Howto setup an Internet Wi-Fi Hotspot

A howto for DD-WRT, Chillispot and FreeRadius.

Feel free to copy or use this information in any way you like.

What you will need:-

a) DD-WRT

Download the latest version

b) FreeRadius

Download the latest version

c) phpMyPrepaid

d) Linsys WRT54G AP

e) You will also need PHP, Apache, MySQL amd MySql Delopment Modules,(These need to be setup first.) some patience, plenty of beer and cigarettes.

Step 1 DD-WRT/Chillispot Configuration

Configure the WRT-54G with the standard Linksys software and the use the upgrade firmware module to install the dd-wrt package on the AP.

*******IMPORTANT*******
Use your cable connection to do the upgrade. NOT the wireless connection

Reboot the AP and login to your new firmare.

Set Dynamic configuration DHCP

Disable DHCP (Chillispot will manage DHCP for your clients.)

Change the Local IP of the AP to 192.168.10.1.

Set your gateway and DNS addresses.

Update changes and log back in to the new IP address.

Go to the administration page.

Enable Chillispot

Enter the IP address of your Radius server

Enter the DNS

Enter the redirect URL eg HTTPS://123.123.123.123/cgi-bin/hotspotlogin.cgi/ (MAke sure that the address ends in / and is https.)

Enter a shared key. (This can be anything you like, but keep a note of it you will need it later.)

Set DHCP Interface to Lan+Wlan

Enter a NAS id (Your name for your AP)

Enter a UAM secret (This is the password that Chilli will use to talk to hotspotlogin.cgi)

Save your settings and reboot the AP. Please give the AP about 10 minutes to reboot and initialise all the new services.

Step 2 FreeRadius Configuration.

Untar the FreeRadius tar file and enter its directory.

Type ./configure --with-experimental-modules

make

login as root and type make install

When this is finished copy the radiusd.conf file that you downloaded earlier to /usr/local/etc/raddb/

You should not need to edit radiusd.conf

Edit /usr/local/etc/raddb/sql.conf and in the SQL section make these changes

# Database type

# Current supported are: rlm_sql_mysql, rlm_sql_postgresql,

# rlm_sql_iodbc, rlm_sql_oracle, rlm_sql_unixodbc, rlm_sql_freetds

driver = "rlm_sql_mysql"

# Connect info

server = "localhost"

login = "yourlogin"

password = "your password"

# Database table configuration

radius_db = "radius"

Edit the /usr/local/etc/raddb/clients.conf file and enter the details of your NAS (AP)

client xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx { (This is the address of your NAS or WRT54G )

secret = xxxxxxx (The secret you entered in the Chilli Config)

shortname = private-network-9 (This can be any name)

nastype = other

( If you want to set up several AP's with one secret the IP address above should be 0.0.0.0/0 )

}

Step 3 hotspotlogin.cgi

Copy hotspotlogin.cgi from http://chillispot.org to /var/www/cgi-bin

Edit the file and change the secret to the UAM secret that you entered in the Chillispot configuration on the WRT54G

Step 4 phpMyPrepaid and MySQL

Extract the phpMyPrepaid file to a directory on your webserver eg /var/www/html/myprepaid

Create a MySQL database called radius and create a user and password for it. Use a script called db_mysql.db that you will find in the phpMyPrepaid download to create the database tables.

Edit the dbconnect.php file in the phpMyPrepaid directory and enter the username and password for your MySQL radius database. IMPORTANT Save this file behind your web directory or your passwords will be easy to hack.

Edit config.inc.php and change the line that points to dbconnect to wherever you have saved dbconnect.php

In your web browser got to http://yoursite.com/whereveryouputphpmyprepaid/ and create some tickets. Check your database to see if the users have been setup in radcheck. Launch FreeRadius as root with this command radiusd -xxyx -l stdout. Pick a user and password from your database and try to login from a wireless client. If you can then it is time for step 5. If not go back to step 1 and check everything.

Step 5 Have a cup of coffee and unwind. If all is well you have finished. I'll keep an eye on this post and do my best to help anyone with problems.

I have also setup a free Radius test server for anyone that wants to test their Chillispot configuration

I hope that this article is of value to you and I would welcome any feedback.

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Comments on this article:

» left by Sinead Cleary from Dublin (2 years 281 days ago.)

Thank's for a great howto and all the help you gave me setting up my AP.

Thanks again,

Sinead
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» left by Bill Polion from United Kingdom (2 years 260 days ago.)

Great article. I followed the steps and got my hotspot up in about an hous. I contacted the author for help at one stage and he was great. Instan response to my email and he setup test accounts on his own server for me.
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» left by Anonymous (18 days 7 hours ago.)

Its a really great howto. But i would prefer a slolely hardware based hotspot.

 

less complicated and divided , more stable and solid.

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