Category: Fortinet

How to setup FortiGate to use 3G USB mobile internet modem as the WAN connection

This is a repost of a post from an old blog, made on August 10, 2012, that used to be on:

http://wp.me/p25nt4-8d

http://adminramble.com/setup-fortigate-3g-usb-mobile-internet-modem-wan-connection/

Original post

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: 0x1003, registered: yes

    0x12d1 is the vendor ID for the Huawei, and 0x1003 is the product ID for Huawei E169, for Huawei E367a the product ID should be 0x1446 and for Huawei E367b 0x1506

  • 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: