RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David I just noticed your message asking for an SSH client for BlackBerry. Our product Idokorro Mobile SSH supports sending keys with CTRL, for example you can press CTRL+C and any other combination. As well with the BlackBerry devices QWERTY keyboard it makes SSH a snap. You also mentioned VNC, we also have a product that does that on a BlackBerry, it's called Mobile Desktop. If you have any other questions please contact me! Paul Dumais Idokorro Mobile http://www.idokorro.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
BlackBerry Apps WAS Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Paul, I have considered your product line for our BlackBerries (we have 2). It seems that your pricing was way out of line for a small provider to take on. It seemed that it was more directed at enterprise-level tech support personnel managing a large network with Exchange servers file servers such. Our needs are often that great, but our budgets often aren't. Do you have a pricing solution for us? Mark Nash UnwiredOnline 350 Holly Street Junction City, OR 97448 http://www.uwol.net 541-998- 541-998-5599 fax - Original Message - From: Paul Dumais [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:03 AM Subject: RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! David I just noticed your message asking for an SSH client for BlackBerry. Our product Idokorro Mobile SSH supports sending keys with CTRL, for example you can press CTRL+C and any other combination. As well with the BlackBerry devices QWERTY keyboard it makes SSH a snap. You also mentioned VNC, we also have a product that does that on a BlackBerry, it's called Mobile Desktop. If you have any other questions please contact me! Paul Dumais Idokorro Mobile http://www.idokorro.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I have the 8525, its a pretty decent phone, but again its sold for ATT -- you can download keyboard software that has CTRL key functionality. I use pocket putty for ssh currently, and Mocha VNC for.. well, obviously VNC. Phone works pretty well, they are some firmware bugs with it. But its worth looking into. -Tony -- Anthony R. Mattke Network Administrator Cyberlink International 888.293.3693 x4353 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CHUCK PROFITO wrote: HTC 8525 http://www.america.htc.com/products/8525/default.html Chuck Profito 209-988-7388 CV-ACCESS, INC [EMAIL PROTECTED] Providing High Speed Broadband to Rural Central California -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: BlackBerry Apps WAS Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Mark, it sounds like you are referring to our Mobile Admin product which is directed to enterprises, pricing for Mobile Admin starts at $245/server. The Mobile SSH product that I suggested to David is much more affordable and targeted to individuals at $95, most of our customers agree that the ROI on the SSH product even for an individual or small company is very easy to justify. Paul Dumais Idokorro Mobile Inc. -Original Message- From: Mark Nash [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 1:31 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: BlackBerry Apps WAS Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Paul, I have considered your product line for our BlackBerries (we have 2). It seems that your pricing was way out of line for a small provider to take on. It seemed that it was more directed at enterprise-level tech support personnel managing a large network with Exchange servers file servers such. Our needs are often that great, but our budgets often aren't. Do you have a pricing solution for us? Mark Nash UnwiredOnline 350 Holly Street Junction City, OR 97448 http://www.uwol.net 541-998- 541-998-5599 fax - Original Message - From: Paul Dumais [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:03 AM Subject: RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! David I just noticed your message asking for an SSH client for BlackBerry. Our product Idokorro Mobile SSH supports sending keys with CTRL, for example you can press CTRL+C and any other combination. As well with the BlackBerry devices QWERTY keyboard it makes SSH a snap. You also mentioned VNC, we also have a product that does that on a BlackBerry, it's called Mobile Desktop. If you have any other questions please contact me! Paul Dumais Idokorro Mobile http://www.idokorro.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
It's not in CPAN but anyone who wants it can send me a request on the members list and I'd be happy to forward it along. Sam Tetherow Sandhills Wireless David E. Smith wrote: Sam Tetherow wrote: Not that it helps much, but I got you covered for most of the RouterOS stuff. I have a perl class that uses expect to interface with the command line interface for RouterOS. Is it in CPAN, and if so, what's it called? I know it doesn't quite fit into your pocket and they only work with cingular (for cell service) but the sony vaio UX's are pretty cool. I've used one a couple of times and the keyboards are really nice considering the form factor and the screens are good. They are pretty pricey though! That's nearly up to the size of a laptop, though. If you can't carry it with you into Busch Stadium, it's too big. :P (Sadly, the fact that it only works with ATT is much more of a showstopper than the size.) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Tom: I agree with your approach based on my dealings with large utilities and munis with wireless systems. Most CIO types have a hanheld PDA for remote monitoring/SMS/SSH/Remote VPN; and the technicians in the field have the laptop.+ the PDATypically a message goes to a 1-800 Call Center (contracted or company owned) and the Call Center sends a trouble ticket to the technician and cc's the CIO/Chief Architect. The trouble ticket' is really a pre-determined electronic message with an agreed upon emergency rating. If I were a chief achitect or sales engineer, I too would like to receive messages on my PDA for all my customers to provide the best service. I would want to know all about their problems to get a feel of the OSS status of their systems. And whether or not a call is needed to their owner/operator on how we are resolving the problem. I would then want customer survey to see if the problem has been resolved. Two weeks ago in San Francisco there was a big power outage at the PGE utility in downtown San Francisco. The event cause three critical NOCs to go down including Craigslist, and others. Read here: http://gigaom.com/2007/07/25/webs-weakest-link-the-power-grid/ Felix --- Tom DeReggi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Because its HEAVY! Because you have to Wait while it Turns On! Because you can't do it with one hand! We've been buying Used Vaios (12 screens 4lbs) on Ebay, for new techs, and putting in the ATT Edge Card. Been working well to enable the techs to do provisioning from the field. I've been using the PDA (mirosoft OS) phone with the pull out thump key pad. The size is plenty adequate for emergenecy access for maintenance. The only problem I ran into was that Putty SSH does not work on it with Manual Keys. Unless an extra $100 is spent on SSH software :-( What we decided is Exec types like me would have the Phone, s I would always want to maintain access, but may not always have a laptop handy. But our techs always would have their Laptops around, thus use the AirCard. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: Travis Johnson To: WISPA General List Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! For what it's worth, Circuit City had a cheap (Everex) laptop for $349 a few days ago. Why mess around with a small screen and keyboard on a phone when you can just buy a laptop and have everything you need? :) Travis Microserv Clint Ricker wrote: Well, to chime in late and throw in my two cents... Don't bother. Back when I was in that sort of deal, I went down this road a few times and the reality is that it is not worth it. (I've done this on about 6 different devices and none of them are really viable for anything more than a simple service restart...which I've always been able to phone in). Few points, mostly around the screen 1. Do you really want to be editing access lists for BGP or complex config files on a 2 inch screen with a micro keyboard? The reality is (from bad experiences) is that typos are too easy to make with such keyboards and too hard to catch with the screen... 2. Outage resolution? Doesn't work...this isn't the sort of environment you want to be doing diagnostics in... Reading log files where it wraps 5 times for each line and shows 3 lines at a time is an exercise in futility. Switching between hosts is an exercise in futility in this environment. Simple fact--diagnostics is just bad at worse... Couple of points: network/system administration should not be done with both arms tied behind your back--which is exactly the type of environments these end up doing. At best, it is slow and frustrating and often involves overlooking major problems. At worse, you cause more problems than you create. There's not a single network engineer out there who would even dream of editing BGP in such an environment... Are you really telling us that things that you can do things on a two inch screen displaying complex (and lots of!) text with a micro keyboard that your staff can't do guided by phone? You may want to re-evaluate who you hire :) In any case, doesn't that scare you that you are the only one in the world who can possibly do this? Get a good network guy on retainer... you wouldn't (well, shouldn't) tolerate a single point of failure in your network; that applies to the administration as well... At best, get a micro PC (like to OGO) and a cell PCMCIA-based...this doesn't catch I'm in the bathroom and someone just stole my car, but does cover about 90% and gives you an environment that will let you get stuff done, not screw yourself over. -Clint Ricker Kentnis Technologies On 8/7/07, Matt Liotta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: David E. Smith wrote: Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Something like (mt) Media Temple's new sysadmin interface for the iPhone ( http://weblog.mediatemple.net/weblog/) would be ideal! (except for the iPhone, and ATT) On 8/6/07, Matt Liotta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If