On 2 and 3 July 2019, the Ukrainian NREN URAN Association completed connections of the first two institutions to eduroam (global Wi-Fi roaming) using the newly released eduroam managed IdP service.

For the eduroam service to work in any organisation, it needs a set of software and hardware. It is necessary to produce passwords and logins, i.e. act as an identity provider, (IdP). This identity provider maintains the records necessary for users to access eduroam. The institution must maintain its own database plus have a software server (RADIUS server) that will perform the authorisation.

For small institutions, this might be too complicated. First, the technical staff must have special knowledge and skills, which means that it must be trained; secondly, IT specialists should spend additional time on database maintenance; thirdly, it takes time and money to purchase a server and set up the software. And all these efforts – in order to create a database of only fifty/one hundred users, sometimes even less. Until recently, due to such restrictions, small research and educational institutions of Ukraine did not dare to connect to eduroam.”

Yevhenii Preobrazhenskyi, URAN, Executive Director
Yevhenii Preobrazhenskyi, ©URAN

eduroam managed IdP, a perfect solution for small institutions

To facilitate participation in eduroam for small organisations, GÉANT has developed a service called eduroam managed IdP. Through participation in the EaPConnect project, the URAN Association can offer such a connection to its customers.