The following flow-chart shows an overview and interaction of all authentication pages available with the Public Spot module: The chart takes the example of authentication using access credentials. Depending on the authentication mode and errors that can occur, the interaction may vary slightly:
The Welcome or Login pages are displayed to users when they access the Internet or the Public Spot for the first time.
- The Welcome page precedes the login page and is optional for most authentication modes: You can use this page, for example, to welcome a user, to provide information about the services available, or to provide instructions on how to use the Public Spot before continuing to the Start page with the login form. Only if you have selected the authentication mode "Login via agreement" is it compulsory for a customized Welcome page (containing the agreement) to be displayed, because it takes the place of the login form on the login page.Important: The pre-installed default pages on your device do not include a Welcome page. If you set up this type of page without loading a template onto the device or an external server, the user either lands directly to the login page or receives an error message, depending on the login mode.
- Authentication includes the login form, assuming that Public Spot authentication requires the use of access credentials and that the latter have to be requested.
- The page with the Terms of use is only displayed if you require the confirmation of your terms of use for the selected authentication mode. In this case, a check box is displayed below the login form with an extra link that opens the terms in a pop-up.
After the user has logged in with his login data (if necessary), the device checks that the information is correct and displays either an Error page, which sends the users back to the login page, or shows the Start page.
- Here, the Error page is only displayed to unauthenticated Public Spot users, which means that it is more or less directly associated with the login process. Typical situations in which a user sees the error page include unauthorized access to the Public Spot, when a user limit is exceeded, failed authentication due to the entry of incorrect credentials, or in case of failure of the authentication server. If you have set up monitoring of a remote site, the page could also appear whenever the Public Spot module registers a WAN link disconnection, as it provides advance notice to potential users about the lack of network availability (see Error page in case of WAN connection failure). Users who are already authenticated will see an appropriate error message from their browser.
- If there are no errors during login, the Start page verifies the successful login and after a few seconds redirects the user to the Internet page originally requested by user.
Additionally, a successful login is followed by a popup window with the Status page.
- The Status page shows the user the current information about his session (e.g., time used so far, sent/received data volumes, and validity period for his account). It also offers a link to close the session and stop the accounting. A user clicking on this link is redirected to the Logout page.
- The Logout page confirms to the user that the logout from the Public Spot was successful.
The remaining Fallback error, Help and No-proxy pages are isolated pages not related to the login process.
- The Fallback error page appears whenever the device cannot deliver a custom template page and the fallback to the LCOS internal default page is missing. Delivery can fail, for example, if you have specified an incorrect file path within the pages table, or if the template page does not exist on the device.
- The No-proxy page is displayed whenever a user tries to connect via HTTP on port 8080 instead of port 80. In intranets, port 8080 is typically used for HTTP proxies. Since this proxy is configured with a static IP address in the browser settings, but these cannot be configured via DHCP, the user would not be able to reach this proxy. The purpose of this page is just to instruct the user to disable the proxy before the user can proceed.
- The Help page is only a placeholder used to embed and display specific information (e.g., details about the login or where to get vouchers) on the remaining authentication pages (e.g. the Welcome page). The default pages contain neither a help page nor any link pointing to such a page. To use a help page, you must first create a custom template page.
The Voucher page is not one of the authentication pages: This is the graphic template for printing the vouchers. By uploading your own template, you can print tickets with the corporate design of your own company.
