How to setup FortiGate to use 3G USB mobile internet modem as the WAN connection
I was setting up a FortiGate device today to use a 3G modem as an Internet connection instead of a standard WAN interface so here is a little tutorial how to do it.
I was using:
- FortiGate 50B device with FortiOS v4.0,build0320,110419 (MR2 Patch 6)
- Huawei Mobile Connect E169 HSDPA USB stick with a SIM card for a Vodafone Mobile Connect services
CONFIGURATION STEPS:
- connect the modem in the USB port on the FortiGate device and enable the modem with the following command:
config system modem set status enable end
- Detect the custom vendor and product ID of the USB modem with the following command:
diagnose sys modem wireless-id
you should get something like this:
vendor: 0x12d1, product: 0×1003, registered: yes0x12d1 is the vendor ID for the Huawei, and 0×1003 is the product ID for Huawei E169, for Huawei E367a the product ID should be 0×1446 and for Huawei E367b 0×1506
- Configure your modem interface with the following commands:
config system modem set status enable set pin-init "at+cpin=YOUR_SIM_CARD_PIN#" set auto-dial enable set wireless-custom-vendor-id 0x12d1 (HUAWEI ID) set wireless-custom-product-id 0x1003 (E169 ID) set phone1 "*99***1#"(VODAFONE NUMBER) set extra-init1 "at+cgdcont=1,"ip","data.vip.hr(YOUR APN)"" end
- Dial the modem with:
execute modem dial
If you are using the web interface of your FortiGate device, when you enable the modem interface you will get Modem option under System > Network section on the left side menu. You can set up some of the options, like phone or Extra Initialization String there too. Also you can condial or hang-up your 3g connection from there too.
These are the pages I referenced when I was setting up my modem connection: