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Thread: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

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    Question Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Hi,

    I hope the title made sense, I wasn't sure how to word it!

    A bit of background info:
    Basically I have set up a simple wireless network at my club which consists of a router with 2 Antenna's attached via wireless access points. This system works really well but I have to tell everyone the encryption key so they can connect.

    I would like to setup the system so that users can be given a unique code valid for x amount of weeks, which they enter at a login page when they open their browser, and do away with the encryption code on the router.
    I assume it would have to be a some sort of page which intercepts the connection or something?
    Is there a way of doing this? I am good on computers, but this is past my knowledge!

    Many Thanks,
    Louis

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    The easiest thing to do is to restrict the system by MAC address of the network card, that way your know who's equipement is whos. The problem with the Key system you suggest is, you need to let everyone on the network first, you current system "encrypts the wire" so to speak. If your not issuing the key then they will open access.

    Now to do what you want you need to have a firewall that redirects all traffic to a login site, when the user is logged in the firewall can then let it through, if you only wish to allow web traffic, you can do this by not allowing any connections to the outside world from the guests and making all traffic go via a web proxy which requires authenication, squid can do this.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    So I need to run a firewall that will redirect all the traffic to a seperate website, will that all run off a router, or will I need a computer to be on and connected all the time?
    I will only want to allow web traffic, so how would I go about setting up a web proxy?

    I havent done anything like this before, so its all new to me and a huge interesting learning curve!

    Thanks,
    Louis

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    I can't remember what they are called, but you do get wireless routers that manage all this.

    They have a ticket printer (takes a till roll) and you just log into the routers admin page and print a ticket that will last anything from an hour to whatever. Then the person just opens a browser and puts the code that came on the receipt giving them time online.

    They are supposed to be completely simple to use and administer without the need to mess around with MAC addresses and IPs.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    What about RADIUS? I think that's pretty much what you described in the OP. MAC filtering is a bit pointless since it's trivial to spoof a MAC address.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    What about RADIUS? I think that's pretty much what you described in the OP. MAC filtering is a bit pointless since it's trivial to spoof a MAC address.
    Mac filtering was only went as a way the poster could continue to use the current hared password system. I realise its limitations. As only people with the password could spoof the macs. Which is a bit pointless if you have access and annoying if you have to give your mac to someone else as you then cannot use the network.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    I like the idea of a router that will print out tickets with unique codes, does anyone know what they are called so I can research them?

    watercooled: What is a RADIUS?

    Thanks,
    Louis

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    I'll warn you, they are not cheap.

    Here is an SMC one: http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=4778

    And a Zyxel: http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=3110

    There may be others, and you might find them cheaper, but that gives you a start.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    From Wikipedia:
    This stands for Remote Authentication Dial In User Service. This is an AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) protocol used for remote network access. This service provides an excellent weapon against crackers. RADIUS was originally proprietary but was later published under ISOC documents RFC 2138 and RFC 2139. The idea is to have an inside server act as a gatekeeper through the use of verifying identities through a username and password that is already pre-determined by the user. A RADIUS server can also be configured to enforce user policies and restrictions as well as recording accounting information such as time connected for billing purposes.
    But it would involve having a server on the network capable of doing the work. Windows server 2003/2008 support this so if you already have a server on your network it's just a case of enabling the RADIUS service and configuring it. If you don't have a server already then you could use something like this: http://freeradius.org/

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Free radius is an open source implementation of a RADIUS server, and could be configured to do what you want. However... (always a however) as soon as you start implementing something like that, you start running into administrative overheads. You would probably need a database to store users names and access periods. One way would be a *nix system hosting the Feree RADIUS server and the MySql database.

    BT used to do "an acess point in a box" designed for the sort of thing you had in mind. IIRC, it cost around £200 to £250 and implemented a PAYG type of access, but I don't know if they still sell it. This http://www.btopenzone.com/partner-zone/index.jsp is the nearest current offering I found.

    However you need to remeber that although the RADIUS server will take care of authentication and grant access, you may still want to encrypt the wireless link for privacy. Some of the higher end routers will interface with a RADIUS server and the RADIUS server can hand out the required session key, but you would need to research encryption methods, RADIUS and routers carefully. You could start by looking at the Draytek router range which includes RADIUS support and then look at the Free RADIUS manual. Be warned, it is fairly heavy going! (I looked at it some time ago, but I don't have my notes to hand, and I can't remember the details)
    Last edited by peterb; 25-02-2010 at 03:14 PM.
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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Crikey, they are expensive but I think its the best route. I might find a second hand one somewhere that's a bit cheaper, or shop around for a good deal.
    Is there a router that will do the same thing without a printer, where I can just write down the code?

    RADIUS sounds like it would work great, but I thinks its too heavy going and I don't have a server on the network or experience in databases & mysql.

    Thanks,
    Louis

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    If you have a search about, there are articles about turning a Linksys WRT54GL into a hot spot router. This router runs linux and not long after it came out people hacked it to be able to take alternative firmware versions, you can now do some very cool things with them.

    I don't know how well it works, but it's worth looking into. Another alternative would be to contact people people like Broadband Buyer to see if there is anything else they could supply for you.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    why not have a captive portal on pfSense then setup user accounts on that?
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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jay View Post
    why not have a captive portal on pfSense then setup user accounts on that?
    Sorry for the delay in replying, life and work has been busy just lately! What is a captive portal on pfSense?

    Thanks,
    Louis

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Pretty much what you described TBH, and there's a great walkthrough of how to do it here: http://doc.pfsense.org/smiller/Captive_Portal.htm. pfSense is an OpenBSD based firewall/router distribution with tons of useful features, basically an operating system you can install on any computer with at least 2 NICs but you'd probably be better of with an ALIX/Intel Atom based system partly because of their low power consumption.

    Edit: Here's another one worth watching: http://mirror.qubenet.net/mirror/pfs...sermanager.htm
    Last edited by watercooled; 03-03-2010 at 12:33 AM.

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    Re: Sharing wireless internet with unique user codes?

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    basically an operating system you can install on any computer with at least 2 NICs
    Actually you don't need two nics if you have a switch that does vlans, so you can do a router on a stick configuration.
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