Some history
The fact that RADIUSdesk is more than a decade old and still going strong while many similar projects died a slow death should speak for itself.
Deployed around the globe, this system is used everyday to help provide Internet to thousands of users.
After Dirk van der Walt completed the FreeRADIUS Beginners Guide for Packt Publishers in 2010 he took that knowledge along with modern design principles to start work on RADIUSdesk in 2012.
Development on MESHdesk as a fully Open Source alternative to Meraki and OpenMesh with Cloudtrax started in 2013.
APdesk was added to manage OpenWrt based access points where mesh networks were not required.
Fast forward to today where the system evolved to be working with the latest versions of all the components involved.
RADIUSdesk
A modern front-end to FreeRADIUS
- Manage data usage and time limits.
- Manage bandwidth per user or per device.
- Generate vouchers for visitors.
- Monitor network usage.
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).
- Detailed usage graphs and charts.
- Customizable captive portal login pages.
- Easy profiles.
- API
- Fully Open Source.
Similar to
| Proprietary | Open Source |
|---|---|
| DMA Radius Manager | daloRADIUS |
| Datatill | OpenWISP |
| Splynx |
MESHdesk
Simplified central management of mesh networks
- Support for Wi-Fi 3/4/5/6. (a/g/n/ac/ax)
- Supports hardware with up to three radios.
- Uses batman-adv and 802.11s/ad-hoc for mesh.
- Uses OpenWrt 21.02.x as foundation.
- Prevents hardware vendor lock in.
- Detailed visuals of mesh nodes and signal strengths
- Open Street-map integration.
- Configure all nodes remotely.
- Real-time monitoring.
- Easy to use schedules.
- Fully Open Source.
Similar to
| Proprietary | Open Source |
|---|---|
| Meraki | LibreMesh |
| Openmesh/Datto | OpenWISP |
| Plasma Cloud |
APdesk
Simplified central management of Access Points
- Support for Wi-Fi 3/4/5/6. (a/g/n/ac/ax)
- Supports hardware with up to three radios.
- Uses OpenWrt 21.02.x as foundation.
- Prevents hardware vendor lock in.
- Detailed visuals of Access Points and client signal strengths
- Open Street-map integration.
- Configure all hardware remotely.
- Real-time monitoring.
- Easy to use schedules.
- Fully Open Source.
Similar to
| Proprietary | Open Source |
|---|---|
| UniFi | OpenWISP |
| Ignitenet | |
| Mimosa |