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Clarification

Sat, 11/17/2007 - 20:17 — coolbeansdude51

Hello to all. I have been researching coova and wifidog for a while now and I am wondering if someone could please clarify somethings for me.

Here are my impressions of how I could/would set up a coova hotspot service.

1. You would need a server running CoovaChilli with either freeradius or JRadius.
2. You would need a or a couple of routers (WRT54GL for example) with CoovaAP.
3. You can configure the router to communicate with the CoovaChilli server. The router and the server do not have to be physically connected by a network cable. They both have to be connect to the internet though.
4. All of the session management and authentication would be done by CoovaChilli.
5. The user would/could see a captive portal asking for either them to register or for them to login.
6. After they have registered they would be allowed onto the internet though the internet connection the router has.
7. The user management would all be done though the CoovaChilli.

Side question: Is it possible to track where the user is visiting? IE. If the user goes to google.com there is a record kept of that. Is there an ability for URL filtering/IP filtering. Can I keep track of where my users are going and how often etc.

My question is ... is the above assumptions correct. Also where does CoovaAAA come into play? Is CoovaAAA like CoovaChilli for people that don't want to run there own CoovaChilli server?

Thanks so much. I hope that all made sense.

Another less important question but I think a fun one is ... Is it possible to use mess protocols and software with CoovaAP? Basically can I create a massive mess network with CoovaAP? :-0

I know that was a lot ... Thanks so much for your help!

-Coolbeansdude51

‹ Administrative concole can't connect - HELP ›
Sun, 11/18/2007 - 22:15 — coolbeansdude51

Re: Clarification

Wow!

Thanks David! That was exactly what I was looking for.

Sun, 11/18/2007 - 21:04 — david

Re: Clarification

You can use CoovaAP with wifidog (it's one of the HotSpot Type options)... As you know, wifidog has two parts: the access controller software (I believe they call it their gateway) and the php-based captive portal application. Chilli is also an access controller and is not compatible with wifidog. For wifidog, you need to (or probably should) use their captive portal application. Chilli comes with a sample hotspotlogin.cgi script in perl to demonstrate how the simple API works, but many implement the API into their own back-end application and setup RADIUS for provisioning and accounting. Ultimately, RADIUS is what controls the access controller in Chilli - the login script only kicks-off the process. With wifidog, only the captive portal application controls and communicates with the access controller - RADIUS is supported in the captive portal for authentication, but not in the access controller. As for CoovaAAA, as a RADIUS service, it can work with both Chilli and WiFiDog (with patches). There are other differences and abilities, but that's it in a nut-shell.

Sun, 11/18/2007 - 20:39 — coolbeansdude51

Re: Clarification

Thanks so much for the fast reply. I am testing out wifidog right now and I must say ... I like it.

I am still trying to understand just how Coova and wifidog are different. I have seen on the forums that Coova is more of an enterprise class solution. Could someone help me understand just how wifidog and Coova are different?

Thanks,
Coolbeansdude51

Sun, 11/18/2007 - 10:35 — litihon

Re: Clarification

You can either use coovaAP or coovachilli. You don't need them booth. If you don't have a radius server, you can use coovaAAA. You can log the sites visited by the users by using a transparent proxy server.