API and Code Sample for RADIUS Server with External Web Portal (Omada Controller 4.1.5 or above)

Suitable for Omada Controller 4.1.5 or above.

For Omada Controller 3.1.4 to 3.2.17, please refer to FAQ2390

For Omada Controller 3.0.5 or below, please refer to FAQ916

This document outlines the requirements when establishing an external web portal server. In an Omada Controller, External Web Portal can only be used when the portal authentication type is External RADIUS Server.

The image below depicts the workflow among the wireless client, EAP, Omada Controller, External Web Portal, and the RADIUS Server. Its purpose is to help you better understand the requirements to establish an External Web Portal server.

1. For wireless clients & wired clients, when they are connected to the SSID of the wireless network or wired LAN network and try to access the internet, the EAP or gateway will intercept the client’s HTTP request and then redirect it to the Omada Controller. (Step 1 and Step 2)

2. The Omada Controller then redirects the client’s request to the external portal page by replying using an HTTP response with status code 302 Found to the client. (Step 3 and Step 4)

3. Client sends HTTP/HTTPS GET request to external web portal with parameter “?target=target_controller_ip&targetPort=target_controller_port&clientMac=client_mac&clientIp=client_ip&raidusServerIp=radius_server_ip&apMac=ap_mac&gatewayMac=gateway_mac&scheme=scheme&ssidName==ssid_name&radioId=radio_id(0 for 2.4G radio, 1 for 5G radio)&vid=vid&originUrl=redirecturl” (if you did not assign or configure a redirect URL for clients after they complete portal authentication, the default redirect URL depends on the wireless clients).

For example:

“https://www.externalportal.com/?target=172.30.30.113&targetPort=8088&clientMac=F8-1E-DF-AA-AA-AA&clientIP=172.30.30.103&raidusServerIp=172.30.30.120&apMac=AC-84-C6-BB-BB-BB&GatewayMac=172.30.0.1&scheme=https&ssidName=eap_test&radioId=1&originalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tp-link.com” (Step 5)

4. External web portal server should be able to get the value of the clientMac, clientIp, apMac, gatewayMac, ssidName, radioId, vid, scheme, originUrl parameters. Then external web portal server should redirect the client to Controller with the information of username, password, clientMac, clientIp, apMac, gatewayMac, ssidName, scheme, vid, radioId, originUrl. (Step 6)

5. Client sends HTTP/HTTPS POST packets to (http) https://target_controller_ip:targetport/portal/radius/auth (or radius/browserauth) with JSON format (or HTML form) in the HTTP message body after submitting.The default “targetport” of portal is 8843 (Step7).

For the difference between radius/auth and radius/browserauth, please refer to Demo and api section.

Note: From Controller 5.0 and later, if the API “radius/auth” is used, the “Access-Control-Allow-Origin:URL” field should be submitted in the HTTP header to enhance security during Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). For example, if the domain name of your External Web Portal is “www.tplinkportal.com”, you need to add “Access-Control-Allow-Origin:https://www.tplinkportal.com”. Please download the demo at the end of the article for reference.

6. Omada Controller communicates with the RADIUS server to verify the username and password. (Step 8 and Step 9)

7. If the authentication succeeds, i.e., Access-Accept is received from RADIUS server, Omada Controller will redirect a built-in success page or a predefined webpage according to the configuration of clients. (Step 10)

Demo and api:

From 4.1.5 to 5.1.0, we provide api: target_controller_ip:targetport/portal/radius/auth with JSON format submitting,

The below html template is a simple demo for you to develop your External Web Portal working with Omada Controller using JSON format:

External Web Server Demo (JSON)

When HTTPS is used on the web portal side and HTTP is used on the Omada Controller side, AJAX access will cause cross domain access problems of CORS and be intercepted by the browser, so we provide HTML form submitting api as of Omada Controller 5.3.1: target_controller_ip:targetport/portal/radius/browserauth, and it realizes the page jump on the back end

The below html template is another demo using HTML form:

External Web Server Demo (HTML form)

Note:

1. If you are using Omada Cloud-Based Controller (CBC), Only HTTPS POST to the API “browserauth” with HTML form is supported for security reasons. For CBC, please use the domain of your CBC instead of “target_controller_ip:targetport” in the URL pointing to the “browserauth” API.

For example, for the CBC with URL in this figure, the API would be “https://aps1-omada-controller.tplinkcloud.com/portal/radius/browserauth”

2. If your Controller (4.1.5 or above) is upgraded from Controller 3. x.x, note that we have changed some “Names“ of the parameters.

Name（V3.x）	Name（V4.x）	Type	Remark
clientMac	clientMac	string	client MAC address
clientIp	clientIp	string	client IP address
ap	apMac	string	AP MAC address（only for ap）
	gatewayMac	string	Gateway MAC address （only for wired auth）
	vid	integer	vid （only for wired auth）
ssid	ssidName	string	ssid name
radioId	radioId	integer	0: 2.4GHz, 1: 5GHz（only for ap）
/	authType	integer	The actual authentication type, only supports External RADIUS and Hotspot RADIUS authentication methods. 2: External RADIUS; 8: Hotspot RADIUS
redirectUrl	originUrl	string	redirectUrl
username	username	string	authentication username
password	password	string	authentication password

Note that apMac and gatewayMac connot exist in the same request，when the wired clients authenticate，please left blank the apMac

3. In step7, if your form has non-ASCII characters (such as the SSID name is Chinese or other languages), UTF-8 encoding must be used when sending the HTTP/HTTPS POST to the Controller.

4. If you choose ajax access, please note the “Access-Control-Allow-Origin:URL” field for Controller 5.0 and above.

5. HTML form demo and radius/browserauth api is recommended.

Appendix: API document of auth and browserauth

portal/radius/auth (since Omada Controller 4.1.5)

Basic Information

Path： /portal/radius/auth

Method： POST

Request Parameters

Headers

Parameters	Value	Required
Content-Type	application/json	Yes

Query

Parameters	Required	Description
key	Yes	AES key encrypted by RSA public key, RSA/ECB/PKCS1Padding. The first 16 bytes are the key, and the last 16 bytes are the IV. This 32-byte key needs to be URLBase64 encoded.

Body

Parameters	Type	Required	Description
clientMac	string	Yes	client MAC address
clientIP	String		Client IP address
apMac	string	Yes	AP MAC address
gatewayMac	string	Yes	gateway MAC address
ssidName	string	Yes	SSID name
vid	integer	Yes	VLAN ID
radioId	integer	Yes	0: 2.4GHz 1: 5GHz
authType	integer	Yes	This entry is the realtime authentication type. Only the following two options are supported: 2: External RADIUS 8: Hotspot RADIUS
originUrl	string		Redirect URL
username	string	Yes	The username for authentication
password	string	Yes	The password for authentication

Response Parameters

Parameters	Type	Required	Description
errorCode	integer	Yes	Error Code

portal/radius/browserauth (since Omada Controller 5.3.1)