your entire network is managed via a web-based OSS then any cell phone with a decent browser should do what you need. I can't imagine wanting to do SSH via a cell phone. That seems like a sure fire way to have a typo on something important. -- Dylan Oliver Primaverity, LLC WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Felix A. Lopez wrote: Dave/Mike: Handango has a bevy of software and handheld applications. See weblink below http://www.handango.com/home.jsp?siteId=1 Okay, now let's poke at details... I need, specifically, a working Ctrl key, and key chording. I couldn't find any Windows Mobile SSH client that supported those (when I started on this project a few weeks back, I tested substantially all of 'em). Can anyone confirm/deny whether there's one that works that I overlooked, or if any of the Blackberry SSH clients (Idokorro probably being the frontrunner) will do that? I know it's a very weird, very specific question, which is why I'm asking here - the folks at the Alltel store wouldn't have a clue what I was asking, or why :) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: I need, specifically, a working Ctrl key, and key chording. I couldn't find any Windows Mobile SSH client that supported those (when I started on this project a few weeks back, I tested substantially all of 'em). Can anyone confirm/deny whether there's one that works that I overlooked, or if any of the Blackberry SSH clients (Idokorro probably being the frontrunner) will do that? I know it's a very weird, very specific question, which is why I'm asking here - the folks at the Alltel store wouldn't have a clue what I was asking, or why :) This is my point from yesterday. These devices are designed to work well with web-based applications. You will spend far less time and money interfacing them with such. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David, I wish you luck! I have not found anything suitable and I have been looking on off for a couple years - - and we are in the same shape as far as having to use Alltel. I am watching this thread closely :-) Mac -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 8:20 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Felix A. Lopez wrote: Dave/Mike: Handango has a bevy of software and handheld applications. See weblink below http://www.handango.com/home.jsp?siteId=1 Okay, now let's poke at details... I need, specifically, a working Ctrl key, and key chording. I couldn't find any Windows Mobile SSH client that supported those (when I started on this project a few weeks back, I tested substantially all of 'em). Can anyone confirm/deny whether there's one that works that I overlooked, or if any of the Blackberry SSH clients (Idokorro probably being the frontrunner) will do that? I know it's a very weird, very specific question, which is why I'm asking here - the folks at the Alltel store wouldn't have a clue what I was asking, or why :) David Smith MVN.net --- - WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ --- - -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.6/938 - Release Date: 8/5/2007 4:16 PM WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Adam Kennedy wrote: While a web interface is a good idea there are times at which one would still need to SSH into a network. I would rather not have a php interface adjusting BGP or OSPF configs for instance. Are you suggesting that you would want to SSH in via a cell phone and adjust BGP or OSPF configs? -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: It would appear you are making incorrect assumptions. Why would it cost a lot of money? A programmer can be hired on the cheap and the amount of work you need is small. If it cost you more than a few hundred dollars you are over paying. The original assumption was that replacing my whole network was where you were going with your statement, and I apologize for that misinterpretation. Not that your actual suggestion of write a bunch of Web interfaces is that much better... (ooh, it's some off-topic bait! looks yummy!) Something that can remotely log into an SSH system, screen-scrape, let me edit its configuration files (which are all in a weird proprietary text editor), and basically replicate everything you can do with SSH? That's more than a few hours' work. (At least it would be for me, but my programming experience is more Web-focused than working with terminal/curses stuff.) Oh, and multiply that by several times, as I have several different systems for which I'd need similar interfaces. I'd need one for Trango (yes, they have a built-in Web interface but it stinks out loud), Alvarion (BreezeConfig is nice, but it's Windows-only), Mikrotik RouterOS (the Web interface is okay but there's a lot of stuff you can't easily do with it), and so on and so on. Meanwhile, all of these things already have a nice way of twiddling their knobs remotely: their respective telnet and SSH interfaces. I respect that you're trying to make other suggestions, and I appreciate it. This particular idea, however, is a bit of a non-starter. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: Are you suggesting that you would want to SSH in via a cell phone and adjust BGP or OSPF configs? If the alternative is having a broken network, yes. ;) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
On Mon, 6 Aug 2007, Cliff Leboeuf wrote: Butch, why not the Blackjack? Does it have issues or is it more limited than the others? 1. No touchscreen 2. It is SLOW 3. It has serious bluetooth problems 4. The world's smallest qwerty keyboard that they claim is the worlds biggest pita Those are the biggest problems. -- Butch Evans Network Engineering and Security Consulting 573-276-2879 http://www.butchevans.com/ My calendar: http://tinyurl.com/y24ad6 Training Partners: http://tinyurl.com/smfkf Mikrotik Certified Consultant http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: The original assumption was that replacing my whole network was where you were going with your statement, and I apologize for that misinterpretation. Not that your actual suggestion of write a bunch of Web interfaces is that much better... I haven't actually suggested either. Your stated goal was to do some basic things to a device that was only available via SSH from a cell phone. Creating a web-based interface for those basic things doesn't take a lot of work. Now if you want to manage your whole network from a cell phone I do think it would take a lot of work. I also think you are crazy. Some things shouldn't be managed from a cell phone. You really should just use a laptop. In another email you mention that you would want to change BGP or OSPF configs via a cell phone to fix a broken network. That too is crazy. Something as important as BGP or OSPF simply shouldn't break on its own. It should only break when someone is changing a configuration. In that case, wouldn't the person doing the breaking (or someone else at the office) be responsible for using their computer to fix it? Oh, and multiply that by several times, as I have several different systems for which I'd need similar interfaces. I'd need one for Trango (yes, they have a built-in Web interface but it stinks out loud), Alvarion (BreezeConfig is nice, but it's Windows-only), Mikrotik RouterOS (the Web interface is okay but there's a lot of stuff you can't easily do with it), and so on and so on. I certainly understand your point as we have a variety of radio vendor equipment with a variety of management interfaces. However, all of them have SNMP interfaces, which gave us a common way to manage all of our radios. You really need your own OSS to manage all of your network. We looked around at smaller successful telecommunication companies and found that all of them had a good OSS. As such, we decided to do the same and it has been worth every penny. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: I certainly understand your point as we have a variety of radio vendor equipment with a variety of management interfaces. However, all of them have SNMP interfaces, which gave us a common way to manage all of our radios. Yeah, well, now we're kinda back to the whole you wanna give me a new network? thing. If I have any say in it, any new gear will be easier to manage, but that doesn't magically make all the old gear work that way. I have backhaul links that only support read-only SNMP, and at least one backhaul link that has no remote management at all (fortunately it hasn't broken in the last five years :) [BGP and friends] It should only break when someone is changing a configuration. Should being the key word. ;) (Bad example, as I'm the only one in the office who ever does anything BGP-ish, but I follow your meaning. My point is that in the real world things like this do occasionally go completely bananas.) Just for giggles, toss me a recommendation for network management software. It needs to offer most, if not all, of the functionality of the command line, and work with at least the vendors I specified previously (Mikrotik, Valemount, Alvarion, Trango, Ligowave), and I should be able to monitor and adjust key settings from this hypothetical cell phone. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
This really isn't a hard subject to grasp - unless you try to make it that way. What a lot of us are looking for is an easy way to ssh or telnet into our networks and do whatever it is we need to do, but don't want to be tethered to a laptop. A real life example would be sitting at the ball park - NMS sends a text that whatever is down - pick up the cell phone telnet into the whatever device and take care of business. Surely you can see the simplicity in what we are looking for, but for some reason you feel the need to do whatever it is that you are doing with this thread. Not difficult. Mac -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Liotta Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 10:16 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! David E. Smith wrote: The original assumption was that replacing my whole network was where you were going with your statement, and I apologize for that misinterpretation. Not that your actual suggestion of write a bunch of Web interfaces is that much better... I haven't actually suggested either. Your stated goal was to do some basic things to a device that was only available via SSH from a cell phone. Creating a web-based interface for those basic things doesn't take a lot of work. Now if you want to manage your whole network from a cell phone I do think it would take a lot of work. I also think you are crazy. Some things shouldn't be managed from a cell phone. You really should just use a laptop. In another email you mention that you would want to change BGP or OSPF configs via a cell phone to fix a broken network. That too is crazy. Something as important as BGP or OSPF simply shouldn't break on its own. It should only break when someone is changing a configuration. In that case, wouldn't the person doing the breaking (or someone else at the office) be responsible for using their computer to fix it? Oh, and multiply that by several times, as I have several different systems for which I'd need similar interfaces. I'd need one for Trango (yes, they have a built-in Web interface but it stinks out loud), Alvarion (BreezeConfig is nice, but it's Windows-only), Mikrotik RouterOS (the Web interface is okay but there's a lot of stuff you can't easily do with it), and so on and so on. I certainly understand your point as we have a variety of radio vendor equipment with a variety of management interfaces. However, all of them have SNMP interfaces, which gave us a common way to manage all of our radios. You really need your own OSS to manage all of your network. We looked around at smaller successful telecommunication companies and found that all of them had a good OSS. As such, we decided to do the same and it has been worth every penny. -Matt --- - WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ --- - -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.8/940 - Release Date: 8/6/2007 4:53 PM WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: Yeah, well, now we're kinda back to the whole you wanna give me a new network? thing. If I have any say in it, any new gear will be easier to manage, but that doesn't magically make all the old gear work that way. I have backhaul links that only support read-only SNMP, and at least one backhaul link that has no remote management at all (fortunately it hasn't broken in the last five years :) Obviously, I can't help you with old equipment that can't be managed. Further, I am not suggesting that you throw your network out and start over. However, you can put in place a system that will work for most of your network. Then once you get used to that the older unmanaged gear will become less and less desirable. This should eventually lead to a situation where it is cheaper to replace the gear than leave it in place. (Bad example, as I'm the only one in the office who ever does anything BGP-ish, but I follow your meaning. My point is that in the real world things like this do occasionally go completely bananas.) And in those cases you should probably use a laptop. Just for giggles, toss me a recommendation for network management software. It needs to offer most, if not all, of the functionality of the command line, and work with at least the vendors I specified previously (Mikrotik, Valemount, Alvarion, Trango, Ligowave), and I should be able to monitor and adjust key settings from this hypothetical cell phone. We did a market analysis and determined that there is no single piece of software available that would work. We then looked at what it would take to modify existing software to do this and unfortunately determined it was cheaper to build our own. With that being said, I am not suggesting that is the same direction you should take. I think you should identify specific limited tasks that you would like to accomplish from a cell phone. Those tasks will probably be cheap to implement. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Not that it helps much, but I got you covered for most of the RouterOS stuff. I have a perl class that uses expect to interface with the command line interface for RouterOS. I know it doesn't quite fit into your pocket and they only work with cingular (for cell service) but the sony vaio UX's are pretty cool. I've used one a couple of times and the keyboards are really nice considering the form factor and the screens are good. They are pretty pricey though! Sam Tetherow Sandhills Wireless David E. Smith wrote: Matt Liotta wrote: It would appear you are making incorrect assumptions. Why would it cost a lot of money? A programmer can be hired on the cheap and the amount of work you need is small. If it cost you more than a few hundred dollars you are over paying. The original assumption was that replacing my whole network was where you were going with your statement, and I apologize for that misinterpretation. Not that your actual suggestion of write a bunch of Web interfaces is that much better... (ooh, it's some off-topic bait! looks yummy!) Something that can remotely log into an SSH system, screen-scrape, let me edit its configuration files (which are all in a weird proprietary text editor), and basically replicate everything you can do with SSH? That's more than a few hours' work. (At least it would be for me, but my programming experience is more Web-focused than working with terminal/curses stuff.) Oh, and multiply that by several times, as I have several different systems for which I'd need similar interfaces. I'd need one for Trango (yes, they have a built-in Web interface but it stinks out loud), Alvarion (BreezeConfig is nice, but it's Windows-only), Mikrotik RouterOS (the Web interface is okay but there's a lot of stuff you can't easily do with it), and so on and so on. Meanwhile, all of these things already have a nice way of twiddling their knobs remotely: their respective telnet and SSH interfaces. I respect that you're trying to make other suggestions, and I appreciate it. This particular idea, however, is a bit of a non-starter. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Sam Tetherow wrote: Not that it helps much, but I got you covered for most of the RouterOS stuff. I have a perl class that uses expect to interface with the command line interface for RouterOS. Is it in CPAN, and if so, what's it called? I know it doesn't quite fit into your pocket and they only work with cingular (for cell service) but the sony vaio UX's are pretty cool. I've used one a couple of times and the keyboards are really nice considering the form factor and the screens are good. They are pretty pricey though! That's nearly up to the size of a laptop, though. If you can't carry it with you into Busch Stadium, it's too big. :P (Sadly, the fact that it only works with ATT is much more of a showstopper than the size.) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: And in those cases you should probably use a laptop. Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best, my laptop's in my car. (If I felt like putting up with traffic, that means it's in a nearby parking lot, ten or fifteen minutes away, plus however long it takes me to find a wi-fi hotspot in an unfamiliar downtown area. Most of the time, when I go to Cardinals games, I leave my car about 45 minutes away and hop on a train. That still leaves the whole no Internet connection problem in addition to waiting for a train, which often adds another half hour.) It's more likely that my laptop is at home, which under ideal driving conditions is an hour and a half. Assuming I'm even fit to drive; it's a baseball game, and I do like my overpriced watered-down beer. If I were gonna drive that far, I'd just drive the extra six minutes it takes to get to the office. And no, I can't phone it in (so to speak...) and have someone else do it. Discarding for the nonce the fact that I'm probably the only one in the office that can even tell you what BGP means, I'm sure you're well aware that, for this kind of troubleshooting, the ability to actually SEE what's going on is amazingly valuable, and no amount of dude on the phone typing stuff in and reading what happens can make up for that. (Disclaimer: I'm exaggerating a bit, for comic effect, but the point remains. First-hand troubleshooting is almost always better than second-hand troubleshooting IMO.) Matt, you have some good ideas, but they're not good for me, or for my network. I'd love to be able to build some super-duper do-it-all widget in-house, but as I'm the only developer here (and that's certainly not what it says on my business card), it's not gonna happen. The odds of finding a developer who can do all this for less than the cost of a handheld gizmo and a couple years of service for said gizmo are very nearly zip. If you've used one of the small portable devices I was asking about - actual first-hand experience - and can comment on compatibility, let me know. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Honestly to find a cell phone or single device that is the prefect sysadmin device is a pipe dream imo. Here is one more thing for you to look at though. http://www.oqo.com/products/model02/features.html The price may make you jump though. Ryan On Tue, 2007-08-07 at 13:37 -0400, Matt Liotta wrote: Mac Dearman wrote: A real life example would be sitting at the ball park - NMS sends a text that whatever is down - pick up the cell phone telnet into the whatever device and take care of business. Surely you can see the simplicity in what we are looking for, but for some reason you feel the need to do whatever it is that you are doing with this thread. I don't see the simplicity at all. If you want to reboot a device remotely from a cell phone then I can see the simplicity and point you to a cheap solution. If you want to managed a variety of different devices with a variety of management interfaces and be able to manage every part of them then I don't see any simplicity. The difference between the former and the later is the discreteness of the task. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best, my laptop's in my car. (If I felt like putting up with traffic, that means it's in a nearby parking lot, ten or fifteen minutes away, plus however long it takes me to find a wi-fi hotspot in an unfamiliar downtown area. Most of the time, when I go to Cardinals games, I leave my car about 45 minutes away and hop on a train. That still leaves the whole no Internet connection problem in addition to waiting for a train, which often adds another half hour.) It's more likely that my laptop is at home, which under ideal driving conditions is an hour and a half. Assuming I'm even fit to drive; it's a baseball game, and I do like my overpriced watered-down beer. If I were gonna drive that far, I'd just drive the extra six minutes it takes to get to the office. And no, I can't phone it in (so to speak...) and have someone else do it. Discarding for the nonce the fact that I'm probably the only one in the office that can even tell you what BGP means, I'm sure you're well aware that, for this kind of troubleshooting, the ability to actually SEE what's going on is amazingly valuable, and no amount of dude on the phone typing stuff in and reading what happens can make up for that. (Disclaimer: I'm exaggerating a bit, for comic effect, but the point remains. First-hand troubleshooting is almost always better than second-hand troubleshooting IMO.) Is it so comical though? You are suggesting that there is a situation where there is a problem so important or complicated that only you can fix it yet you want to be able to fix it remotely via a cell phone at a baseball game. It would appear you are trying to solve the wrong problem. Matt, you have some good ideas, but they're not good for me, or for my network. I'd love to be able to build some super-duper do-it-all widget in-house, but as I'm the only developer here (and that's certainly not what it says on my business card), it's not gonna happen. The odds of finding a developer who can do all this for less than the cost of a handheld gizmo and a couple years of service for said gizmo are very nearly zip. You have convinced yourself of what you need and can't see anything that could compare. The problem with your straw man is that no such device exists. If you've used one of the small portable devices I was asking about - actual first-hand experience - and can comment on compatibility, let me know. Yes, I have a Motorola Q with EVDO that is a very effective device. I have access to our web-based OSS as well as tons of web applications built by the likes of Google et al. I can tell you quite specifically that the whole experience is awful. Even with EVDO it takes 3 to 4 times longer to get movie times, directions, etc than just making a phone call. The device works great for phone calls, messaging, and simple web-based tasks. I'd rather shoot myself than try and use SSH from it. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: You are suggesting that there is a situation where there is a problem so important or complicated that only you can fix it yet you want to be able to fix it remotely via a cell phone at a baseball game. Yup! I refuse to tether myself to my job. I've done that over the last few years, and I'm not doing it any longer. I do accept, though, that there are some things that, out of the eight or so employees working under my boss, I'm the only one who knows them. The ability to fix things remotely is essential to our business and to my sanity. (Fun fact: I value the second of those much more highly than the first.) As much as I'd love to be completely incommunicado for a few days here and there, it's not practical; I believe this has the potential to be a viable substitute. You have convinced yourself of what you need and can't see anything that could compare. The problem with your straw man is that no such device exists. You claim it doesn't exist; I'm still in a blissful state of doubt and confusion. Hence my original question about what handhelds will work with SSH the way I need 'em to. :) Yes, I have a Motorola Q with EVDO that is a very effective device. The device works great for phone calls, messaging, and simple web-based tasks. Geez, where do you live? Sounds like the data service is even worse than here, and that's pretty hard to come by. :P My copy of Opera Mini on a two-year-old Sprint phone that I picked up used on eBay for a hundred bucks works better than yours, at least from your description. I'd rather shoot myself than try and use SSH from it. Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? To be clear, I'm open to suggestions. I'm just very very picky about my requirements. ;) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: I refuse to tether myself to my job. I've done that over the last few years, and I'm not doing it any longer. I do accept, though, that there are some things that, out of the eight or so employees working under my boss, I'm the only one who knows them. The ability to fix things remotely is essential to our business and to my sanity. (Fun fact: I value the second of those much more highly than the first.) As much as I'd love to be completely incommunicado for a few days here and there, it's not practical; I believe this has the potential to be a viable substitute. First, you suggest that you are looking for a device of certain requirements. Now you suggest that the device is essential to your business. Yet, you don't even know if such a device exists. I continue to think you are attempting to solve the wrong problem. What device is going to save your business when you get hit by bus (in a metaphorical sense). You claim it doesn't exist; I'm still in a blissful state of doubt and confusion. Hence my original question about what handhelds will work with SSH the way I need 'em to. :) I believe at lease one other person referred to your desire as a pipe dream. Geez, where do you live? Sounds like the data service is even worse than here, and that's pretty hard to come by. :P I live in Atlanta where the data service is actually quite fast. The problem with cell phones is not the speed of the data service though. My copy of Opera Mini on a two-year-old Sprint phone that I picked up used on eBay for a hundred bucks works better than yours, at least from your description. Have you tried such common tasks as getting directions or checking movie times? I am sure if you set up a proper test with two people --one using a cell phone browser and the other making a cell phone call-- the phone call will win hands down. Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? Of course I have used SSH. That was one of the applications I was planning on using when I bought the phone. I have since learned my lesson. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I use a Verizon AudioVox 6600 to Terminal service into my Work PC, I run 1280 x 1024 on my main screen, so it requires scrolling. But, I have all my applications and everything I need. The 6600 has a slide down keyboard. The phone is probably 3 years old, not sure if you can still get them new or not. http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=570 Several other guys around here have Motorola-Q's around here, but I prefer the bigger screen the 6600 has. BTW Matt, what are you running for NMS? Thanks, Russ Kreigh Network Engineer OnlyInternet.Net Broadband Wireless Supernova Technologies Office: (800) 363-0989 Direct: (260) 827-2486 Fax:(260) 824-9624 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oibw.net -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 3:15 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Matt Liotta wrote: You are suggesting that there is a situation where there is a problem so important or complicated that only you can fix it yet you want to be able to fix it remotely via a cell phone at a baseball game. Yup! I refuse to tether myself to my job. I've done that over the last few years, and I'm not doing it any longer. I do accept, though, that there are some things that, out of the eight or so employees working under my boss, I'm the only one who knows them. The ability to fix things remotely is essential to our business and to my sanity. (Fun fact: I value the second of those much more highly than the first.) As much as I'd love to be completely incommunicado for a few days here and there, it's not practical; I believe this has the potential to be a viable substitute. You have convinced yourself of what you need and can't see anything that could compare. The problem with your straw man is that no such device exists. You claim it doesn't exist; I'm still in a blissful state of doubt and confusion. Hence my original question about what handhelds will work with SSH the way I need 'em to. :) Yes, I have a Motorola Q with EVDO that is a very effective device. The device works great for phone calls, messaging, and simple web-based tasks. Geez, where do you live? Sounds like the data service is even worse than here, and that's pretty hard to come by. :P My copy of Opera Mini on a two-year-old Sprint phone that I picked up used on eBay for a hundred bucks works better than yours, at least from your description. I'd rather shoot myself than try and use SSH from it. Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? To be clear, I'm open to suggestions. I'm just very very picky about my requirements. ;) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Well, to chime in late and throw in my two cents... Don't bother. Back when I was in that sort of deal, I went down this road a few times and the reality is that it is not worth it. (I've done this on about 6 different devices and none of them are really viable for anything more than a simple service restart...which I've always been able to phone in). Few points, mostly around the screen 1. Do you really want to be editing access lists for BGP or complex config files on a 2 inch screen with a micro keyboard? The reality is (from bad experiences) is that typos are too easy to make with such keyboards and too hard to catch with the screen... 