So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
You can install multiport serial board (e.g. http://www.moxa.com/product/Multiport_Serial_Boards.htm) directly to Linux server and use mgetty to deal with all modems.
Sergi
On Aug 15, 2016, at 11:22, Wyatt Zacharias wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
On Aug 15, 2016 9:22 AM, "Wyatt Zacharias" wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
They've been trying to do that for years, but the remote sites aren't under their control and there are legacy protocols involved.
I'd look at Digi or Moxa or Perle or Lantronix for a drop-in replacement. These companies typically all measure product support cycles in decades, not months.
-Adam
On August 15, 2016 11:51:27 AM CDT, Colin Stanners cstanners@gmail.com wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
On Aug 15, 2016 9:22 AM, "Wyatt Zacharias" wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a
cisco
- What happens is when a connection is received on the modem
line, the
cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and
forwards
the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move
that
Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire
the EOL
routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any
good
resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Wyatt: are you contractually/organizationally able to charge a "legacy support fee" to sites that will not change to IP connectivity? Once the beancounters see say an extra $30/mo fee they will make upgrades happen.
On Aug 15, 2016 10:24 AM, "Adam Thompson" athompso@athompso.net wrote:
They've been trying to do that for years, but the remote sites aren't under their control and there are legacy protocols involved.
I'd look at Digi or Moxa or Perle or Lantronix for a drop-in replacement. These companies typically all measure product support cycles in decades, not months.
-Adam
On August 15, 2016 11:51:27 AM CDT, Colin Stanners cstanners@gmail.com wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
On Aug 15, 2016 9:22 AM, "Wyatt Zacharias" wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
I can definitely give a +1 to Perle serial products as well as the old Avocent Cyclades line having used both in the past. I've heard the same about Lantronix as well.
Theodore Baschak - AS395089 - Hextet Systems https://ciscodude.net/ - https://hextet.systems/ http://mbix.ca/
On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 12:24 PM, Adam Thompson athompso@athompso.net wrote:
They've been trying to do that for years, but the remote sites aren't under their control and there are legacy protocols involved.
I'd look at Digi or Moxa or Perle or Lantronix for a drop-in replacement. These companies typically all measure product support cycles in decades, not months.
-Adam
On August 15, 2016 11:51:27 AM CDT, Colin Stanners cstanners@gmail.com wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
On Aug 15, 2016 9:22 AM, "Wyatt Zacharias" wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
On 2016-08-15 Colin Stanners wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time. I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to submit reimbursement requests to them. Best they can hope for is to whittle the numbers down and pray they disappear. (It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the place.)
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days.
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time.
ROTFL! Hey, at least they're not using POTTS (= plain old telephone and telegraph system).
I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to .....
Me too, before I and those customers parted ways.
(It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the
place.)
Yes, I still run into those with considerable frequency too! And they're either tying up a whole dedicated (and expensive) POTS line, or sharing a POTS voice line.
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days.
Yeah, they make that sound of pterodactyls while they're interchanging carriers and protocols before the real communications session.
Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331
On 17 August 2016 at 04:11, Trevor Cordes trevor@tecnopolis.ca wrote:
On 2016-08-15 Colin Stanners wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time. I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to submit reimbursement requests to them. Best they can hope for is to whittle the numbers down and pray they disappear. (It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the place.)
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days. _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. To clarify, the goal of moving to a linux box or other appliance is two-fold. One is to get rid of the EOL cisco routers, the other is also to get rid of the shelf full of modems that are plugged into the routers, and this makes things a bit more complicated. There are a couple makers of internal modem cards that have tens or hundreds of modems integrated into one pci card, and this is where the need for a linux box comes in. Once all these modems are inside a server, I need to replicate the functionality of the cisco routers, which takes the raw serial input from each modem, and forwards it out over telnet to a predefined destination.
I've been working with mgetty the last couple days, and I've gotten pretty close to something that works. At the moment when you connect to my test pc's serial port, it will prompt for the username and then initiate a telnet session for you. Now how can I get mgetty to skip the login prompt entirely and go right to telnet? Any ideas?
-- Wyatt Zacharias
On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 4:56 AM, Hartmut W Sager hwsager@marityme.net wrote:
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time.
ROTFL! Hey, at least they're not using POTTS (= plain old telephone and telegraph system).
I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to .....
Me too, before I and those customers parted ways.
(It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the
place.)
Yes, I still run into those with considerable frequency too! And they're either tying up a whole dedicated (and expensive) POTS line, or sharing a POTS voice line.
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days.
Yeah, they make that sound of pterodactyls while they're interchanging carriers and protocols before the real communications session.
Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331
On 17 August 2016 at 04:11, Trevor Cordes trevor@tecnopolis.ca wrote:
On 2016-08-15 Colin Stanners wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time. I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to submit reimbursement requests to them. Best they can hope for is to whittle the numbers down and pray they disappear. (It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the place.)
