3gpp Portal Authentication

3GPP Portal Authentication

Overview

The 3GPP portal (https://portal.3gpp.org/) provides access to protected resources that require ETSI Online Account (EOL) authentication.

Authentication Requirements

• EOL Account: ETSI Online Account username and password
• Protected Resources: Meeting registration, certain meeting documents, 3GU portal features
• Public Resources: TDoc files on FTP/HTTP server, specifications, and most meeting information do NOT require authentication

EOL Account

What is EOL?

ETSI Online Account is the authentication system for accessing ETSI and 3GPP services.

When is EOL Required?

Required for:

• Meeting registration and check-in
• 3GU Portal full access
• Protected meeting documents

NOT required for:

• Public TDoc files on FTP/HTTP server
• Public meeting lists and calendars
• Specification downloads
• TDoc metadata viewing (basic metadata may be public)

Portal Authentication Flow

AJAX-Based Login (Legacy/Current)

The 3GPP portal uses JavaScript-based AJAX login via LoginEOL.ashx endpoint.

Login Process

1. Session Establishment: Visit login page to establish session cookies
2. AJAX Request: POST to LoginEOL.ashx with credentials
3. Session Validation: Parse JSON response for authentication status

Code Pattern

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

session = requests.Session()

# 1. Visit login page to establish session
login_page = session.get("https://portal.3gpp.org/")
login_page.raise_for_status()

# 2. AJAX login
login_payload = {
    "username": eol_username,
    "password": eol_password,
}

response = session.post(
    "https://portal.3gpp.org/ngppapp/LoginEOL.ashx", data=login_payload
)

# 3. Parse response
auth_result = response.json()
if auth_result.get("success", False):
    raise PortalAuthenticationError(f"EOL authentication failed: {auth_result}")

PortalSession Class

PortalSession manages authenticated HTTP sessions with 3GPP portal:

Key Methods:

• authenticate(): Performs EOL login using AJAX
• get_tdoc_metadata(tdoc_id): Fetches TDoc metadata with auto-authentication
• _ensure_authenticated(): Validates session before protected requests

Implementation Pattern:

class PortalSession:
    def __init__(self, credentials: PortalCredentials, timeout: int = 30):
        self.credentials = credentials
        self.timeout = timeout
        self.session = requests.Session()
        self._authenticated = False

    def authenticate(self) -> None:
        # 1. Visit login page to establish session
        response = self.session.get("https://portal.3gpp.org/", timeout=self.timeout)
        response.raise_for_status()

        # 2. AJAX login
        payload = {
            "username": self.credentials.username,
            "password": self.credentials.password,
        }
        response = self.session.post(
            "https://portal.3gpp.org/ngppapp/LoginEOL.ashx",
            json=payload,
            timeout=self.timeout,
        )

        # 3. Parse response
        auth_result = response.json()
        if auth_result.get("success", False):
            raise PortalAuthenticationError(f"EOL authentication failed: {auth_result}")

        self._authenticated = True

    def get_tdoc_metadata(self, tdoc_id: str) -> dict[str, str]:
        """Fetch TDoc metadata from portal page.

        URL: https://portal.3gpp.org/ngppapp/CreateTdoc.Aspx?mode=view&contributionUid={tdoc_id}
        """
        self._ensure_authenticated()

        # Fetch portal page
        url = f"https://portal.3gpp.org/ngppapp/CreateTdoc.Aspx?mode=view&contributionUid={tdoc_id}"
        response = self.session.get(url, timeout=self.timeout)
        response.raise_for_status()

        # Parse HTML with BeautifulSoup
        soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "html.parser")

        metadata = {}
        for label in soup.find_all("label"):
            value_element = label.find_next_sibling("input")
            if value_element and value_element.get("value"):
                field_name = label.get_text().strip(": ").lower()
                metadata[field_name] = value_element.get("value")

        return metadata

    def _ensure_authenticated(self) -> None:
        """Ensure session is authenticated before making protected requests."""
        if not self._authenticated:
            raise PortalAuthenticationError(
                "Session not authenticated. Call authenticate() first."
            )

Exception Handling

PortalAuthenticationError

Raised when EOL login fails.

class PortalAuthenticationError(Exception):
    """Raised when 3GPP portal authentication fails."""

    pass

PortalParsingError

Raised when portal page parsing fails.

class PortalParsingError(Exception):
    """Raised when portal page HTML parsing fails."""

    pass

Credentials Handling

PortalCredentials Model

from pydantic import BaseModel


class PortalCredentials(BaseModel):
    """3GPP portal authentication credentials."""

    username: str
    password: str

Public Functions

fetch_tdoc_metadata

Wrapper function for TDoc metadata fetching with automatic authentication:

from tdoc_crawler.crawlers import fetch_tdoc_metadata
from tdoc_crawler.models import PortalCredentials

credentials = PortalCredentials(username="user", password="pass")
metadata = fetch_tdoc_metadata("R1-2301234", credentials)
# Returns: {"title": "...", "meeting": "...", ...}

Usage Patterns

When Authentication is Required

Meeting Registration:

session = PortalSession(credentials)
session.authenticate()
# Now access protected meeting registration pages

3GU Portal Access:

from tdoc_crawler.crawlers import PortalSession
from tdoc_crawler.models import PortalCredentials

session = PortalSession(credentials)
session.authenticate()

# Access 3GU portal features requiring login

When Authentication is NOT Required

Public TDoc Access:

# Direct HTTP access to FTP server
import requests

session = requests.Session()
response = session.get(
    "https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_ran/WG1_RL1/RAN1_98/Docs/R1-2301234.zip"
)
# No authentication needed

TDoc Metadata (public):

# Basic TDoc metadata may be publicly viewable without login
# Full metadata including contact info requires EOL account

Key Implementation Points

AJAX Endpoint

• URL: https://portal.3gpp.org/ngppapp/LoginEOL.ashx
• Method: POST
• Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
• Request Body: Form-encoded with username and password fields
• Response: JSON with success boolean

Session Management

• Cookies: Session cookies maintained automatically by requests.Session
• Timeout: Default 30 seconds
• Retry Logic: No automatic retry (application-level authentication)

Error Handling

• 401 Unauthorized: Invalid credentials or session expired
• 500 Internal Server: 3GPP portal temporarily unavailable
• Network Timeout: Request took too long

Best Practices

1. Check authentication requirement before attempting protected operations
2. Use session context to maintain authentication state
3. Handle auth failures gracefully with clear error messages
4. Don't cache credentials in code or environment files
5. Use environment variables (EOL_USERNAME, EOL_PASSWORD) for credentials

Cross-References

• 3gpp-tdocs - TDoc metadata structure and portal URLs
• 3gpp-meetings - Meeting registration and portal integration
• 3gpp-specifications - Spec file access patterns

Resources

• 3GPP Portal: https://portal.3gpp.org/
• 3GPP Official: https://www.3gpp.org/
• ETSI Portal: https://portal.etsi.org/
• Login documentation: https://www.3gpp.org/delegates-corner/

Notes

• The AJAX login mechanism is specific to 3GPP portal
• 3GU Portal uses same authentication system
• Meeting registration requires EOL account
• Most TDoc-related operations do NOT require authentication
• Consider using PortalSession class pattern for production code