Configuring A Firmware Web Application

by Matt Isaacs

I recently started on a new project to improve the ease of use of the CUWiN network system. The project is a web application (PHP based) to allow communities and other collaborative entities to create and manage custom firmware images for their wireless nodes. The first portion is finished but not live.

This web application addresses the issue of secure passwords for node shell users (those with access to the actual OS prompt, i.e. root). We have a password database we use internally on the network here in Champaign-Urbana, however we don't distribute that password for obvious reasons. The precompiled images we provided have a very unsecure and published default password. While it is possible to change this password from the console, this is inefficient in a large network and a change like this does not generally hold-up across equipment reboots.

The web application I've developed addresses this gap by allowing the user to securely manage a list of users and passwords through the web. This information is stored in each person's own password database. The next phase of the application will integrate with the firmware build system. Partially compiled firmware will be available with which the user can complete a build of the software with a custom user/password database. Features to be added are the ability to customize the main configuration file (which controls how all the network interfaces are configured, the wireless settings, etc), and the ability to select hardware type and disk geometry. This application will go a long way to increase the usability of CUWiN's technology.