Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Applicable Version: 10.02.0 Build 224 onwards

Overview
Places like public hotspots and hotels have numerous Internet users that require temporary Internet
access just for a few days or hours. Maintaining such users becomes quite a hassle for
administrators. Furthermore, applying access restrictions upon these users is difficult. Cyberoam
provides the Guest Users feature which allows automatic creation of temporary users. These users
are created by Cyberoam on request. Users receive their credentials via SMS which expires after a
pre-configured amount of time. Administrators can apply access restrictions upon these guest users
by assigning them to customized groups.

Guest Users are either created manually by the administrator or on user request. Users receive their
credentials via SMS which expires after a pre-configured amount of time. Administrators can apply
access restrictions upon these guest users by assigning them to customized groups.

Scenario
Configure Cyberoam to facilitate Guest User creation using the Captive Portal. This is done with the
help of a paid SMS Gateway. In this article, as an example, we have used prime-sms.com as the
SMS gateway. Each user is assigned to the group Guest_Group and his/her credentials are valid only
for 10 days.

Prerequisites
You should be registered with an SMS Gateway Service provider and have knowledge of their API
parameters, so that you can configure Cyberoam according to the providers specifications.

Cyberoam Configuration
You must be logged on to the Web Admin Console as an administrator with Read-Write permission
for relevant feature(s).

Step 1: Configure SMS Gateway

By default, Cyberoam provides configuration of SMS Gateway Service providers Netcore, SMS
GupShup and Turkcell. However, in this article, we have added and used Prime-SMS as a new SMS
Gateway. For this, prior registration with Prime SMS had been done.

To configure SMS Gateway, go to Identity > Guest Users > SMS Gateway and click Add to add a
new SMS Gateway.

Specify parameters as defined by the providers API. Here, we have defined the required parameters
to interact with Prime-SMS gateway.
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Parameter Value Description

Name Prime_SMS Specify Name of the SMS Gateway.
http://www.prime- Specify URL for sending SMS request to the SMS
URL
sms.com/sendsmsv2.asp Gateway.
Select the method for sending SMS request to SMS
HTTP Method Post
Gateways.
Request Parameters
user <username> The username registered with SMS Gateway
password <password> The password registered with SMS Gateway
Mobile number of the recipients. Here, we specify the
PhoneNumber {mobileno} variable {mobileno} which is replaced by the users
Mobile Number when request is sent.
The text of the message to be sent to users on
registration. Here, we specify the variable {msg} which is
text {text}
replaced by the message defined as Default SMS Text
under System > Configuration > Messages.
Response Format {0}

Description:

Response describes delivery status of the message such as success, failed, limit exceeded. Status
message can be in various formats. Few of them are described below:

Example:
1. Response Format
{0} | {1} | {2}

Response Received
success | mbno | msgid/transactionid

2. Response Format
<status>500</status>
<transactionid>{0}</transactionid>
<reason>{1}</reason>

Response Received
<status>500</status>
<transactionid>2323</transactionid>
<reason>Limit Exceeded</reason>

When the response format is different for success and failure, it is recommended that the
response format string should have a single content holder.
E.g. {0}
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Response Parameters

Parameter Index Name

0 messageid

Description:

Response Parameter is the value presented by content holder {0,1, 2...n} that will be displayed in log
viewer.

Parameter Index: Parameter Index are the content holder value {0,1, 2...n}.
Name: Name represents the content holder in the Log Viewer.

Considering examples shown above:

Example 1:
Parameter Index Name
0 Status
1 Recipient
2 SMSID

Example 2:

Parameter Index Name

0 SMSID - 2323
1 SMS Status Message
Length Exceeded
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Click Test Connection and provide a sample number in the Test Connectivity pop-up to check if
SMSs are received through the gateway configured. Click OK to save the settings.

Step 2: Configure Guest User Settings

Go to Identity > Guest Users > General Settings, set parameters according to table given below.

Parameter Description

Parameter Value Description

Guest User General Settings
Provide prefix to be used for Auto-Generation of
Username Prefix GUEST
username for guest users.
Select the group to which all guest users are
Group Guest_Group
assigned.
Specify the length of the auto-generated
Password Length 8
password for Guest Users.
Select a type of password from the available
Alphanumeric
Password Complexity options to be used for complexity of an auto-
Password
generated password
Check if you want users to be purged from
Auto Purge on Expiry Enabled
Cyberoam once their credentials expire.
Guest User Registration Settings
Enable Guest Users Enable to allow secured Internet access to guest
Enabled
Registration users.
Select the SMS Gateway to be used to send
SMS Gateway Prime_SMS
SMS to new users.
Use Cell Number Select whether to use Cell Number or auto-
Guest Username
as Username generated username.
Specify the time period after which credentials for
User Validity 10 Day
each user expire.
Enable to configure a default country code on the
Default Country Code United States (+1)
Guest User Registration page
Select to Enable or Disable CAPTCHA
(Completely Automated Public Turing Test To
Tell Computers and Humans Apart) code
verification on Guest User Registration page to
ensure the request is received for human being.
CAPTCHA Verification Enable
By enabling CAPTCHA Verification, the user will
be displayed a picture with characters that user
must insert in a provided textbox below picture.
The administrator can therefore protect
Cyberoam against attacks generated by
automated programs.
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Click Apply to save Guest User settings.

Cyberoam allows you to change the default format in which SMSs are sent to guest users. To know
how to change the default SMS format, refer to the article How to customize the Default SMS sent to
Guest Users?

User Creation
Every time a user tries to access Internet, he/she is presented with the Cyberoam Captive Portal for
authentication, as shown below.
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

A new user is to click Click here to get a username to access the Internet and provide details as
shown below.

Once details are provided, user receives access credentials via SMS. The user can use those
credentials to authenticate with Cyberoam and access Internet.
 Guest User Creation using Captive Portal

Note:

- Users registered with the Do Not Disturb Registry do not receive these SMSs.
- Guest Users are created in Cyberoams Local Database.

Document Version: 2.3 22 August, 2014