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days. _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Conman, I think, *might* do what you need. I do know that mgetty is the wrong tool for the job. The feature you're looking for is called "reverse telnet", btw. -Adam
On August 17, 2016 9:58:58 AM CDT, Wyatt Zacharias wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. To clarify, the goal of moving to a linux box or other appliance is two-fold. One is to get rid of the EOL cisco routers, the other is also to get rid of the shelf full of modems that are plugged into the routers, and this makes things a bit more complicated. There are a couple makers of internal modem cards that have tens or hundreds of modems integrated into one pci card, and this is where the need for a linux box comes in. Once all these modems are inside a server, I need to replicate the functionality of the cisco routers, which takes the raw serial input from each modem, and forwards it out over telnet to a predefined destination.
I've been working with mgetty the last couple days, and I've gotten pretty close to something that works. At the moment when you connect to my test pc's serial port, it will prompt for the username and then initiate a telnet session for you. Now how can I get mgetty to skip the login prompt entirely and go right to telnet? Any ideas?
-- Wyatt Zacharias
On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 4:56 AM, Hartmut W Sager hwsager@marityme.net wrote:
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time.
ROTFL! Hey, at least they're not using POTTS (= plain old telephone
and
telegraph system).
I have had customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to .....
Me too, before I and those customers parted ways.
(It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over
the
place.)
Yes, I still run into those with considerable frequency too! And
they're
either tying up a whole dedicated (and expensive) POTS line, or
sharing a
POTS voice line.
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days.
Yeah, they make that sound of pterodactyls while they're
interchanging
carriers and protocols before the real communications session.
Hartmut W Sager - Tel +1-204-339-8331
On 17 August 2016 at 04:11, Trevor Cordes trevor@tecnopolis.ca
wrote:
On 2016-08-15 Colin Stanners wrote:
Do the remote sites that dial in have IP connectivity? How about putting serial to IP converters at that end of the connection and dropping the POTS?
Bluecross will be using POTS modems until the end of time. I have
had
customers who still use DOS(!!) programs to submit reimbursement requests to them. Best they can hope for is to whittle the numbers down and pray they disappear. (It's kind of like POTS interac terminals, they are still all over the place.)
That said, I kind of like POTS modems! Ah, the good ol' days. _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Your stated reason for making this change is to get off of the unsupported EOL Cisco devices. But the solution your implementing seems like it's an even more unsupported solution. If Blue Cross is committed to keeping this dail-up solution active, then replace the EOL Cisco devices with the current Cisco replacement.
I'm no Cisco solution expert, but a Cisco 2960 with a PRI interface card will act like a bank of modems (21 modems on each card) and do TDM (PSTN) to serial and seems like it would be a drop-in replacement and fully supported by Cisco.
If you want me to connect you with a Cisco rep who can solution this for you, then please feel free to contact me off-list.
It just seems very ill-advised for Blue Cross to run a critical business system on a hacked-together solution like this. When you're on vacation or moved on to another job, who is going to fix this thing? Ok, I know Adam will but still! ;)
John
to my test pc's serial port, it will prompt for the username and then initiate a telnet session for you. Now how can I get mgetty to skip the login prompt entirely and go right to telnet? Any ideas?
I think Adam might be right, you probably don't want a *getty at all here! What you almost certainly want to do is just program the raw serial interface, perl would be easiest, but python might have modules for it too.
Oh ya, and since you don't ever *getty or telnet the user never gets a prompt! Very important! You don't want them to be able to break out to a prompt unless the system is VERY VERY locked down and VERY VERY basic.
Your script would pre-setup each "modem" line (ATZ AT&S0=1 blah blah) and just wait for CONNECT (or RING) if you don't want to use autoanswer. There is no telnet or getty at all. You just then start talking your medical protocol via the script. Seems very easy and straightforward to me. I could probably have it all working in a day.
Maybe add in a periodic check that each modem's connection hasn't been tied up more than X minutes to stop zombie connections.
I do not know details why you still using modems. You can provide Internet access via dialup. Just configure ppp-server additionally to mgetty (https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=150339).
If you already have Internet at all locations and want to have terminal remote access to Linux server, you can use just regular ssh client. If you run some app that communicate with all incoming modem connections you can set that app as shell for Linux user.
I do not see any reason to have serial to IP converter. It is useful if you want to connect remotely some ancient Wyse 60 terminal that has only RS-232 interface.
Sergi
On Aug 15, 2016, at 11:22, Wyatt Zacharias wyatt@magitech.ca wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
On Mon, 15 Aug 2016, Wyatt Zacharias wrote:
So currently at Bluecross we have a pool of modems connected to a cisco 2600. What happens is when a connection is received on the modem line, the cisco router initiates an IP connection to an internal server and forwards the data from the serial line to the server. We're looking to move that Serial to IP functionality over to a Linux server so we can retire the EOL routers. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Also if anyone has any good resources for modem connectivity with linux they can forward me I'd appreciate it.
-- Wyatt Zacharias
I used http://alpha.greenie.net/mgetty/ on Linux for many years to handle incoming dial-up voice calls. It handles data, fax, and voice calls. You might want to look at it. Handles data and fax calls as well as voice.
-Daryl
-
Adam Thompson -
Colin Stanners -
Daryl F -
Hartmut W Sager -
John Lange -
Sergi Polischuk -
Theodore Baschak -
Trevor Cordes -
Wyatt Zacharias