I am extremely new to the entire Mikrotik RouterOS stuff. However, my career requires me to be familiar with WinBox and MT ROS. My employer just gave me a new task, which is to figure out how to setup a HotSpot system without the use of RADIUS, but by using a Local Client Database. While having no idea what RADIUS is, or even how to do this, I stand challenged.
Therefore, I am kindly asking your guidance on attempting this. The HotSpot will be needed for Wireless use. I would like to be guided through a step-by-step tutorial of how to achieve this in WinBox, if possible.
Thanks.

With much appreciation,
MikroNewbik

Before INOX read this post.. I can say to you that you can read the wiki to search this, and read the routerOS manual.

wiki.mikrotik.com search wireless and all you need is there. It's so difficult to guide you through the forum..

you only have to put a IP to the ROS and a gateway and use the hotspot setup button..

UTSL!

Hello Mr Martin,
I am currently reading the manual--I have been doing so for the entire day (focusing on HotSpot). However, I believe the manual and the wiki give generalised information rather than guided how-to's. My purpose is using HotSpot in a CyberCafe where Notebooks will be allowed to connect to the internet. Thus, through Winbox and with the help of HotSpot, I can create usernames with expiry time for users with Notebooks, so they would have equal rights of using the internet as thse seated on Desktops with TinaSoft EasyCafe installed on them.

Therefore, may you kindly guide me through this?

you only have to put a IP to the ROS and a gateway and use the hotspot setup button..

If I guide you more, I'll have to connect remotelly and configure it. It's so easy with the wizard.. and the wiki:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/How_to_ma ... ot_gateway

Hello there,
I do not like to depend on people a lot. Therefore, I would prefer to do it myself. However, what is explained in the Wiki (which seems like a good tutorial) is explaining how to configure/setup HotSpot through command-line. I do not wish to configure it through command-line, but rather through Winbox. I might seem as an ignorant newbie who clearly has no idea what he is doing. But I guess you'll have to bear with me, as every one has to start somewhere.
As for the first step (sigh! From the first step not knowing how to do it. =\), I cannot find "SSID" in the "Wireless" settings. Am I missing something or do I have a fairly older version of ROS (2.9)?
I have the HotSpot package installed and a score of others as well. So? May you explain to me where could I find this "SSID"? I believe I can walk through the other steps fairly well, but if I face any difficulty I will drop by and ask for aid.

Sorry for seeming like an idiot, but I believe everyone should start from somewhere, and I hope that after a while I'll get better at this and more familliar, then become an active helper in the forums, as a massive Thank You for your amazing help and nourishment.

With much appreciation,
MikroNewbik.

You can run the same setup from winbox. Just open hotspot window in winbox and there is one big button labeled 'Hotspot Setup'.

Alright. HotStop has been setup using the setup Wizard. Now, how can I ensure that it is, in fact, functioning as expected?

When you will try to access any web page, it will ask for username and password.

Hello!

Click on "Wireless" in Winbox. There you should find at least one interface (in order to configure hotspot) double-click on it and on tab "Wireless" you'll find SSID.

Okay--so here's how I setup the HotSpot."
I pressed the "Setup" button, and chose the HotSpot interface to be "ether2."
I have set the Local Address of Network to "172.16.100.1/24" with Masquerade
Network selected. Address Pool of Network is set to "172.16.100.10-172.16.100.254." No certification is applied, nor an SMTP Server was specified. My configured DNS Servers are "172.23.4.1" and "172.24.8.1," no DNS name was given to the setup (should I specify it?). I have managed to setup the username and password properly as well.
When I double-click the HotSpot Server that appears, I see a new field, labelled "Address Pool" with the choice "pppoe_pool" (ppoe_pool is a pre-defined pool by myself, so why was it selected automatically?). Okay, as setup was done, I wanted to test the functionality of HotSpot, yet when I try to access any webpage, it gives me a "Page Load Error." So, where am I going wrong?

Bump?

