Dynamic Keys

Introduction

• One of the most powerful features of the Login Pages is the Dynamic Keys.
• Unfortunately it is also one of the most misunderstood.
• This dedicated Wiki Page aims to make the aspects around the Dynamic Keys more clear.

Login Page URL

Coova Chilli

• When connecting to a Coova Chill based Captive Portal you will be redirected to the UAM URL.
• Coova Chilli does this automatically and also formulate the query string that is automatically appended to the UAM URL.
• The components and values of the query string is mostly determined by the configuration settings of Coova Chilli.
• Here is a sample of the login page with its query string.
• https://cloud.radiusdesk.com/login/bootstrap5/index.html?res=notyet&uamip=10.1.0.1&uamport=3990&challenge=fa6f27d215141b0b86f67b423352349a&called=0A-B4-B1-A2-87-AA&mac=68-17-30-D2-AC-AA&ip=10.1.1.0&ssid=our_internet_cafe&nasid=our_internet_cafe_mcp_34&sessionid=164365906100000001&userurl=http%3a%2f%2fdetectportal.firefox.com%2fcanonical.html&md=15CB9AD5DCFB726093B7B99CC4EAF6CC&i18n=fr_FR#
• With the Coova Chilli configuration we for instance have
  • nasid = our_internet_cafe_mcp34
  • ssid = our_internet_cafe
• Some settings must be unique to the Coova Chilli instance e.g. nasid.
• Other settings can be more generic and can be common between a couple of Coova Chilli instances e.g. ssid.
• If our Login Page have not yet been configured with any Dynamic Keys you will get the following screen.

Mikrotik

• Mikrotik Hotspots works more or less in a similar way.
• If you configure the Mikrotik to use a central login page the replacement login.html page will look something like this

<center>If you are not redirected in a few seconds, click 'continue' below<br>
<form name="redirect" action="https://cloud.radiusdesk.com/cake3/rd_cake/dynamic-details/mikrotik-browser-detect" method="post">
    <input type="hidden" name="loginlink" value="$(link-login-only)">
    <input type="hidden" name="nasid" value="$(identity)">
    <input type="hidden" name="link_status" value="$(link-status)">
    <input type="hidden" name="link_login_only" value="$(link-login-only)">
    <input type="hidden" name="link_logout" value="$(link-logout)">
    <input type="hidden" name="mac" value="$(mac-esc)">
    <input type="hidden" name="type" value="mikrotik">
    <input type="hidden" name="ssid" value="our_internet_cafe">
    <input type="submit" value="continue">
</form>
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
   document.redirect.submit();
//-->
</script>

• Here the Mikrotik will POST some additional data to the CakePHP controller which the controller can then utilize.
• With the Mikrotik you are more in control in terms of that items will be contained in the POST.
• You can even provide your own set of items with the values you choose.
• Like the Coova Chilli pages, the Mikrotik will display a list of available items if the Dynamic Keys have not yet been configured.

Connecting a Login Page with Captive Portal

• The Dynamic Keys are used by RADIUSdesk to determine which Login Page to serve.
• You can make use of any of the listed items and add them as a Dynamic Key to a Login Page.
• Login Pages can also contain multiple Dynamic Keys.
• Lets say you have a very specific login page that should only be shown by one specific captive portal you can use the nasid.
• On the other hand if you have for instance a hotel chain and want to use the same page on ALL the captive portals deployed at those hotels you can use a more generic item e.g. ssid.
• You can also combine them without any issues.

A Final Word On Coova Chilli

• You might have noticed that the sample Login Page URL we supplied for Coova Chilli is different from the typical one we specify as a UAM URL.
• The typical one is: https://cloud.radiusdesk.com/cake3/rd_cake/dynamic-details/chilli-browser-detect/
• What then happens behind the scenes is that the CakePHP Controller will do a redirect to the final Login Page.
• This location is determined by the value of the Theme of the page.
• The Controller also append the language component to the URL's query string e.g. i18n=fr_FR will instruct the page to present itself in French.