This FAQ provides concise answers about using GDMS Networking, Grandstream’s cloud-based platform for managing GWN access points, routers, switches, GCC devices and other supported Grandstream products. It helps administrators with key tasks such as account setup, device onboarding, network configuration, monitoring and security in the cloud.
Getting Started & Product Overview
GDMS Networking is Grandstream’s cloud-based management platform for Grandstream networking devices. It centralizes configuration, monitoring, alerts, remote access and maintenance for access points, routers, switches and convergence devices across one or many sites, accessible from a web browser or the GWN mobile app.
Instead of logging into each device separately, administrators can:
- Create and apply standard configurations (Wi-Fi SSIDs, VLANs, WAN settings, policies) to many devices at once
- Monitor device and client status, bandwidth and network health from a single dashboard
- Manage firmware versions centrally, with batch or scheduled upgrades
- Organize networks by site, customer or project, making multi-site and MSP deployments easier to operate
- Use remote access / proxy from GDMS Networking to open the local web interface of a device from anywhere, which is especially useful when a feature exists only on the device UI and not (yet) in the cloud
This reduces manual work, keeps configurations consistent, and extends management and troubleshooting to any location with internet access.
GDMS Networking is a free cloud management platform for Grandstream networking devices. There are no license keys, no per-device or per-site subscription fees, and no fixed platform limit on how many devices or sites you can manage in your account. You can add and manage as many supported Grandstream networking devices as your deployment requires.
GDMS Networking is designed for a wide range of deployments, from small businesses and branch offices up to large enterprises and service providers that need centralized management. Grandstream positions it for scenarios where networks span multiple locations and need consistent configuration and monitoring from the cloud.
Typical use cases include:
- Retail, hospitality and healthcare that need guest Wi-Fi and consistent policies across branches or hotel floors
- Education and campuses with many APs and switches across buildings
- Corporate offices and multi-site enterprises that want remote visibility and control without on-premise controllers at each site
- Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who manage networks for multiple customers, each with their own sites and policies
Because access points, routers and switches are all cloud-managed, it fits both Wi-Fi-only projects and full wired + wireless deployments.
GDMS Networking is designed to manage a wide range of Grandstream networking devices, covering Wi-Fi, routing, switching and convergence. Examples include:
- Wi-Fi access points such as GWN76xx indoor and outdoor models and newer Wi-Fi series
- Routers such as the GWN70xx family and other Grandstream routing platforms
- Switches such as GWN78xx / GWN783x and other Grandstream managed or light-managed switches
- Convergence devices such as the GCC601x and GCC602x series, which combine routing, security, switching/Wi-Fi and UC features
Note: GDMS Networking is intended for managing Grandstream Networking devices and does not provide management for third-party networking hardware.
Grandstream offers three main ways to manage its networking devices:
- GDMS Networking (cloud):
- Runs in the cloud, accessed through a web browser or the GDMS / GWN mobile app.
- No software to install or maintain on your own servers.
- Ideal for multi-site, distributed or MSP environments where devices are spread across many locations and need to be managed remotely.
- GWN Manager (on-premise controller):
- Installed on your own Linux server or virtual machine.
- Better suited for environments that require on-site control, restricted internet access or strict internal policies about where management data is stored.
- You are responsible for the server infrastructure, backups and upgrades.
- Embedded controller:
- Devices include an embedded controller that can manage a limited number of nearby devices on the same LAN.
- Suitable for small, single-site deployments where everything is local and simple.
In short: embedded controller for small local setups, GWN Manager when you want your own on-prem controller, and GDMS Networking when you prefer a cloud platform that can manage many sites and customers from anywhere.
No additional server hardware is required. GDMS Networking runs as a cloud service, so you do not need to deploy a local controller, virtual machine or dedicated appliance.
To use GDMS Networking you only need:
- Supported Grandstream networking devices (access points, routers, switches, convergence devices)
- A GDMS account with access to the GDMS Networking web portal
- Internet connectivity so your devices can reach the cloud service
All controller software, scaling and platform maintenance are handled in the cloud, which simplifies deployment, especially for remote locations or small branches where you don’t have local IT staff.
Accounts, Regions & Access
- Open a browser and go to https://www.gdms.cloud.
- Click Sign Up / Register and fill in the required information (email, username, password, country/region, etc.).
- You will receive an activation email. Follow the link in that email to verify your account.
- After activation, sign in at gdms.cloud with your new credentials and select GDMS Networking from the available services.
