Quickstart

From WirelessOrbit

This guide is intended to provide a brief overview of how to get up and running with Wireless Orbit. If you have questions about any subject touched on in this guide, the wiki offers more details.

Contents 1 Wireless Orbit Basics 2 Account Configuration 2.1 Account Overview 2.2 Example configuration 2.3 Add a bandwidth limit 2.4 Add a bandwidth plan 2.5 Add a usage limit 2.6 Add a usage plan 2.7 Add an account class 2.8 Summary 3 Gateway Configuration 3.1 Gateway overview 3.2 Example configuration 3.3 Edit the default RADIUS profile 3.4 Add a payment gateway 3.5 Add a payment plan 3.6 Add a login portal 3.7 Add a gateway 3.8 Summary 4 Conclusion

Wireless Orbit Basics

Configuration in the Control Center is highly modular. This means that configuration of any given component is as simple and straightforward as possible. The components are then joined together to form your overall wireless network configuration.

When you log in for the first time and see all the configuration sections listed in the Control Center's main menu don't worry. It may look complicated, but you'll usually have to worry about one or two sections at a time. In most cases, you'll configure a section once and then never have to touch it again.

With that in mind, we're going to walk through the configuration of basic wireless services from the ground up. Configuration in the Control Center consists of two major types of things: accounts and gateways. There are a lot of things associated with these two kinds of things, but under the hood it's all about what the gateway is doing and what users are allowed to do.

Account Configuration

Account Overview

We'll start out with accounts. There are a lot of individual parts to account creation, but you'll only have to worry about most them the first time you set things up. Here are all the components:

In short:

• Bandwidth limits define a specific download/upload rate
• Bandwidth plans group one or more bandwidth limits together
• Usage limits define a specific billable quantity (like session time, number of logins, or whatever)
• Usage plans group one or more usage limits together
• Account types define the basic kinds of accounts (user, timecode, or wireless device)
• Account classes group together bandwidth plans, usage plans, and account types
• Accounts all belong to exactly one account class each

Example configuration

Let's work through a simple example to see how all these parts fit together in a real configuration. Let's say we want to sell accounts that:

• Are limited to 1 Mb/sec download and 512 kb/sec upload
• Expire after 2 hours of session time
• Are going to be bought and used by our customers/end users

Add a bandwidth limit

In the Control Center first click on Bandwidth Limits in the main menu (along the right side of the browser window). In the Bandwidth Limits page click on Add in the navigation toolbar along the top. From there:

• In the Name blank enter a name for the limit...like "1M down/512k up" (keep the name short but descriptive)
• In the Bytes Down blank enter "131072" (one megabit in bytes)
• In the Bytes Up blank enter "65536" (512 kilobits in bytes)
• In the Duration blank enter 1 and leave the pulldown where it is (second(s))
• Click on the Add button

You should get a details page tell you the bandwidth limit was added.

Add a bandwidth plan

Now click on Bandwidth Plans in the main menu. Select Add from the navbar. From there:

• In the Bandwidth Plan Name blank enter a name for the plan
• In the Description blank enter a short description of the plan if you want
• In the Bandwidth Limit section highlight the bandwidth limit you created above
• Click on the > (right arrow) button to move the highlighted limit to the right hand list
• Click on the Add button

You should get another details page and a confirmation the plan was added.

Add a usage limit

Click on Usage Limits in the main menu. Select Add. From there:

• In the Usage Limit Name blank enter a name
• In the Description blank enter a short description if you want
• From the Usage Limit Type pulldown select Time Online
• In the Duration blank enter "2" and then select hour(s) from the pulldown
• Leave the Count blank empty (you'd enter a count if we were using the Number of Logins usage limit type or one of the bandwidth types)
• Click on the Add button

Add a usage plan

Click on Usage Plans in the main menu. Select Add. From there:

• In the Usage Plan Name blank enter a name
• In the Description blank enter a short description if you want
• In the Usage Limit section highlight the limit you created above
• Click on the > (right arrow) button to move the highlighted limit to the right hand list
• Click on the Add button

Add an account class

Click on Account Classes. Select Add. From there:

• In the Account Class Name blank enter a name
• In the Description blank enter a short description if you want
• From the Bandwidth Plan pulldown select the bandwidth plan you created above
• From the Usage Plan pulldown select the usage plan you created above
• From the Account Type pulldown select User Account
• Click on the Add button

Summary

You're done with accounts configuration.

By now you should be getting the hang of navigation in the Control Center. In general, most of the Control Center will follow this basic layout: pick a subject from the main menu on the right, then select what to do with that subject from the navbar on the top.

