Configuring portal Web server detection

A portal authentication process cannot complete if the communication between the access device and the portal Web server is broken. To address this problem, you can enable portal Web server detection on the access device.

With the portal Web server detection feature, the access device simulates a Web access process to initiate a TCP connection to the portal Web server. If the TCP connection can be established successfully, the access device considers the detection successful, and the portal Web server is reachable. Otherwise, it considers the detection to have failed. Portal authentication status on interfaces of the access device does not affect the portal Web server detection feature.

You can configure the following detection parameters:

• Detection interval—Interval at which the device detects the server reachability.

• Maximum number of consecutive failures—If the number of consecutive detection failures reaches this value, the access device considers that the portal Web server is unreachable.

You can configure the device to take the following actions when the server reachability status changes:

• Sending a log message, which contains the name, the current state, and the original state of the portal Web server.

• Enabling portal fail-permit. When the portal Web server is unreachable, the portal fail-permit feature on an interface allows users on the interface to have network access. When the server recovers, it resumes portal authentication on the interface. For more information, see "Configuring the portal fail-permit feature."

To configure portal Web server detection: