Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 00:11:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Vincent Poy <vince@mail.MCESTATE.COM> To: Mike Tancsa <mike@sentex.net> Cc: isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Some advice needed. Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.970411000543.11771H-100000@mail.MCESTATE.COM> In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970411023357.00b84100@sentex.net>
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On Fri, 11 Apr 1997, Mike Tancsa wrote: > At 11:17 PM 4/10/97 -0700, Vincent Poy wrote: > >On Fri, 11 Apr 1997, Mike Tancsa wrote: > > Hmmm, isn't there anyway to track down a external modem at all? I > >mean if there was a problem, I should be able to turn the modems speaker > >on and just listen to see if the modems are in fact connecting or not or I > >can just try dialing in using a modem myself. > > Remember, people are dialing in 24hrs a day... Having people always > monitoring the modems will cost you money...Connecting? At what speed > though... Modems dont always fail 100%. They can start to become > problematic and give lower connection speeds that the others. With > external analog modems, you dont have any way of tracking this. Once you > have 50+ modems, snooping around them starts to become a real pain, and > again will cost you money... You want something that is easy to manage. > Think about it. If your staff member has to spend 2hrs trying to find a bad > modem, that modem just cost you his/her hourly wage. You have to figure > stuff like this into your operating costs. Digital modems are far easier > to manage, which translates to a lower operating cost... You did bring up a good point there but for the speed issue, isn't that something that has to do with the line and the modems connecting to each other in general? But what exactly are digital modems? Is this just for ISDN or for 28.8k dialup connections as well. > > As for users, what I want to do is similar to what wenet.net does > >with their setup which I don't know what it is. > > I have no idea who wenet.net is... It's this ISP that merge with a company that I tried awhile ago. > >All I know is that when > >it connects, I get the Unix login prompt on the screen but it's the main > >server at the NOC and not at the pop and then they can enter just the > >login name for shell access or enter their login-ppp and get ppp. > > This is easy with a terminal server setup. Also, you want to be able to do > PAP/CHAP so that your users dont have to use login scripts. Would this work with a FreeBSD based terminal server or do you mean a dedicated terminal server? > > As for phone lines, what speed is a PRI exactly? > > A PRI is a type of ISDN service that offers 23 B channels at 64 kbs and one > D channel at 64 kbs..You can sort of think of it as a bundle of 24 > telephone lines basically... But they are digital so that they can carry > both analog (regular modem connections) and digital (ISDN connections). > Modern terminal servers do all the necessary demuxing of the line so that > you basically plug in one cable from the telco into the back of your your > terminal server that contains all 24 of your 'telephone' lines. You dont > have a bix block of 24 phone cords like you would going into 24 analog > modems. Its just a T1 that your customers dial in on. The PRI has nothing > to do with your outbound net connection. You might want to read up a little > on it in the ISDN FAQ. Hmmm, okay so that line will handle analog connections slower than 64/56kbps as well? I think I know what you mean now so what happens is that the line itself will go to the terminal server and select a modem that is free for the user to dial in to. > >Since the > >machine will most likely have a T1 or 56k line going there since there are > >customers who need dedicated services so probably a T1. For the terminal > >servers, isn't Annex 3 any good anymore or do they cost a lot more than > >the Livingston's and the others you have mentioned? > > Dont know what Annex has done recently... I thought they were bought up by > one of the big players... Like I said, I like and use Livingston stuff... I'm not sure if they were bought or not but it seems like they were the most widely used terminal server at Universities. other places used Cisco's. Cheers, Vince - vince@MCESTATE.COM - vince@GAIANET.NET ________ __ ____ Unix Networking Operations - FreeBSD-Real Unix for Free / / / / | / |[__ ] GaiaNet Corporation - M & C Estate / / / / | / | __] ] Beverly Hills, California USA 90210 / / / / / |/ / | __] ] HongKong Stars/Gravis UltraSound Mailing Lists Admin /_/_/_/_/|___/|_|[____]
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