Do I need InControl?

I have a Pepwave Surf SOHO and am reviewing the settings with respect to security. Web Admin Access is LAN only. Access is with strong passwords. Under InControl “InControl Management” is ticked. I haven’t been able to find out what this is for except that it is “… is our cloud based device management, monitoring, and reporting tool designed specifically for Peplink and Pepwave devices.”. I’m not sure whether I need it. I’m a simple common-or-garden home user who does any Pepwave Admin management at home via the LAN. I can’t think why I might need cloud based device management and am wondering whether this InControl could be unnecessary way in for hackers. What exactly does it offer over and above the existing management facilities ?

This is the InControl2 Product Page where you can learn more about the . IC2 https://www.peplink.com/products/incontrol-2/

If you only have a single device, don’t need or want easy secure remote access via the public internet, don’t need to use social logon and aren’t doing any form of site to site VPN then you don’t need InControl2.

You should however setup a user account on the platform (https://incontrol2.peplink.com) and register your device against your user account (which locks your device ownership to your account) . Then you should disable InControl2 Management on the device itself.

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The main point is if you don’t have a want or need for InControl2, it is extremely wise to register your device in your own IC2 account incase anyone that knew what they where doing got hold of your serial number.
Once you have added your serial number to your IC2 account, nobody else can added your devices serial number to their own IC2 account.

@MartinLangmaid when you have a main device under IC2 e.g. a Balance ONE Core running as a AP Controller with say 5 AP ONE Enterprise under its control, should we be adding the AP serial numbers to our IC2 account? In the past we have not done this as we found that APs would get confused especially after a reboot would associate with the wrong controller. A solution would be add all APs to IC2 but then block the IC2 servers IP addresses from the AP’s

Thanks

Thanks very much for these leads.
In accordance with your suggestion I’ve created an InControl2 account but it is insisting on my creating a Group. I can’t see what a Group is and there’s no Help facility to tell me. Is it a group of people or a group of devices or what ? I’m just an individual with one Peplink Pepwave Surf SOHO, and not a group or an organization. How do I get past this step so that I can register the device ? Do I simply make up a Group name to satisfy InControl2 and move on ?

Hi @gonzi291,

A group is a a convenient way to manage devices using InControl. However, for your requirement, this is just a name to satisfy the InControl requirements, so that you can register your device.

Groups are used to manage devices, perhaps by end-customer (for managed service providers), or for creating SSID’s for WiFi deployments, Captive portals for guest access to WiFi, etc).

hope this helps,

Steve

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Aaah, thanks. So a Group is a group of devices to which a common set of configurations are to be assigned, right ?
If so, I’ll just invent a name for my group of one device and push on.

Yep, that’s exactly right.

Steve

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Thanks. I seem to be getting nowhere with InControl2. I created an account with 2-factor authentication and can log in. I created a Group called XYZ. I entered a Device with the serial number but when I go to Device Management there’s no Device listed. When I go back to the Organisational level there are two groups: XYZ and None. In neither is my device.
Is there any way to delete my InControl2 account and start over again ? Under Organization Settings I read "To remove this organization, just delete all devices on the device management page. The organization will be removed after 28 days. " but that’s no use because there are no devices to delete. It’s a Catch 22 situation.

P.S. Now the device has popped up in the Organization None. I’m mystified and can’t see how I can now delete the redundant Organization XYZ. It seems to be doomed to remain there as a corpse.

Hello @gonzi291,
There was an unusual incident that may have affected you, it has now been resolved by the Peplink team.

If you’ve got more to do, take a look at this summary of posts on setting up done previously, it covers most of the basics and touches on some advanced settings too.

Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

A little belated but heartfelt thanks for these various items of guidance and for their promptness. I’m good to go now. Much appreciated.
P.S. I printed out these postings and nailed them to the PEPWAVE router and it immediately stopped working but I pulled the nail out a little and now it works again. :-))
Gonzi

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