Tim: >> For some networks, it's simply going to be the DHCP server assigning >> you an IP to a MAC address it knows about (hardware details about your >> network). This will get messed up if your hardware supplies random MAC >> addresses each time it makes a connection. Ranjan Maitra: > I suspect it is this above, since this is a one-time deal, only when > a computer is set up for the first time (but done through the browser > that one time). After that, it never asks for registration again > unless the computer in question has not connected for months (in > which case it has to be validated). When you connect to a network using DHCP, your device tries asking for the same IP it had last time. Their server *may* honour that. But I think you'd get a different IP each time unless they had a vast reserve of spare IPs to allocate each person the same one each time. Though this shouldn't be an authentication problem, DHCP is supposed to be able to handle changed addresses. What the DHCP server uses to fingerprint you, to identify your device as the same device each time you connect, can be a combination of things, and they can be remembered for as long (or short) as they want their DHCP server to hold the data: Your network interface's MAC (which will be different for cabled ethernet and wireless on the same device, and is randomly changed with some hardware, and randomised by some software configurations). Each MAC is supposed to be unique, though there have been cases of network hardware with duplicated "unique" ids. And since some devices use randomised MACs, there is a chance that it might pick the same MAC as someone else on the network. That can cause problems. Your network configuration can also supply another kind of ID as a kind of fingerprint. A DHCP server can use that to ID you across different visits. This is an optional thing, many clients don't supply that info to the server. Between the data of your MAC and another unique ID, your device can be recognised as previously authorised, and considered still authorised (if their system works that way, and your info stays the same each time). Various ISPs work that way, the first thing connected to them during the set-up process (your modem or router) is used to authenticate you as a valid customer. If you change your router, you may have to call customer support to get it "allowed." Likewise if you have multiple devices that directly connect to a network, at different times. I'd look through network configuration options related to privacy or randomised MAC (same thing, different titles). Another thing that springs to mind is IPv6. > I don't know if this matters but I do not need to keep the browser on > after that first-time registration. Also, I never store my cache so > once the browser is shut down, the cache is deleted. That sounds right. Once you're authenticated into the system, that should be the end of the process. You may have to authenticate each time you login, but shouldn't have to maintain some kind of keep-alive through the browser for a session, that'd be a daft way to maintain a network (not that that stopped some early ISPs from requiring some kind of heartbeat from their clients). You could have to do the authentication each time you connect to their network. That's a reasonable thing to expect, and normally a good security measure (it stops someone nicking a device then using it in your name). Though can be a pain with wireless hardware, connections come and go with them, even though you're intending it to be one continuous session. -- uname -rsvp Linux 3.10.0-1160.118.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Apr 24 16:01:50 UTC 2024 x86_64 Boilerplate: All unexpected mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted. I will only get to see the messages that are posted to the mailing list. -- _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue
