Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint User On-boarding

  • One of the critical factors of a Hotspot2.0 deployment is the ease to onboard users.
  • The initial Hotspot 2.0 standard included Online Signup functionality (OSU).
  • This included a Signup Server which used XML and SOAP to communicate between it and the client's WiFi supplicant.
  • If you think Hotspot 2.0 never took off, the OSU functionality ultimately failed even more to gain traction.
  • The more recent revisions of Hotspot 2.0 have thus removed the OSU feature all together.

Simplicity is king

  • A simpler approach is the way OpenRoaming does things via a portal. (https://www.openroamingconnect.org/)
    • User registers on the portal.
    • During registration, the system creates a RADIUS user that can be used with WPA2 Enterprise authentication.
    • Users can log into the portal where they are given the options to download and install Hotspot 2.0 profiles that are tailor made to a preset Hotspot 2.0 configuration and for a specific operating system.
    • Items that can be tweaked are:
      • Realms
      • NAI Realms
      • RCOIs
      • Authentication method
      • Allowed CA.

Rd-Connect

  • We do something similar to the OpenRoaming Portal with Rd-Connect.
  • Rd-Connect is a work in progress with extended functionality in mind in MDU deployments that uses a combination of Private PSK and Hotspot 2.0.
  • We currently have the following functionality / options
    • Choice to install as an mobile app on Android and Apple.
    • User registration
    • Password management
    • Hotspot 2.0 Profile download and install for
      • Android
      • Apple
  • Rd-Connect allows you to specify your own:
    • Hotspot 2.0 Domain
    • NAI Realms
    • RCOIs
    • Certificate Authority and allowed FQDN for EAP Certificates

  • Rd-Connect runs on the same server as RADIUSdesk
cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/RADIUSdesk/rd_connect.git
cd /var/www/html
#For the RD-Connect Mobile UI
sudo ln -s ../rd_connect/build/production/RdConnect ./rd_connect

  • Rd-Connect work as part of a RADIUSdesk deployment and rely on two items in RADIUSdesk to be configured properly in order for it to work as intended.
  • Each RADIUS Realm in RADIUSdesk has optional configuration related to Hotspot2.0/Passpoint. You need to configure the Realms → Hotspot2.0/Passpoint settings to match your environment.
  • To allow user registration we will latch onto an existing Login Page where the User Registration is already configured.
  • Once these two items have been configured we can do the last tweaks on Rd-Connect's config file for everything to work together as a unit.

  • See the screenshot below as reference.

  • If you use the FreeRADIUS config that is part of RADIUSdesk, the CA file is as follows:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
  • Domain Suffix Match should then also be uam.mesh-manager.com.
  • Domain Name and/or RCOI LIST should match the config of the Hotspot2.0 AP.
  • See screenshot below where we set the Hotspot 2.0 Domain to radiusdesk.com on the Hotspot2.0/Passpoint profile.

  • We then choose an SSID in APdesk where we apply this Profile to:


  • Select a Login Page in the same cloud as the Realm where you configured the Realm → Hotspot2.0/Passpoint settings.
  • Enable User Registration.

  • The last remaining item is to configure Rd-Connect.

  • Refer to the file: /var/www/rd_connect/build/production/RdConnect/resources/js/config.js
window.AppConfig = {
    pageTitle   : 'My ISP Portal',
    pageHeader  : 'My ISP Portal',
    pageFooter  : 'RADIUSdesk 2025',
    loginPageId : 50,
    i18n        : 'en_GB'
};

  • Everything is now in place for you to use Rd-Connect.
  • Adjust the URL to match your RADIUSdesk server.
  • You can also install the app on your phone as a PWA.
  • See screenshots below.

  • After you logged in, you can download and install the Hotspot2.0/Passpoint profiles specific for your Operating System.
  • In the next screenshot you can see where my phone used the downloaded and installed Hotspot2.0/Passpoint profile to connect to the Access Point that has Hotspot2.0/Passpoint configured.
  • Note the Security is indicated as Passpoint.
  • You will also see the name matches the name we specified under the Realm → Hotspot2.0/Passpoint settings (Wenley-HiFi-1.0.1).

  • As you can see from this page that Rd-Connect makes user registration and on-boarding on Hotspot2.0/Passpoint networks a snap.
  • technical/pp-connect.txt
  • Last modified: 2025/07/22 22:59
  • by system