Software and Hardware Configuration for hotel WI-FI Hotspots

The hotspot system configuration is quite simple: after installing the programme (in the Server version) and the additional network card, the first network card must then be connected to the modem (it will probably be already connected) and the second to the Access Point.

The first network (LAN 1) has an address space 192.168.0.x, while the second network (LAN 2) has an address type 192.168.1.x. The two networks therefore have different address spaces and LAN 2 elements cannot directly use the connection to internet provided by LAN 1.

Using the Preferences function on the "Hotspot Configuration" page, you must indicate the two network cards connected to LAN 1 and to LAN 2, while for the "Wireless Device" item, you must specify the type of wireless device used to provide the WI-FI connection by choosing between the two types available : Access Point or Wireless Router. The following instructions refer to the Access Point case. For information on the Wireless Router configuration see the page Configuration with Wireless Router.

After selecting the use as Access Point, you must specify whether you wish to use the DHCP server in the programme. If you decide not to use this server, you will have to use either one that is present in the Access Point, or one that is implemented by other software installed on the computer. Also you must make sure that the server is not running Web servers like IIS or other services which use port 80.

Now let us see how all the components in the previous scheme should be configured :

ADSL Modem Router

This router, connected to LAN 1, supplies the internet connection to the server, to which it is connected by the first network card. We suppose that this device has IP 192.168.0.1

Access Point

The Access Point’s LAN port should be configured as static (Static IP) in the following way :

- IP Address : 192.168.1.1
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Gateway : 192.168.1.2 (address of the network card for the server connected to LAN 2)
- Wireless security : disabled

Server network cards

Network card connected to LAN 1 network :

- IP Address : 192.168.0.2
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Pre-defined gateway : 192.168.0.1 (address of the ADSL Modem Router)
- DNS : addresses of your internet provider’s DNS servers

Just as an example, the value 192.168.0.2 has been entered as the IP of this card. This address can be set to any value between 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.254

Network card connected to LAN 2 network:

- IP Address : 192.168.1.2
- Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
- Default gateway : no value

N.B. All the IP addresses used in the previous configuration are freely customizable, as long as they are consistent with the other network components. For example, you could set the first network card to IP address 192.168.1.5, but clearly in this case the Access Point network configuration also requires changing, using a different address space to 192.168.1.x (e.g. 192.168.2.1 for the Access Point and 192.168.2.2 for the second network card).

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