Authenticating Devices without Web Browsers (MAC Authentication)
How to use device authentication to enable devices to automatically log in based on MAC address. This is useful for devices without web browsers (e.g. printers, VoIP phones, gaming devices) or frequently used employee computers. MAC-authenticated devices are still tracked in SputnikNet.
Log into SputnikNet, then navigate to MANAGE > Authentication on the left pane of the screen.
Log into SputnikNet and click on "Devices" from the Authentication menu. Or simply click "Authentication" to start with a generic authentication system which you can configure as a device authentication system.
Add a new device authentication system, or select an existing one.
Click "Add New Authentication System" to do just that. Or, select an existing device authentication system from the list.
Name your device authentication system.
Be sure "Basic Device Database" is selected. For more information about creating authentication systems, see online documentation chapter titled "Creating a new Authentication System".
Add new devices.
Click on "Devices" from the "Authentication System" menu.
Every network device has a MAC address ("media access control") that uniquely identifies it. You can automatically log in devices by entering their MAC addresses into the device authentication system. The MAC address format for SputnikNet is six pairs of hexadecimal digits (lower case), separated by colons (:).
- MAC Address: enter the MAC address of the device you want to grant access to (or of its wireless card)
- Description: enter a memorable name for the device, which will appear in SputnikNet
Click "Add New Device Authorization" to add that device's MAC address to the authentication system database.
Check entered MAC addresses.
Your newly entered device MAC will display; review it for accuracy. If there is an error, click the checkbox next to the incorrect MAC address, select "Delete Selected Devices", then re-enter.
Continue to add MAC addresses.
You can add as many MAC addresses as needed.
Apply the device authentication system to Sputnik-powered devices.
Device authentication systems are applied directly to Sputnik-powered devices (routers) instead of captive portals, because their network policy ("allow rule") applies before the captive portal is displayed.
To apply a device authentication to a Sputnik-powered device, click on "Routers" from the "CONFIG" menu.
Select the Sputnik-powered device you want to edit.
Click on the name of the Sputnik-powered device (router) that you want to edit.
Select the device's overrides settings.
Click on "Policy and Authentication Overrides" from the "Edit Settings" menu.
Apply the device authentication system as an override.
Select the device authentication system(s) you want to apply to the Sputnik-powered device from the "Override Authentication Systems" list. Click on "Save Overrides" to apply your settings. You can apply multiple authentication systems to a single Sputnik-powered device - including multiple device authentication systems.
Continue to add the device authentication system to all of the Sputnik-powered devices where you want it to operate.
User devices with matching MAC addresses bypass captive portal login.
Important: if you want to immediately test device authentication with a client device, turn off both the client device and the Sputnik-powered device. Turn on the Sputnik-powered device first, let it boot, and then turn on the client device.This last step is needed because if a client device already had a DHCP lease with the Sputnik-powered device when you applied the authentication system, then the device authentication is not invoked because the only time a MAC address is checked against the database is when that client device requests an IP address via DHCP. Thus, device authentication does not work if you assign static IP addresses to client devices-- it only works with DHCP. (If you need a device to always receive a specific IP address, you can assign a Static DHCP lease to it from the DD-WRT interface. Select Services/Services/DHCP Server and add static leases as needed.)
Track MAC-authenticated devices in SputnikNet.
Click on "Client Sessions" from the "REPORTS" menu to view data for all client sessions. Click on the client name (in this case a MAC address) to view more details about that device.
View detailed bandwidth reports.
MAC-authenticated devices are tracked the same as all other clients in SputnikNet.