the 2FA method for your account.
Please read on to learn how you can accomplish this for your cloud account:
To start enjoying the central cloud management capability, you can either create a new account for the portal or Sign in with Google to the portal.
Creating a new account
Sign-up for a new account from the Zenportal - Cloud Central Management Portal if you have not done it already.
Figure 1. Signup Page for a new account from Sunny Valley Networks Zenportal
Sign in with Google
Instead of creating a new account, you can also Sign in with Google to the portal. However, please be informed that you can not use your Google credentials for registering your firewalls to the cloud portal. If you prefer this authentication method, you must also set a portal password for the first time to complete the firewall registration process successfully.
Setting Portal Password
To set your portal password, click on the Authentication & Security under the My Account dropdown menu in your portal dashboard. Then, click on the Send Password Change link button in the Password Panel.
Figure 2. Setting/Resetting Zenportal Password
This will send a link to set/reset your account password to your Gmail account. Check your Gmail Inbox (including Promotions and Spam inbox). You will find an email with the Reset Your Password subject sent by Sunny Valley Networks. Then, click on the Reset Password link in the email.
Figure 3. Reset Password E-mail
Clicking Reset Password link will open the Set New Password page in a new browser tab.
Fill in the New Password and New password confirmation fields and then click Reset Password button.
Figure 4. Resetting Cloud Portal Password
Changing the portal account password does not affect your Google Sign-In configuration.
Resetting Password
If you dont remember your password, you can reset it by clicking Forgot your password link on Zenportal Login Page. Then, you will be redirected to the Password Recovery Page. Enter your e-mail address and click Send Login Link button. You can follow the related steps explained in the Setting Portal Password section above.
Figure 5. Password Recovery Page
Enabling Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication is an optional feature. Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of user authentication apart from user name and password combination. You can secure your account by enabling a TOTP method. This extra layer of security can dramatically reduce the risk of a hostile takeover. We strongly encourage you to enable the 2FA method for your portal account. To begin using 2FA, you have to enable the feature on the cloud portal. Then you have to associate your account with a trusted device by an authenticator application.
After setup, we also generate recovery codes to use if you get locked out of your account.
To set up Two Factor Authentication for your portal account, click Authentication & Security under the My Account dropdown menu in your portal dashboard. Then, click Set up button in the Two Factor Authentication Panel.
Figure 6. Two-Factor Authentication Setup
This will let you go to the Two-Factor Authentication Configuration page. To be able to use 2FA, an authenticator application must be installed on your mobile device. You can use Google Authenticator or any other TOTP apps from stores.
Figure 7. Two-Factor Authentication Configuration
First, scan the QR code displayed on the configuration page by the authenticator application.
Then, enter the code from your authenticator application and your portal password to the related fields.
Lastly, click Next button at the bottom of the panel.
Figure 8. Message indicating that 2FA is enabled
Enabling 2FA will generate Recovery Codes automatically and don`t forget to keep these codes in a safe location.
Figure 9. Automatically generated recovery codes
You can now access your account in a more secure way by using two-factor authentication. After entering your email and password in the Zenportal Login Page, you will be redirected to the Two-Factor Authentication page. To access your account dashboard, you must enter a one-time code generated by your authenticator application or one of your recovery codes.
Figure 10. Two-Factor Authentication Page
Disabling Two Factor Authentication
To disable Two Factor Authentication for your portal account, click Authentication & Security under the My Account dropdown menu in your portal dashboard. Then, click Disable button in the Two Factor Authentication pane.
Figure 11. Disabling Two-Factor Authentication
Disabling Two-Factor Authentication must be confirmed by entering your portal password on the next page.
Figure 12. Confirmation of Disabling 2FA Method
Entering your portal password will disable the 2FA method for your account.
Figure 13. Message indicating that 2FA is disabled
Reconfiguring Two Factor Authentication
In some cases such as changing your previously registered mobile device or authenticator application, you may have to reconfigure 2FA for your portal account using the new device/application.
To reconfigure Two Factor Authentication for your account, click Authentication & Security under the My Account dropdown menu in your portal dashboard. Then, click Reconfigure button in the Two Factor Authentication pane.
Figure 14. Reconfiguring Two-Factor Authentication
Then, follow the steps explained in Enabling Two-Factor Authentication section above.
Regenerating Backup/Recovery Codes
If you are not able to use one-time codes generated by the authentication application in your mobile device somehow and get locked out of your account, backup codes can be used for accessing the portal account. Enabling 2FA generates nine Recovery Codes with nine digits automatically. Each of the codes can be used only one-time. If you lose or run out of the Recovery Codes, you can regenerate them.
To regenerate Recovery Codes, click Authentication & Security under the My Account dropdown menu in your portal dashboard. Then, click Regenerate button in the Backup Codes Pane.
Figure 15. Regenerating Recovery Codes
You must enter your password for confirming the regeneration of the codes and then click Regenerate button.
Figure 16. Confirming the regeneration of the recovery codes
Figure 17. Regenerated recovery codes