How to Configure DHCP for Busy Hotspots with Execute Command
Busy Wi-Fi hotspots need a sufficient number of DHCP leases for guests who connect to the network. However the growth of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has dramatically increased the number of "ambient" Wi-Fi connections that also request DHCP leases - even though they might never actually authenticate onto the network. In SputnikNet, these ambient requests show up as unauthenticated sessions.
It is important to ensure that routers in busy hotspots are set up with large, frequently refreshed DHCP lease pools to keep up with this demand.
Here's how to configure your Sputnik-powered router for high-demand sites, from the cloud.
Unauthenticated sessions.
A large percentage of unauthenticated sessions is a sign that your hotspot may be subject to a lot of foot traffic that generates ambient W-Fi connections. You can view this information under REPORTS/Session Summary.
Check DHCP settings via menu.
You can view a router's DHCP configurations from MANAGE / Routers. Then chose the DHCP Configs command and click "Send Command".
Or check DHCP settings via command line.
If you're familiar with UNIX or Linux commands, select "Command Line" and type or paste nvram show | grep dhcp.
View DHCP settings.
The key DHCP values to look for are dhcp_num (number of DHCP leases in the pool) and dhcp_lease (duration in minutes of a DHCP lease).
In this case the values are set rather too low for the DHCP lease pool (50), and too high for the DHCP lease duration (1440 minutes = 24 hours).
Set the DHCP lease pool to 100 (or more).
Enter nvram set dhcp_num=100 and click Send Command. You'll receive the following message in the virtual terminal:
nvram set dhcp_num=100
(no output returned)
Set the DHCP expiration to a few hours.
Enter nvram set dhcp_lease=180 and click Send Command. You'll receive the following message in the virtual terminal:
nvram set dhcp_lease=180
(no output returned)
Confirm your DHCP settings.
The DHCP lease pool is now 100 leases with a 6-hour expiration. You can try different values to see what gives you the best performance at your site, but we've found 100/360 to work in most locations unless the hotspot is is an extremely high traffic area, in which case you could set the pool even larger.
Reboot the router (optional).
If you want to refresh the DHCP lease pool and ensure that your settings have taken permanent effect, you may optionally want to reboot the router. But if there are active sessions you may want to skip this step.
View DHCP lease distribution.
To see who has leases on your Sputnik-powered router, enter cat /tmp/dnsmasq.leases and click Send Command.
If you have a lot of outstanding leases, you can resize the window to see them all, or copy/paste the results into a spreadsheet.
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