Creating Prepaid Cards Externally, and Uploading them to SputnikNet
How to use external applications to create prepaid cards and upload them for use in SputnikNet.
Creating prepaid cards in a spreadsheet.
In SputnikNet, prepaid cards are not necessarily physical cards, but user accounts with the following information:
- User ID (or login ID)
- Password
- Type: either continuous or discontinuous (see below for explanation)
- Minutes: the amount of network access time allowed ("account time limit")
- Bandwidth (optional): amount of upload + download bandwidth allowed in megabytes (2^20 bytes or 1,048,576 bytes)
Note:
- "Continuous" starts the clock when the user first logs in; the clock keeps ticking continuously until the account time limit is used up regardless of whether the user is logged in or not
- "Discontinuous" starts the clock when the user first logs in; the clock ticks only when the user is logged in (has an active session); the account is valid until the account time limit is used up
- if you set both time and bandwidth limits, the account will expire when either the time or maximum bandwidth is used up, whichever comes first
- set the bandwidth limit as 0 if you want only time limits to apply
- maximum total bandwidth setting is approximately ten exabytes (ten trillion megabytes)
To generate prepaid cards for upload to SputnikNet, create a new spreadsheet. A single-batch prepaid card spreadsheet has four columns, or if applying bandwidth caps, five columns (shown):
- site code - use if you want to assign prepaid cards to a specific site
- login id - must be unique
- password - should be unique and random - here, left blank for now
- amount of time in minutes - here, 1440 translates to 1 day)
- total bandwidth in megabytes (optional)
Random passwords are difficult to generate in a spreadsheet. Fortunately there are many good online resources.
Generating random passwords for uploading to SputnikNet.
A good online resource for generating random codes is www.random.org. Click on "String Generator" to get started.
Using www.random.org to generate passwords.
Random.org gives you a lot of control over the kinds of random codes you generate, and you can generate 10,000 of them at a time.
Copy random codes.
Once you've generated random codes, select them and copy them to your clipboard.
Paste random codes into a spreadsheet.
We've pasted the random codes into the password column.
Save the spreadsheet as CSV file.
Use your spreadsheet's "save as" function to save a CSV file. Important (for Macintosh users): be sure to select "Windows Comma Separated (.csv)" as both a carriage return and linefeed are required at the end of each row.
Log into SputnikNet, then navigate to the prepaid authentication system overview.
Log into SputnikNet, then click on "Prepaid" from the Authentication menu.
Add a new prepaid authentication system or select an existing one.
Click on "Add New Authentication System" to do just that. Or, select your existing prepaid authentication system from the list (if you have just one, you will skip this step).
Upload the CSV file to SputnikNet.
Click "Edit Settings" under the Authentication System menu. Scroll down, and under "Load Pre-Paid Card CSV File - single batch":
- Give your batch a unique name. This name will be displayed in the SputnikNet administrative interface, and can be used for searching, managing, and downloading codes.
- Choose the CSV file you created previously.
- Select whether the time should be continuous or discontinuous.
Review sample of uploaded data.
SputnikNet will display a few records so that you can make sure your spreadsheet is correct before continuing. Note that here 1,000 megabytes = 1,000*1,048,576 bytes. Click "Next" to upload the codes to SputnikNet.
Review upload confirmation.
SputnikNet will display the new codes and indicate how many were added. Click "Continue" to do just that.
Uploading multiple batches at once.
You can upload multiple prepaid card batches at once. Create a spreadsheet with six columns, or if applying bandwidth caps, seven columns (shown):
- batch code
- site code
- unique code (login ID)
- password (paste random codes here)
- amount of time in minutes (these are 2 hour cards)
- whether the card should be continuous ("C") or discontinuous ("D")
- total bandwidth in megabytes (optional)
Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file. Important (for Macintosh users): be sure to select "Windows Comma Separated (.csv)" as both a carriage return and linefeed are required at the end of each row.
Upload the CSV file to SputnikNet.
Under "Load Pre-Paid Card CSV File - multi batch" select the file you created previously. Click "Execute" to upload the file.
Review sample of uploaded data.
SputnikNet will display a few records so that you can make sure your spreadsheet is correct before continuing. Click "Next" to upload the codes to SputnikNet.
Review upload confirmation.
SputnikNet will display the new codes and indicate how many were added. Note that 1,000 megabytes = 1,000*1,048,576 bytes. Click "Next" to upload the codes to SputnikNet. Click "Continue" to do just that.