The idea behind Coova is simple: to provide you with the open (and free) tools and services you need to manage and access your WiFi network, just the way you want to. Our philosophy is that you shouldn’t be required to use any specific hardware (like FON or Meraki) or software (like Whisher). From the ground up, Coova is about being open and standards based - compatible with the widest possible range of hardware, protocols, and services. It’s about bringing “Carrier” grade features and services to the open-source/services world. It’s also about making dumb routers a bit smarter - recycling is good, right?

With Coova, you can pick and choose the software and services you need - depending on the kind of network you are building and how you want to access it. Here are some typical uses of Coova technologies:

• Use CoovaAP for easy configuration of CoovaChilli (or WiFiDog):
  • with or without using CoovaAAA services,
  • using RADIUS or locally defined users,
  • using the customizable “Internal” captive portal, or
  • configured to use your own portal or RADIUS service.
• Use CoovaChilli either in CoovaAP or in your own firmware or server to:
  • enforce a captive portal and authentication using CoovaAAA or any other portal/RADIUS service,
  • works with a variety of commercial services (ask your provider),
  • integrate with 802.1X authentication to provide accounting and access limitations.
• Use CoovaAAA to manage the access to your network:
  • with a CoovaChilli/AP captive portal,
  • using a patched WiFiDog captive portal,
  • using your own captive portal (no advanced programming needed),
  • using our Facebook or standard captive portal applications,
  • using a commercial access controller (like Colubris), or
  • using any router supporting WPA Enterprise/802.1X (like the AirPort Extreme).
• Use and share your CoovaAAA controlled network:
  • using one account to login to both your captive portal and your secure WPA Enterprise networks (using any device supporting 802.1X, like your laptop or Nokia phone),
  • using your account at any CoovaAAA location that is being shared with you,
  • selectively share your network with only those you choose - individuals or entire realms, or
  • share your network based on OpenID logins or Facebook fans/friends.
• Use CoovaFX and CoovaSX in Firefox or your phone, respectively, to login past a captive portal using the WISPr standard and a pre-configured account - WISPr is supported by CoovaAAA and most commercial access controllers and service providers.

• Use JRadius to program your own RADIUS provisioning logic for your network.

If you are building a WiFi network and haven’t found anything on this site that can help you, you probably haven’t looked hard enough. Though, it has been said, and we do acknowledge, that more documentation is needed. For this, we call out to the development and user community to help out in the Wiki (click on the “* wiki” to create an account and login), forums, and mailing lists. Note: In the Wiki, we do lock pages to prevent SPAM - either create a new page or ask for more permissions on one of the mailing lists.

We are also hoping to hear more about how and where you are using Coova! In fact, a friend of mine was recently vacationing in the Dominican Republic and was pleasantly surprised to find a Coova signal at the Hotel. They were using CoovaAP for their WiFi. Stories like this are terrific — lets get them in the forum!

Introducing CoovaSX

I recently acquired a Nokia N95 8GB smartphone and started using the WiFi features before making my first voice call. I immediately was annoyed with my own captive portal and having to key in my username and password each time I wanted online - not to mention having to navigate a webpage not made for small displays. The picture on the right shows the embedded browser on my Facebook landing page.

The embedded browser would remember my username (until the cache gets cleared), but never my password. There is now an easier way to login your Java-capable smartphone to your captive portal hotspot - using CoovaSX 1.0! Similar to the firefox extension CoovaFX, but for your phone, CoovaSX will log you into your hotspot without going through the captive portal. Configure your username and password once, then use CoovaSX to login before using the Internet - all without using your browser.

To use the application, your phone must support Java MIDlets (MIDP-2.0). CoovaSX works at hotspots with a captive portal supporting the WISPr XML method of authentication. Visit us in the forum with your comments, questions, or suggestions.

CoovaChilli Update

Now in subversion are some updates to CoovaChilli - which include:

• New options dhcpgateway and dhcpgatewayport to specify a DHCP gateway (relay) host IP address and port,
• New option dhcpradius for mapping some DHCP options into RADIUS attributes and visa versa during MAC authentication, as described here,
• New internal state called splash in which clients are given Internet access, but enforcing the port 80 http redirect,
• New option macauthdeny which will result in the black-listing of devices given an Access-Reject during MAC address authentication, and
• Code cleanups, reorganization, and bug fixes.

Binaries will become available through the forum, where you can also report problems or offer suggestions. For more information on changes in Chilli, see the ChangeLog.

Funding

Just like FON, with their recent $9.5 million round of funding (commentary here), Coova too needed to raise some money. Though, not on such a scale. We had to plop down an extra $550 for a 2 year code signing certificate from Thawte …