I assume you have your wan setup already - i.e you have one end of your routerboard connected to the internet (ether1 perhaps)? This means you have assigned an ip to ether1 (ip--address), you have configured gateway (ip--route) and dns (ip--dns--settings).

Next assign ip to ether2 (ip--addresses--red plus sign--172.16.100.1/24--interface=ether2)

To have a valid address pool, you either create one for it manually (ip--pool; which implies you will be assigning static ip ads to your clients - cumbersome for your setup), or you setup dhcp server on ether2 (ip--dhcp server--dhcp setup).

Now run the hotspot setup wizard specifying ether2 interface.

You do not need to specify a DNS name.

Hello again,
I have followed all the steps provided here in this post and in the Wiki to create my HotSpot.
However, I believe the Winbox application that I am using is lacking one thing which could be the cause of my "Page Load Error" issue. It is the unconfigured "Wireless" tab. It is not visible in my Winbox application, and I believe the reason is because I do not have the package installed in the RouterOS. I do have a copy of "wireless-2.9.27.npk" but when I try to upload it (drag and drop to "Files" window in Winbox), it uploads one packet (several kilobytes) and halts there, it just proceeds to display the upload window with the static amount of kilobytes uploaded. Yet, when I cancel the upload process and refresh the files list, I can see a zero-sized "wireless-2.9.27.npk" Am I uploading it in the wrong method (this method was suggested in the Wiki)? Or is there some fault in the ROS/RBoard that I am using?
I am a very hectic user, aye? I'm just quite new to this and would love to take the advise and the guidance of the experts, that is, yourselves, as I believe this is the best way to learn, experiment, and if at fault, seek aid.

Now, may any of you kindly answer my curious questions to unlock the puzzle behind the error caused by my HotSpot installation?

On a relatively related note, I wish to use a PPPoE Connection rather than DHCP for the HotSpot, does this have an effect on what I am doing? The settings that I am applying?

Thanks much for your support,
With loads of appreciation,
MikroNewbik.

do you have a wireless card installed on your routerboard?

You almost had us on a wild goose chase here! First you mention hotspot, now you bring up pppoe. First you configure hotspot on ether2, now it appears you want pppoe (not hostspot) on a wlan interface.

Two things:
1. Upgrade your routeros version
2. Give us a pictorial of your intended network layout

2.9.27 is very old, upgrade to 3.27 (or at least 2.9.51)

Okay, here, I will have a FULL explanation of what I am attempting to do.
The MikroTik will be provided with internet (PPPoE) through ether1 and will be connected to an Access Point through ether2 to broadcast HotSpot and internet. The Notebook users will connect to the internet through WiFi (the access point), the access point is connected to the MikroTik which will send them the HotSpot login page, if they enter their credentials correctly, then it will route the PPPoE connection provided in ether1 to ether2 (which is connected to the Access Point), then they will be able to surf internet normally. I am hoping that this makes perfect sense to you.

Can this be done? I am sure it can be. But the question is ... how? I will use the MikroTik as a a wireless router, but a wired one to the Access Point. So how to do this in an alternative way than configuring the Wireless interface? How can I use PPPoE as an alternative to DHCP? I'm sure different configuration has to be done in this case, no?

Allright. I finally, after loads of trials and failures, accept your offer to help me remotely. I will be installing TeamViewer on the PC in a moment. So, can anyone help me out in configuration? Or give me your Instant Messaging address (preferably Windows Live Messenger e-mail address) so we could elaborate further on this issue?

Thanks,

With much appreciation,
MikroNewbik.

Bump?

I hope you've upgraded your routeros version?

