[Captive-portals] Questions about PvD/API

[David Bird <[e-mail]>]

Could an author of PvD help me understand the following questions for each
of the diagrams below I found on the Internet -- which represent some
typical hotspot configurations out there...

- Where would the API reside?

- Who 'owns' the API?

- How does the API keep in-sync with the NAS? Who's responsible for that
(possibly multi-vendor, multi-AAA) integration?

1) Typical Hotspot service company outsourcing:
http://cloudessa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/shema-CaptivePortalSolution_beta2b.png

2) Same as above, except venue owns portal:
http://cloudessa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/solutions_hotspots-co-working-cloudessa_2p1.png


3) Now consider the above, but the venue has more roaming partners and
multi-realm RADIUS setup in their *Cisco* NAS:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-3/config-guide/b_cg83/b_cg83_chapter_0100111.html
describes many options -- including separate MAC authentication sources,
optional portals for 802.1x (RADIUS) authenticated users, and so much
more...

*"Cisco ISE supports internal and external identity sources. Both sources
can be used as an authentication source for sponsor-user and guest-user
authentication."*

Also note this interesting article:  the section Information *About Captive
Bypassing* and how it describes how to avoid Apple captive portal
detection!!! *"If no response is received, then the Internet access is
assumed to be blocked by the captive portal and Apple’s Captive Network
Assistant (CNA) auto-launches the pseudo-browser to request portal login in
a controlled window. The CNA may break when redirecting to an ISE captive
portal. The controller prevents this pseudo-browser from popping up."*