My access provider is setting and sending me the "Class" attribute in an accounting record... I use MySQL to store such info in... and I'm using freeradius 1.1.6 in order to Capture the value - I modified all accounting "Insert" statements to.... (as an example) accounting_start_query = "INSERT into ${acct_table1} (AcctSessionId, AcctUniqueId, UserName, Realm, NASIPAddress, NASPortId, NASPortType, AcctStartTime, AcctStopTime, AcctSessionTime, AcctAuthentic, ConnectInfo_start, ConnectInfo_stop, AcctInputOctets, AcctOutputOctets, CalledStationId, CallingStationId, AcctTerminateCause, ServiceType, FramedProtocol, FramedIPAddress, AcctStartDelay, AcctStopDelay, Class) values('%{Acct-Session-Id}', '%{Acct-Unique-Session-Id}', '%{SQL-User-Name}', '%{Realm}', '%{NAS-IP-Address}', '%{NAS-Port}', '%{NAS-Port-Type}', '%S', '0', '0', '%{Acct-Authentic}', '%{Telkom-Access-Type:-!SAIX} %{Connect-Info}', '', '0', '0', '%{Called-Station-Id}', '%{Calling-Station-Id}', '', '%{Service-Type}', '%{Framed-Protocol}', '%{Framed-IP-Address}', '%{Acct-Delay-Time}', '0', '%{Class}')" This captures the info fine.... (yes - also changed the MySQL table) | RadAcctId | AcctSessionId | AcctUniqueId | UserName | Realm | NASIPAddress | NASPortId | NASPortType | AcctStartTime | AcctStopTime | AcctSessionTime | AcctAuthentic | ConnectInfo_start | ConnectInfo_stop | AcctInputOctets | AcctOutputOctets | CalledStationId | CallingStationId | AcctTerminateCause | ServiceType | FramedProtocol | FramedIPAddress | AcctStartDelay | AcctStopDelay | Class | +-----------+----------------------+------------------+---------------------------------+--------------+--------------+------------+-------------+---------------------+---------------------+-----------------+---------------+-------------------+------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------+------------------+--------------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------+----------------+---------------+----------+ | 21488415 | 7/0/0/2.157_13B0EB0F | 32161edf2c7a5dec | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx | realmname | 1.2.3.4 | 1879179421 | Virtual | 2007-10-29 16:15:07 | 0000-00-00 00:00:00 | 0 | RADIUS | DSL AutoShapedVC | | 0 | 0 | | | | Framed-User | PPP | 1.2.4.99 | 0 | 0 | 0x4e5331 | ... However - I get a Hex String ... 0x4e5331 - where I was expecting "NS1" Reading the RFC's (with FreeRadius documentation) - this should be a Char Octets kindof field... Should the access provider sent the string in ASCII rather? Did something in FreeRadius convert the ASCII to Hex? What can I do to convert this on the fly into ASCII - save a bit of space in my Database - etc. Reading the mailing-lists archives - I see that it can contain binary data - thus the Hex. Which is "better" - to change the dictionary definition from octet to string or some sort of mysql function call? (better ==> less things to remember/patch between updates) The access provider states that the info provided will always be ascii (or translate to ascii - if decoded). -- . . ___. .__ Posix Systems - Sth Africa /| /| / /__ mje@posix.co.za - Mark J Elkins, SCO ACE, Cisco CCIE / |/ |ARK \_/ /__ LKINS Tel: +27 12 807 0590 Cell: +27 82 601 0496