Components of Opengate System
Client Machine | User terminal. |
Gateway Machine | Control of network usage. A CGI program (main component of Opengate) opengatesrv.cgi authenticates user and control the firewall ipfw. Web server to controll CGI program are also set. |
Authentication Server | Hold user information and reply to the authentication request. |
Log Server | Receive date, time, userid, and ip-address for usage via syslog. |
Requirement of Client Machine
Necessity | Web browser can run on the client. Ajax or JavaVM is desired. |
Condition to open network | Reply correct userID and password to the authentication page |
Condition to close network | When (Ajax or JavaVM) is enabled and the usage duration is not entered. - Close Web browser or OS - Fail periodic live check Other cases - A fixed time length passes. - No packet passed from/to the client for a long time - ARP command returns the different MAC address - The user clicks the termination link in accept response page. |
Applied network | TCP/IP communication, Wire/wireless LAN. No address translation between gateway and client. |
Applied machines | Mobile PC/desktop PC, Service terminal settled by the organization/Note PC carried in by users. |
Requirement of Gateway Machine
OS | FreeBSD newer than 4.0 |
hardware | PC which can runs FreeBSD, Two EtherBoard |
required software | Apache, ipfw |
recommended software | natd, DHCP, SSL, perl, BIND |
Requirement of Authentication Server
Protocols | POP3, POP3S, FTP, FTPS, RADIUS, or PAM |
Configuration | The serverID and its configuration are set in opengatesrv.conf. |
Choosing Servers | In case of entering [user] only, authentication request is sent to the default server. In case of entering [user@serv], request is sent to the server set for extraID [serv]. |
Merits of Opengate
Wide compatibility | It only requires web browser for the client. It can be compatible with clients having various OS and connecttion form. |
Easy management | It can use existing autheitication servers. Only the gateway system should be maintained. No installation and user guidance are required. |
Easy interface | It has the friendly interface for web users. The network is opened by replying userid and password to the automatic-send authentication page. The netowrk is closed at the termination of the web browser. |
Quick response | It opens and closes the network with very short time delay after user action. |
Wide applicability | It does not depend specific software and hardware. It can be inserted to the existing network easily. It can control both of IPv4 and IPv6. |
High flexibility | The network control depends on ipfw rules. Simple perl script is used to add rules. |
Low cost | It can be used under GPL. It uses no specific hardware or software. The gateway machine is a simple PC in which FreeBSD works. |