Reporting and Analytics

IronWiFi provides detailed reporting on authentication events, session data, bandwidth usage, and user activity. Use these reports to monitor network health, audit access, plan capacity, and demonstrate compliance.

Accessing Reports

1. Log in to the IronWiFi Console
2. Navigate to Reports in the main menu
3. Select the report type from the submenu

Reports are available for all Networks in your account. Use filters to narrow results by date range, Network, user, or authentication result.

Report Types

Authentication Reports

Authentication reports show every RADIUS authentication request processed by IronWiFi.

Field	Description
Timestamp	Date and time of the authentication attempt
Username	The identity used for authentication
Result	Accept, Reject, or Challenge
NAS IP	IP address of the access point or controller
Auth Method	EAP type used (PEAP, EAP-TLS, PAP, etc.)
Reject Reason	Specific reason for rejected attempts

Filtering authentication data

Use filters to isolate specific issues:

• By result -- Show only rejected attempts to identify failing users
• By date range -- Compare authentication patterns across time periods
• By NAS IP -- Isolate issues to a specific access point
• By username -- Track a single user's authentication history

tip

When troubleshooting a user's connection issues, filter the authentication report by their username and sort by newest first. The reject reason column tells you exactly why authentication failed.

Session Reports

Session reports track active and historical user sessions, including connection duration and data transfer.

Field	Description
Username	Authenticated user identity
Session ID	Unique session identifier
Start Time	When the session began
Stop Time	When the session ended (blank if active)
Duration	Session length in seconds
Input Octets	Data uploaded by the client (bytes)
Output Octets	Data downloaded by the client (bytes)
NAS IP	Access point serving the session
Terminate Cause	Reason the session ended

Common terminate causes:

Cause	Meaning
User-Request	User disconnected voluntarily
Session-Timeout	Session exceeded configured time limit
Idle-Timeout	No activity for the configured idle period
Admin-Reset	Administrator terminated the session
NAS-Reboot	Access point restarted
Lost-Carrier	Client lost wireless signal

Bandwidth Usage Reports

Bandwidth reports aggregate data transfer across users, time periods, and access points.

Per-user bandwidth:

1. Navigate to Reports > Sessions
2. Filter by the target user
3. Review the Input Octets and Output Octets columns
4. Sum values across sessions for total usage within the date range

Per-network bandwidth:

1. Navigate to Reports > Sessions
2. Filter by the target Network
3. Review aggregate data transfer totals shown at the bottom of the report

note

RADIUS accounting must be enabled on your access points for session and bandwidth data to appear in reports. Configure your access points to send accounting packets to IronWiFi's accounting port (shown in your Network settings).

User Activity Reports

Track individual user behavior over time:

• Login frequency -- How often a user connects
• Session duration patterns -- Average session length
• Device usage -- MAC addresses used by a user
• Location tracking -- Which access points a user connects to (by NAS IP)
• Data consumption -- Upload and download volumes per session

Working with Report Data

Searching and Filtering

All report views support:

• Date range picker -- Select start and end dates
• Text search -- Search by username, MAC address, or NAS IP
• Column sorting -- Click column headers to sort ascending/descending
• Result filters -- Filter by authentication result (Accept/Reject)

Exporting Data

Export report data for external analysis, compliance audits, or archival.

1. Navigate to the desired report
2. Apply any filters to narrow the data set
3. Click Export
4. Choose the export format:
   • CSV -- For spreadsheet analysis (Excel, Google Sheets)
   • JSON -- For programmatic processing

tip

For large exports spanning many months, narrow your date range and export in smaller batches. This keeps file sizes manageable and avoids timeouts.

Programmatic Access via API

Retrieve report data programmatically using the REST API:

See the API Endpoints reference for available query parameters and response formats.

Configuring RADIUS Accounting

For session and bandwidth data to appear in reports, your access points must send RADIUS accounting packets to IronWiFi.

Access point configuration

1. In the IronWiFi Console, navigate to Networks and note your Accounting Port
2. On your access point or controller, configure RADIUS accounting:
   • Accounting Server IP -- Same as your RADIUS authentication server IP
   • Accounting Port -- The accounting port from your Network settings
   • Shared Secret -- Same shared secret as authentication
   • Accounting Interval -- Recommended: 300 seconds (5 minutes)

Accounting packet types

Packet	When Sent	Contains
Accounting-Start	User connects	Session ID, username, NAS IP
Interim-Update	At configured interval	Running session time, data counters
Accounting-Stop	User disconnects	Final session time, total data, terminate cause

warning

If your access points do not send accounting packets, the Sessions report will be empty even though authentication works. Always configure both authentication and accounting on your access points.

Verifying accounting data

1. Connect a test user to your WiFi network
2. Wait at least one accounting interval (e.g., 5 minutes)
3. Check Reports > Sessions in the IronWiFi Console
4. Confirm the session appears with data counters

If no sessions appear, check:

• Accounting server IP and port match your Network settings
• Shared secret is identical for both authentication and accounting
• Firewall allows outbound UDP on the accounting port
• Your access point has RADIUS accounting enabled (not just authentication)

Common Reporting Use Cases

Compliance auditing

Export authentication logs regularly for compliance requirements (ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR). Authentication reports provide a complete audit trail of who accessed the network, when, and from which device.

Capacity planning

Use session and bandwidth reports to:

• Identify peak usage times and plan for growth
• Detect access points with consistently high client counts
• Monitor bandwidth trends to anticipate upgrades

Troubleshooting connectivity

When a user reports intermittent connectivity:

1. Filter authentication reports by their username
2. Look for patterns -- repeated rejects followed by accepts may indicate signal issues
3. Check session reports for short session durations or

   Lost-Carrier

   terminate causes
4. Identify if the issue is specific to one access point (NAS IP)

Detecting unauthorized access

Review authentication reports for:

• Failed login attempts from unknown usernames
• High volumes of rejects from a single NAS IP
• Successful authentications at unusual hours
• Users authenticating from unexpected locations

Data Retention

IronWiFi retains report data based on your account plan:

• Authentication logs are available for the retention period configured in your account
• Session data follows the same retention policy
• Export data regularly if you need to retain records beyond your plan's retention period

note

For long-term archival, set up a scheduled export using the REST API to pull data into your own storage on a regular basis.

Related Topics

• Networks -- RADIUS server configuration including accounting ports
• Troubleshooting -- Diagnosing authentication failures using report data
• REST API -- Programmatic access to reporting data
• Groups -- Group-level policies that affect session behavior
• Attributes -- RADIUS attributes that control sessions and bandwidth