Hi, It's been a while since I last saw this thread... I'm looking at a few listed below and looking for comments: Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html Looks good, can't find a price on Ingram. Cyclades - http://www.cyclades.com/products/ts_series.php Looks to run about $2100 for 16 ports Digi - http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/cm/index.shtml Looks to run about $1800 for 16 ports All of the above do sshv2, and that's a requirement. I haven't found much else. For the time being I'm ruling out old stuff like a Portmaster or Xylogics. I'd also appreciate pointers to any "roll your own" parts, esp. IDE -> Flash adapters and multiport serial cards that will work with FreeBSD. I can summarize to keep the noise down... Thanks, Charles -- Charles Sprickman spork@inch.com
I just went through this exercise. In POP a) where space is a premium, I bought a 8 port RocketPort PCI serial card to sit in the FreeBSD firewall that was there. ebay $50 and made the rj-11 to {rj-45|db9} cables in house (connections to other PCs and cisco gear). In POP b) where space is not a problem, a PM2 with an existing FreeBSD box in front of it which we can SSH into, and then telnet to the individual serial ports. Have a look on ebay for Livingston PM2s. About $150-$200 US for upto 30 serial ports. At under $200, buy and extra one for your "cold standby" spare. Then, put a surplus PC in front of it (or an existing one) from where you can SSH from. On the PM2 just for the archives, set s1 device /dev/network set s1 service_device netdata 6001 set s1 override xon off set s1 modem off save s1 reset s1 where 6001 is the port you would telnet to in order to get the serial session. These are about 4U, so you will require space to spare. ---Mike At 06:42 PM 9/6/2002 -0400, Charles Sprickman wrote:
Hi,
It's been a while since I last saw this thread...
I'm looking at a few listed below and looking for comments:
Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html Looks good, can't find a price on Ingram.
Cyclades - http://www.cyclades.com/products/ts_series.php Looks to run about $2100 for 16 ports
Digi - http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/cm/index.shtml Looks to run about $1800 for 16 ports
All of the above do sshv2, and that's a requirement. I haven't found much else. For the time being I'm ruling out old stuff like a Portmaster or Xylogics.
I'd also appreciate pointers to any "roll your own" parts, esp. IDE -> Flash adapters and multiport serial cards that will work with FreeBSD.
I can summarize to keep the noise down...
Thanks,
Charles
-- Charles Sprickman spork@inch.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Tancsa, tel +1 519 651 3400 Sentex Communications, mike@sentex.net Providing Internet since 1994 www.sentex.net Cambridge, Ontario Canada www.sentex.net/mike
Hello all, Here's what I've found out. It's a mix. If any one solution looks to be the "winner" it's the roll-your-own solution. This is what I'm going for since it's relatively cheap for low-density installs. The only problem I'm finding is that it's tough to get a 1U box that has 2 PCI slots open. 2U seems overkill. Since Compact Flash adapters are cheap (about $20) and the cards themselves can be had for $59 (128MB), I'm going to go diskless. I'll probably use conserver, but I'll be giving rtty a try as well. If anyone has pointers to cheap 1U or 2U's, I'm all ears. Just need a minimal box, don't need much CPU for this. With about 13 replies, I can report the following:
Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html
1 vote for, one against. The complaint was that the Lantronix has a very bad management interface. I also noted that BBC is using a mess of these at Telehouse...
4 for. "Under the covers, it's your average linux box with ttys0-ttys31. The portslave software is pretty nice, too. Offline data buffering and the ability to stick a hostname relationship with a serial port. [Ex: ssh2 bob:myserver@cyclades to connect to server myserver ]" Another poster is using the cyclades and the digi, and if I'm reading him right, uses the Cyclades 48 port for smaller installations and the digi on larger.
