squib308
03-29-2002, 02:07 PM
Allright, I'm probably crazy, but I'm looking into starting a WISP. I need to get an idea of what kind of equipment & software I'll need to get it rolling, at least to test the waters & see how it works out.
From my research, it looks like I want to have a RADIUS server for authentication;
a billing backend to deal with accounting and account management on the RADIUS server;
Access Points that support 802.1x (?) that can pass the RADIUS logon requests to the access server.
And of course, plenty of bandwidth for each AP. QoS management for the AP's would be nice, but not critical, at least in my first steps.
Does that sound about right?
I'm not totally sure about the AP->WISP connection. If I have to, I could get a frame relay to the area, and then either - have the frame connected to my ISP, and have the logon requests over the internet; or if I need to have those going directly to my back end.
I'm a little confused as to how the authentication is going to work - if the AP gives the client an IP addy via DHCP, then how can the access server verify the logon, and kick them off if they're not authorized.
Then again, since the spec is ETHERNET, not IP per se, would it use a PPoE client? That seems like a PITA to the end users...
Anyway, advice & comments would be helpful.
From my research, it looks like I want to have a RADIUS server for authentication;
a billing backend to deal with accounting and account management on the RADIUS server;
Access Points that support 802.1x (?) that can pass the RADIUS logon requests to the access server.
And of course, plenty of bandwidth for each AP. QoS management for the AP's would be nice, but not critical, at least in my first steps.
Does that sound about right?
I'm not totally sure about the AP->WISP connection. If I have to, I could get a frame relay to the area, and then either - have the frame connected to my ISP, and have the logon requests over the internet; or if I need to have those going directly to my back end.
I'm a little confused as to how the authentication is going to work - if the AP gives the client an IP addy via DHCP, then how can the access server verify the logon, and kick them off if they're not authorized.
Then again, since the spec is ETHERNET, not IP per se, would it use a PPoE client? That seems like a PITA to the end users...
Anyway, advice & comments would be helpful.