2. Outage resolution? Doesn't work...this isn't the sort of environment you want to be doing diagnostics in... Reading log files where it wraps 5 times for each line and shows 3 lines at a time is an exercise in futility. Switching between hosts is an exercise in futility in this environment. Simple fact--diagnostics is just bad at worse... Couple of points: network/system administration should not be done with both arms tied behind your back--which is exactly the type of environments these end up doing. At best, it is slow and frustrating and often involves overlooking major problems. At worse, you cause more problems than you create. There's not a single network engineer out there who would even dream of editing BGP in such an environment... Are you really telling us that things that you can do things on a two inch screen displaying complex (and lots of!) text with a micro keyboard that your staff can't do guided by phone? You may want to re-evaluate who you hire :) In any case, doesn't that scare you that you are the only one in the world who can possibly do this? Get a good network guy on retainer... you wouldn't (well, shouldn't) tolerate a single point of failure in your network; that applies to the administration as well... At best, get a micro PC (like to OGO) and a cell PCMCIA-based...this doesn't catch I'm in the bathroom and someone just stole my car, but does cover about 90% and gives you an environment that will let you get stuff done, not screw yourself over. -Clint Ricker Kentnis Technologies On 8/7/07, Matt Liotta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: David E. Smith wrote: Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best, my laptop's in my car. (If I felt like putting up with traffic, that means it's in a nearby parking lot, ten or fifteen minutes away, plus however long it takes me to find a wi-fi hotspot in an unfamiliar downtown area. Most of the time, when I go to Cardinals games, I leave my car about 45 minutes away and hop on a train. That still leaves the whole no Internet connection problem in addition to waiting for a train, which often adds another half hour.) It's more likely that my laptop is at home, which under ideal driving conditions is an hour and a half. Assuming I'm even fit to drive; it's a baseball game, and I do like my overpriced watered-down beer. If I were gonna drive that far, I'd just drive the extra six minutes it takes to get to the office. And no, I can't phone it in (so to speak...) and have someone else do it. Discarding for the nonce the fact that I'm probably the only one in the office that can even tell you what BGP means, I'm sure you're well aware that, for this kind of troubleshooting, the ability to actually SEE what's going on is amazingly valuable, and no amount of dude on the phone typing stuff in and reading what happens can make up for that. (Disclaimer: I'm exaggerating a bit, for comic effect, but the point remains. First-hand troubleshooting is almost always better than second-hand troubleshooting IMO.) Is it so comical though? You are suggesting that there is a situation where there is a problem so important or complicated that only you can fix it yet you want to be able to fix it remotely via a cell phone at a baseball game. It would appear you are trying to solve the wrong problem. Matt, you have some good ideas, but they're not good for me, or for my network. I'd love to be able to build some super-duper do-it-all widget in-house, but as I'm the only developer here (and that's certainly not what it says on my business card), it's not gonna happen. The odds of finding a developer who can do all this for less than the cost of a handheld gizmo and a couple years of service for said gizmo are very nearly zip. You have convinced yourself of what you need and can't see anything that could compare. The problem with your straw man is that no such device exists. If you've used one of the small portable devices I was asking about - actual first-hand experience - and can comment on compatibility, let me know. Yes, I have a Motorola Q with EVDO that is a very effective device. I have access to our web-based OSS as well as tons of web applications built by the likes of Google et al. I can tell you quite specifically that the
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
For what it's worth, Circuit City had a cheap (Everex) laptop for $349 a few days ago. Why mess around with a small screen and keyboard on a phone when you can just buy a laptop and have everything you need? :) Travis Microserv Clint Ricker wrote: Well, to chime in late and throw in my two cents... Don't bother. Back when I was in that sort of deal, I went down this road a few times and the reality is that it is not worth it. (I've done this on about 6 different devices and none of them are really viable for anything more than a simple service restart...which I've always been able to phone in). Few points, mostly around the screen 1. Do you really want to be editing access lists for BGP or complex config files on a 2 inch screen with a micro keyboard? The reality is (from bad experiences) is that typos are too easy to make with such keyboards and too hard to catch with the screen... 2. Outage resolution? Doesn't work...this isn't the sort of environment you want to be doing diagnostics in... Reading log files where it wraps 5 times for each line and shows 3 lines at a time is an exercise in futility. Switching between hosts is an exercise in futility in this environment. Simple fact--diagnostics is just bad at worse... Couple of points: network/system administration should not be done with both arms tied behind your back--which is exactly the type of environments these end up doing. At best, it is slow and frustrating and often involves overlooking major problems. At worse, you cause more problems than you create. There's not a single network engineer out there who would even dream of editing BGP in such an environment... Are you really telling us that things that you can do things on a two inch screen displaying complex (and lots of!) text with a micro keyboard that your staff can't do guided by phone? You may want to re-evaluate who you hire :) In any case, doesn't that scare you that you are the only one in the world who can possibly do this? Get a good network guy on retainer... you wouldn't (well, shouldn't) tolerate a single point of failure in your network; that applies to the administration as well... At best, get a micro PC (like to OGO) and a cell PCMCIA-based...this doesn't catch "I'm in the bathroom and someone just stole my car", but does cover about 90% and gives you an environment that will let you get stuff done, not screw yourself over. -Clint Ricker Kentnis Technologies On 8/7/07, Matt Liotta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: David E. Smith wrote: Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best, my laptop's in my car. (If I felt like putting up with traffic, that means it's in a nearby parking lot, ten or fifteen minutes away, plus however long it takes me to find a wi-fi hotspot in an unfamiliar downtown area. Most of the time, when I go to Cardinals games, I leave my car about 45 minutes away and hop on a train. That still leaves the whole "no Internet connection" problem in addition to waiting for a train, which often adds another half hour.) It's more likely that my laptop is at home, which under ideal driving conditions is an hour and a half. Assuming I'm even fit to drive; it's a baseball game, and I do like my overpriced watered-down beer. If I were gonna drive that far, I'd just drive the extra six minutes it takes to get to the office. And no, I can't phone it in (so to speak...) and have someone else do it. Discarding for the nonce the fact that I'm probably the only one in the office that can even tell you what BGP means, I'm sure you're well aware that, for this kind of troubleshooting, the ability to actually SEE what's going on is amazingly valuable, and no amount of "dude on the phone typing stuff in and reading what happens" can make up for that. (Disclaimer: I'm exaggerating a bit, for comic effect, but the point remains. First-hand troubleshooting is almost always better than second-hand troubleshooting IMO.) Is it so comical though? You are suggesting that there is a situation where there is a problem so important or complicated that only you can fix it yet you want to be able to fix it remotely via a cell phone at a baseball game. It would appear you are trying to solve the wrong problem. Matt, you have some good ideas, but they're not good for me, or for my network. I'd love to be able to build some super-duper do-it-all widget in-house, but as I'm the only developer here (and that's certainly not what it says on my business card), it's not gonna happen. The odds of finding a developer who can do all this for less than the cost of a handheld gizmo and a couple years of service for said gizmo are very nearly zip. You have convinced yourself of what you need and can't see anything that could compare. The problem with your straw man is that no such device exists. If you've used one of the small portable devices I was asking about - actual first-hand experience -
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? Of course I have used SSH. That was one of the applications I was planning on using when I bought the phone. I have since learned my lesson. Why didn't you just say so in the first place? Instead of all the dancing about with I don't think you'll like it, just say I used it, and here's what I didn't like. To try pulling things back on track (too late), what viable alternatives are there? If a Blackberry or Q is too small to use effective, and a UMPC-style device is too big, what's left? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I am going to go off-topic here a little with a story. I have been working for InvisiMax for a little over a year now. I do not know who knows the history of this company for the last 1.5 years but we are just finishing up going through a very rough stage in the companies existence. Six months before I was hired one of the partners and System Admin/Designer/RD guy was rushed to the ER with heart failure. While he survived the rush to the ER, he was diagnosed with cancer. For six months, the network was without an Admin. There were numerous issues that existed, BGP problems, failing hardware, bad CPEs. One of the worse things was ZERO documentation. Much of our network is a proprietary system, developed by the RD guy. My first year of working for InvisiMax was 110% firefighting, and long hours understanding the network. Now, we have pushed past these issues and are on a path moving forward. But, still one lingering issue exist, and that is where vital information is locked away ... in my head now. While I have pushed alot of information on to our Operation Manager, there is still some of the high level stuff that he would not understand. So how does this relate? The Major issue for InvisiMax was knowledge and the fact that it did not exist anywhere but in someone's head. From the sounds of it certain things on your network exist in the same manner. I suggest fixing that problem first. Get documentation started for everything you do on a daily basis, any network issue that happens, write down the cause, the effect, the diagnosis, and the fix. Get one of the other people working for you to read and understand the problems, and