Digi - http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/cm/index.shtml Looks to run about $1800 for 16 ports
1 for (kind of). The poster has a large installed base and it mostly works and has a very high density. Apparently it's a two-piece system where a cable fans out to boxes that further split it. But if one of the splitters locks up, everything dasiy-chained through it locks up. This person is now using Cyclades (please correct me if I'm wrong on this one). Equinox - 2 folks using these (cards). "We use the Equinox SST-128P (theoretically expandable to 128 ports, comes in 16-port chunks) on Linux. Their linux drivers work well [...] It's aPCI card with a cable to an external plugboard with the 16 RJ-45s." "I have had a bit of experience with Equinox (http://www.equinox.com/) gear and can recommend them. Their serial hubs will talk serial to almost anything out there and when plugged into cat5, tunnel those serial ports back to physical mappings on a host system. [...] Geared more towards industrial applications (what I'm using them for) but I have often considered slapping one in our telecomm rack to map serial ports on my local box to our various gear." Cisco - 2 suggestions to use a 2511 or a 3620 with 16 port async cards. The 2511 would probably be a bit too slow if you enable ssh though... Livingston - 2 for an old portmaster behind an ssh-able box (if you have the space) Arula Systems (www.arula.com)- 1 vote for this, apparently a new company. Build your own - 5 for this solution. Everyone is using FreeBSD, and the RocketPort cards seem to work better than the Cyclades cards under FreeBSD. 3 people are using conserver (www.conserver.com) to make it easier to manage. Paul Vixie shared the following (he gave permission to quote in full): "We use RocketPort, FreeBSD, IronSystems, and ISC rtty. http://www.rocketport.com/products/specs/rack16_foto.asp http://www.rocketport.com/products/specs/specs.asp?product=rp_pci http://www.freebsd.org/ http://www.ironsystems.com/ ftp://ftp.vix.com/pub/vixie/rtty-4.0.shar.gz This puts a BSD box in every POP, which is very useful for many reasons." So there you are... Thanks for all the responses. Charles
On Tue Sep 10, 2002 at 04:53:02PM -0400, Charles Sprickman wrote:
Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html
1 vote for, one against. The complaint was that the Lantronix has a very bad management interface.
I also noted that BBC is using a mess of these at Telehouse...
"...a mess..." ? http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/standards/rack_top.jpg We do indeed use the Lantronix, have done since '97 or before. Not really had any reliability problems with them. The odd fan bearing has gone, but they keep running none-the-less. The CLI is very VMSish, but not bad when you get used to it, plenty of online help. Only minor niggle is that they changed the authentication procedure in a recent code version, without flagging it in big letters.
Cisco -
2 suggestions to use a 2511 or a 3620 with 16 port async cards. The 2511 would probably be a bit too slow if you enable ssh though...
I use a 2610 with the 16 port async card for personal colo, and it works well. Not noticed any performance problems for occasional use. Biggy niggle is that you can't easily setup ssh to a port with per-port passwords. Had to fudge it thus: username port1 noescape password 7 ************** username port1 autocommand telnet 123.45.67.89 2033 interface Loopback0 ip address 123.45.67.89 255.255.255.255 access-list 1 permit 123.45.67.89 line 33 48 access-class 1 in no exec transport input telnet Simon -- Simon Lockhart | Tel: +44 (0)1737 839676 Internet Engineering Manager | Fax: +44 (0)1737 839516 BBC Internet Services | Email: Simon.Lockhart@bbc.co.uk Kingswood Warren,Tadworth,Surrey,UK | URL: http://support.bbc.co.uk/
On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Simon Lockhart wrote:
I also noted that BBC is using a mess of these at Telehouse...
"...a mess..." ?
Just to be clear, when I say "mess" I don't mean messy, but "a lot", "bunches", "oodles", etc. You have a very nice neat setup there, one of the better organized open cabinets I saw in the facility. I was working about 3 cabinets down. I also was wondering where that Axis cam was displayed, now I know. I did see on major carrier there with a bunch of Juniper equipment and about 3 OC-48, 2 OC-12 and 2 or 3 OC-3 interfaces. No door on the cabinet. Very frightening given the recent "security" thread. It was so messy I'd be worried someone walking by could accidentally take out a few OC-48 lines... Charles
http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/standards/rack_top.jpg
We do indeed use the Lantronix, have done since '97 or before. Not really had any reliability problems with them. The odd fan bearing has gone, but they keep running none-the-less.
The CLI is very VMSish, but not bad when you get used to it, plenty of online help.
Only minor niggle is that they changed the authentication procedure in a recent code version, without flagging it in big letters.
Cisco -
2 suggestions to use a 2511 or a 3620 with 16 port async cards. The 2511 would probably be a bit too slow if you enable ssh though...
I use a 2610 with the 16 port async card for personal colo, and it works well. Not noticed any performance problems for occasional use. Biggy niggle is that you can't easily setup ssh to a port with per-port passwords. Had to fudge it thus:
username port1 noescape password 7 ************** username port1 autocommand telnet 123.45.67.89 2033
interface Loopback0 ip address 123.45.67.89 255.255.255.255
access-list 1 permit 123.45.67.89
line 33 48 access-class 1 in no exec transport input telnet
Simon -- Simon Lockhart | Tel: +44 (0)1737 839676 Internet Engineering Manager | Fax: +44 (0)1737 839516 BBC Internet Services | Email: Simon.Lockhart@bbc.co.uk Kingswood Warren,Tadworth,Surrey,UK | URL: http://support.bbc.co.uk/
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 16:53:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Sprickman <spork@inch.com> Sender: owner-nanog@merit.edu
Hello all,
Here's what I've found out. It's a mix. If any one solution looks to be the "winner" it's the roll-your-own solution. This is what I'm going for since it's relatively cheap for low-density installs. The only problem I'm finding is that it's tough to get a 1U box that has 2 PCI slots open. 2U seems overkill. Since Compact Flash adapters are cheap (about $20) and the cards themselves can be had for $59 (128MB), I'm going to go diskless. I'll probably use conserver, but I'll be giving rtty a try as well.
