Antamedia Online Manuals

Introduction

Network Setup

How Does It Work ?

Introduction

Antamedia HotSpot software should be installed on a standard PC computer running Windows OS. We call this computer HotSpot computer.

The HotSpot computer has to be a gateway for other computers in the network. With such setup we are forcing all computers in the network to redirect traffic through the HotSpot software which w controls whether such traffic should be allowed or blocked. It is allowed if a customer has been authenticated with a username and a password, and it is blocked if a customer is not logged on to the system, or account time has expired.

The HotSpot computer needs to have 2 network cards. One network card (NIC1) is used for the internet connection. If the traffic is allowed, it is redirected to the second network card (NIC2) which is connected to the Internet. Between NIC2 and the Internet you can use routers, brigdes, modems (xDSL, ISDN, Cable...), etc. This traffic being accomplished and based on the internet connection, you are able to open web pages, watch video materials or communicate in any possible way with the Internet.

The HotSpot software does not require any specific hardware, so you can use Access Points, Modems, Switches or Routers that you already have and using them you can configure the network settings.

Network Setup

First, we need to determine which kind of a connection we will use. There could be a few ways for the communication between the HotSpot software and customers: ICS, NAT-ing, RRAS, etc. In this case we provide you with an example using the Windows Internet Connection Sharing ( ICS ). You can find the thorough explanations of the Windows Internet Connection Sharing ( ICS ) on www.antamedia.com/manuals/ics

The NIC 1 with an IP address 192.168.1.2, the subnet mask 255.255.255.0, DNS and the gateway IP 192.168.1.1 is connected to the Inernet via the Router to HDSL. The NIC 1 has the access to the Internet over the Switch and the Router to HDSL. IP addresses of NIC 1 and the Router are in the same IP range. The Router IP address is usually provided by the ISP.

The NIC 2 (connects your network with HotSpot computer) gets the IP address 192.168.0.1. This is default IP that Internet Connection Sharing sets to your network card. Note that you can change this IP address. Instead of default IP range 192.168.0.1 you can use for example 192.168.2.1.The Subnet mask is 255.255.0.0.

The Access Point, the wireless Router, the Printer and internet computers are connected via the Switch to the NIC 2 on the HotSpot computer.

In this network topology, theAccess point connects wireless laptops and PDAs through the Switch and the HotSpot computer to the Internet. The IP address of the Access Point is 192.168.2.39, the gateway IP is 192.168.2.1 and the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. The Access Point has DHCP enabled so it assigns IP addresses automatically.

The Wireless Router is used to connect wireless customer computers through the Switch and the HotSpot computer to the Internet. The WAN IP address of the Router is 192.168.2.2. The Subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and the gateway IP address is 192.168.2.1. The Router LAN IP address is 192.168.3.2. The Router has DHCP enabled so it assigns IP addresses automatically.

In this example Wired computers are connected to the Internet through the Switch and the HotSpot computer. The Fixed IP addresses of Wired computers are 192.168.2.3 and 192.168.2.4. The Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, the Gateway IP and DNS are the same - 192.168.2.1 and the DNS addresses are usually assigned by your ISP.

A few wireless laptops, the wireless router, the access point, the Swqitch for the Office computers and the computer running the HotSpot software

How Does It Work ?

Once your laptop customers step into your Access Point WiFi range, they will be able to scan the network and discover your Access Point. On connection, the Access Point will assign them IP and DNS settings automatically using DHCP. Please note that you need to enable the free connection to the Access Point without encryption or other limitations. If you have multiple Access Points you should specify a different IP range that DHCP assigns to wireless users.

At this point, a customer is connected to your WiFI and is able to type some URL in the web browser. Antamedia HotSpot will check this IP and MAC addresses and if a customer is not authenticated, it will return login page to the customer browser. A username and a password are required to gain the access to the Internet.

If a customer is new, he is able to sign up for a new account and pay with a credit card. The process is completely automated and a customer is able to choose the username, the password and a pricing plan (like 1 Hour Internet time or one month unlimited access). You do not need staff to sell tickets.
Please note: Appropriate HotSpot software license with the credit card payment option is required.

Computers connected via the switch are already connected in the network and after authentication a customer gets the access to the Internet. In case that these computers have a free access to the Internet, you should specify its MAC addresses in HotSpot Setup - Whitelists - MAC Whitelist page. A typical example of this is the Cybercafe which uses our Internet Caffe software to limit the access and manage computers.