HotSpot Gateway

Document revision:	3.6 (Wed Mar 16 11:32:59 GMT 2005)
Applies to:	V2.8

General Information

Summary

The MikroTik HotSpot Gateway enables providing of public network access for clients using wireless or wired network connections.

HotSpot Gateway features:

Universal Client feature may be used with HotSpot enabled-address method to provide IP network services regardless of client computers' IP network settings

Specifications

Packages required: hotspot, dhcp(optional)
License required: Level1 (Limited to 1 active user) , Level3 (Limited to 1 active user) , Level4 (Limited to 200 active users) , Level5 (Limited to 500 active users) , Level6
Submenu level: /ip hotspot
Standards and Technologies: ICMP, DHCP
Hardware usage: Not significant

Related Documents

Description

MikroTik HotSpot Gateway should have at least two network interfaces:

The diagram below shows a sample HotSpot setup.

The HotSpot interface should have an IP address assigned to it. To use dhcp-pool method, there should be two IP addresses: one as the gateway for the temporary IP address pool used prior to authentication, and second as the gateway for the permanent IP address pool used by authenticated clients. Note, that you have to provide routing for these address pools, unless you plan to use masquerading (source NAT). Physical network connection has to be established between the HotSpot user's computer and the gateway. It can be wireless (the wireless card should be registered to AP), or wired (the NIC card should be connected to a hub or a switch).

In dhcp-pool case, the arp mode of the HotSpot interface should be set to reply-only to prevent network access using static IP addresses (the DHCP server should add static ARP entries for each DHCP client). Note also that Universal Client feature can not be used with dhcp-pool method.

Introduction to HotSpot

HotSpot is a way to authorize users to access some network resources. It does not provide traffic encryption. To log in, users may use almost any web browser (either HTTP or HTTPS protocol), so they are not required to install additional software. The gateway is accounting the uptime and amount of traffic each of its clients have used, and also can send this information to a RADIUS server. The HotSpot system may limit each particular user's bitrate, total amount of traffic, uptime and some other parameters mentioned further in this document.

The HotSpot system is targeted to provide authentication within a local network, but may as well be used to authorize access from outer networks to local networks. Configuring firewall rules, it is possible to exclude some IP networks and protocols from authentication and/or accounting. The walled garden feature allows users to access some web pages without the need of prior authentication.

HotSpot system is rather simple by itself, but it must be used in conjunction with other features of RouterOS. Using many RouterOS features together it is possible to make a Plug-and-Play access system.

There are two login methods for HotSpot users - dhcp-pool and enabled-address. The enabled-address is the preferred one in most cases, but if you want to bind together usernames and IP addresses (i.e. if you want a user to get the same IP address no matter which computer is he/she using), then the dhcp-pool method is the only possibility.

The Initial Contact

First, a client gets an IP address. It may be set statically or be given out by a DHCP server. If the client tries to access network resources using a web browser, the destination NAT rule redirects that TCP connection request to the HotSpot servlet (TCP port 8088 for HTTP by default; HTTPS may also be used on its default TCP port 443). This brings up the HotSpot Welcome/Login page where the user should input his/her username and password (the page may be customized as described later on).

It is very important to understand that login method for a particular user is determined only after the user is authenticated and no assumptions are made by the router before.

Walled Garden

It is possilbe to specify a number of domains which can be accessed without prior registration. This feature is called Walled Garden. When a not logged-in user sends a HTTP request to an allowed web page, the HotSpot gateway redirects the request to the original destination (or to a specified parent proxy). When a user is logged in, there is no effect of this table for him/her.

To implement the Walled Garden feature an embedded web proxy server has been designed, so all the requests from not authorized users are really going through this proxy. Note that the embedded proxy server does not have caching function yet. Also note that this embedded proxy server is in the hotspot software package and does not require web-proxy package.

Authentication

In case of HTTP protocol, HotSpot servlet generates an MD5 hash challenge to be used together with the user's password for computing the string which will be sent to the HotSpot gateway. The hash result together with username is sent over network to HotSpot service (so, password is never sent in plain text over IP network). On the client side, MD5 algorithm is implemented in JavaScript applet, so if a browser does not support JavaScript (like, for example, Internet Explorer 2.0 or some PDA browsers), it will not be able to authenticate users. It is possible to allow unencrypted passwords to be accepted, but it is not recommended to use this feature.