If anyone has pointers to cheap 1U or 2U's, I'm all ears. Just need a minimal box, don't need much CPU for this.
With about 13 replies, I can report the following:
Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html
1 vote for, one against. The complaint was that the Lantronix has a very bad management interface.
One issue is that there are two very different Lantronix boxes, the SCSx00 and the SCSx20. The SCSx20 boxes were designed by Lightwave Communications before they were bought out by Lantronix. They are Linux boxes that reportedly have a very different management interface from the 800/1600. I have used only the 1620 and, other than the high price, I have been very pleased with them. Despite the similarity of model numbers, the two product lines are totally different. I found a review of console servers from Network Computing that reviewed quite a number of boxes at: http://www.lantronix.com/news/news/network_computing.html R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634
Hi Try looking at this company's line of products: http://www.itouchcom.com/ they used to be Xyplex. Arie On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Charles Sprickman wrote:
Hello all,
Here's what I've found out. It's a mix. If any one solution looks to be the "winner" it's the roll-your-own solution. This is what I'm going for since it's relatively cheap for low-density installs. The only problem I'm finding is that it's tough to get a 1U box that has 2 PCI slots open. 2U seems overkill. Since Compact Flash adapters are cheap (about $20) and the cards themselves can be had for $59 (128MB), I'm going to go diskless. I'll probably use conserver, but I'll be giving rtty a try as well.
If anyone has pointers to cheap 1U or 2U's, I'm all ears. Just need a minimal box, don't need much CPU for this.
With about 13 replies, I can report the following:
Lantronix - http://www.lantronix.com/products/cs/scs820_scs1620/index.html
1 vote for, one against. The complaint was that the Lantronix has a very bad management interface.
I also noted that BBC is using a mess of these at Telehouse...
4 for.
"Under the covers, it's your average linux box with ttys0-ttys31. The portslave software is pretty nice, too. Offline data buffering and the ability to stick a hostname relationship with a serial port. [Ex: ssh2 bob:myserver@cyclades to connect to server myserver ]"
Another poster is using the cyclades and the digi, and if I'm reading him right, uses the Cyclades 48 port for smaller installations and the digi on larger.
Digi - http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/cm/index.shtml Looks to run about $1800 for 16 ports
1 for (kind of). The poster has a large installed base and it mostly works and has a very high density. Apparently it's a two-piece system where a cable fans out to boxes that further split it. But if one of the splitters locks up, everything dasiy-chained through it locks up. This person is now using Cyclades (please correct me if I'm wrong on this one).
Equinox - 2 folks using these (cards).
"We use the Equinox SST-128P (theoretically expandable to 128 ports, comes in 16-port chunks) on Linux. Their linux drivers work well [...] It's aPCI card with a cable to an external plugboard with the 16 RJ-45s."
"I have had a bit of experience with Equinox (http://www.equinox.com/) gear and can recommend them. Their serial hubs will talk serial to almost anything out there and when plugged into cat5, tunnel those serial ports back to physical mappings on a host system. [...] Geared more towards industrial applications (what I'm using them for) but I have often considered slapping one in our telecomm rack to map serial ports on my local box to our various gear."
Cisco -
2 suggestions to use a 2511 or a 3620 with 16 port async cards. The 2511 would probably be a bit too slow if you enable ssh though...
Livingston -
2 for an old portmaster behind an ssh-able box (if you have the space)
Arula Systems (www.arula.com)-
1 vote for this, apparently a new company.
Build your own -
5 for this solution. Everyone is using FreeBSD, and the RocketPort cards seem to work better than the Cyclades cards under FreeBSD. 3 people are using conserver (www.conserver.com) to make it easier to manage. Paul Vixie shared the following (he gave permission to quote in full):
"We use RocketPort, FreeBSD, IronSystems, and ISC rtty.
http://www.rocketport.com/products/specs/rack16_foto.asp http://www.rocketport.com/products/specs/specs.asp?product=rp_pci
http://www.freebsd.org/ http://www.ironsystems.com/
ftp://ftp.vix.com/pub/vixie/rtty-4.0.shar.gz
This puts a BSD box in every POP, which is very useful for many reasons."
So there you are... Thanks for all the responses.
Charles
participants (5)
-
Charles Sprickman -
Kevin Oberman -
Mike Tancsa -
ml＠vayner.net -
Simon Lockhart