2010-4Q: PROVISIONING: Set subnets and MAC address in Provision Now!

During the Provision Now! process, SIMPLer automatically allocates equipment and customer IP addresses. Up to now these IP addresses were allocated on a "next available IP" basis - i.e. SIMPLer would just assign the next free IP address on the target WIB. For many operators this is not desirable, as they may be using specific subnets for certain towers / areas, etc.

Now during the Provision Now! process the user has the ability to specify the subnets that equipment and/or customer IP(s) should be allocated from. Two new drop-down lists contain the equipment and customer IP subnets. If a value is selected from these drop-down lists, SIMPLer will attempt to allocate IPs from the selected subnet(s). The default behaviour, if "Any" is selected, is still to allocate the next available IP address on the WIB.

In addition, in cases where the operator uses DHCP, it is desirable to record a MAC address for the customer's equipment during the provisioning process. To do this, a new field has been added to the Provision Now! page. If this is populated with a valid MAC address, the MAC address will be recorded in the IP table for the customer. This will save the installer from having to go into the customer details page after the install to record the MAC. If left blank, or if the field does not contain a valid MAC address, the MAC field in the customer's IP table is not updated.

A sample of updated Provision Now! page is given below.

Figure 1. Updated Provision Now! page

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