In order to be able to cover a wide range of Public Spot scenarios, the default authentication method of name and password is not sufficient by itself. Access and accounting models based on social media, credit cards and other methods often require additional access data, which the Public Spot in this form would be unable to manage.
The implemented XML interface connects the Public Spot and an external gateway. It directs the user data only to the gateway that handles the authentication and accounting, and it only sends information about the duration and limits of the user access to the Public Spot.
In this case, the Public Spot only performs the following tasks:
- Forward the user requests
- Restrict unauthorized access attempts
- Accept gateway commands to start and stop a session
- Accounting for sessions, if applicable
Since it is not realistic to implement all existing, and at times very specific scenarios with the associated gateway commands on the Public Spot, the XML interface was designed to be flexible and multi-purpose.
