How AirKey Works

AirKey Process Overview

Each access point has the airkey.sh script on it. This script is called either via cron or by hand. The airkey.sh script visits a specially crafted URL. This URL contains the MAC address of the AP and a static secret key that the AP generates when first initialized. If the authentication is successful the main configuration file is presented. If the authentication is not successful one of two things happen: the AP maybe new and gets inserted into AP table in an inactive state waiting for an administrator to approve it. Or the AP passed and invalid key. In either case a error message will be shown.

The main configuration file contains a listing modules that should be installed and configured on the access point. Each module contains instructions on what files should be downloaded from the server and where they should be placed on the AP. It also contains commands that should be run along with that module. For example a network module may contain some customized routes for the AP. The file that defines these routes is called 'custom.routes' on the AirKey server, on the AirKey node it would go in /etc/config/network/route.sh file and the command to run would be /etc/init.d/network restart.

The last major piece of AirKey is uploading of performance data to the central server for analysis. The AirKey node just posts the performance data to a web form. The AirKey server uses this data to generate alerts based on user defined parameters.