Managing Devices
This topic describes how to view and manage devices in SteelConnect.
Viewing devices
In the SteelConnect system, a device is anything with a MAC address. This differs from a SteelConnect appliance, which can be a gateway, switch, or access point that connects to SCM.
SCM allows management of multiple devices, regardless of physical location. New devices are automatically detected and can be registered by an administrator or the device owner. After a device is registered, it’s recognized throughout the entire organization. Device management provides the foundation for network control, because you can assign access rules to devices.
If the device owner has an SCM login or the device uses a Wi-Fi portal, you can also use abstractions such as users and groups instead of IP networks and zones.
To register a device
1. Choose Devices > New Device.
2. Type the device MAC address. Use this format: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
3. Type a device description to facilitate administration.
4. Optionally, assign a user or a device group.
5. By default, devices use DHCP addressing. To use static IP addressing, click On.
6. Click Submit.
To view the devices within an organization
•Choose Devices > Overview.
Use the left menu to search for a device by site or SSID.
To track device activity
•Choose Visibility. For details, see Viewing network devices and users.
Viewing unregistered devices
Any devices that are detected as unregistered will appear on an unregistered list. Network access rules can be applied to allow only registered devices access to the network resources. This adds an additional layer of access control to the internal networks.
The default rule only allows internet access. You can set up an employee portal to offload the task of registering users and devices. It can be activated instead per broadcast for wireless networks. Unregistered devices will then be redirected to the portal where the users can register their device into their own user account through a loopback email or SMS text authentication mechanism according to the details entered in the user accounts. For details, see Registering guest devices using social media without XMS-Cloud.
When you use a guest portal, the devices become guest devices instead of registered devices.
To track unregistered devices
•Choose Devices > Unregistered.
Unregistered devices appear on the Unregistered page.
Viewing device details
Click an individual device to view its MAC address, IP address assignment, vendor, zone, traffic information, and Wi-Fi details.
If you have a guest portal, all devices appear under guests.