Introduction
The MikroTik HotSpot Gateway provides authentication for clients before access to public networks.
Hotspot (captive portal) - uses web-proxy and it is capable of using only the default routing table, at the moment. Making the PCC(per connection-classifier) not a valid method, due to the, multiple routing tables used.
HotSpot Gateway features:
- different authentication methods of clients, using a local client database on the router, or remote RADIUS server;
- users accounting in a local database on the router, or on remote RADIUS server;
- a walled-garden system, access to some web pages without authorization;
- login page modification, where you can put information about the company;
- automatic and transparent change any IP address of a client to a valid address;
- HotSpot can inform DHCP clients that they are behind a captive portal (RFC7710);
A hotspot can work reliably only when IPv4 is used. Hotspot relies on Firewall NAT rules which currently are not supported for IPv6.
Example
[admin@MikroTik] /ip hotspot> setup Select interface to run HotSpot on hotspot interface: ether3 Set HotSpot address for interface local address of network: 10.5.50.1/24 masquerade network: yes Set pool for HotSpot addresses address pool of network: 10.5.50.2-10.5.50.254 Select hotspot SSL certificate select certificate: none Select SMTP server ip address of smtp server: 0.0.0.0 Setup DNS configuration dns servers: 10.1.101.1 DNS name of local hotspot server dns name: myhotspot Create local hotspot user name of local hotspot user: admin password for the user: [admin@MikroTik] /ip hotspot>
Verify HotSpot configuration:
[admin@MikroTik] /ip hotspot> print Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, S - HTTPS # NAME INTERFACE ADDRESS-POOL PROFILE IDLE-TIMEOUT 0 hotspot1 ether3 hs-pool-3 hsprof1 5m [admin@MikroTik] /ip hotspot> [admin@MikroTik] /ip pool> print # NAME RANGES 0 hs-pool-3 10.5.50.2-10.5.50.254 [admin@MikroTik] /ip pool> /ip dhcp-server [admin@MikroTik] /ip dhcp-server> print Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid # NAME INTERFACE RELAY ADDRESS-POOL LEASE-TIME ADD-ARP 0 dhcp1 ether3 hs-pool-3 1h [admin@MikroTik] /ip dhcp-server> /ip firewall nat [admin@MikroTik] /ip firewall nat> print Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic 0 X ;;; place hotspot rules here chain=unused-hs-chain action=passthrough 1 ;;; masquerade hotspot network chain=srcnat action=masquerade src-address=10.5.50.0/24 [admin@MikroTik] /ip firewall nat>
Parameters asked during the setup process
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| hotspot interface (string; Default: allow) | Interface name on which to run HotSpot. To run HotSpot on a bridge interface, make sure public interfaces are not included in the bridge ports. |
| local address of network (IP; Default: 10.5.50.1/24) | HotSpot gateway address |
| masquerade network (yes | no; Default: yes) | Whether to masquerade HotSpot network, when yes rule is added to /ip firewall nat with action=masquerade |
| address pool of network (string; Default: yes) | Address pool for HotSpot network, which is used to change user IP address to a valid address. Useful if providing network access to mobile clients that are not willing to change their networking settings. |
| select certificate (none | import-other-certificate; Default: ) | Choose SSL certificate, when HTTPS authorization method is required. |
| ip address of smtp server (IP; Default: 0.0.0.0) | The IP address of the SMTP server, where to redirect HotSpot's network SMTP requests (25 TCP port) |
| dns servers (IP; Default: 0.0.0.0) | DNS server addresses used for HotSpot clients, configuration taken from /ip dns menu of the HotSpot gateway |
| dns name (string; Default: "") | the domain name of the HotSpot server, a full qualified domain name is required, for example, www.example.com |
| name of local hotspot user (string; Default: "admin") | username of one automatically created HotSpot user, added to /ip hotspot user |
| password for the user' (string; Default: ) | Password for automatically created HotSpot user |
IP HotSpot
/ip/hotspot
The menu is designed to manage the HotSpot servers of the router. It is possible to run HotSpot on Ethernet, wireless, VLAN, and bridge interfaces. One HotSpot server is allowed per interface. When HotSpot is configured on the bridge interface, set HotSpot interface as bridge interface, not as bridge port, do not add public interfaces to bridge ports. You can add HotSpot servers manually to the /ip/hotspot menu, but it is advised to run /ip/hotspot/setup, which adds all necessary settings.
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| name (text) | HotSpot server's name or identifier |
| address-pool (name/none; default: none) | address space used to change HotSpot client any IP address to a valid address. Useful for providing public network access to mobile clients that are not willing to change their networking settings |
| idle-timeout (time/none; default: 5m) | period of inactivity for unauthorized clients. When there is no traffic from this client (literally client computer should be switched off), once the timeout is reached, a user is dropped from the HotSpot host list, its used address becomes available |
| keepalive-timeout (time/none; default: none) | Value of how long host can stay out of reach to be removed from the HotSpot |
| login-timeout (time/none; default: none) | Period of time after which if a host hasn't been authorized itself with a system the host entry gets deleted from host table. Loop repeats until the host logs in the system. Enable if there are situations where a host cannot log in after being too long in the host table unauthorized. |
| interface (name of an interface) | Interface to run HotSpot on |
| addresses-per-mac (integer/unlimited; default: 2) | Number of IP addresses allowed to be bind with the MAC address, when multiple HotSpot clients connected with one MAC-address |
| profile (name; default: default) | HotSpot server default HotSpot profile, which is located in /ip/hotspot/profile |
Read-only
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| keepalive-timeout (read-only; time) | The exact value of the keepalive-timeout, that is applied to the user. Value shows how long the host can stay out of reach to be removed from the HotSpot |
IP HotSpot Active
/ip/hotspot/active
HotSpot active menu shows all clients authenticated in HotSpot, the menu is informational (read-only) it is not possible to change anything here.
