USB Dongle for Cellular Connection
You can add a third-party LTE USB dongle to a vEdge 1000 router to allow the router to connect to 4G cellular networks.
Supported USB Dongles
The Viptela software supports the following LTE USB dongles:
- Feeney Wireless/Novatel Skyus 4G LTE with MC7354 modem
- Connected IO LT1000 with MC7350 modem
Plug the USB Dongle into the vEdge Router
Before you connect the USB dongle to the vEdge router and establish a cellular connection, plug the SIM card and the antennas into the dongle, as described in the documentation for the dongle.
To plug the USB dongle into the vEdge router:
- For the Skyus 4G LTE dongle, plug one end of the dongle into the USB port on the router and the other end into the mini USB port on the dongle.
- For the Connected IO dongle, plug the USB mini type B connector into the USB port on the router and plug the USB micro type B connector into a power outlet.
If you plug in an LTE USB dongle after you have enabled the USB controller, or if you hot swap an LTE USB dongle after you have enabled the USB controller, you must reboot the router in order for the USB dongle to be recognized.
Enable the USB Controller
To enable the USB controller, configure the vEdge router using either the vManage NMS or the CLI.
- Before you configure the vEdge router, plug the dongle into the router.
- After you enable the USB controller, if you unplug the dongle and plug it in again, you must reboot the router.
- If you disable the USB controller, you must delete the cellular configuration under VPN 0 from the router configuration.
Enable the USB Controller using vManage NMS
To use vManage NMS to enable the USB controller:
- In vManage NMS, select the Configuration ► Templates screen.
- From the Templates title bar, select Feature.
- Click Add Template.
- In the left pane, in Device Type, select vEdge 1000. The right pane displays the available templates for the selected devices.
- Select the System template.
- Complete the System template as described in the System article.
- Click Advanced Options.
- In the USB Controller parameter, click On to enable the USB controller, which drives the external USB ports.
- Click Save to save the feature template.
- From the Templates title bar, select Device.
- Click Create Template, and from the drop-down list, select From Feature Templates.
- Complete the device template and attach it to the vEdge router as described in Create Configuration Templates for a vEdge Router.
After the router completes rebooting, the USB dongle is enabled.
To verify that the dongle is enabled:
- In vManage NMS, select the Monitor ► Network screen.
- From the Device Groups drop-down list in the left pane, select the device group to which the vEdge router belongs. A list of all the devices in the group is displayed in the left pane.
- Choose the options in the Sort by drop-down to sort the device list by status, hostname, system IP, site ID, or device type.
- Select the device from the left pane.
- Click the Real Time toggle button.
- Select Hardware Inventory from the drop-down directly above the Search box.
When the dongle is enabled, vManage NMS displays PIM in the Hardware Type column and Wireless WAN module in the Description column.
Enable the USB Controller using the CLI
To use the CLI to enable the USB controller:
- Enter configuration mode:
vEdge# config
vEdge(config)# - Enable the USB controller:
vEdge(config)# system usb-controller
The following warnings were generated:
'system usb-controller': For this configuration to take effect, this
command will cause an immediate device reboot - Type yes to immediately reboot the router:
Proceed? [yes, no] yes
Starting cleanup
Stopping viptela daemon: sysmgr.
Rebooting now
Broadcast message from root@vEdge (pts/1) (Fri Apr 15 09:53:07 2016):
The system is going down for reboot NOW!
After the router completes rebooting, the USB dongle is enabled
To verify that the dongle is enabled, use the following command:
vEdge# show hardware environment
When the dongle is enabled, the command output displays PIM in the Hardware Type column and Wireless WAN module in the Description column.