MX60/MX64 Cellular Admin Page/Device Information

[Donian]

Hello all,

So we have numerous MX60/MX64 security appliances currently in use that all have a cellular backup device for failover. However, we do not have all the IMEIs for these devices and would prefer to collect this missing information without needing support of the end-users on-site. With that being said, the only way of attaining this information that I am aware of is either by physically reading the sticker inside the compartment or by using the Verizon Mobile Broadband Manager application. In order to utilize the Verizon app, the USB Modem needs to be connected directly to the system using the app.

Is there a method for gathering the IMEIs for Verizon USB Modems that are currently connected to either a MX60 or MX64? When searching the Meraki community discussions for further insight I came across this post; https://community.meraki.com/t5/Solutions-APIs/VERY-Incomplete-dashboard-API/m-p/1040 I know that the API is not primarily designed for extracting information and also that Meraki is a web-based environment. Despite this, I figured I would at least ask if there might be a means of accessing the device information for USB Modems that are currently in place as cellular failover. It would not be the end of the world to ask our end-users to unplug the USB modem, record the IMEI, and plug the USB modem back into the MX60/MX64, though I would only ask them to do this favor if there was absolutely no way to get the IMEI remotely.

Simply put: How does one pull the IMEI of a USB device connected to a MX60/MX64 security appliance?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Adam]

I've run into a slightly similar issue to you and, simply put, it doesn't appear possible unless Meraki decides to start reading and displaying that info in the dashboard.  

One of my ideas was to try to access the USB directly from a computer at the site by going to http://my.usb or http://192.168.1.1.  The problem with that is the MX will only route traffic to that USB device if the primary WAN uplinks are down.  Would be nice if we could set an internet preference to the Cellular but that isn't possible either.  I'll follow this thread to see if anyone has other ideas 🙂

[Donian]

Well, I am glad to hear that we are not the only ones curious about this matter.

Good idea @Adam, I had tried using the URL/IP address from a computer on the network, though the primary WAN was active. Of course, this did not work since the cellular was not active. Your reply gave me an idea. Since I have not tried using the Verizon Mobile Broadband Manager app when the network is on the cellular, I will try that the next opportunity I get. Every so often there is an ISP issue that triggers the cellular. Next time this happens, I will try getting the USB modem admin page/device info if I have the time to do so. Once I test this theory, I will share my results.

Hopefully at some point in the future Meraki starts providing access to this information. Lately, I have been hearing more and more about built-in cellular capabilities. It would be neat to not have to worry about additional hardware.

[Ryan_C]

If you have cell failover, why wait for an isp outage. Why not configure Local webpage access over the WAN and create your own internet outage. We actually do this pretty often so customers see work load over cell. In some cases cell connections have not been good enough and customers switched to 2 ISP connections.  There is value to testing these things.

[Donian]

That is a good call @Ryan_C, I think I will try this one night this week after hours. I believe that if the MX60/64 is on the cellular I could remote into a terminal on the network and should be able to then access the admin page for the cellular device. Once I attempt this I will share my results.

[Ryan_C]

Looks like switching to a MX 67/68 with LTE will give you that info. Not sure you will be able to get that info from the usb modem on a 60/64 though