'; Provisioning Devices 1: Basic Setup | Incognito Help 
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    [998] => provisioning devices basic setup
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  1. Auto Configuration Server
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Provisioning Devices 1: Basic Setup

This tutorial describes how to configure ACS to push specific default and override parameters to a group of devices in a lab setting.

This tutorial is intended for TR-069 devices, but is generic enough that it can be applied, with some changes, to SNMP and MQTT devices.

Prerequisite

Connect one or more devices in a lab environment.

Record the serial number of each device. The serial number is required later in the tutorial when you create the device model for each newly discovered device.

Configure Devices

Configure each device to contact ACS automatically when the device is powered on.

When a TR-069-capable device connects to the network for the first time, it obtains an IP address and initiates a connection session with ACS using an Inform Request remote procedure call (RPC) that contains event codes indicating the session purpose.

For a device to be capable of initiating a session with ACS, the ACS URL must be set on the device in the (InternetGateway)Device.ManangementServer.ManagementURL parameter. There are three ways that the device can obtain the ACS URL.
  • It can be hard-coded into the device firmware by factory default.
  • It can be locally configured on the device.
  • The device can discover it.

Often technicians pre-configure devices before shipment to customer premises, or they load a local software installation tool for the broadband subscriber to use. For a device to discover the ACS URL, often the DHCP server that assigns it an IP address also provides the ACS URL through DHCP options or, in the case of DOCSIS devices, TLVs.

When contacted by a device, ACS discovers the device’s attributes and adds the device to the Devices screen.

A new device lacks a device model. The device model must be created for or assigned to the device.

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(Optional) Modify the Discovery Algorithm

Before you can create device models, the devices that are used to create the models must be discovered correctly. If discovery fails for any devices, it is possible that the devices cannot be discovered in one session due to hardware limitations. In such cases, you may need to manually set the parameter batch size for the discovery algorithm and retry discovery.

On the Devices page, all devices for which discovery failed show “Discovery Failed” in the Status column.

  1. From the ACS Hub, go to Devices.

  2. In table view, use the Status column to find devices for which discovery failed. The status of these devices is ‘Discovery Failure’.
  3. Select a device for which discovery failed, and in the action bar, click View.
  4. Click Device Workbench.

  5. Modify the algorithm and rediscover devices.
    1. From the Discovery Method dropdown, choose Batch discovery.
    2. In the Batch Size field, type a smaller number than the default 50 (for example, 10).
    3. Click Rediscover.

  6. If ACS discovers the device, continue with the tutorial.
    If discovery is still unsuccessful, set the batch size to different values (including values larger than 50) and re-run the discovery algorithm.
  7. If ACS discovers the device, continue with the tutorial.
    If discovery is still unsuccessful, set the batch size to 1, enable Ignore Errors, and re-run the discovery algorithm.
    If discovery is now successful, ACS may be ignoring parameters that are corrupted or unreadable. Contact your device manufacturer to confirm that you have the correct firmware version for the device.
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About Device Models

Device models, in the service, act as containers for metadata about physical devices, and their associated firmware versions. This data lists supported parameters, describes features, such as how to configure WiFi services, details special parameters, such as those that hold log file and interface information, and defines service characteristics, such as how to discover the device and how to handle the device on factory reset.

Before you can manage a device, the service must contain a device model to store the parameters retrieved during discovery. During the device discovery process, the service matches devices to device models based on association logic which uses identifiers such as OUI, product class, and firmware version.

ACS uses the device model to generate the default dashboard for a device type. Device models are firmware-specific.

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Create Device Models

For each device type, create a device model from a device with no associated models.

This task assumes that you have the serial number of each device that you want to use as the basis for creating a device model.

  1. From the ACS Hub, go to Devices.

  2. In table view, type the serial number of a target device in the Serial heading field and press Enter.

    ACS filters all devices except that with the specified serial number. If no devices match, make sure that you entered the correct serial number and try again.

  3. Select the target device, and in the action bar, click View.
    The Device Hub screen appears.
  4. In the action bar, click Create Model.
    Note: If the action bar instead shows Switch to CSR View, the device already has a device model.
  5. If required, change the default name of the device model. Optionally, type a description. Leave Copy version from device at default.

  6. In the action bar, click Confirm to save the device model.

ACS retrieves device attributes required for the device model, creates the device model, and displays a screen with the model details.

When you create a device model from a device with no associated models, ACS automatically assigns the new model to the device.

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(Optional) Auto-Assign Device Models

If other discovered devices match a new device model, you can force ACS to assign existing device models to matching devices without a model.

Note: Only perform these steps if there are multiple devices without a device model.
  1. From the ACS Hub, go to Device Models.

  2. In the action bar, click Auto-Assign.
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About Default Service Classes

Service classes are groupings of parameters, their values, and attributes (“Access List” and “Notification”). You can associate service classes with device groups, so every parameter configured within is provisioned to all the devices within the group. When a new device enters a device group, it is also provisioned with those values. You can associate multiple service classes with the same device group.

The Walled Garden device group is a pre-existing default container for newly discovered devices that are unknown to the service. It is recommended that you create a service class with default parameter configurations and add it to the Walled Garden device group. The service will apply these default parameters to devices as they discover to ACS for the first time.

Note: Service classes are priority weighted. If a device is a member of two or more service classes, the class with the highest priority (where 1 is the highest) will be used for the parameter value provisioned to the device.

For this tutorial, use the information in the following tables to create the default service class.

Table 1. Service Class Details
Name Priority
Default Configurations 100
Table 2. Parameters
Name Value
InternetGatewayDevice.ManagementServer.ConnectionRequestPassword password
InternetGatewayDevice.ManagementServer.ConnectionRequestUsername username
InternetGatewayDevice.ManagementServer.PeriodicInformInterval 3600
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Create a Default Service Class

Create a default service class and assign the “Walled Garden” device group to it.
  1. From the ACS Hub, go to Service Classes.

  2. In the action bar, click Create.
  3. Type a name for the service class. Optionally, type a description and a unique priority number.
    Note: If you do not specify a priority, a default (unique) priority is automatically assigned to the service class.
  4. In the action bar, click Save.

    A screen with the service class details appears.

  5. Click Add Parameters.

    The Associated Parameters screen appears.

  6. In the action bar, click Add.
    The Select Parameters screen appears.
  7. Select the parameters specified for this tutorial.

    To filter attributes in the list, click the search symbol (), type part or all of an parameter string in the query field, and press Enter. For example, use the string “periodic” to filter for PeriodicInformInterval.

  8. In the action bar, click Add.

    The Associated Parameters screen appears and displays the parameters you added.

  9. For each parameter, type the parameter value specified for this tutorial. (Leave Notification and Access List at default).

    To enter parameter values, first choose “Not Set” from the Value dropdown, then erase “Not Set” and type a value.

  10. In the action bar, click Confirm to save the parameter settings.
  11. Click Add Device Groups.

    The Associated Device Groups screen appears.
  12. In the action bar, click Add.

    The Add Device Groups screen appears.

  13. Select “Walled Garden”, and in the action bar, click Add.
  14. In the action bar, click Confirm to save the device group settings.
  15. From the Schedule type dropdown, choose a monitoring schedule. The choices are: Immediate, Next Contact, or Window.

    If you choose Window, you also need to set a date, start time, and end time for the window, and optionally, enable ACS to contact the device.
  16. In the action bar, click Confirm to save the service class.
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