DataMagic - Configuring MAC Vendors
Why are MAC Vendors important?
MAC Vendors are unique identifiers tied to a device's MAC address that tell us about the manufacturer. For example, a MAC address starting with 00:1E:C2 belongs to a Cisco device.
Using MAC Vendors means your database queries transform raw data into actionable intelligence for security and troubleshooting your network. For example, if you want view traffic from particular types of devices or check for devices that shouldn't be accessing a particular network.
Please maintain your MAC Vendors data. In particular, ensure that the MAC Vendor priority field is set appropriately.
About MAC Addresses
MAC addresses have two main parts: the OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) and the NIC (Network Interface Controller). The OUI is stored in the first bits of the MAC address (normally the first three bytes), and identifies the manufacturer of the device. The NIC is the rest of the MAC address, and is unique to the device.
In order to show the manufacturer of a device, Meraki DataMgic uses a table of MAC Vendors. This is your own Tenant's list, with a recent list being provided on Tenant creation. Tenant Admins can update this list via the Admin menu.
Certain MAC vendors may be more important to you than others. You can mark a vendor as a "Preferred Vendor" in the MAC Vendors table by setting its MAC priority. You can later use this to filter your data views.
Viewing MAC vendors
To view your MAC Vendors:
- From the Admin menu, click MAC Vendors.
- Filter, sort and download the data shown for all the Organizations you have added to DataMagic.
Editing a MAC Vendor
- Click to select a MAC vendor then click Edit.
- Change as required.
- In particular, ensure that the MAC Vendor priority field is set to an appropriate value for your organization. For MACs that you wish to be included in reports, set the priority to a value above 0 (we recommend 100).
Adding MAC Vendors
To add MAC Vendors manually:
- Click the Create button to create a MAC vendor.
Adding MAC Vendors from a file
- Ensure you have a JSON file in the format as shown here.
- Augment this with priority information by adding a priority field to any records that you wish to have a value other than the default/current value. For example:
{
"macPrefix": "00:00:00",
"vendorName": "XEROX CORPORATION",
"private": false,
"blockType": "MA-L",
"lastUpdate": "2023/06/01",
"priority": 100
} - Click Choose File and navigate to the JSON file you wish to upload and click Open.
Downloading MAC Vendors
Click Download to get an XLSX spreadsheet containing details of your MAC vendors including Id, prefix, last modified, and so on.
If you would like us to add further columns, please contact us.
