Many schools and businesses are preparing to go to WiFi, and the report is very detailed, with dozens of pages in the list of needs, but looking around it will find that there are few basic prerequisites for a project to be successful or unsuccessful that nobody would mention. Everyone is talking about how the system works, and what prices are low, but nobody asks."Can our network base support this billing system?". The system was bought back, and it was installed to see that the bottom network did not support the necessary protocols or that wireless AP density was not enough, nor was it properly billed. This situation repeated in the project, suggesting that there were some systemic neglects during the selection phase.
The network equipment protocol support is the first threshold.
WiFi network billing systems work properly, and bottom network equipment must support the appropriate authentication protocols. Commonly, Portal certifications, 802.1X, MAC certifications, etc. This is not a question of whether the system can run or not; it is a question of running. Some schools have old APs that only support simple Web certifications, which do not support 802.1X, but when this is not confirmed, the purchased billing system may support 802.1X certifications only if this is not confirmed, with the result that the system is installed but the end does not link."List of existing network equipment models"and"List of certification agreements supported by the billing system"Cross-checking, with separate listings of unsupported elements, either for equipment or for programmes, should not be ambiguous.
Wireless density directly affects the accuracy of billing data
WiFi network billing data are derived from actual user behaviour on the Internet, which is strongly influenced by wireless signal quality. If a region has weak signals and frequent user drops, the system records large amounts of short-term connections, and traffic statistics contain fragmentary data. It is difficult to calculate such data for accuracy and users ' complaints. The selection cannot be based solely on the precision indicators of the system itself, but is assessed in conjunction with actual wireless coverage density.
User size and co-production are two different concepts.
When you choose, you're used to saying:"We have 10,000 users."But WiFi’s network billing system is really going to be co-match, not total user. Of 10,000 users, only two or three thousand could be online, with peak periods of up to five or six thousand. The system's authentication servers, databases, and billing engines are all selected by their simultaneous peaks and cannot be counted against the total number of users. Some systems labeled support for 100,000 users but also release 500, which is not enough in a night-based setting where the school accommodation area is centralized."Maximum amount of certification issued"and"Day-to-day online terminals"Two figures are clear, and a 1.5-fold magnification of the selection based on peaks leaves a surplus.
The speed of response to the authentication page has a direct impact on user experience
Portal certification pages look simple, but the speed of response is very important for users. Students eject WiFi after they have been connected to them and many people think that if three seconds do not open, there will be a problem with the network exit directly. Few people are looking at the loading performance of the authentication page when selecting it, more often in the functional list. The speed of response to the authentication page depends on the processing power of the authentication engine of the billing system, database search efficiency, and the deployment location of the authentication page itself."Authentication page average response time"As a hard indicator, it would be better to measure the performance of peak periods and not just laboratory data from suppliers.
The boundaries of data storage and audit capacity need to be identified in advance
WiFi network billing systems generate more data than many people think. Each user has to store authentication records, traffic records, and downline records, and at least 60 days as requested by the Ministry of Public Security. If a school has 10,000 active users, hundreds of thousands of certification logs are generated every day, plus details of traffic, and storage needs are not small. When you select a system without identifying storage capacity and extension methods, it may run for months because it is full of storage problems.——The system can export the report format by user, time period and IP for extra fine particles that are repeated to be used by the carrier at a later stage of the project.
The way we're connected to the existing identification system is not a natural one.
Schools generally have a unified identification system, and WiFi has to connect with it, but there are several ways of doing so.——LDAP synchronisation, RADIUS forwarding, API call, database straight-link. If you select a model, just write it."Support for docking of unified identification", without specific connection, the subsequent implementation will reveal problems of data synchronization between the two systems, inconsistent account status and non-sync password changes. The option phase is to set the interface at a specific protocol level, it is better for both system suppliers to sit together to confirm interface details, not just by billing system providers."Sure."。
The carrier's carrying capacity determines whether the system works.
The WiFi network billing system is online, with a heavy daily load of maintenance——Users open accounts, package changes, malfunction check, report export, and strategy adjustments. If there are only two or three people in the school network centre, you have to take into account other systems, choosing a system that is complex and with each change of strategy going through a triple-floor menu, the wiring will never keep pace. The selection will be based on the reality of your own team, whether the system ' s management interface is clear, easy to operate frequently, supports bulk operations, and provides sufficient feed logs.