Charles Sprickman <spork@inch.com> writes:

On Tue, 1 May 2001, Martin, Christian wrote:

...

The Xylogics/Bay/Nortel Remote Annex 4000 can support up tp 72 console ports, and has a great menu interface with great EIA-232 functionality.

Eh? Unless they've added command completion and history, I have to disagree there...

You don't need command completion and history for a menu interface: 1. Connect to cisco router 2. Connect to mail server 3. Connect to Web server Pick one> is similar to what we used, and was pretty much all we found necessary. They have a neat feature, too, where you can configure whatever you connect to serial port 1 to be reachable via telnet to port 5001, port 2 to 5002, etc. Great for scripts.

Add to that that they don't self-boot and that you can't save your config off the box.

If these are at all similar to other similar Bay Networks terminal server products (and I'm pretty sure they are), they'll self-boot if you put flash into them, and you can save your configuration with the "na" utility.

And you will *not* just set the thing up in a half hour.

...

Ports don't hang, they reset on time, etc. They use amphenol connectors across 25 pair which makes for easy punchdowns and cross-connects.

The amphenols have a nasty habit of not seating properly, especially when the box is in a cabinet and some cables have to go upwards rather than down... And when they're half-in, or not perfectly level you one day find you can reach four of your six devices...

And there's no ssh.

Those are all good points, though. :) [...]

Perhaps it's because I'm still forced to use them since we have them left over from when they were dialup PPP servers or something, but I like them less than stinky cheese. I do get a bit nostalgic because it was the first thing I ever "su'd" on, and it does have a BSD code base. But I certainly would recommend anything else over an Annex.

You'll miss them when they're gone. I still miss logging into them... :) -----ScottG.