We also have a similar need for referring to the devices by their serial number since it's unique and immutable. In our scenario, we use serial numbers for the following:
- Inventory control of corporate assets - Coordination with manufacturer for warranty and repair/RMA - Tagging hardware support tickets (allows tickets to follow the device in case it's redeployed) - Device management utilities (tracking deployed firmware versions and installed packages) Although we give the device attributes for the location it's being assigned (hostname, subnet, etc), its natural key for us is the serial number. Another benefit of using the serial number is the ability to use it for auto-provisioning devices since it's often easily readable from the device using a script. On Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 4:28 AM, Federico Capoano < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Oliver, > > thank you very much for taking the time to write this proposal here. It's > very important for the community to discuss improvements and evolution > publicly. > > On Fri, Sep 28, 2018 at 1:58 PM Oliver Kraitschy <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hello everybody, >> >> at our company, we are doing preparations to move over to OpenWISP. >> >> > That is really great news, I will make sure to help you in this process. > > [...] > > >> To integrate all of this, I'm proposing the following: >> >> - On the controller the hostname should be a field of its own, independent >> from the name of the device, so people can set different values for the >> hostname of the device and the name of the device on the controller >> > > My understanding is that in your case you would like to show the serial > number in the UI instead of the hostname, is this understanding correct? If > not could you explain what your specific goal is? > > Of the three items in the list this is the one I like less, I think we > should focus on what your goal is before deciding how to implement it. > > >> - In the configuration of openwisp-config there should be an option to >> define a command or script to get the initial value for the name of the >> device on the controller (default hostname - in our case a command to >> get the serial number) >> > > In chat you mentioned that you needed the key to be generated from the > serial number, right? > > - there might be the requirement to add another unique identifier for the >> device on the controller, a department number, some address, etc (which >> can be displayed in the devices listing or used for searching devices). >> Maybe the notes field can be used for this >> > > I think we should add a new field dedicated to store some sort of hardware > ID. The reason is that other use cases have come up needing the same thing, > I'm talking specifically about the device EUI in LoRa / IoT. > > Before focusing too much on technical details, could you explain what your > need is regarding this serial number? For example: > > *Our hardware has a unique serial number which we use for identification > and internal purposes, we would like to:* > > - *see this serial number as prominent identification in the admin* > - *be able to search devices in the admin by their serial number* > - *have the device automatically register its serial number without > the need of manual intervention* > - *have the key field of the device generated from this serial number > because we consider it more reliable and secure than doing so with the mac > address* > > Thanks > Federico > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "OpenWISP" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "OpenWISP" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