If HTTPS protocol is used, HotSpot user just send his/her password without additional hashing. In either case, HTTP POST method (if not possible, then - HTTP GET method) is used to send data to the HotSpot gateway.

HotSpot can authenticate users using local user database or a RADIUS server (local database is consulted first, then - a RADIUS server). If authentication is done locally, profile corresponding to that user is used, otherwise (in case of RADIUS) default profile is used to set default values for parameters, which are not set in RADIUS access-accept message. For more information on how the interaction with a RADIUS server works, see the respective manual section.

If authentication by HTTP cookie is enabled, then after each successful login cookie is sent to web browser and the same cookie is added to active HTTP cookie list. Next time a user will try to log in, web browser will send http cookie. This cookie will be compared to the one stored on the HotSpot gateway and only if there is the same source MAC address and the same randomly generated ID, user will be automatically logged in. Otherwise, the user will be prompted to log in, and in the case authentication was successfull, old cookie will be removed from the local HotSpot active cookie list and the new one with different random ID and expiration time will be added to the list and sent to the web browser.

RADIUS authentication is CHAP by defalt, but it is possible to force the HotSpot gateway to use PAP. To do this, you should enable unencrypted passwords, and remove the possibility for the servlet to hash the passwords (see Customizing HotSpot servlet chapter on how to do it).

Authorization

One of the two login methods is to be used for each client individually (you may choose one or allow it to be done automatically in user profile configuration). The enabled-address method is the preferred one, so if it is configured correctly and the client has a proper IP address (that matches the one set in the user database), this method will be used. If the enabled-address method is not enabled or the client's IP address should be changed, the HotSpot Gateway tries to use dhcp-pool method. In that case, MikroTik HotSpot Gateway's DHCP server tries to change the DHCP address lease the client might have received before the authentication. It is possible to specify what IP addresses each particular user will receive after he/she logs in (that way a user will always get the same IP no matter what computer he/she has logged in from)

Address assignment with dhcp-pool login method

To create a HotSpot infrastructure with dhcp-pool method, DHCP server should be configured to lease IP addresses from a temporary IP address pool for a very short period of time (lease time at about 14 seconds; lesser values may cause problems with some DHCP clients). This temporary subnet should have some restrictions, so that the users received a temporary IP address could only access the HotSpot login page.

Once a user is authenticated, the HotSpot gateway changes the lease assigned to the user so that he/she will receive an IP address from a different IP address pool when the lease time of the current temporary lease will be over (it is not possible to recall DHCP lease, so the address will only change when the temporary lease expires).

Accounting

The HotSpot system makes user accounting through firewall rules. You should create a hotspot firewall chain, and the system will put there two dynamic rules for each active user (one for upload, and one for download). You shold make all the traffic you need accounting for to pass through this firewall table.

Question&Answer-Based Setup

Command name: /ip hotspot setup

Questions

address pool of hotspot network (name) - IP address pool for the HotSpot network

address pool of temporary network (name) - IP address pool the for temporary HotSpot network

another port for service (integer; default: 4430) - if there is already a service on the 443 TCP port, setup will move that service on an another port, so that HotSpot secure authentication page would be on standard port for SSL

another port for service (integer; default: 8081) - another port for www service (so that hotspot service could be put on port 80)

dns name (text) - DNS domain name of the HotSpot gateway

dns servers (IP addressIP address) - DNS servers for HotSpot clients

enable universal client (yes | no; default: no) - whether to enable Universal Client on the HotSpot interface

hotspot interface (name) - interface to run HotSpot on

import and setup certificate (yes | no; default: yes) - if the setup should try to import and set up a certificate

interface already configured (yes | no; default: no) - whether to add hotspot authentication for the existing interface setup or otherwise interface setup should be configured from the scratch

ip address of smtp server (IP address; default: 0.0.0.0) - IP address of the SMTP server to redirect SMTP requests (TCP port 25) to

local address of hotspot network (IP address; default: 10.5.50.1/24) - HotSpot address for the interface

local address of temporary network (IP address; default: 192.168.0.1/24) - temporary HotSpot address for the interface (for dhcp-pool method)

login method (dhcp-pool | enabled-address | smart; default: enabled-address) - login method to use

