WISP Coova phpMyPrepaid

From WirelessAfrica


Introduction

This section contains documentation on work done regarding testing of an implementation that would make it as easy as possible for a would-be entrepreneur to deploy an ISP service over a wireless network infrastructure. The entrepreneur should be able to manage, monitor and charge users with ease.

Setup Ingredients

The tools used to setup this testbed:


Setup Recipe

Diagram of initial WISPiab-billing setup using Coova, myPhpPrepaid.

In a nutshell

Coova

  • Setup coova to act as a Chillispot-type hotspot, with auto-configuration disabled. (Setup may be tested later on with WifiDog instead of Chillispot).
  • Fill in UAM Hostname, UAM Secret, NAS Identifer information.
  • Fill in RADIUS server details and secret. (To be inserted into FreeRADIUS configuration on Gateway server.)

Gateway server

  • Install Ubuntu Server (Hardy), with minimum MySQL, FreeRADIUS, Apache webserver.
  • Install webmin. Webmin is a great tool with a web-based frontend to administer many important settings under Linux (Startup/Shutdown Scripts, DNS, DHCP, Firewall). (an apparently better alternative is ispconfig, but I've not tested this tool yet.)
  • Setup DNS forwarding on gateway server, using dnsmasq. (bind9 can also be used, but dnsmasq is a much more easier option to setup for the "not-so-expert-linux" users/adminstrators).

GeorgeMore to follow.