Once logged in, you can create organizations, add devices and start building networks directly from the cloud interface.
When you create a Grandstream / GDMS account, you must choose a data center region:
- World (US Data Center): accounts and device management data are hosted in a US-based data center.
- EU (Europe Data Center): accounts and data are hosted in a European data center, typically chosen for EU customers or deployments that prefer data to stay in the EU.
- CN (China Data Center): a separate environment for deployments based in China.
The region you select determines:
- Where your account and management data are stored
- Which cloud servers your devices connect to
- Typical latency between your sites and the platform
You should generally choose the region that:
- Matches your main legal / business location.
- Satisfies your data-protection requirements (for example, EU data staying in the EU).
- Geographically closest to most of your networks for better responsiveness.
No. Once a Grandstream / GDMS account is created in a specific data center region (World / US, EU, or CN), the region cannot be changed for that account.
World, EU and CN are separate environments with separate databases, so data is not automatically shared or migrated between them.
If you need to move to a different region (for example, from World to EU), you must:
- Create a new account in the target region using the “World (US Data Center) / EU (Europe Data Center) / CN (China Data Center)” selection on the sign-up page.
- Recreate your configuration in the new region (organizations, networks, templates, policies, etc.).
- Re-add / rebind your devices so they register to the new region and appear under the new account.
For this reason, it is important to choose the correct region (usually where your organization is based or where your data must reside) before you start deploying devices.
Access to GDMS Networking is controlled through users and roles:
- The account that first sets up GDMS / GDMS Networking is usually the Super Administrator for the platform.
- Under Organization → Users, you can add more users and assign them roles.
- GDMS Networking provides several built-in roles, such as:
- Super Administrator / Platform Administrator: full read/write access to all organizations, networks and sub-accounts
- Organization Administrator: manages all networks and users under a specific organization
- Network Administrator: manages configuration only for assigned networks
- Read-only variants and Guest Editor for limited or monitoring-only access
On top of that, you can create custom roles. Each custom role can have very specific permissions, using check boxes for:
- Organization-level privileges (Overview, Inventory, Reseller Channel, Users, Upgrade, Reports, Change Log, Global settings, etc.)
- Network-level privileges (Dashboard, Devices, Clients, Guests, Map & Floor Plans, Insight, Alerts, Settings, and so on)
This role system lets you go from “full platform admin” down to “very limited view” for someone who should only monitor a few pages.
Yes. GDMS Networking uses the Grandstream cloud account system, which supports Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for logins. After you enable MFA in your account settings, sign-in requires your password plus a second factor. The following MFA methods are available:
- Email authentication – a verification code is sent to your email address
- Authentication app – a time-based one-time code from an app on your phone or PC
- TOTP hardware token – a physical token that displays a time-based one-time password
- FIDO security key – a hardware security key (for example, a YubiKey) that supports FIDO security keys
Enabling MFA on admin and high-privilege accounts is strongly recommended to protect access to your GDMS Networking organizations and networks.
Yes. GDMS Networking can be accessed using Grandstream’s GWN mobile app for Android® and iOS®. You sign in with the same cloud account you use on the web.
From the app you can typically:
- Check the status of your organizations, networks and devices
- Receive push notifications for important alerts
- Perform management tasks such as viewing details or onboarding devices on-site
For full configuration and advanced features, you should still use the web interface, which always offers the most complete and up-to-date set of options.
Devices & Network Setup
You can add devices to GDMS Networking in two different ways, depending on whether you want them to be immediately active in a network or just stored in your account for later use:
- Add directly to a network (functional immediately)
- Go to the desired Network → Devices page.
- Click Add and enter the device MAC address and initial password (and optionally a name / device group).
- The device is added to that network and will receive this network’s configuration once it comes online. It becomes part of that site’s active setup right away.
- Claim to Inventory only (not yet part of any network)
- Go to Organization → Inventory and click Claim Device.
- Enter the device MAC address and initial password.
- The device is now claimed to your organization and visible in the cloud, but no network configuration is applied yet.
- Later, you can use Assign to Network from Inventory to move it into a specific network. At that moment it starts using that network’s configuration.
In short:
- Devices page = add it straight into a site, it becomes functional there.
- Inventory = park it in your organization first, then assign it to any network when you’re ready.
- Inventory shows all devices that are claimed to your organization, whether or not they are assigned to a network. It is your global device pool. Devices that stay only in Inventory are visible in the cloud but do not receive any site-specific configuration.
