I've been poking around (thru the Black Box catalog, for example) for equipment to help us support our remote network gear located near the NSS to which we attach. I've had little success at finding the right pieces. I'm wondering if any of you have implemented any of these (listed below) solutions, and if so, where you found the equipment to do it; then subsequent sucess/failure information.

Not in any particular order, here are the functions I'd like to be able to perform remotely.. This is a "grandiose wish list", as it were.

* Software switchable dial-up access to serial ports on all gear (several ports): To Device 1 +-------------> |+------------> || To Device 2 Phone line +-------+ +---------+++ . -----------------| Modem |---| Magic Box | . +-------+ +-----------+ . || To Device (n-1) |+------------> +-------------> To Device (n)

In this scenario, I dial into the modem to the "magic box", and give it some character code or sequence to attach me to the specified port. I can escape back to the magic-box and request subsequent connections without having to redial. [Black box has one of these for 4 ports, but I hear its not too good. Any experiences?]

CICNet has been using this setup since its inception (1988 or so). We use the Black Box 4 and 8 port Code Operated Switches. Up until recently we have relied on the site at which the equipment sits to supply the modem. We only require 1200 bps. In short: ****DON'T DO IT*****!!!!! Ok, now that I feel better, in all fairness, I know that part of our problems have been the hodge-podge of modems that are out there. We are now in the process of installing the same modems everywhere. Currently the setup works about 60% of the time. There are really flaky things that go on though with the COS's themselves. If a COS is set on an active port for whatever reason (and it seems to happen occasionally for no reason) the modem will not answer because it sees activity on its DTE port. We are very careful when logging out of the COS to set it to an unused port before breaking the connection with the modem. Otherwise the next time we try to dial in it may not work. I cannot guess how much of our problem is the modem and how much is the COS but I do know that it is a combination of both.

* Power Cycle any of "n" pieces of remote hardware via RS232 interface and ASCII selection. Ideally, this box attaches to one of the ports of the serial switch above, and asks me which piece of the "n" attached pieces of hardware should be cycled. [Black box has one of these for a single piece of equipment. It requires a dedicated phone line, and uses telco tones to trigger a cycle.]

Yeah, I have wished for that too at times. We have always relied on site personnel to power cycle stuff for us. As we move things into unmanned sites we will have to consider something like this.

* T1 line switch:

Incoming T1 +--------+ +-----------+ | |-----------------| CSU/DSU 1 |----> To router 1 -----------------| Switch | +-----------+ | |-----------------| CSU/DSU 2 |----> To router 2 +--------+ +-----------+ ^ | V RS232 Input

Ideally, this box also attaches to one of the ports on the n-by serial switch above, and has some sort of menu or ASCII code line selection mechanism. Being a software guy, I thought about wiring this up using a switch for RS232 from Black Box.. Hardware people informed me that this wasn't a good idea.

I have heard of patch panels for various interface standards (like v.35, rs449, etc) that are async controllable (ie, the "Switch" you describe) that would allow you do to this. Presumably they would be designed to handle the nastiness that goes on when you slam a digital signal back and forth through a switch. You might check with ADC who make oodles of patch panels for manageable models. I used to use other ADC patch panels in a previous life and in general they were well designed and reliable. ADC's number is 800-733-5511 (Portland, OR).

Again, these are the thoughts on my mind... and an "ideal wish list". I'd appreciate hearing about any implementations or similar tools that you have experience with.

We are currently evaluating a cheap terminal server to replace the COS for our out-of-band access. Lantronix makes a TS for about $1200 (Univ price). Although a bit more expensive then the COS, it provides much more flexibility (like begin able to telnet to dumb async devices when the network is up, and being able to have multiple sessions going which makes realtime debugging of problems easier). I would be interested if anyone knows of any cheaper TS out there. Tom