Synopsis

CommuniG8 Limited is a small start-up IT consultancy.

In this article, we will list the installation procedure used to add Radius with MySQL to the CentOS 5 and CoovaChilli configuration build in here.

Background

As part of a project to test building a Captive Portal for a Wireless Hotspot network, we needed to setup a virtual network with two Virtual Machines where one was the CoovaChilli Server and another could be used to run a web browser through the HotSpot so that we could test a number of configuration options. One such configuration included Radius with MySQL.

MySQL 5.0.77 Installation

yum install mysql-server
chkconfig mysqld on
service mysqld start
mysql_secure_installation
Set root password? [Y/n] Y
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y

freeRadius2 2.1.7 with MySQL Support Installation

(******** = your closen password)

yum install freeradius2 freeradius2-mysql
radiusd -X
control-c when done
chkconfig radiusd on
mysql -uroot -p
CREATE DATABASE radius;
GRANT ALL ON radius.* TO radius@localhost IDENTIFIED BY "*******";
exit
mysql -uroot -p******** radius < /etc/raddb/sql/mysql/schema.sql
edit /etc/raddb/sql.conf - uncomment $INCLUDE sql.conf, set correct password
edit /etc/raddb/sites-available/default
uncomment "sql" and comment "files" in the authorize section
uncomment "sql" in the accounting section
uncomment "sql" in the post-auth section

service radiusd start

Add users to the radius.radcheck table
id - automatic
UserName - login name
Attribute - "Cleartext-Password"
Value - their password
Op - ":="

Summary

The configuration used above will allow the CoovaChilli Mini Portal to authorise a user added to a MySQL table. The next aricle will use Joomla! as a test bed for sending some requests to CoovaChilli so a network monitor can be used to observe the packets involved.

Contact

Richard Gate, CommuniG8 Limited
Unit 122, Louis Pearlman Centre
Goulton Street
Kingston-Upon-Hull
East Yorkshire

United Kingdom
HU3 4DL
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+44 (0)1482 225013