Trace log of wired and wifi clients

[sesarto]

Hi, I'm evaluating FirstSpot v3.1.4.
I was asked to implement a public internet access point (with both wired and wifi clients) where people get airtime for free.
Because of recent Italian anti-terrorism laws, the public hotspot manager must mantain and archive a detailed trace logs of each client IP visiting the Web, and must provide a mapping between that IP and the person who used it (if asked so by authorities).

I think your product give me all I need to "control" and "manage" client logon, but I understand that I need to add something else to get tracing.
I choose to try WinProxy 6.0 which supports transparent proxy.

I prepared two Win Xp Pro boxes, both with two NIC.
As a first try, I tested this configuration:

clients --> switch+AP --> FirstSpot box --> WinProxy box --> Internet

with FirstSpot acting as a DHCP server for the wired and wifi clients: the two boxes were connected with a simple cross-link cable.

I quickly discover that with this configuration I got only a "global" trace of all my network as a single IP (the external NIC of the FirstProxy box) but I lost any reference to the original client IPs. I was not able to get anything more from this configuration so I leaved it (maybe should I hack it more deeply?).

Now I'm testing the following scenario (all networks are /24):

clients --> switch+AP --> (192.168.1.1) WinProxy box (10.20.7.2) --> (10.20.7.1) FirstSpot box --> Internet

with the same hardware involved and the same cross-link cable between the two boxes. WinProxy is now the DHCP server.
I configured FirstSpot as described in "Scenario 3" topology with this MNS entry (I consider the WinProxy box as a router): Router IP=192.168.1.1, NetMask=255.255.255.0, Gateway=10.20.7.2.
I also configured session-handling by IP and disabled DHCP.

Now I get detailed trace log for the client IPs but FirstSpot recognize my clients network as a single computer with IP 10.20.7.2: the first client that ask for logon to the captive portal, if successful, gains Internet access to the whole network and any client can browse the Web until I disconnect the user (or airtime is exhausted)!

It seems that I cannot succeed in having both control+trace of each single client: when I get control I loose trace and vice versa!

Could you please help me and suggest a solution or a workaround (maybe I need different hardware or a different proxy)?

Best regards
Sergio Sartori

[alan]

URL tracking is available in the upcoming v4 (Advanced Edition).

I will send you a email on the link to download v4 beta 1.
_________________
~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[sesarto]

Thank you, I'll try tomorrow!
S.

[sesarto]

Really, really impressed by this beta! I'm testing it with great satisfaction.
I'm just waiting for an approval from the customer, but IMHO this is exactly what they want.
Thank you again, I hope this product will be released very soon.

Sergio Sartori

P.S.
May I suggest you 2 really small patches to make login work well with PocketPC?
In file fs_lang.php I change line 101 from

<select name=\"firstspotL\" onchange=\"document.getElementByID('lang_form').submit();\">\n";

to
<select name=\"firstspotL\" onchange=\"document.forms('lang_form').submit();\">\n";

and in line 127 I put a '@' in the statement

explode(";",@$_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'])

This way login page run just fine also with Windows CE 4.0 based PDA (in this platform, IE misses getElementByID() and language info in HTTP header).

[alan]

Thanks for your bug report. We will investigate the issue and provide feedback very shortly.
_________________
~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[alan]

After some investigation, we decide to incorporate your suggested changes (with a minor modification, see below) in our next v4 beta 2.

The first change will be:

<select name=\"firstspotL\" onchange=\"document.forms['lang_form'].submit();\">\n";

*we need to use ['lang_form'] instead of ('lang_form') due to Firefox compatibility issue.


Again, thank you for your suggestions.
_________________
~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[alberto]

Hi,

i'm working in an italian WISP and i'm evaluating FirstSpot to implemet it.
I read tha you Sergio are italian and i would like know what do you think about firstspot for italian use and the opinion of your clients...


Bye Alberto

[sesarto]

Hi Alberto,

sorry for this long delay, but it is nearly 10 months since the last time I needed help from this forum... so you can argue that, in my personal experience, FirstSpot is very good!
Anyway, I can't picture myself as an "expert" because WISP an Hotspot Management are really not my job; I've been using the product inside the URP facilities of a big town city-hall and both users and operators seems to enjoy it, so I can only say... have a try if you didn't yet.

Bye
S.