masquerade hotspot network (yes | no; default: yes) - whether to masquerade the HotSpot network

masquerade temporary network (yes | no; default: yes) - whether to masquerade the temporary network

name of local hotspot user (text; default: admin) - username of one automatically created user

passphrase (text) - the passphrase of the certificate

password for the user (text) - password for the automatically created user

select certificate (name) - which certificate to use

use local dns cache (yes | no) - whether to redirect all DNS requests (UDP port 53) to the local DNS cache

use ssl (yes | no; default: no) - whether to use secure SSL authentication

use transparent web proxy (yes | no; default: no) - whether to use transparent web proxy for hotspot clients

Notes

Depending on current settings and answers to the previous questions, default values of following questions may be different. Some questions may disappear if they become redundant (for example, there is no use of setting up temporary network when login method is enabled-address)

If Universal Client is enabled, and DNS cache is not used, DNS requests are redirected to the first DNS server configured.

Example

To configure HotSpot on ether1 interface (which is already configured), enabling transparent web proxy and adding user admin with password rubbish:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot> setup
Select interface to run HotSpot on

hotspot interface: ether1
Use SSL authentication?

use ssl: no
Add hotspot authentication for existing interface setup?

interface already configured: yes
Create local hotspot user

name of local hotspot user: admin
password for the user: rubbish
Use transparent web proxy for hotspot clients?

use transparent web proxy: yes
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot>
      

HotSpot Gateway Setup

Submenu level: /ip hotspot

Property Description

allow-unencrypted-passwords (yes | no; default: no) - whether to authenticate user if plain-text password is received

auth-http-cookie (yes | no; default: no) - defines whether HTTP authentication by cookie is enabled

auth-mac (yes | no; default: no) - defines whether authentication by Ethernet MAC address is enabled

auth-mac-password (yes | no; default: no) - use MAC address as a password if MAC authorization is enabled

auth-requires-mac (yes | no; default: yes) - whether to require client's IP address to resolve to MAC address (i.e. whether to require that all the clients are in the same Ethernet-like network (as opposed to IP network, Ethernet-like network is bounded by routers) as the HotSpot gateway)

dns-name (text) - DNS name of the HotSpot server

hotspot-address (IP address; default: 0.0.0.0) - IP address for HotSpot service (used for www access)

http-cookie-lifetime (time; default: 1d) - validity time of HTTP cookies

login-mac-universal (yes | no; default: no) - whether to log in every host of Universal client instantly in case it has its MAC address listed in HotSpot user list

parent-proxy (IP address; default: 0.0.0.0) - the address of the proxy server the HotSpot service will use as a parent proxy

split-user-domain (yes | no; default: no) - whether to split username from domain name when the username is given in "user@domain" or in "domain\user" format

status-autorefresh (time; default: 1m) - WWW status page autorefresh time

universal-proxy (yes | no; default: no) - whether to intercept the requests to HTTP proxy servers

use-ssl (yes | no; default: no) - whether the servlet allows only HTTPS:

Command Description

reset-html - overwrite the existing HotSpot servlet with the original HTML files. It is used if you have changed the servlet and it is not working after that.

Notes

If dns-name property is not specified, hotspot-address is used instead. If hotspot-address is also absent, then both are to be detected automatically.

If auth-mac is enabled, then a client is not prompted for username and password if the MAC address of this computer is in the HotSpot user database (either local or on RADIUS). Nevertheless this method does not excuse clients from the common login procedure, just from filling out the registration form (i.e. regardless of whether MAC authorization is applicable for a client, he/she should open the Login page in order to get registered). The only exception is the users of Universal Client - if login-mac-universal property is enabled, they will not even have to open a web browser if their MAC addresses are listed in the user database.

The universal-proxy feature automatically creates DST-NAT rules to redirect requests of each particular user to a proxy server he/she is using (it may be set in his/her settings to use an unknown to us proxy server) to the local embedded proxy server. This feature may be used in combination with Universal Client feature to provide Internet access for users regardless of their network settings.

allow-unencrypted-passwords property makes it possible to authenticate with the browsers not supporting JavaScript (for example, Internet Explorer 2.0 or some PDA browsers). It is also possible to log in using telnet connection, just requesting the page /login?user=username&password=password. An another use of this property is the possibility of hard-coded authentication information in the servlet's login page simply creating the appropriate link.

