How to Install NoCat Splash and Link it to an External Web Server

Compile NoCatSplash:

1. goto http://nocat.net/downloads/NoCatSplash/ and download the latest stable tarball.
2. tar zxvf the tarball, cd to the resulting subdirectory and run make. The configure script appears to do nothing, so there is no point in running configure.
3. Run "make install"

Edit nocat.conf:

1. cd /usr/local/etc and open nocat.conf in a text editor
2. change LoginTimeOut to a reasonable value. I changed it to one hour
   LoginTimeout 3600
3. enter the device names of your WAN interface
   ExternalDevice eth1
4. enter the device name of your LAN interface
   InternalDevice eth0
5. change the name dns server to the dns server of your LAN
   DNSAddr 192.168.3.1
6. enter the mask of the LAN, which for which this machine serves as a dhcp server
   LocalNetwork 192.168.3.0/24
7. uncomment allowedwebhosts, and add the name of your web server
   HomePage http://AcumenConsulting.Net
8. change the name of SplashForm to a file which you will write
   SplashForm ToAcumen.html
9. Here is a copy of nocat.conf which I created.

Edit the file specified by the SplashForm macro SplashForm:

1. change to the directory specified DocumentRoot. The default value is /usr/local/share/NoCatSplash/htdocs.
   cd /usr/local/share/NoCatSplash/htdocs
2. open the file specified by the macro SplashForm. In this case it is ToAcumen.html.
3. Use the html, meta redirect command to send request to the external website. Pass the IP address of the DHCP server as variable PortalIP.
   < html > 
   < META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" Content= "1; URL='http://acumensoftwareinc.com/splash.php?PortalIP=192.168.3.1'" > 
   < /html > 
   

Configure your web server to accept the request, and to have the correct form for letting the user accept the agrement terms.

1. Call session_start(), include a php file which defines the function record_vars. to save the variable PortalIP. For example:
   < ?php
   session_start();
   
   include( "splash.func.php");
   include( "func.php");
   
   record_vars();
   
   print_repair_windows_page();
   
   ? >
   
2. Here is the file splash.func.php which contains the functions record_vars, and PrintAgree:
   
   function record_vars() {
   if (isset( $_REQUEST['PortalIP']) && !isset($_SESSION[ 'PortalIP'])) {
   $_SESSION[ 'PortalIP'] = $_REQUEST['PortalIP'];
   }
   //echo "PortalIP=" . $_SESSION['PortalIP'] . "
   ";
   }
   
   function PrintAgree() {
   $PortalIP = $_SESSION[ 'PortalIP'];
   printf( "< form method='POST' action='http://%s:5280/' > \n", $PortalIP);
   printf( "< input type='image' name='mode_login' src='AgreeAngel.jpg' > \n");
   printf( "< input type='hidden' name='redirect' value='http://AcumenConsultingInc.Net/Welcome.html' > \n");
   printf( "< /form > ");
   }
   
   function PrintAgreeTerms() {
   printf( "< P > I have read the < a href=TermsOfUse.php > usage agreement < /a > and have agreed to the terms. < br / > \n");
   PrintAgree();
   }
   
   
   
3. Call the function PrintAgree, or PrintAgreeTerms from within your php pages, to prent the form which passes control back to the user.

The form has two variables, mode_login, and redirect. NoCatSplash, looks for these two variables and passes control back to the user if they are defined.

Adjust the bash scripts to prevent silly error messages:

1. cd /usr/local/libexec/NoCatSplash/
2. open initialize.fw in a text editor, and comment out these lines:
   > for module in ip_tables ipt_REDIRECT ipt_MASQUERADE ipt_MARK ipt_REJECT \
   > ipt_TOS ipt_LOG iptable_mangle iptable_filter iptable_nat ip_nat_ftp \
   > ip_conntrack ipt_mac ipt_state ipt_mark; do
   > 
   > modprobe $module
   > done
   
3. these modules should be loaded automatically, or compiled into the kernel. You should not use this for loop to load the modules because the modules are very system dependent.

Login as root and start splashd. edit the PATH to include the directory /usr/local/libexec/NoCatSplash . I edited .bash_profile in /root to have the line:
export PATH=/usr/local/libexec/NoCatSplash:"${PATH}"

• make sure you have libghttp installed. To install this from gentoo linux, use emerge:
  emerge -v gnome-base/libghttp

  Start splashd. The output should look like: Chocolate NoCatSplash-0.92 # splashd
  Message: My node ID is 000103D34CFD (eth0)
  Message: Read 43 config items from /usr/local/etc/nocat.conf
  Message: initializing static splash page
  Message: Got command /usr/local/libexec/NoCatSplash/initialize.fw from action ResetCmd
  Message: starting main loop
  
  ** WARNING **: ResetCmd on peer (null) returned 1
  Message: Checking peers for expiration
  Message: Checking peers for expiration
  

• try estabilishing a network connection from a DHCP client, on the LAN, and then start a web browers on this client. The server output should look like:
  Message: Captured peer 192.168.3.98
  Message: Splashed peer 192.168.3.98
  
  ** WARNING **: File not found: /usr/local/share/NoCatSplash/htdocs/favicon.ico
  Message: Captured peer 192.168.3.98
  Message: Splashed peer 192.168.3.98
  
• On the client side you should see the web site specfied previously. Click the "I accept" button, and you should get the welcome.html. The server output should look like:
  Message: Checking peers for expiration
  Message: Accepting peer 192.168.3.98
  Message: Got command /usr/local/libexec/NoCatSplash/access.fw permit 00:90:4B:EC:C2:23 192.168.3.98 Public from action PermitCmd
  
  
• You now have splashd working correctly. Set up splashd as a service.
  1. change to /etc/init.d, cd /etc/init.d
  2. open a new file, splashd in a text editor
  3. write a script, or use this one.
  4. save the file, and do "chmod +x splashd"
  5. add the file to the start up list, "rc-update add splashd default"
  6. start the script, ./splashd
  You are done!