the common diagnostics that can be done(don't forget to given them a reason to want to do this, $$$ or other benefit). This is where I am at now, any thing I have learned to setup, is getting written down in an internal wiki, I am redeveloping our ticketing system to force me to write fixes down, cause otherwise laziness will get the best of my efforts. Once you have this, a plain old voice plan cell phone is what you will need. If a problem arises, while you are out, have that documentation and the person on the other end of the call be your smart phone. With the proper documentation most problems should be fixable remotely this way. And with someone else understanding your network, you will sleep better at night ... I know I am starting to. And in the long run, if I ever decided to move on, or The Bus catches me, things will continue to be fine, and the next person that manages my network will not have the struggle I did. Ryan On Tue, 2007-08-07 at 15:29 -0400, Matt Liotta wrote: David E. Smith wrote: I refuse to tether myself to my job. I've done that over the last few years, and I'm not doing it any longer. I do accept, though, that there are some things that, out of the eight or so employees working under my boss, I'm the only one who knows them. The ability to fix things remotely is essential to our business and to my sanity. (Fun fact: I value the second of those much more highly than the first.) As much as I'd love to be completely incommunicado for a few days here and there, it's not practical; I believe this has the potential to be a viable substitute. First, you suggest that you are looking for a device of certain requirements. Now you suggest that the device is essential to your business. Yet, you don't even know if such a device exists. I continue to think you are attempting to solve the wrong problem. What device is going to save your business when you get hit by bus (in a metaphorical sense). You claim it doesn't exist; I'm still in a blissful state of doubt and confusion. Hence my original question about what handhelds will work with SSH the way I need 'em to. :) I believe at lease one other person referred to your desire as a pipe dream. Geez, where do you live? Sounds like the data service is even worse than here, and that's pretty hard to come by. :P I live in Atlanta where the data service is actually quite fast. The problem with cell phones is not the speed of the data service though. My copy of Opera Mini on a two-year-old Sprint phone that I picked up used on eBay for a hundred bucks works better than yours, at least from your description. Have you tried such common tasks as getting directions or checking movie times? I am sure if you set up a proper test with two people --one using a cell phone browser and the other making a cell phone call-- the phone call will win hands down. Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? Of course I have used SSH. That was one of the applications I was planning on using when I bought the phone. I have since learned my lesson. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today!
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
A hearty AMEN to that Ryan! Key-Man life insurance is another good idea. Jeff - Original Message - From: Ryan Langseth [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 4:15 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I am going to go off-topic here a little with a story. I have been working for InvisiMax for a little over a year now. I do not know who knows the history of this company for the last 1.5 years but we are just finishing up going through a very rough stage in the companies existence. Six months before I was hired one of the partners and System Admin/Designer/RD guy was rushed to the ER with heart failure. While he survived the rush to the ER, he was diagnosed with cancer. For six months, the network was without an Admin. There were numerous issues that existed, BGP problems, failing hardware, bad CPEs. One of the worse things was ZERO documentation. Much of our network is a proprietary system, developed by the RD guy. My first year of working for InvisiMax was 110% firefighting, and long hours understanding the network. Now, we have pushed past these issues and are on a path moving forward. But, still one lingering issue exist, and that is where vital information is locked away ... in my head now. While I have pushed alot of information on to our Operation Manager, there is still some of the high level stuff that he would not understand. So how does this relate? The Major issue for InvisiMax was knowledge and the fact that it did not exist anywhere but in someone's head. From the sounds of it certain things on your network exist in the same manner. I suggest fixing that problem first. Get documentation started for everything you do on a daily basis, any network issue that happens, write down the cause, the effect, the diagnosis, and the fix. Get one of the other people working for you to read and understand the problems, and the common diagnostics that can be done(don't forget to given them a reason to want to do this, $$$ or other benefit). This is where I am at now, any thing I have learned to setup, is getting written down in an internal wiki, I am redeveloping our ticketing system to force me to write fixes down, cause otherwise laziness will get the best of my efforts. Once you have this, a plain old voice plan cell phone is what you will need. If a problem arises, while you are out, have that documentation and the person on the other end of the call be your smart phone. With the proper documentation most problems should be fixable remotely this way. And with someone else understanding your network, you will sleep better at night ... I know I am starting to. And in the long run, if I ever decided to move on, or The Bus catches me, things will continue to be fine, and the next person that manages my network will not have the struggle I did. Ryan On Tue, 2007-08-07 at 15:29 -0400, Matt Liotta wrote: David E. Smith wrote: I refuse to tether myself to my job. I've done that over the last few years, and I'm not doing it any longer. I do accept, though, that there are some things that, out of the eight or so employees working under my boss, I'm the only one who knows them. The ability to fix things remotely is essential to our business and to my sanity. (Fun fact: I value the second of those much more highly than the first.) As much as I'd love to be completely incommunicado for a few days here and there, it's not practical; I believe this has the potential to be a viable substitute. First, you suggest that you are looking for a device of certain requirements. Now you suggest that the device is essential to your business. Yet, you don't even know if such a device exists. I continue to think you are attempting to solve the wrong problem. What device is going to save your business when you get hit by bus (in a metaphorical sense). You claim it doesn't exist; I'm still in a blissful state of doubt and confusion. Hence my original question about what handhelds will work with SSH the way I need 'em to. :) I believe at lease one other person referred to your desire as a pipe dream. Geez, where do you live? Sounds like the data service is even worse than here, and that's pretty hard to come by. :P I live in Atlanta where the data service is actually quite fast. The problem with cell phones is not the speed of the data service though. My copy of Opera Mini on a two-year-old Sprint phone that I picked up used on eBay for a hundred bucks works better than yours, at least from your description. Have you tried such common tasks as getting directions or checking movie times? I am sure if you set up a proper test with two people --one using a cell phone browser and the other making a cell phone call-- the phone call will win hands down. Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? Of course I have used SSH
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Dave: I was involved in a similar project as yours using Dexterra http://www.dexterra.com/ development software. Dexterra specializes in applications for mobile devices. They are located in Bothell Washington. For NOC monitoring, you may consider contacting CEO Tom Shaw and his team at WAMS - Wide Area Management Services at the following weblink: http://www.wams.com:8080/index.html I worked with WAMS to evaluate their NOC monitoring services. They may have some ideas for you,develop a budget and see what you need. The handhelds I got involved with are: Motorola Q Symbol (handheld devices) UTC Starcom (with pullout QWERTY keyboard) Motorola HC700 All ran the Windows Mobile platform. My clients simply wanted VPN access (SSH or whatever) to conduct diagnostics over their hanhelds. The beauty of Dexterra is that you can pre-determine your diagnostic screens to eliminate any typo errors. It will take some development on your part if you want true robost system. There is also Good Technology (which was bought by Motorola)...but they are mainly big enterprise. There are many enteprise companies seeking to do what you are trying to do. And not on a laptop but on a ruggedized mobile handheld. SO you are on the right track. Felix Lopez Utilities and Wireless --- David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Matt Liotta wrote: Is this a statement of I've used SSH and found it wanting, or I haven't done this but I don't think it'd work? Of course I have used SSH. That was one of the applications I was planning on using when I bought the phone. I have since learned my lesson. Why didn't you just say so in the first place? Instead of all the dancing about with I don't think you'll like it, just say I used it, and here's what I didn't like. To try pulling things back on track (too late), what viable alternatives are there? If a Blackberry or Q is too small to use effective, and a UMPC-style device is too big, what's left? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222 WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