To enable PAP RADIUS authentication, you should set in the hotspot configuration allow-unencrypted-password=yes and you should remove %main% variable from the login.html file.

auth-requires-mac property makes it possible to make a 'reverse HotSpot' - to authenticate users accessing the local network from the Internet.

Example

To enable cookie support:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot> set auth-http-cookie=yes
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot> print
                        use-ssl: no
                hotspot-address: 0.0.0.0
                       dns-name: ""
             status-autorefresh: 1m
                universal-proxy: no
                   parent-proxy: 0.0.0.0:0
              auth-requires-mac: yes
                       auth-mac: no
              auth-mac-password: no
               auth-http-cookie: yes
           http-cookie-lifetime: 1d
    allow-unencrypted-passwords: no
            login-mac-universal: no
              split-user-domain: no
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot>
      

HotSpot User Profiles

Submenu level: /ip hotspot profile

Description

HotSpot User profiles are used for common user settings. Profiles are like user groups, they are grouping users with the same limits.

Property Description

idle-timeout (time; default: 0s) - idle timeout (maximal period of inactivity) for client

incoming-filter (name) - name of the firewall chain applied to incoming packets

keepalive-timeout (time; default: 2m) - keepalive timeout for client

login-method - the login method user will be using

mark-flow (name) - traffic from authorized users will be marked by firewall mangle with this flow name

name (name) - profile reference name

outgoing-filter (name) - name of the firewall chain applied to outgoing packets

rx-bit-rate (integer; default: 0) - receive bitrate (for users it is upload bitrate)

session-timeout (time; default: 0s) - session timeout (maximal session time) for client

shared-users (integer; default: 1) - maximal number of simultaneously logged in users with the same username

tx-bit-rate (integer; default: 0) - transmit bitrate (for users it is download bitrate)

Notes

To use enabled-address method, mark-flow should be set. To use dhcp-pool method, dhcp software package must be installed

idle-timeout is used to detect, that client is not using outer networks (e.g. Internet), i.e., there is NO TRAFFIC coming from that client and going through the router. keepalive-timeout is used to detect, that the computer of the client is still alive and reachable. If check will fail during this period, client will be logged out. session-timeout is an unconditional uptime limit

Example

To use enabled-address method that uses logged-in mark and logs a client off if he disappears for more then a minute:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile> set default login-method=enabled-address \
\... mark-flow=logged-in keepalive-timeout=1m
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile> print
Flags: * - default
  0 * name="default" session-timeout=0s idle-timeout=0s only-one=yes
      tx-bit-rate=0 rx-bit-rate=0 incoming-filter="" outgoing-filter=""
      mark-flow="logged-in" login-method=enabled-address keepalive-timeout=1m

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile>
      

To define an additional profile that will also limit download speed to 64 kilobyte/s and upload data rate to 32 kilobyte/s, and call it limited:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile> add copy-from=default tx-bit-rate=65536 \
\... rx-bit-rate=32768 name=limited
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile> print
Flags: * - default
  0 * name="default" session-timeout=0s idle-timeout=0s only-one=yes
      tx-bit-rate=0 rx-bit-rate=0 incoming-filter="" outgoing-filter=""
      mark-flow="logged-in" login-method=enabled-address keepalive-timeout=1m


  1   name="limited" session-timeout=0s idle-timeout=0s only-one=yes
      tx-bit-rate=65536 rx-bit-rate=32768 incoming-filter=""
      outgoing-filter="" mark-flow="logged-in" login-method=enabled-address
      keepalive-timeout=1m