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| server (read-only; name) | HotSpot server name client is logged in |
| user (read-only; name) | name of the HotSpot user |
| domain (read-only; text) | the domain of the user (if split from the username), a parameter is used only with RADIUS authentication |
| address (read-only; IP address) | The IP address of the HotSpot user |
| mac-address (read-only; MAC-address) | MAC-address of the HotSpot user |
| login-by (read-only; multiple-choice: cookie / http-chap / http-pap / https / mac / mac-cookie / trial) | the authentication method used by the HotSpot client |
| uptime (read-only; time) | current session time of the user, it is showing how long the user has been logged in |
| idle-time (read-only; time) | the amount of time the user has been idle |
| session-time-left (read-only; time) | the exact value of session-time, that is applied for the user. Value shows how long user is allowed to be online to be logged off automatically by uptime reached |
| idle-timeout (read-only; time) | the exact value of the user's idle-timeout |
| keepalive-timeout (read-only; time) | the exact value of the keepalive-timeout, that is applied for the user. Value shows how long the host can stay out of reach to be removed from the HotSpot |
| limit-bytes-in (read-only; integer) | value shows how many bytes received from the client, an option is active when the appropriate parameter is configured for HotSpot user |
| limit-bytes-out (read-only; integer) | value shows how many bytes send to the client, an option is active when the appropriate parameter is configured for HotSpot user |
| limit-bytes-total (read-only; integer) | value shows how many bytes total were send/received from the client, an option is active when the appropriate parameter is configured for HotSpot user |
IP HotSpot Host
/ip/hotspot/host
The host table lists all computers connected to the HotSpot server. The host table is informational and it is not possible to change any value there:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| mac-address (read-only; MAC-address) | HotSpot user MAC-address |
| address (read-only; IP address) | HotSpot client original IP address |
| to-address (read-only; IP address) | The new client address assigned by HotSpot might be the same as the original address |
| server (read-only; name) | HotSpot server name client is connected to |
| bridge-port (read-only; name) | "/interface bridge port" the client is connected to, value is unknown when HotSpot is not configured on the bridge |
| uptime (read-only; time) | value shows how long the user is online (connected to the HotSpot) |
| idle-time (read-only; time) | time user has been idle |
idle-timeout (read-only; time) | value of the client idle-timeout (unauthorized client) |
| keepalive-timeout (read-only; time) | keepalive-timeout value of the unauthorized client |
| bytes-in (read-only; integer) | amount of bytes received from an unauthorized client |
| packet-in (read-only; integer) | amount of packets received from an unauthorized client |
| bytes-out (read-only; integer) | amount of bytes sent to an unauthorized client |
| packet-out (read-only; integer) | amount of packets sent to an unauthorized client |
IP Binding
/ip/hotspot/ip-binding
IP-Binding HotSpot menu allows to the setup of static One-to-One NAT translations, allows to bypass specific HotSpot clients without any authentication, and also allows to block specific hosts and subnets from the HotSpot network
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| address (IP Range; Default: "") | The original IP address of the client |
| mac-address (MAC; Default: "") | MAC address of the client |
| server (string | all; Default: "all") | Name of the HotSpot server.
|
| to-address (IP; Default: "") | New IP address of the client, translation occurs on the router (client does not know anything about the translation) |
| type (blocked | bypassed | regular; Default: "") | Type of the IP-binding action
|
Cookies
The menu contains all cookies sent to the HotSpot clients, which are authorized by cookie method, all the entries are read-only.
/ip/hotspot/cookie
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| domain (string) | The domain name (if split from the username) |
| expires-in (time) | How long the cookie is valid |
| mac-address (MAC) | Client's MAC-address |
| user (string) | HotSpot username |
Using DHCP option to advertise HotSpot URL
Most devices, such as modern smartphones, do some kind of background checking to see if they are behind a captive portal. They do this by requesting a known webpage and comparing the contents of that page, to what they should be. If contents are different, the device assumes there is a login page and creates a popup with this login page.
This does not always happen, as this "known webpage" could be blocked, whitelisted, or not accessible in internal networks. To improve on this mechanism, RFC 7710 was created, allowing the HotSpot to inform all DHCP clients that they are behind a captive-portal device and that they will need to authenticate to get Internet access, regardless of what webpages they do or do not request.
This DHCP option field is enabled automatically, but only if the router has a DNS name configured and has a valid SSL certificate (so that the login page can be accessed over HTTPS). When these requirements are met, a special DHCP option will be sent, containing a link to https://<dns-name-of-hotspot>/api. This link contains information in JSON format, instructing the client device of the captive portal status, and the location of the login page.
Contents of https://<dns-name-of-hotspot>/api are as follows:
{
"captive": $(if logged-in == 'yes')false$(else)true$(endif),
"user-portal-url": "$(link-login-only)",
$(if session-timeout-secs != 0)
"seconds-remaining": $(session-timeout-secs),
$(endif)
$(if remain-bytes-total)
"bytes-remaining": $(remain-bytes-total),
$(endif)
"can-extend-session": true
}
Some devices require venue-info URL as well, so you are free to modify the api.json file to your liking, just like any other hotspot files. It is located in the router files menu.
Important
If you have set up Hotspot before RouterOS v7.3 when RFC 7710 was implemented, you will have to use "Reset HTML" function, or manually add/edit the api.json file to have the above contents, for Hotspot detection to work.