John Scrivner wrote: You really need your own OSS to manage all of your network. We looked around at smaller successful telecommunication companies and found that all of them had a good OSS. As such, we decided to do the same and it has been worth every penny. -Matt Sowhat is it? Unfortunately, you have to build it. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Yeah, I agree there, nothing like custom. We've developed an in-house system for our needs. I think it's just as good and in some area's better than any of the off-the-shelf one's I've seen, plus it's totally customized around our opererations. Russ Kreigh Network Engineer OnlyInternet.Net Broadband Wireless Supernova Technologies Office: (800) 363-0989 Direct: (260) 827-2486 Fax:(260) 824-9624 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oibw.net -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Liotta Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 7:58 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! John Scrivner wrote: You really need your own OSS to manage all of your network. We looked around at smaller successful telecommunication companies and found that all of them had a good OSS. As such, we decided to do the same and it has been worth every penny. -Matt Sowhat is it? Unfortunately, you have to build it. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I just use my razr v3i phone to view my system status pages and trip my remote reboots. I also keep my custamore phone and address list on it. If I can't resolve the problem with a remote reboot, and I need Telnet or ssh, I just plug the razr into my laptop and either work directly or PC Anywhere into my main workstation. In 5 years, my laptop has NEVER been more than 3 min away from me. But I own the network. Maybe you should get a small, 'thin and light' style laptop and just deal with the fact you will need to keep it with you. No intent to start a flame war here but if you are the irreplaceable man you can either deal with it or train someone. Russ Kreigh wrote: Yeah, I agree there, nothing like custom. We've developed an in-house system for our needs. I think it's just as good and in some area's better than any of the off-the-shelf one's I've seen, plus it's totally customized around our opererations. Russ Kreigh Network Engineer OnlyInternet.Net Broadband Wireless Supernova Technologies Office: (800) 363-0989 Direct: (260) 827-2486 Fax:(260) 824-9624 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oibw.net -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matt Liotta Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 7:58 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! John Scrivner wrote: You really need your own OSS to manage all of your network. We looked around at smaller successful telecommunication companies and found that all of them had a good OSS. As such, we decided to do the same and it has been worth every penny. -Matt Sowhat is it? Unfortunately, you have to build it. -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Because its HEAVY! Because you have to Wait while it Turns On! Because you can't do it with one hand! We've been buying Used Vaios (12 screens 4lbs) on Ebay, for new techs, and putting in the ATT Edge Card. Been working well to enable the techs to do provisioning from the field. I've been using the PDA (mirosoft OS) phone with the pull out thump key pad. The size is plenty adequate for emergenecy access for maintenance. The only problem I ran into was that Putty SSH does not work on it with Manual Keys. Unless an extra $100 is spent on SSH software :-( What we decided is Exec types like me would have the Phone, s I would always want to maintain access, but may not always have a laptop handy. But our techs always would have their Laptops around, thus use the AirCard. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: Travis Johnson To: WISPA General List Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! For what it's worth, Circuit City had a cheap (Everex) laptop for $349 a few days ago. Why mess around with a small screen and keyboard on a phone when you can just buy a laptop and have everything you need? :) Travis Microserv Clint Ricker wrote: Well, to chime in late and throw in my two cents... Don't bother. Back when I was in that sort of deal, I went down this road a few times and the reality is that it is not worth it. (I've done this on about 6 different devices and none of them are really viable for anything more than a simple service restart...which I've always been able to phone in). Few points, mostly around the screen 1. Do you really want to be editing access lists for BGP or complex config files on a 2 inch screen with a micro keyboard? The reality is (from bad experiences) is that typos are too easy to make with such keyboards and too hard to catch with the screen... 2. Outage resolution? Doesn't work...this isn't the sort of environment you want to be doing diagnostics in... Reading log files where it wraps 5 times for each line and shows 3 lines at a time is an exercise in futility. Switching between hosts is an exercise in futility in this environment. Simple fact--diagnostics is just bad at worse... Couple of points: network/system administration should not be done with both arms tied behind your back--which is exactly the type of environments these end up doing. At best, it is slow and frustrating and often involves overlooking major problems. At worse, you cause more problems than you create. There's not a single network engineer out there who would even dream of editing BGP in such an environment... Are you really telling us that things that you can do things on a two inch screen displaying complex (and lots of!) text with a micro keyboard that your staff can't do guided by phone? You may want to re-evaluate who you hire :) In any case, doesn't that scare you that you are the only one in the world who can possibly do this? Get a good network guy on retainer... you wouldn't (well, shouldn't) tolerate a single point of failure in your network; that applies to the administration as well... At best, get a micro PC (like to OGO) and a cell PCMCIA-based...this doesn't catch I'm in the bathroom and someone just stole my car, but does cover about 90% and gives you an environment that will let you get stuff done, not screw yourself over. -Clint Ricker Kentnis Technologies On 8/7/07, Matt Liotta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: David E. Smith wrote: Ah, but I'm at the baseball game. At best, my laptop's in my car. (If I felt like putting up with traffic, that means it's in a nearby parking lot, ten or fifteen minutes away, plus however long it takes me to find a wi-fi hotspot in an unfamiliar downtown area. Most of the time, when I go to Cardinals games, I leave my car about 45 minutes away and hop on a train. That still leaves the whole no Internet connection problem in addition to waiting for a train, which often adds another half hour.) It's more likely that my laptop is at home, which under ideal driving conditions is an hour and a half. Assuming I'm even fit to drive; it's a baseball game, and I do like my overpriced watered-down beer. If I were gonna drive that far, I'd just drive the extra six minutes it takes to get to the office. And no, I can't phone it in (so to speak...) and have someone else do it. Discarding for the nonce the fact that I'm probably the only one in the office that can even tell you what BGP means, I'm sure you're well aware that, for this kind of troubleshooting, the ability to actually SEE what's going on is amazingly valuable, and no amount of dude on the phone typing stuff in and reading what happens can make up for that. (Disclaimer: I'm exaggerating a bit, for comic effect, but the point remains. First-hand troubleshooting is almost always better than second-hand troubleshooting IMO
[WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
If your entire network is managed via a web-based OSS then any cell phone with a decent browser should do what you need. I can't imagine wanting to do SSH via a cell phone. That seems like a sure fire way to have a typo on something important. -Matt David E. Smith wrote: I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: If your entire network is managed via a web-based OSS then any cell phone with a decent browser should do what you need. I can't imagine wanting to do SSH via a cell phone. That seems like a sure fire way to have a typo on something important. -Matt We are not looking at a cell phone. We are looking for a device with a very small keyboard as you can see by his request... Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: If your entire network is managed via a web-based OSS then any cell phone with a decent browser should do what you need. I can't imagine wanting to do SSH via a cell phone. That seems like a sure fire way to have a typo on something important. It's not so much a network management system as it is a six-year-old copy of WhatsUp Gold. The most complicated thing I'm likely to try with one is rebooting it, but even that requires logging into something via SSH (either the unit itself, or some other system somewhere so you can reboot it via starutil). David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
