Dell PowerConnect W Clearpass 100 Software ArubaOS Integration Guide - Page 6

Amigopod and ArubaOS Integration Application Note Chapter 2: Captive Portal Authentication Captive portals are the simplest form of authentication for users. This section introduces the concepts behind the authentication and compares and contrasts Amigopod with the ArubaOS portal. Captive Portal Overview Captive portal allows a wireless client to authenticate using a web-based portal page. Captive portals are typically used in wireless hotspots or for hotel in-room Internet access. After a user associates to the wireless network, their device is assigned an IP address. The user must start a web browser and pass an authentication check before access to the network is granted. An example page is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 Amigopod captive portal page Captive portal authentication is the simplest form of authentication to use and it requires no software installation or configuration on the client. The guest SSID is typically open and does not use any form of encryption. The portal usually asks for some limited information such as a username and password and the exchange is encrypted using standard SSL encryption. However, portal authentication does not provide any form of encryption beyond the authentication process. To ensure privacy of client data, some form of link-layer encryption (such as WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK) or higher-level VPN (such as IPsec or SSL) should be used when sensitive data will be sent over the wireless network. Aruba Networks, Inc. Captive Portal Authentication | 6