Users not shown on Status Page

[alan]

One simple question, is Session Handling set to IP-based (refer to firstspot_guide.pdf for more details)?
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[tjonesokla]

Session Handling looks to be set to MAC by default and we can not change it.

[alan]

I think I understand your issue.

The reason for same MAC and different IP is that there is a router (in your case, a normal non-NAT one) between the client PC and FirstSpot. This setup is perfectly fine ( see Scenario 3:
Centralized Network Topology at http://www.patronsoft.com/firstspot/topologies.html ). The issue is that you need to use IP-based Session Handling for this setup to work since FirstSpot needs to recognize the client PC by IP instead of MAC (refer to firstspot_guide.pdf for definition on Session Handling).

But according to our record, you only have a Standard Edition license so you are unable to change to IP-based Session Handling (see http://www.patronsoft.com/firstspot/editions.html for a comparison between different editions).

You might need to trade-up to Advanced Edition for your setup to work.
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[tjonesokla]

We do not have any routers between FirstSpot and clients. We use a system of bridges and access points. I do not understand why FirstSpot would allow a computer to connect to the system without logging in if it is handling the sessions by MAC address. It should read the MAC address of each computer that tries to access the internet and cause it to be directed to the login page. Since FirstSpot is handing out the IP addresses as a DHCP server it should identify the computer before it has an IP address. Again, we do not have any routers between FirstSpot and the clients. So the Standart edition does not provide security and does not provide the "Web-based login, no extra client required". I think this is a major point that should be clearly stated in your sales information. I don't suppose this is fixed in version 4?

[alan]

There are really no problems in v3 as far as we can tell.

Again you need to use Ethereal to sniff packets in the FirstSpot machine, or use the test I specified above.
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[tjonesokla]

We are downloading, installing and learning the Ethereal software. In the mean time...what can we do about the problem with people who do not get a login page but just go straight to the internet. I think FirstSpot is reading the MAC address of the access point and not the client's MAC.

[tjonesokla]

We have been checking our system with Ethereal and comparing the results with what is shown on the Status page of FirstSpot. Here is what we have found. We are seeing IP addresses on Ethereal that are not listed on the Status page of FirstSpot. Also we have tracked that some clients who are listed on the Status page show the MAC address of one of our Access Points instead of their computer and their IP address is not listed. We noticed the IP addresses that were captured in Ethereal but not shown in FirstSpot were clients attached through the same Access Point. Here is what seems to be happening...
The first client each day who logs on through our Access Point in their neighborhood gets the login page from Firstspot, but Firstspot reads the MAC address of our Access Point not their computer. After the first client logs on the other clients in the same neighborhood connecting through the same Access Point do not get the login page and they are not listed on the Status page because Firstspot reads them as the same computer because it is not receiving their MAC. This means they are not listed on the User log so we can not track their use. It also means that anyone who wants to use our internet service at no charge can access the service.
Again, we do not use any routers only access points and bridges. We are using a dLink access point in one neighborhood and smartBridges access points in two other neighborhoods and this is happening in all three neighborhoods. I hope I have explained this so you can understand. Let me know if you need more information.

[alan]

You need to use Ethereal to sniff the MAC instead of IP.

Also, it is normal that IP address is not showed up in the Status page. Refer to firstspot_guide.pdf for the reason.
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[Andy-JSR]

We are having the same problem as described.

The first client each day who logs on through our Access Point in their neighborhood gets the login page from Firstspot, but Firstspot reads the MAC address of our Access Point not their computer. After the first client logs on the other clients in the same neighborhood connecting through the same Access Point do not get the login page and they are not listed on the Status page because Firstspot reads them as the same computer because it is not receiving their MAC. This means they are not listed on the User log so we can not track their use. It also means that anyone who wants to use our internet service at no charge can access the service.

Did you get a resolution. We have a number of installations of firstspot, and as far as we can tell this is set up the same way. Customer is losing confidence in the system.

Can you help??

[alan]

This is due to the Access Point is connected incorrectly. It needs to act as a bridge instead of router. One way to do it is to make sure the WAN port of NOT used.
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