[RADIATOR] Radiator+Mikrotik+Opera+MySQL: hotel wireless billing

[Mike McCauley]

We recently added to the Radiator goodies a sample Radiator
configuration for Mikrotik+Radiator+Opera+MySQL which lets you
build a prepaid wired or wireless internet access system for
hotels with automatic billing to the room. 

Opera from Micros-Fidelio is a very widely used hotel property
management software package. Radiator interfaces readily to the
Opera.

The sample configuration system works with the Mikrotik hotspot
package and RADIUS. Mikrotik (http://www.mikrotik.com) is a very
capable PC-Based router/wireless/hotspot/proxy software
package. It runs on standard PC hardware or dedicated specialised
hardware. It is easy to configure and very flexible. The built-in
hotspot module provides wireless and wired RADIUS authentication,
captive portal and caching web proxy. It runs linux and can
support, for example, built-in PCI Atheros wireless cards. Other
similar hotspot/portal systems can also be supported.

When a user wants wireless or wired Internet access through the
Mikrotik hotspot, the hotspot module presents a web page
requesting room number and guest number. Radiator authenticates
the RADIUS requests from the hotspot against room number and
guest number from Opera. It then looks in MySQL for an existing
prepaid session for the room/guest/macaddress combination. If the
user does not already have a prepaid session, one is created and
a billing posting is sent to Opera (the cost will be added to the
user's hotel bill). If there is already a prepaid session with
time left, then the user is granted access for that much
time. Details of posted bills are also stored in MySQL.

The Mikrotik+Radiator+Opera+MySQL system provides flexible,
configurable wired and wireless access for hotel guests with
direct to-room billing.

-- 
Mike McCauley                               mikem at open.com.au
Open System Consultants Pty. Ltd
9 Bulbul Place Currumbin Waters QLD 4223 Australia   http://www.open.com.au
Phone +61 7 5598-7474                       Fax   +61 7 5598-7070

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