- Devices (inside a specific network) shows only the devices that are assigned to that network. These devices are part of that site and receive that network’s configuration, such as its connectivity, wireless and security settings.
Simple version:
Inventory = everything you own.
Devices = what’s actually installed and managed in that site.
A simple and scalable design is:
- One organization per company or customer: Keeps devices, settings and reports separated per customer or business entity.
- One network per physical site or major location inside that organization: Example: “HQ,” “Store-01,” “Warehouse,” “Campus-Building-A,” etc.
- Assign each device (AP, router, switch, GCC) to the network where it is physically installed.
This way you can see everything centrally, but still keep each customer / site logically clean and easy to manage.
The GWN / GDMS mobile app makes field installation easier:
- You can log in with your GDMS account and select the right organization and network.
- On-site, you scan the device’s barcode or QR code to add it, instead of typing MAC addresses manually.
- The app lets you assign the device to a network and see whether it is online, so installers can confirm that the device has reached the cloud and is using the correct configuration.
This reduces manual typing errors and speeds up deployments, especially when many devices are installed in different locations.
Yes. GDMS Networking includes a remote access feature that lets you open a device’s local web interface through the cloud for a limited time.
When you start remote access:
- GDMS Networking creates a temporary secure session to the device.
- The UI shows that the access period is 1 hour, after which the session automatically expires.
- During that time, you can use the device’s own web interface almost as if you were on the local LAN.
Remote access is only available to user roles with the appropriate management permissions (typically administrator-type roles), because the local web interface allows full configuration of the device, including options that may not be exposed in the cloud UI.
This makes it possible to reach advanced or device-specific settings when needed, without building a VPN or traveling to the site, while still keeping sessions temporary for security.
Features & Use Cases
GDMS Networking offers several ways to visualize a deployment:
- A topology view that shows how routers, switches and access points are connected logically, making it easier to see where a problem might be.
- Maps / floor plans, where you can upload a floor image and place access points on it, helping you understand coverage and placement.
- Site-level dashboards that summarize the number of devices, their status and client distribution across the network.
These tools are particularly useful in larger buildings or multi-building campuses where it is easy to lose track of how everything is interconnected.
Yes. GDMS Networking integrates several diagnostic tools to help assess performance:
- For many devices you can launch ping and traceroute tests from the cloud interface, using the device as the source.
- GDMS Networking can work with local speed test servers (when set up according to the documentation) so you can measure the quality of the connection from an access point or router to a defined target inside the network.
- Combined with client statistics (signal strength, throughput, retry rates), these tools help you distinguish between local Wi-Fi issues and upstream connectivity problems.
This reduces the need to be physically on-site just to run basic tests.
GDMS Networking is designed for a wide range of scenarios, including:
- Multi-branch businesses (retail, banking, logistics) that need consistent Wi-Fi and WAN policies across many small sites.
- Hospitality (hotels, small resorts, cafés) where guest Wi-Fi, captive portals and simple central management are important.
- Education and campuses that run many APs and switches across different buildings and want central dashboards and alerts.
- Corporate offices that use a mix of access points, switches and routers and want unified management without running their own controller servers.
- Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who manage networks for multiple customers and need clear separation by organization while still having a single login.
Anywhere you have more than a handful of devices or more than one site, GDMS Networking becomes more efficient than configuring each device locally.
GDMS Networking is designed so you can set things up once in the cloud and reuse that setup on many devices instead of configuring each one by hand.
Two common examples are:
- Device groups: You can group devices (such as access points, routers or switches) and manage them as a unit. When you apply settings to a device group, all devices in that group follow the same configuration, and new devices you add to the group automatically inherit it.
- Port profiles: For switches and routers, you can define port profiles that describe how a port should behave (for example which VLANs it carries). You then assign that profile to multiple ports or devices. If you change the profile later, every port using it is updated.
These features are part of the general unified management concept in GDMS Networking:
you configure it once in the cloud, then use groups and profiles to keep many devices consistent with minimal effort.
GDMS Networking is designed for situations where managing devices one by one through their local web interfaces becomes slow, risky or hard to scale. By adding devices to GDMS Networking, you gain several advantages:
- Centralized management from anywhere: Configure and monitor all supported Grandstream networking devices from a single cloud portal, accessible securely from any location with internet access.
- No controller to install or maintain: There is no server software, VM or hardware controller to deploy. The cloud platform is operated for you, and you simply add devices to your account.
