1.

PROJECT DETAILS

Group Members: M.S.A Ahamed (E/02A/006)

S. Atchuthan (E/02A/017)
S.M Rinos. (E/02A/217)

Supervisor: Dr. Manjula Sandirigama

Head, Department of Computer Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
m_sandirigama@ce.pdn.ac.lk
Tel: 081-2393 476

2. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
Even though the information technology has grown to an utmost
extent, it is very rare to find the places called hotspots in Sri Lanka. Instead of
connecting the network devices using cables, we can go for wireless
connection which is of course very fast and flexible. The Hotspots we are
going to create can be deployed in places such as Seminar rooms,
Conference rooms, Restaurants, Lecture Halls, Railway stations, Airports,
Harbors, cafes….etc.

Either Students or Industrialists are able to use internet, whenever

or wherever they need the access, facilitate them to step into the innovative
technology in the fast growing world. Of course It goes without saying that It
Would be the less expensive and optimistic solution.

3. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

For this project, a “hot spot” gateway and network are to be designed and
implemented. A hot spot is a wireless local area network (WLAN) commonly
used in small businesses to offer convenient wireless connectivity to customers.
The objective of this project is to understand how routing and IP network security
(firewalls and IP masquerading – also known as network address and port
translation) can be integrated to offer secure wireless connectivity or “hot spot”
service.
Understanding of the following will result from this project.
• Functioning of 802.11-based wireless access network
• DHCP daemon (DHCPd) use and configuration
• ipchains use for firewalling and IP masquerading
 • Configuring a notebook running Linux to work as a router and moderately
sophisticated security gateway.
• Web-based authentication.

4. PROJECT MATERIALS

Hardware
The following is the minimum hardware requirement for this project.
• One laptop computer (to act as a security gateway) with one wireless and one
wired network interface.
• Two more wireless devices – laptops, iPAQs, other handheld computers (to act
as clients)
• One 802.11b wireless access point (WAP)
• Three 802.11b network interface cards (NICs) – one each for the
handheld/laptop computers.

Software
You will need to use the following software for this project.
• Linux (security gateway)
• ipchains (security gateway)
• DHCPd (security gateway)
• Apache Web Server (security gateway)
• CGI development language, C++, Perl or PHP (security gateway)
• Standard Internet Explorer or another web browser (clients)

5. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The following are major concerns in a hot spot environment.

1. Simplicity – a user should be able to gain access using a standard notebook or
handheld computer with an 802.11b NIC and dynamic host configuration (i.e.,
using DHCP).
2. Security – only registered (paying) customers of the business or authorized
users in a department should be allowed to access the network.
3. Maintainability – Ease of administration is a must.

The following is the network specification to be accomplished.

1. An 802.11b wireless network should be provided.

2. Use IP masquerading for all outgoing traffic sent over their cable modem (the
cable modem has a wired Ethernet interface).
3. Dynamically assign all IP addresses to incoming users and timeout users that
are inactive.
4. Provide user authentication with an “allow” list that can be updated.
6. CONFIGURATION OVERVIEW

To accomplish this task, must implement a security gateway using a notebook

computer running Linux, and use one 802.11b wireless access point (WAP). For
testing use two or more of handheld devices or notebooks with 802.11b NICs as
clients. For testing and demonstration purposes, use the setup shown in Figure
1.

7. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION

o Studies on different aspects involved will be done separately by each

group member for all sections to be completed. All the materials collected
will be discussed and linked together.
o For each section a brief discussion will be carried out to overcome the
difficulties that come across.
o The development will be done by equal participation and contribution of all
the group members.
8. WORK SCHEDULE

SEMESTER # 07

Week no Activities
2 Selecting the projects and discussion with the Supervisor
3 Preparing the project proposal and presentation
4,5 Feasibility studies and familiarization with the technology will be
used
6 Purchasing the required material and arrangements
7 Mid Semester Report preparation
8-13 Developing the security gateway (deployment of DHCPd, ipchains,
router & gateway in Linux)
14 7th Semester Report & presentation

SEMESTER # 08

Week no Activities
1-6 Creating web base authentication with several features. (allow list,
time, blocking client & Script)
7 Mid semester report preparation
8 Testing clients
9,10 Making required correction
11 Final review of the proposal
12 - 14 Documentation and the final presentation

9. REFERENCE

Linux Networking
• Basic Networking knowledge and basic Linux implementations
http://www.linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/Net-HOWTO/index.html
• Advanced Routing How-to – if you want to know more about what is going on
underneath
http://www.linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/Adv-Routing-HOWTO.html
DHCPd
• dhcpd.conf man page
• DHCPd mini-how-to
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/DHCP/x369.html
• Linux Magazine dhcpd configuration help
http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-04/networknirvana_01.html
Ipchains
• Ipchains man page
• Ipchains how-to
http://www.linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/IPCHAINS-HOWTO.html
• IP Masquerading how-to
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/IP-Masquerade-HOWTO/
Perl (version 5.6.1 comes with Red Hat 7.3)
• Perl books from O’Reilly
• Perl Homepage
http://www.perl.com
CGI
• Use those Google searching skills! There are plenty of online references.
• Apache documentation on CGI
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/howto/cgi.html
• Decoding forms with CGI, Links to CGI libraries for C++, Perl and Bash
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/forms.html
PHP (version 4.1.2 comes with Red Hat 7.3)
• PHP.net, the documentation section is excellent, including a basic tutorial for
PHP
Programming and lots of example code
http://www.php.net
• PHP Manual (see sections on “Getting started – Introduction,” “Getting started –
A Simple
Tutorial,” “Language Reference,” “Variables – Predefined Variables -
$_SERVER, $_POST,
$_GET,” and “File system Functions”)
http://www.php.net/docs.php
Apache (version 1.3.23 comes with Red Hat 7.3)
• Apache configuration help (a minor modification is required)
http://builder.cnet.com/webbuilding/pages/Servers/Apache/ss02.html
HTML
• Basics
http://www.htmlprimer.com/lesson1.shtml
• Forms
http://www.htmlprimer.com/forms.shtml