Would Like to setup Firstspot for my wisp

[hoangdang1971]

I have been reconminded to use first spot as my customer management system by a good first who use first spot as well. He is always on the go and it is hard to get in touch with him so I would like to reach out to the people at first spot for some help. But before i use first spot I have some questions that concerns me:

1. would first spot team member help me setup my server so that it works when I put it into my wisp system when I buy the full package with the maintain?

2. does first spot support udp and tcp because I have customers that use my internet service with Xbox and Play station?

3. would there be a problem with me setting my customer antenna as router mode or I need to set the antenna to bridge mode and have customer get ip address from first spot server.

4. Will first spot allow me to let customer use public ip address as I have some customers that purchase public ip addresses from me for their home camera system.

5. my customers are mostly old people who just know how to browse the internet and is not smart with entering user login information everytime they go online. They are use to paying for the service each month and go online without having to enter in users information.

Agian thank you for your time and as soon as I get the answer to my concerns and base off the information I get I will more then likely purchase First Spot

[alan]

1) Yes. Customer with valid maintenance is entitled to our official support

2) Yes. Both UDP and TCP are supported.

3) For simple scenario, we recommend setting AP as bridge instead of router. In fact, all you need is to make sure AP's WAN port is not used. Refer to http://patronsoft.com/firstspot/topologies.html for more examples of FirstSpot topologies.

4) Yes. You can enable Port Forwarding (or even disable NAT completely).

5) In that case, you can take advantage of our Passive Login users (i.e. login automatically when the user access the Internet).
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

On the answer for question 5, how will the customer account expire if they are in passive mode? I will end up losing money on all my customer. Can set passive with minute used limits

[alan]

5) Yes. Passive Login can still use normal user attribute (e.g. access minutes, expire date). The only difference is that the client doesn't need to login from the web browser explicitly.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

so what will happen is I let the customer sign up first and select their service plan and once they have been setup, I then go into their profile and set them as passive customer with minutes limit to expire each month? my customers pay monthly or 30 days at a time which they must renew each month for their service.

Also I didn't see anywhere in firstspot to setup my internet connection with my provider as to static ip to get into the internet. how would i setup this process?

[alan]

It is possible. Alternatively, you can use Self Sign-up feature with Login Once users (i.e. after first login, the user will become Passive Login users).

For your Internet Network Interface IP (Internet Connection side), you just need to set it under Windows. There is no need to configure it within FirstSpot.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

As to question #3, will Xbox and play station be able to travel out and into firstspot network without having to set port forwarding if network is set to dhcp bridge mode for all customer or no antenna is set to router mode

[alan]

Actually, if your client needs to accessible from the Internet (e.g. be a server), you should turn off FirstSpot NAT completely. That way, you don't have to worry about individual Port forwarding.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

Would there be a problem if o turn off Nat as to client not able to access internet?

[alan]

No. You actually need to setup return route in your next-hop router. Please refer to chapter 3 (NAT section) of firstspot_guide.pdf for details.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

I'm about ready to make a purchase but have one more thing to test. I want to setup simple deployment with first spot with Nat turned off so I don't have to deal with customer Xbox or port forwarding. Is there a step by step guide to help me setup the route return and internet connection so I can test this final concern

[alan]

There is a simple example in chapter 3 (NAT section) of firstspot_guide.pdf.

It should be quite straightforward to add a return route in your next-hop router. If you have difficulties, please send a screenshot to firstspot@patronsoft.com and we can help you to troubleshoot.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

this is how I want to setup my simple network but need your input

Client => FirstSpot (have Public IP) => IPS Gateway Router

Also another question is that some of my cusotmers are running a public IP on their home router for security camera and etc... Will the simple network setup allow my customers to continue using their public ip?

Pretty much the First Spot unit will do all the work in routing and dhcp, and my IPS gateway will be there only to allow my network to access the internet.

[alan]

1) First, make sure you turn off FirstSpot NAT and your return-route in your next-hop router is working well.

2) Assuming your have enabled NAT in your IPS Gateway Router, somehow you need to make the public IP accessible to FirstSpot. You can either:
- enable Port Forwarding in your IPS Gateway Router, or
- setup DMZ in your IPS Gateway Router so that all the public IPs are pointing to FirstSpot Internet Network Interface
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[hoangdang1971]

The public IPs are already programmed into the ISP Gateway which there is no need to go into the ISP Gateway to program port forwarding or DMZ