Can AX generate and keep MAC network addresses unique during a production run?

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Hi,

During production/ assembly we would like to generate a unique MAC network address and burn in into the devices firmware. This MAC address should be stored together with the SerialNumber (also to be unique generated) at the end of the assembly line. Both should be safeguarded and uniquely to avoid duplicates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address

What is best place to generate and store those MAC numbers? Can AX do that (standard AX: should have our Organisation Unit prefix + an incremental number) ?
How to link it to the product under assembly in manufacturing?
How to link to the serial number generated during manufacturing?
How to print both on a bar code ? The barcode is put on the device, the ethernet card. And finally during packaging on the outside of the packaging box .
If we do not have AX running yet. What options do we have to store this?
Any experience how to burn the device during (mass) serie production?
How to keep the number unique on 10 production lines?

Any help appreciated.

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Martin Dráb 237,878 Most Valuable Professional on at

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You can't ask us what API is offered by some device completely unknown to us. That's what you should find (in documentation, from the vendor) and give to us, if needed.

AX does have number sequences.

In general, if you you have 10 different places where numbers are assigned, you either give a range to each of them (e.g. pre-fetching of nubmer sequences) or you use one central place assigning numbers (a potential bottleneck).

Barcodes can be printed either from AX or from specialized software.

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Fredrik Sætre 12,644 on at

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Can you let your serial number be the MAC address? That would solve a lot of things.

I would create an amendment for this as there is no good way to use any data in AX to create this.

1. Create a check box on your item called "Generate MAC" that can only be selected if Inventory Tracking dimension Serial is active.

2. Create a MAC addresse table where the MAC Addresse is the ID and Index (to make sure no duplicates)

3. For each serialnumber created for an item that has a "Generate MAC" active a MAC number is also created. Use RecId or InventSerial to connect the MAC to the serial number. These are probably a sequence with some type of check digit. Use number sequences and some logic to get these right.

Now you can create serial numbers before or after your production should start. If you create them before you will have a inventTrans with a serial number reference that also has a MAC attached that you can create when you run your ROM burning and can export this to a CSV file for each production order. This file can also be used for label printing. ;)

Good luck.

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@Frederik,

Thank you for your reply.

0. "Can you let your serial number be the MAC address?". Serial number and MAC address are generic classifiers. So we do not mix them up. We also thought of this at start.

1. Why not use a BOM where in a workcell the BOM has a step where a new item with MAC Address must be linked? That MAC Address is then generated or linked (no idea how that goes in AX). Any ideas? Since it is a BOM (half finished good), the MAC number only requires to be filled in once.

2. Clear. Maybe number sequence like a serial number as stock keeping unit is similar and thus no table needs to be created?

3. Clear. See 1. and 2. that is is regular AX in a BOM.

J.

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Fredrik Sætre 12,644 on at

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0. Figured as much...

1. I don't quite get what you mean here, but maybe you're on to something... You could have a serialized item for MAC addresses and count in all the different addresses and put all(or a subset) MACs as inventory. You only do this once with a job and you're set. Add the item to your BOM and make sure to get this automatically picked with a serial number. No amendments needed!

You would have to hard code som report to find the number.

However then a production order would have to be by 1 pcs because you don't know if serial nr. 1 is linked with MAC address 1 if you have multiple items created. The first one out would most likely have the first MAC though.

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