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot profile>
       

HotSpot Users

Submenu level: /ip hotspot user

Property Description

address (IP address; default: 0.0.0.0) - static IP address. If not 0.0.0.0, client will always get the same IP address. It implies, that only one simultaneous login for that user is allowed

bytes-in (read-only: integer) - total amount of bytes received from user

bytes-out (read-only: integer) - total amount of bytes sent to user

limit-bytes-in (integer; default: 0) - maximum amount of bytes user can transmit

limit-bytes-out (integer; default: 0) - maximum amount of bytes user can receive

limit-uptime (time; default: 0s) - total uptime limit for user (pre-paid time)

mac-address (MAC address; default: 00:00:00:00:00:00) - static MAC address. If not 00:00:00:00:00:00, client is allowed to login only from that MAC address

name (name) - user name

packets-in (read-only: integer) - total amount of packets received from user

packets-out (read-only: integer) - total amount of packets sent to user

password (text) - user password

profile (name; default: default) - user profile

routes (text) - routes that are to be registered on the HotSpot gateway when the client is connected. The route format is: "dst-address gateway metric" (for example, "10.1.0.0/24 10.0.0.1 1"). Several routes may be specified separated with commas

uptime (read-only: time) - total time user has been logged in

Notes

If auth-mac property is enabled, clients' MAC addresses (written with CAPITAL letters) can be used as usernames. If auth-mac-password is set to no, there should be no password for that users. Otherwise, the password should be equal to the username. When a client is connecting, his/her MAC address is checked first. If there is a user with that MAC address, the client is authenticated as this user. If there is no match, client is asked for username and password.

The address property is used only for dhcp-pool login method to tell it DHCP server. If a user already has a permanent IP address (as it is happening when enabled-address method is used), this property will just be ignored.

The byte limits are total limits for each user (not for each session as at /ip hotspot active). So, if a user has already downloaded something, then session limit will show the total limit - (minus) already downloaded. For example, if download limit for a user is 100MB and the user has already downloaded 30MB, then session download limit after login at /ip hotspot active will be 100MB - 30MB = 70MB.

Should a user reach his/her limits (bytes-in >= limit-bytes-in or bytes-out >= limit-bytes-out), he/she will not be able to log in anymore.

The statistics is updated if a user is authenticated via local user database each time he/she logs out. It means, that if a user is currently logged in, then the statistics will not show current total values. Use /ip hotspot active submenu to view the statistics on the current user sessions.

Example

To add user Ex with password Ex that is allowed to log in only with 01:23:45:67:89:AB MAC address and is limited to 1 hour of work:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot user> add name=Ex password=Ex \
\... mac-address=01:23:45:67:89:AB limit-uptime=1h
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot user> print
Flags: X - disabled
  #   NAME        ADDRESS         MAC-ADDRESS       PROFILE     UPTIME
  0   Ex          0.0.0.0         01:23:45:67:89:AB default     0s
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot user> print detail
Flags: X - disabled
  0   name="Ex" password="Ex" address=0.0.0.0 mac-address=01:23:45:67:89:AB
      profile=default routes="" limit-uptime=1h limit-bytes-in=0
      limit-bytes-out=0 uptime=0s bytes-in=0 bytes-out=0 packets-in=0
      packets-out=0

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot user>
      

HotSpot Active Users

Submenu level: /ip hotspot active

Description

The active user list shows the list of currently logged in users. Nothing can be changed here, except user can be logged out with the remove command

Property Description

address (read-only: IP address) - IP address of the user

bytes-in (read-only: integer) - how many bytes did the router receive from the client

bytes-out (read-only: integer) - how many bytes did the router send to the client

domain (read-only: text) - domain of the user (if split from username)

idle-timeout (read-only: time) - how much idle time it is left for the user until he/she will be automatically logged out

keepalive-lost (read-only: time) - how much time past since last packed from the client has been received

packets-in (read-only: integer) - how many packets did the router receive from the client

packets-out (read-only: integer) - how many packets did the router send to the client

session-timeout (read-only: time) - how much time is left for the user until he/she will be automatically logged out

uptime (read-only: time) - current session time (logged in time) of the user

user (read-only: name) - name of the user

Example

To get the list of active users:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot active> print
Flags: R - radius, H - DHCP
  #    USER        ADDRESS         UPTIME          SESSION-TIMEOUT IDLE-TIMEOUT
  0    Ex          10.0.0.144      4m17s           55m43s
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot active>
      

HotSpot Remote AAA

Submenu level: /ip hotspot aaa

Property Description

accounting (yes | no; default: yes) - whether RADIUS accounting should be used (have no effect if RADIUS is not used)

interim-update (time; default: 0s) - Interim-Update time interval

use-radius (yes | no; default: no) - whether user database in a RADIUS server should be consulted