- Unlimited, license-free scale: The platform does not require license keys or per-device subscriptions, so you can grow from a few devices to large multi-site deployments without hitting a license ceiling.
- Unified configuration and device groups: Use shared profiles and device groups to apply consistent settings across many access points, routers and switches, instead of repeating changes on each local web UI.
- More granular roles and policies: Control who can see and change what using role-based access, so different admins, partners or customers have the right level of permissions across organizations and networks.
- Enhanced visibility and insight: Gain network-wide views such as topology, client lists, usage statistics and health dashboards that are not available when managing devices individually.
- Additional tools and features: Access cloud-managed functions such as floor plans, extended alerting and notifications, local speed-test integration on supported devices, remote access to device UIs and other diagnostics from one place.
- Simplified maintenance: Schedule and track firmware upgrades, apply configuration changes to many devices at once, and keep a consistent setup across sites without manual repetition.
In short, local web management is fine for a small, single site.
GDMS Networking becomes the better option when you want centralized, always-available, license-free management with more tools and insight across many devices and locations.
Monitoring, Alerts, Security & Maintenance
GDMS Networking includes a flexible alert and notification system so you know quickly when something is wrong:
- Alert types & conditions: In Alerts → Alert Settings you choose what the platform should watch for, such as:
- Devices going offline / online after a defined number of minutes
- Configuration sync failures
- Upgrade success / failure
- Selected performance, security or network events (for example temperature warnings on some models)
- Notification channels: In Alerts → Alert Notification you decide how you want to be notified for each alert type. Typical options include:
- Web: shown in the GDMS Networking interface
- Email: send to one or more configured addresses
- Mobile app: push notifications via the GWN / GDMS mobile app
- Third-party platforms: (Wave, WhatsApp®, Telegram®) send alerts to selected messaging services or generic webhook endpoints, so they can be integrated with NOC tools or chat systems
- Per-user preferences: Each account can enable or disable notification channels for its own login, so different administrators can receive different alerts depending on their responsibilities.
This combination lets you define what should trigger an alert and how each operator hears about it, from simple email warnings to integration with external monitoring or messaging systems.
Yes. GDMS / GDMS Networking uses roles and permissions, so you can:
- Assign read-only roles (or create custom roles) that allow users to view dashboards, devices, clients and alerts but block configuration changes and upgrades.
- Limit which organizations and networks those users can see, so a helpdesk or NOC operator only monitors the sites you assign.
This is useful for 24/7 monitoring teams, external partners or customers who need visibility but should not be able to change live settings.
For a new deployment, a simple checklist is:
- Enable MFA on admin accounts and set suitable roles for each user.
- Under Alerts → Alert Settings, turn on the key alerts you care about (device offline/online, config sync failures, upgrade failures, important performance or security events).
- In Alert Notification, configure email and app notifications for the operators who will actually respond.
- Verify that time settings are correct (time zone, auto time sync), so alerts and logs use accurate timestamps.
- Decide how often you will review dashboards and change logs (for example, daily for NOC staff, weekly for management).
Doing this early means GDMS Networking is not just a configuration tool, but an active monitoring and early-warning system for your networks.
DMS Networking shows device status in a few places:
- On the dashboard, you see counts of online, offline and warning devices.
- In each Network → Devices page, you can sort or filter by Status so offline or warning devices are listed first.
- The Alerts page lists events such as “AP offline more than 30 mins” or “upgrade failed” with the device name and time.
By checking the dashboard, the Devices view and the Alerts list, you can quickly spot which devices are down or having issues without opening every device one by one.
Yes. GDMS Networking lets you create custom roles with very granular permissions and then assign those roles to users.
When you add or edit a role you can:
- Choose permissions at Organization level: For example: view organization overview, inventory, reseller channel, user list, change logs, upgrade information, reports, etc. This controls what the user can see or configure across the whole organization.
- Choose permissions at Network level: For example: access to the dashboard, device information and configuration, group management, remote access, speed tests, client and guest information, voucher management and other network-specific actions.
Each privilege can be set separately, so you can build roles such as:
- Read-only monitoring (view dashboards, devices, clients and alerts only)
- Site administrator (full control for one or more networks, but not the whole organization)
- Installer / field engineer (add devices and run tests, but no user or role management)
After a role is created, you simply assign it to one or more users. The same role can be reused across many accounts, which makes it easy to apply consistent, least-privilege access for different teams, customers or partners.
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Information in this document is provided for general guidance and may change without notice.