For cellular modems, maintaining templates can be quite a chore. Throw in the various manufacturers, models, firmware versions, carrier versions and now it’s a full time job in itself. Listed below are some best practices to consider when creating/maintaining template files:
- Make best efforts to ensure that the template is applied to modems on the same firmware level the template is created from. If the template was created on the 5.0.0 firmware version, only apply the template to modems on 5.0.0 firmware…do not apply that template to a modem that is on any other firmware. Manufacturers do NOT recommend crossing templates between firmware versions. However, (from experience so far) if the template was created from a firmware version that is one rev behind than one you are loading into currently, it should be ok in most cases (unless advised not to by the manufacturer in the firmware release notes). The safest method to ensure stability of the modem is to configure the modem that is on new firmware version from scratch and then download the template from the modem.
- While it may be ok to apply a template created on older firmware to a modem on newer firmware (refer to first point), the reverse is not – applying a template from newer firmware to a modem on older firmware. This is because the new firmware may have features and settings not present and therefore unrecognizable for a modem on the older firmware.
- There is currently no way of checking the contents of the template of some modems (depending on the manufacturer). The only way of knowing what the template changes, is if you keep a separate record of it when you first create that template or you put a description in the filename of the template.
- It is best to not change the filename of the template as this may cause the file to become unrecognizable by the modem; instead create a folder with the appropriate title and put the template in that folder.
In light of the above information, it is imperative that you include the following parameters/information in the title when creating templates in order to minimize failures, errors, and headaches:
- Customer name (name of the Organization/Company)
- Modem Model#
- Carrier (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc.)
- Brief application description (ex: ip passthru, no wifi, trusted IP list, etc.)
- Firmware version
- Date created
In short, keeping the MODEL, CARRIER, and FIRMWARE exact between your template and modem will ensure that everything works like you expect it to.
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