terminal server recommendation
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count. chas _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 08:12:34PM -0000, Charles Smith wrote:
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
We built our own using a cheap 1U linux box and a Cyclades multi-port serial card. Cheap and supports ssh. Ben -- Ben Beuchler There is no spoon. insyte@emt-p.org -- The Matrix
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
Mr. Smith, I highly recommend you talk to iTouch. Terminal servers are their flagship product, and they're incredibly responsive folks. Their website is www.itouchcom.com. --John
If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued). Aaron On Tue, 1 May 2001, Charles Smith wrote:
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas
Thus spake Aaron Dewell (acd@woods.net):
If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued).
NOOOOOOOOOO! Octopus cables BAAAAD! PMs have no ssh, either. --John who once assisted in disposing of over twenty times his weight in PM-25s
On Tue, 1 May 2001, John Butler wrote:
Thus spake Aaron Dewell (acd@woods.net):
If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued). NOOOOOOOOOO! Octopus cables BAAAAD! PMs have no ssh, either.
The computone ras2000's have nice density, and they do ssh. -Dan
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 04:00:14PM -0700, Dan Hollis wrote:
On Tue, 1 May 2001, John Butler wrote:
Thus spake Aaron Dewell (acd@woods.net):
If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued). NOOOOOOOOOO! Octopus cables BAAAAD! PMs have no ssh, either.
The computone ras2000's have nice density, and they do ssh.
http://www.computone.com/products/RAS2000/ thanx you. i rmembered seeing an ad for these in some magazine, but couldn't remember the brand. i haven't used one, but it certainly seems to have decent features. -- [ Jim Mercer jim@pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.ca ] [ Reptilian Research -- Longer Life through Colder Blood ] [ aka jim@reptiles.org +1 416 410-5633 ]
On Tue, 1 May 2001, John Butler wrote: Thus spake Aaron Dewell (acd@woods.net):
If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued).
NOOOOOOOOOO! Octopus cables BAAAAD! PMs have no ssh, either. I don't see the drawback of an octopus cable. Especially if its just getting converted to RJ45 and patched into a panel, anyway. Everywhere I've seen real console access implemented, its been on a private LAN with ssh access through a bastion host. There you can implement whatever authentication you want. --John who once assisted in disposing of over twenty times his weight in PM-25s Thats a shame. They're solid reliable boxes that are only getting harder to find. matto --mghali@snark.net------------------------------------------<darwin>< Flowers on the razor wire/I know you're here/We are few/And far between/I was thinking about her skin/Love is a many splintered thing/Don't be afraid now/Just walk on in. #include <disclaim.h>
I've been completely happy with our installation of PM25's. They are getting harder to find/more expensive, though. Lucent really blew it EOL'ing these. We have ~100 in production and aside from an occasonal DOA they've been frawless. BBNPlanet also used them exclusively for console access when I was there. matto On Tue, 1 May 2001, Aaron Dewell wrote: If you can find them, Livingston/Lucent PM-25s work pretty well too and are cheap (since they are discontinued). Aaron On Tue, 1 May 2001, Charles Smith wrote:
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas
--mghali@snark.net------------------------------------------<darwin>< Flowers on the razor wire/I know you're here/We are few/And far between/I was thinking about her skin/Love is a many splintered thing/Don't be afraid now/Just walk on in. #include <disclaim.h>
On Tue, 1 May 2001, Charles Smith wrote:
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
Get a used PM2e30...30 serial ports, and I bet you can find them for less than $200. There are probably better options, but none cheaper. Andy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Andy Dills 301-682-9972 Xecunet, LLC www.xecu.net xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dialup * Webhosting * E-Commerce * High-Speed Access
We use Western Telematic stuff and have been very happy with it. They make small inexpensive serial terminal servers, 1U rackmounts. They also make a great 19" rack mount Modem. The best part is they both come in DC flavor so no ugly wall warts on unclean house power. www.wti.com -Joe
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
I was forced to try and make WTI crap do useful stuff. It made me bleed from my eyes. Fair warning: this stuff is complete garbage. matto On Tue, 1 May 2001, Joe Lapolito wrote: We use Western Telematic stuff and have been very happy with it. They make small inexpensive serial terminal servers, 1U rackmounts. They also make a great 19" rack mount Modem. The best part is they both come in DC flavor so no ugly wall warts on unclean house power. www.wti.com -Joe
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas
--mghali@snark.net------------------------------------------<darwin>< Flowers on the razor wire/I know you're here/We are few/And far between/I was thinking about her skin/Love is a many splintered thing/Don't be afraid now/Just walk on in. #include <disclaim.h>
Sorry to hear that, we have had great luck with them. We have WTI modems and term servers that have been in the field working without any problems as our extremely important out of band access for over 3 years. Of course as with all things YMMV, as Matto pointed out. -Joe
I was forced to try and make WTI crap do useful stuff.
It made me bleed from my eyes.
Fair warning: this stuff is complete garbage.
matto
On Tue, 1 May 2001, Joe Lapolito wrote:
We use Western Telematic stuff and have been very happy with it.
They make small inexpensive serial terminal servers, 1U rackmounts. They also make a great 19" rack mount Modem. The best part is they both come in DC flavor so no ugly wall warts on unclean house power.
www.wti.com
-Joe
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas
--mghali@snark.net------------------------------------------<darwin>< Flowers on the razor wire/I know you're here/We are few/And far between/I was thinking about her skin/Love is a many splintered thing/Don't be afraid now/Just walk on in. #include <disclaim.h>
We are using - like many others - a cheap Linux PC with Cyclades card, because we couldn't find anything on the market with: - Ability to store console logs "forever" (using screen package for attaching and detaching of console sessions) - Doing a 2nd role as netflow collector - SSH - Beeing able to do out of band access with either ISDN or analog modem Wolfgang
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu]On Behalf Of Charles Smith Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 10:13 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: terminal server recommendation
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
chas _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 10:07:22AM +0200, Wolfgang Tremmel wrote:
- Ability to store console logs "forever" (using screen package for attaching and detaching of console sessions) - Doing a 2nd role as netflow collector - SSH - Beeing able to do out of band access with either ISDN or analog modem
You forget the most important feature: - Something I didn't think of when I bought it, that we need immediately.
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 08:12:34PM -0000, Charles Smith wrote:
I would like to deploy a terminal server in several of my POPs, however cost is a slight issue. Can anyone on the list recommend a fairly inexpensive terminal server (besides Cisco)? Obviously the terminal server should be reliable and work - it is the little things that count.
Here are the average uptimes of the three types of terminal server we had back in the day when I ran a small ISP. Computone Powerrack: 2 weeks. (It will go considerably longer if you waste one of the ports as a serial console, we had modems on all ports and that caused it to fill it's buffer and crash periodically, Computone probably sent us two dozen revisions of the firmware before they solved that problem.) BSD/OS 2.0.1 on IBM PC Server: 1 month. (Would crash about every 7 or 8 weeks, so we rebooted it once a month whether it needed it or not.) RedHat Linux 4.1 homebuilt: 6 months. (Would have been longer, but there was a power outage that lasted longer than the UPS, and then about 5 months later they took it out of service and replaced with a Computone.) If price is really an object, build your own. If reliability is an object, you get what you pay for.
participants (11)
-
Aaron Dewell -
Andy Dills -
Ben Beuchler -
Charles Smith -
Dan Hollis -
Jim Mercer -
Joe Lapolito -
John Butler -
just me. -
Shawn McMahon -
Wolfgang Tremmel