Hello, Would like to know if it is possible to obtain the MAC address of an associated access point using something like GetAdaptors or Collection Metrics and report this in MSP. Fusion reports the AP MAC address in the Signal Strength info, could this be captured by MSP somehow with standard MSP apps....or would a custom app be needed to collect this and update the registry as a userattribute where MSP can collect it The idea being, that if we know the locations of access points across a large site, and the device can report back the AP that it is associated with, we can know roughly the last location of the device.....we have an issue of devices going missing, so knowing the last update date / time and the last MAC association would help narrow down the location of the device, combine this with the User.Auth attribute for the device, we can know, Who, When and Where the device may be. Thanks Glenn
Device Locationing// Expert user has replied. |
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At core, what you are asking for is likely possible, since the BSSID (MAC Address of associated AP radio) is available from the Fusion Public API. Note however, that depending on the type of infrastructure being used, it may not be as easy as you might like to translate that into useful information. The MAC Address of the radio to which the device is associated is subject to the fact that many APs have multple radios (e.g. B, G, A, N, etc.) and each may have its own MAC that is DIFFERENT from the MAC of the AP itself. From the information known by the device, you cannot determine the MAC of the AP, only of the radio. Further, when using a Wireless Switch, the brains are all there and there is no way from the information known by the device to determine the AP of the Wireless Switch that adopted the AP, even if you knew the AP. While nothing reports BSSID now, you could easily develop an MSP Plug-In, using the PDK that is available on request from Daphanie Wallace, to collect this value. As noted above, whether it would really do what you want is questionable. You can put in a GRIP if you strongly need this to be collected as a standard attribute or metric, but without a clear understanding of how it will be useful, such a GRIP would likely be declined. However, if you use MSP with MAP 1.0 and ADSP, you can get the kind of information you are looking for. MSP reports the device MAC address which is the one common shared piece of information that ties MSP and ADSP. Using MAP, you can use the device MAC to get information about the associated AP from ADSP, which DOES understand the hierarchy of the wireless infrastructure. You can also navigate from MSP UI to the ADSP UI in the context of the device and then browse in ADSP through its associated infrastructure. If what you are asking for is a complete, turnkey device locationing system based on association to WLAN infrastructure, you can submit a GRIP for that. But whether or not that GRIP would ever be implemented would depend on the business justification paired with the real value such a solution could offer. I cannot speak to that because a lot of investigation would be required to determine if such a feature would be cost effective and sufficiently benefical to enough customers.
Hello Allan, Just knowing the radio MAC would be enough to know where the device is...we can manually work this out via a survey. I thought this may be the case. Unfortunately we don't have control of the wireless network as it is managed by others...but I do like the MSP / MAP / ADSP solution. I think for the time being we will look to have a small app to pull the MAC and place into registry at regular intervals. Thanks again. Glenn