Notes

RADIUS user database is consulted only if the required username is not found in local user database

The value set in interim-update is overridden by the value sent by a RADIUS server (if any)

Example

To enable RADIUS AAA:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot aaa> set use-radius=yes
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot aaa> print
        use-radius: yes
        accounting: yes
    interim-update: 0s
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot aaa>
      

HotSpot Server Settings

Submenu level: /ip hotspot server

Description

HotSpot Server configuration is used to modify DHCP leases for logged-in users in order them to get non-temporary addresses. When a user has successfully authenticated, the HotSpot Server communicates with the DHCP server to change the lease information the user will receive next time he/she will request the DHCP lease (that is why the lease of temporary address should be as short as possible). The new lease should not be for a long time either for users to be able to switch fast on one machine as well as to reuse the IP addresses of this pool (users are logged out just as they click the log out button, but their addresses stay allocated to the machines they have been using, making it impossible for another users to log in from these machines)

Property Description

address-pool (name) - IP pool name, from which a HotSpot client will get an IP address if it is not given a static IP address

dhcp-server (name) - DHCP server with which to use this profile

lease-time (time; default: 1m) - DHCP lease time for logged in user

login-delay (time; default: 10s) - Time required to log user in. The after-login page is displayed for this time. This time should be approximately the same as the lease-time for the temporary address lease

name (name) - server profile name

Notes

This configuration is ignored by enabled-address method.

There can be added one HotSpot Server for each DHCP server. Which server profile to apply will depend on DHCP server which gave DHCP lease to that client. Actually it means that if user will log in from different interfaces, then different server profiles will be used. It allows assigning different IP addresses on different Ethernet interfaces.

Network mask, gateway and some other setting are set up in /ip dhcp network submenu

Example

To add a HotSpot server named dhcp1 to the DHCP server hotspot-dhcp giving IP addresses from the hotspot address pool:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot server> add name=dhcp1 dhcp-server=hotspot-dhcp \
\... address-pool=hotspot
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot server> print
  # NAME                  DHCP-SERVER    ADDRESS-POOL LOGIN-DELAY  LEASE-TIME
  0 dhcp1                 hotspot-dhcp   hotspot      10s          1m

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot server>
      

HotSpot Cookies

Submenu level: /ip hotspot cookie

Description

Cookies can be used for authentication in the Hotspot service

Property Description

domain (read-only: text) - domain name (if split from username)

expires-in (read-only: time) - how long the cookie is valid

mac-address (read-only: MAC address) - user's MAC address

user (read-only: name) - username

Notes

There can be multiple cookies with the same MAC address. For example, there will be a separate cookie for each web browser on the same computer.

Cookies can expire - that's the way how it is supposed to be. Default validity time for cookies is 1 day (24 hours), but it can be changed:

/ip hotspot set http-cookie-lifetime=3d

Example

To get the list of valid cookies:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot cookie> print
  # USER               DOMAIN            MAC-ADDRESS       EXPIRES-IN
  0 Ex                                   01:23:45:67:89:AB 23h54m16s
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot cookie>
      

Walled Garden

Submenu level: /ip hotspot walled-garden

Description

Walled garden is a system which allows unauthorized use of some resources, but requires authorization to access other resources. This is useful, for example, to give access to some general information about HotSpot service provider or billing options.

Property Description

action (allow | deny; default: allow) - action to undertake if a packet matches the rule:

dst-host (text; default: "") - domain name of the destination web server (this is regular expression)

dst-port (integer; default: "") - the TCP port a client has send the request to

path (text; default: "") - the path of the request (this is regular expression)

Notes

Currently you can not place HTTPS servers inside the Walled Garden. However, there is a workaround on this. You can add a mangle rule that allows you to pass traffic to an IP address of secure web server, exempli gratia:

/ip firewall mangle add dst-address=159.148.108.1/32 mark-flow=hs-auth

Example

To allow unauthorized requests to the www.example.com domain's /paynow.html page:

[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot walled-garden> add path="^/paynow\\.html$" \
\... dst-host="^www\\.example\\.com$"
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot walled-garden> print
Flags: X - disabled
 #   DST-HOST                      DST-PORT PATH                         ACTION
 0   ^www\.example\.com$                    ^/paynow\.html$              allow
[admin@MikroTik] ip hotspot walled-garden>
     

Notes:

Customizing HotSpot Servlet

Description

Servlet Pages

The HotSpot servlet recognizes 5 different request types:

Note that if it is not possible to meet a request using the pages stored on the router's FTP server, the default pages are used.