And as you can probably tell by now, most of this configuration will be one-time only. You're probably not going to want to change bandwidth limits frequently, for example. And if you wanted to create another account class with another bandwidth or usage limit, you'd be able to reuse all of the other components you already configured.

Gateway Configuration

Gateway overview

Now we'll configure a gateway. As with accounts, there are a lot of individual parts involved in configuring a gateway, but you'll only have to worry about most of them the first time you set things up. The components are:

In short:

• Account classes group together bandwidth plans, usage plans, and account types, all covered above
• Payment plans set the price to buy an account of a given account class
• Payment gateways are the third-party payment processors (like Authorize.Net and PayPal) that handle transactions
• Login portals define the interface(s) seen by your users when they try to access your wireless network
• RADIUS profiles hold the RADIUS configuration information needed to allow your wireless hardware to talk to Wireless Orbit's authentication servers
• Gateways are the actual wireless hardware

Example configuration

Let's go through a simple example to demonstrate how all the parts fit together in the configuration process. In this example:

• We have a gateway running DD-WRT
• The gateway has a static IP address of 1.2.3.4
• The gateway will use "radius_secret" as the RADIUS secret key
• We're using PayPal Website Standard for payment processing, and our PayPal account is "payments@foo.com"

Edit the default RADIUS profile

In the Control Center first click on RADIUS Profiles in the main menu (along the right side of the browser window). In the RADIUS Profiles page click on Edit in the navigation toolbar along the top. From there:

• Find Default in the list of profiles (it will be the only item in the list unless you've created other profiles) and click on Edit
• In the Secret Key blank enter "radius_secret"
• Click on the Edit button to save the changes.

You should get a details page telling you the RADIUS profile was edited.

Add a payment gateway

Click on Payment Gateways in the main menu. Select Add from the navbar. From there:

• From the Payment Gateway pulldown select "PayPal Website Payments Standard"
• Click on the Continue button
• In the Payment Gateway Name blank enter a short name for this payment gateway configuration
• In the Merchant ID blank enter "payments@foo.com"
• Click on the Add button

You should get a details page confirming that the payment gateway configuration was added.

Add a payment plan

Click on Payment Plans in the main menu. Select Add from the navbar. From there:

• In the Name blank enter a short name for this payment plan
• From the Account Class pulldown select the account class you created above (in the Accounts section of this guide)
• In the Count blank enter "1" (see discussion below for what this means)
• In the Price blank enter 10.00
• Click on the Add button

You should get a details page confirming that the payment plan was added.

The Count in a payment plan indicates how many "units" of the account class the payment is for. The example account class we created earlier is good for 2 hours of online session time, so a Count of 1 means that a user paying US$10 will get 2 hours of time. You could now create another payment plan with a Count of 10 and a Price of US$30. That would mean that users could sign up for 2 hours for US$10 or 10 hours for US$30.

The Count only applies as a multiplier to usage limits associated with the account class. It is not applied to bandwidth limits.

Add a login portal

Now click on Login Portals in the main menu. Select Add from the navbar. From there:

• In the Login Portal Name blank enter a short name for this login portal
• In the Description blank enter a short description if you want
• In the Title enter the text you want to appear in the browser title bar when a user is directed to the login portal
• In the Greeting/Message enter a short message to appear in the login portal
• From the Payment Gateway pulldown select the payment gateway configuration you added above
• Click on the Add button

You should get a details page confirming the login portal was added.

Note that the payment plan you created above was automatically selected in the Payment Plan field when you were creating the login portal. By default all your active payment plans are added to a new login portal. They are not automatically added to existing login portals, so if you create a new payment plan you'll have to manually add it to existing login portals.

Add a gateway

Click on Gateways in the main menu. Select Add from the navbar. From there:

• From the Type pulldown select "DD-WRT"
• For the IP Address Type make sure the "Static IP Address" radio button is selected
• Click on the Continue button
• In the Name blank enter a short name for the gateway
• In the IP Address blank enter "1.2.3.4"
• From the RADIUS Profile pulldown select "Default"
• From the Login Portal pulldown select the login portal you created above
• Click on the Add button

You should get a details page confirming that the gateway was added.

Summary

You're done with basic configuration.

Conclusion

By now you should have a pretty good feel for how to navigate around the Control Center. And most of the configuration you've done so far won't have to be modified even as you add more gateways or accounts.

If you want to delve into greater detail with any of the subject covered in this guide you can find more information in the Control Center page in this wiki.