Here are numerous improvements that we’ve rolled out to SpuntikNet recently. The newest updates took place on January 12-13, 2012; those are bolded. The rest were introduced since the last changelog entry.

Please note that we no longer will be identifying SputnikNet with a version number, but instead, by date. (Sputnik Agent firmware will continue to use a version number—currently that is 3.4.0.)

Captive Portals

• Content management system added to facilitate management of images, CSS, Javascript and text snippets that can be inserted into portals as tags
• Improved portal design subsystem
• Thumbnail previews added to captive portal list and associated router pages
• Added optional pre-login portal to improve performance of hotspots with lots of ambient connections
• Added the ability to duplicate portals
• Suppressed autocapitalization in portal fields when displayed on iOS devices

Authentication Systems

• Device authentication: enabled MAC-authenticated device sessions to survive idle timeout and DHCP lease expiration, sustaining connections indefinitely
• PayPal authentication: added new IPs that PayPal is using for their services to the default walled garden rules
• User authentication: user search enhanced to include login ID, display name and email address, with optional wild-card searching
• Block private networks policies are now applied to all new authentication systems by default, for enhanced security

Network/Device Management

• Added a site survey command that will return detailed information about a router’s radio environment, enabling rogue AP detection
• Added alternate port and verbose mode options to OpenDNS content filtering
• Enabled router list to display hardware, chipset, clock frequency, RAM, flash memory
• Added DNS resolution to pre-validate walled garden rules
• Added support for tagging a router’s location with latitude/longitude
• Added automatic cleanup of authentication system and network policy overrides when converting a node from standard or pro to NMS mode

System

• Improved timezone handling
• Integrated documentation search and live tech support chat on all SputnikNet pages
• Added multi-threading to handle large, busy networks

SputnikNet version 3.4.0 is a major update. New features and enhancements include:

Enhanced User Interface

• Faster, easier access to useful information and controls
• Enhanced views for routers, captive portals, authentication systems, network policies, clients and sessions data
• Quick MAC lookup to see what kind of devices are on your network

Better Remote Device Management

• New Provisioning mode allows you to add Wi-Fi routers to your SputnikNet account without requiring subscriptions in advance
• New Pro subscription level enables you to add advanced features to any or all routers on your network
• Device subscription level can be changed from SputnikNet (instead of the router’s user interface)
• Network policy view shows which network policies are applied to Wi-Fi clients before and after authentication
• Radio scheduling allows you to turn Wi-Fi off at defined intervals

Per-User Bandwidth Controls

• Set maximum upload rate and download rate per client
• Improved bandwidth accounting

Content Caching

• Improve network performance and save bandwidth by storing frequently accessed web content locally (requires Pro subscription, router with USB port, Sputnik USB flash drive)
• Content caching reports enable you to view bandwidth saving and speedup statistics in real time

SMS Authentication

• Enables you to text login codes to user cell phones (requires Essendex subscription)
• Users simply enter cell phone number in captive portal and are sent a text with the login code
• Sputnik charges no fees for SMS messages

Session Queueing

• Set a maximum number of Wi-Fi sessions on a router; users who log in after the maximum is reached are given a place in line, with an estimate of when they’ll make it to the front of the queue and get online (requires Pro subscription)

Updated Reports

• Revamped session reports, enabling session time and bandwidth summaries by router, client, authentication system and captive portal

Captive Portal and Authentication System Improvements

• Disable Welcome Screen option, enabling you to immediately redirect the user to the web site of your choice, after login
• User Authentication System: CSV export of harvested emails
• PayPal Authentication System: updated list of PayPal’s affiliate server IPs

Sputnik-Powered DD-WRT firmware with Sputnik Agent version 3.4.0 is a major update. New features and enhancements include:

• Updated Linux kernel and libraries
• Better support for 802.11n Wi-Fi drivers
• Bandwidth accounting bug fixed
• Support for per user bandwidth settings
• Support for USB 3G modem (currently Sprint 250U; more to come)
• Support for USB caching
• DHCP lease optimization for hotspots (100 DHCP leases, 3 hour expiration by default)
• Wi-Fi power set at 100 mW by default
• Sputnik-default firmware for new hardware platforms, including: Cisco E1000, E2000, E3000, E3200, E4200; Asus RT-N16, Sputnik 750 Gateway
• One-step Web flash upgrade from vendor firmware
• PoE support for models listed above