Knowledge in one place.
By Reynaldo Ramos Júnior - Applications Engineer
The need to move a technician to carry out an intervention on the equipment installed in the customer's house ends up increasing the operating costs of the internet provider. To avoid technical visits, it is very important that the CPEs (Customer Premises Equipment) used by the ISP allow the customization of factory settings, so that when the customer performs a reset on the equipment, it returns to the default defined by the provider and not to manufacturer's default settings.
In this article, we will demonstrate how to PRESET settings on the DM955 Wi-Fi router, customizing parameters for LAN, WAN, Wi-Fi, Remote Management, among others.
The DM955 Wi-Fi Router supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi at rates up to 1200Mbps: 300Mbps at 2.4GHz - 867Mbps at 5GHz, with 4 external 5dBi antennas.
It has 1 electric 10/100/1000 Wan port and 4 electric 10/100/1000 LAN ports.
Main features:
You can check more details on the DM955 product page and also learn more about your Mesh application in the article Extend your Wi-Fi coverage with the Datacom Mesh solution.
In the DM955 Wi-Fi router, the customization of the factory settings (Preset) is done by creating a file in the “.csv” format that contains the parameters to be customized. The file is then loaded on a server that will send the configurations during the DM955 boot.
To start the process, 3 files will be needed: The list of routers MACs provided by Datacom, the file “Configurator.xlsm”, and the MiniAPS Software installer.
Below are the steps to execute the Preset:
Also see the video tutorial
1 – CSV file creation
The “.csv” file must be created using the “Configurator.xlsm”, which can be found for download in the DmSupport tool. All parameters that can be customized are available in the configurator. In some fields it is possible to use the MAC address to compose the value to be applied to the router. “Configurator.xlsm” uses Macros, so it is necessary to allow the execution of Macros in Excel. The file was created from Excel 2013 and does not run in LibreOffice or Google Docs.
The first part of the settings asks you to set the operating mode to Router or Bridge:
Below are the WAN interface configuration parameters, which allow you to configure items such as IPv4 address, IPv6 address, PPPoE and DNS
When configuring LAN interfaces, you can set IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and DHCP server parameters:
It is also possible to change the SSID and Password parameters of the Wi-Fi interface:
In the Management part, we have options to enable or disable items such as PING, Telnet and HTTP for the WAN interface. It is possible to define the user and password for accessing the Web interface and also the access parameters of the ACS server of TR-069
DATACOM provides a file with the list of MACs acquired by the customer. This file can be loaded in the “Configurator.xlsm” to facilitate the creation of the CSV file with the Preset settings
At the end, “Configurator.xlsm” generates a “.csv” file with the list of all MACs and their individual settings, which will be loaded on the MiniAPS server.
The “.csv” file will be created in the same folder where the “Configurator.xlsm” is located.
Important: See in the figure below an example of a “.csv” file created by the Configurator. Note that the separator must be “comma” and not “semicolon”.
2 – MiniAPS Server
The MiniAPS server, which can also be downloaded from the DmSupport tool, will be used to apply the parameters configured in the CSV file to the router.
1) Perform the server installation on Windows. At the end of the installation, the software will ask for permission to release ports on the firewall necessary for the Preset to work;
2) Configure the following IP address on the PC's network interface: 172.16.7.10/16;
3) Open the Mini APS and click on “Allowed List” and then on “Upload”;
4) In the next window, select the “.csv” file created in the configurator and click on Upload to load it
Wait until the upload is complete. Depending on the number of MACs this process may take a few minutes. At the end, MinAP will show a list with the information loaded
5) The DM955 leaves the factory with the WAN interface operating in Dynamic IP mode. This setting allows the MiniAPS server to detect and load the Preset settings into the router. If the Preset is being applied to a DM955 where the WAN configuration has already been changed, then it is necessary to reset the WAN configuration to Dynamic IP before connecting the router;
6) Connect the WAN port of the router to the network interface of the PC running MiniAPS;
7) Connect the power supply to the router. During boot the server will send the Preset settings to the router.
8) The router will signal the end of the Preset recording process through the power LED which will start blinking. On the MiniAPS server, it will be possible to check the routers that completed the recording process through the “Deployed List” screen. Afterwards, click on Reload and check the letter “O” in the “writing” field.
9) After confirmation, the router can now be turned off.
Only routers whose MACs are listed in the CSV file will be configured.
The Preset can be applied to multiple routers simultaneously by using a switch/hub connecting the routers to the PC.
In the video below it is demonstrated with details on how to make the DM955 Wi-Fi router
If you have any questions about this procedure, you can contact the Datacom technical support team through our DmSupport self-service portal or through the call center (+55) 51 3933 3122.
In addition to the Wi-Fi solution presented, Datacom has a large portfolio of Ethernet Switches, GPON, Routers, Servers, Network Management, among others.
If you have questions about applications, do not hesitate to contact our support suporte.prevendas@datacom.com.br. We are available to assist you in choosing the most suitable product for your needs.
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