There are many possibilities to customize what the HotSpot authentication pages look like:

To insert variable in some place in HTML file, variable name surrounded by % symbols is used. This construction may be used in any HotSpot HTML file accessed as '/', '/login', '/status' or '/logout'. For example, to show a link to the login page, following construction can be used:

<a href="%link-login%">login</a>

Variables

All of the Servlet HTML pages use variables to show user specific values. Variable names appear only in the source - they are automatically replaced with the respective values by the HotSpot Servlet. For each variable there is an example included in brackets.

Notes

To insert % symbol as a text (not as a part of variable construction), "%%" has to be used (if there is only one % symbol on a page or string between it and next % symbol is not a valid variable name, % may be used with the same result).

In most cases it is required login page to use main variable. And it is strongly suggested to place it BEFORE form-input input form. Otherwise situation can happen, that user already has entered his username/password, but MD5 encryption JavaScript is not yet loaded. It may result in password being sent over network in plain text. And of course, that login will fail in this case, too (if allow-unencrypted-password property is not set to yes).

The resulting password to be sent to the HotSpot gateway is formed MD5-hashing the concatenation of the following: chap-id, the password of the user and chap-challenge (in the given order)

The gateway uses CHAP authentication in case client's browser is hashing his/her pasword (in other words, if the main variable has been initialized successfully before the form is being submitted). In case plain-text password has been sent, PAP authentication algorithm is used. So if you want to force PAP-only authentication, you must remove the main variable from the servlet (of course, you must also allow the gateway to accept unencrypted passwords, or otherwise no one would be able to login at all).

In case if variables are to be used in link directly, then they must be escaped accordingly. For example, in login page??<a href="https://login.example.com/login?mac=%mac%&user=%user%">link</a> will not work as intended, if username will be "123&456=1 2". In this case instead of %user%, its escaped version must be used: %user-esc%: <a href="https://login.server.serv/login?mac=%mac-esc%&user=%user-esc%">link</a>. Now the same username will be converted to "123%26456%3D1+2", which is the valid representation of "123&456=1 2" in URL. This trick may be used with any variables, not only with %user%.

Example

With basic HTML language knowledge and the examples below it should be easy to implement the ideas described above.

Possible Error Messages

Description

There are two kinds of errors: fatal non-fatal. Fatal errors are shown on a separate HTML page called error.html. Non-fatal errors are basically indicating incorrect user actions and are shown on the login form.

General non-fatal errors:

General fatal errors:

Local HotSpot user database non-fatal errors:

RADIUS client non-fatal errors:

RADIUS client fatal errors:

HotSpot Step-by-Step User Guide for dhcp-pool Method

Description

Let us consider following example HotSpot setup:

There will be 2 HotSpot IP address ranges used for clients on prism1 interface. You are free to choose the address ranges, just make sure you use masquerading for not routed ones. In this example, we are using:

For HotSpot client accounting, HotSpot will add dynamic firewall rules in firewall HotSpot chain. This chain has to be created manually. And all network packets (to/from HotSpot clients) have to pass this chain.

Example

Note that in order to use SSL authentication, you should install an SSL certificate. This topic is not covered by this manual section. Please see the respective manual section on how to install certificates in MikroTik RouterOS

HotSpot Step-by-Step User Guide for enabled-address Method

Description

Let us consider following example HotSpot setup:

There are clients at prism1 interface, which are able to use Internet already. You want all these clients to authenticate before they are able to use Internet.

For hotspot client accounting, hotspot will add dynamic firewall rules in firewall hotspot chain. This chain has to be created manually. And all network packets (to/from hotspot clients) have to pass this chain.

Example

Note that in order to use SSL authentication, you should install an SSL certificate. This topic is not covered by this manual section. Please see the respective manual section on how to install certificates in MikroTik RouterOS

As we see from example, only hotspot interface is used - we don't care what IP addresses are there.

It is possible to add hotspot authentication for one more interface (prism2) by adding only 4 additional firewall rules:

Optional Settings