1. setup pppoe client on ether1
http://www.mikrotik.com/testdocs/ros/3.0/vpn/pppoe.php

Example

To add and enable PPPoE client on the ether1 interface connecting to the AC that provides testSN service using user name user with the password passwd:

[admin@RemoteOffice] interface pppoe-client> add interface=ether1 \
\... service-name=testSN user=user password=passwd disabled=no
[admin@RemoteOffice] interface pppoe-client> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
0 R name="pppoe-out1" max-mtu=1480 max-mru=1480 mrru=disabled interface=ether1
user="user" password="passwd" profile=default service-name="testSN"
ac-name="" add-default-route=no dial-on-demand=no use-peer-dns=no
allow=pap,chap,mschap1,mschap2
[admin@RemoteOffice] interface pppoe-client>

2. setup hotspot server on ether2
http://www.mikrotik.com/testdocs/ros/3. ... otspot.php
[*]assign ip address to ether2
[*]run ip >> dhcp server setup
[*]run ip >> hotspot server setup

3. add users to your hotspot user database
http://www.mikrotik.com/testdocs/ros/3. ... otspot.php

I had installed a fresh copy of ROS recently, with all new IPs and configuration. and finally HotSpot works... well, partially...
Navigating to 192.18.10.8 (ether2) would show me the HotSpot Login page, while navigating to, let's say, http://www.Google.co.uk would give me a "Page Load Error." If I login to the HotSpot login page using the created admin account (created through the HotSpot setup), it logs in, shows me the "status" page, but on the attempt of navigating away from the status page, for example, going to Google, I still get the same "Page Load Error." I then type again in the address bar, "192.18.10.8" in order to test the log out, when I click the Log Out button, it tells me that I have just logged out, yet on the visit of "http://192.18.10.8/login" it redirects me to the same status page as if I'm still logged in, displaying my username and statistics.

I wonder where am I going wrong here? And how to fix it?

Bump… I have recognised that HotSpot works exactly the opposite of the way it should, that is, it displays the login page for MikroTik's own pages (such as, 10.8.10.8 (ether1) and 192.18.10.8 (ether2)), and leaves out the rest of the remote web pages (such as Google, or any other website that anyone would visit) with no HotSpot login page, but with a "Page Load Error." Could this be a misconfiguration? Does it have to do with the Firewall by any means?

I kindly request your massively supportive help.

Thanks.

With much appreciation,
MikroNewbik.

Hello again,
I apologise for the continuous bumps, but I eagerly want to solve this, to move on to my next task...
I have taken screen shots of my current configuration, so that you could kindly review it and alert me
about any spotted mistakes (or misconfiguration...). There we go: So, what do you think? Where am I going wrong?

[*]In the dhcp server, you can check the 'add arp for leases' box.

[*]In your firewall NAT list, disbale or remove the 1st two rules. I fail to see their use. The third rule was probably created automatically during hotspot server setup - that's all you need.

[*]In pppoe-out1, you left the 'use peer dns' box unchecked. Have you assigned static DNS under ip>dns>settings? If you are unsure, i recommend you mark that check box to allow dynamic DNS configuration.

Let's deal with these first.

Hello there!
It works as it is supposed to be! Thanks loads for our awesome help, you are a true life saver!

Just one (or rather two) last question(s) regarding the HotSpot... HotSpot seems to protect its own pages with the log in page, I am guessing the Walled Garden can fix this, right? Another thing, when I go to, for example, http://www.Google.com or http://www.YouTube.com, it redirects me to some random address in the address bar, and when I enter the HotSpot credentials, it takes me back to the requested website... is there some way to keep the website address in the address bar, yet display the HotSpot login nevertheless, or... is it impossible?

Thanks for your kind help! =]

HotSpot seems to protect its own pages with the log in page, I am guessing the Walled Garden can fix this, right?

I don't understand what you mean by 'protecting its own pages'. But yes, walled garden allows you specify sites that can be accessed without hotspot authentication.

when I go to, for example, http://www.Google.com or http://www.YouTube.com, it redirects me to some random address in the address bar, and when I enter the HotSpot credentials, it takes me back to the requested website

Not some random address but your hotspot server address, followed by the url you're trying to access e.g http://192.18.10.8/xxxxxxx. If you specify a DNS name in your hotspot server, it replaces 192.168.10.8, however i've known hotspot to behave erratically when this is done - perhaps this has been fixed.

is there some way to keep the website address in the address bar, yet display the HotSpot login nevertheless, or... is it impossible?

Not possible as far as i know.