On Mon, 6 Aug 2007, David E. Smith wrote: I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. I'd suggest an IPAQ or similar type palmtop pc. I know that Cingular and others sell these devices. Many of these have 802.11(a/b/g) capability as well, so you can use that where available. Don't get the Blackjack, though. Putty has a windows mobile version that works well enough. -- Butch Evans Network Engineering and Security Consulting 573-276-2879 http://www.butchevans.com/ My calendar: http://tinyurl.com/y24ad6 Training Partners: http://tinyurl.com/smfkf Mikrotik Certified Consultant http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I've used my Cingular 8125 to do SSH and Web based management I have not looked into what upgrades they have for this but it's been nice at times. It has a nicer keyboard then any of the Crackberries i've seen. JohnnyO - Original Message - From: David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 2:21 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Matt Liotta wrote: If your entire network is managed via a web-based OSS then any cell phone with a decent browser should do what you need. I can't imagine wanting to do SSH via a cell phone. That seems like a sure fire way to have a typo on something important. It's not so much a network management system as it is a six-year-old copy of WhatsUp Gold. The most complicated thing I'm likely to try with one is rebooting it, but even that requires logging into something via SSH (either the unit itself, or some other system somewhere so you can reboot it via starutil). David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David E. Smith wrote: It's not so much a network management system as it is a six-year-old copy of WhatsUp Gold. That might be worth looking into then. The most complicated thing I'm likely to try with one is rebooting it, but even that requires logging into something via SSH (either the unit itself, or some other system somewhere so you can reboot it via starutil). Again, I think a web-based system would be better. For example, you could on the cheap write a PHP script to SSH into something and reboot it all while presenting a web interface to your mobile. Safe and effective! -Matt WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Butch, why not the Blackjack? Does it have issues or is it more limited than the others? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Butch Evans Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 2:33 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! On Mon, 6 Aug 2007, David E. Smith wrote: I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. I'd suggest an IPAQ or similar type palmtop pc. I know that Cingular and others sell these devices. Many of these have 802.11(a/b/g) capability as well, so you can use that where available. Don't get the Blackjack, though. Putty has a windows mobile version that works well enough. -- Butch Evans Network Engineering and Security Consulting 573-276-2879 http://www.butchevans.com/ My calendar: http://tinyurl.com/y24ad6 Training Partners: http://tinyurl.com/smfkf Mikrotik Certified Consultant http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
JohnnyO wrote: I've used my Cingular 8125 to do SSH and Web based management I have not looked into what upgrades they have for this but it's been nice at times. What SSH client are you using? (And does the keyboard actually have a Ctrl key?) It's likely I'll still be stuck with a Blackberry because of cell coverage, sadly. (Around here, the best coverage by far is Alltel, who recently bought out local company First Cellular; ATT/Cingular has, by most accounts, pretty iffy coverage. And Alltel is all about the Blackberry. Either that or the Moto Q.) I'll look into that one, though. Thanks for the reassurance that my idea isn't totally nuts. :) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: Again, I think a web-based system would be better. For example, you could on the cheap write a PHP script to SSH into something and reboot it all while presenting a web interface to your mobile. Safe and effective! That implies my ability to write a PHP script with click here to reboot will result in something safe. I'm not sure I trust me that much. Just think of what happens if it's a clickable link and I screw up a password check somewhere and Google starts spidering that page... :) Just an hour ago, as I was composing the original email in this thread, I discovered that you can use starutil to remotely reboot a tower; I may create one of those regardless, on the it's cool principle. It doesn't eliminate my need for a decent SSH client (to, at least, SSH into a Linux shell server, from which I can telnet into all those old Trangos I still have, for which there isn't an easy remote-reboot option). David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Matt Liotta wrote: What do you call a Blackberry and Motorola Q other than a cell phone? Well, if you want to poke at semantics... ;) My intent was to imply that full QWERTY keyboard good, standard phone keypad with only twelve or so buttons bad. Just for playing, I did play with midpssh on my cell phone; took me about two minutes to enter my normal shell password. It's do-able, but I'd have to be really desperate to ever do it again. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
David, This is totally in the other direction of having a full keyboard, but you might look at the Nokia 770 and 800. The 770's are on discount now, for about $150. Someone showed me theirs last week. It is more geared toward Wi-Fi connections, but would connect to the net thru bluetooth to your cellphone. Seemed like a reasonable web browser for something that fits in your pocket. And it runs linux, so ssh is there. I was able to connect to a StarOS AP in less than a minute. I'm hoping ssh can be configured with some macros, plus practice should improve on time. 800x480 screen, I might new glasses. On August 6, at 3:58 PM August 6, David E. Smith wrote: My intent was to imply that full QWERTY keyboard good, standard phone keypad with only twelve or so buttons bad. Just for playing, I did play with midpssh on my cell phone; took me about two minutes to enter my normal shell password. It's do-able, but I'd have to be really desperate to ever do it again. WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
John Valenti wrote: This is totally in the other direction of having a full keyboard, but you might look at the Nokia 770 and 800. The 770's are on discount now, for about $150. Someone showed me theirs last week. It is more geared toward Wi-Fi connections, but would connect to the net thru bluetooth to your cellphone. I just bought one to tinker with a couple weeks ago, actually. I've already done the loopback ssh thing to get root, and enabled red-pill mode, the mere name of which gives me fits of giggles. Who wouldn't want a Debian box in their pocket? :) It might work, but it's not quite as simple as what I really really want. I intend, eventually, for this hypothetical gadget to be passed around every week between techs. This means I'd have to buy three new phones, all with Bluetooth support and data plans (to use for tethering to the 770), which is likely to cost quite a bit more, long-term. Either that, or I buy one phone for tethering, but then whoever's on call that week has to keep track of three gadgets - a personal phone, the Bluetooth phone, and the 770 - which starts getting annoying and cumbersome again. If this mythical device is too big to fit in a pants pocket, it will get left at home, where it doesn't do anyone any good. WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I'd think a Sprint PocketPC device would be the way to go, but I haven't tried it. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com - Original Message - From: David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 2:06 PM Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Right, I know some people on the pre-Alltel service down there. What technology does Alltel use? I'd imagine you could get the HTC Mogul (really made by UTStarcom) to work on any CDMA provider. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com - Original Message - From: David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 4:56 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Mike Hammett wrote: I'd think a Sprint PocketPC device would be the way to go, but I haven't tried it. The device would probably work, but Sprint's coverage around here is atrocious. (My personal phone is on Sprint, and it doesn't work reliably at about half of our tower locations, for instance.) Based on cell coverage, I'll probably have to go with Alltel or (maybe) ATT. I've got more experience with Alltel's phones (that's what basically everyone else in the office uses) and know their coverage is pretty good in my service area; I'm just concerned about finding a device and software that will cover what I need. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
One of my employees has the HTC Mogul. He's got Sprint (who we left because I got tired of dropped calls and the limited coverage). They had it in stores starting last month. Our company is on Verizon, and Verizon hasn't released it yet, so I'm still waiting, but that is definitely going to be my next PDA phone. Runs Windows Mobile 6 and you can do just about anything you'd ever want with it. The rumor on the street is that Verizon will have it in stores around November. I'm particularly excited because Verizon is in the process of upgrading the towers in our area to EVDO (my phone keeps switching between 1X and EV, so I know its close), so the speed of e-mail and web on it should be pretty good. Dave - Original Message - From: Mike Hammett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 6:26 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Right, I know some people on the pre-Alltel service down there. What technology does Alltel use? I'd imagine you could get the HTC Mogul (really made by UTStarcom) to work on any CDMA provider. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com - Original Message - From: David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 4:56 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Mike Hammett wrote: I'd think a Sprint PocketPC device would be the way to go, but I haven't tried it. The device would probably work, but Sprint's coverage around here is atrocious. (My personal phone is on Sprint, and it doesn't work reliably at about half of our tower locations, for instance.) Based on cell coverage, I'll probably have to go with Alltel or (maybe) ATT. I've got more experience with Alltel's phones (that's what basically everyone else in the office uses) and know their coverage is pretty good in my service area; I'm just concerned about finding a device and software that will cover what I need. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
I think the Alltel network around us is all GSM based which would mean, I would assume, that we could load a SIM card into any unlocked GSM device and use it on their network. Any reason why I might be wrong with this thinking? Anyone ever load a SIM card from an unlocked device for use on their home GSM network (be it Cingular or other)? Scriv David E. Smith wrote: JohnnyO wrote: I've used my Cingular 8125 to do SSH and Web based management I have not looked into what upgrades they have for this but it's been nice at times. What SSH client are you using? (And does the keyboard actually have a Ctrl key?) It's likely I'll still be stuck with a Blackberry because of cell coverage, sadly. (Around here, the best coverage by far is Alltel, who recently bought out local company First Cellular; ATT/Cingular has, by most accounts, pretty iffy coverage. And Alltel is all about the Blackberry. Either that or the Moto Q.) I'll look into that one, though. Thanks for the reassurance that my idea isn't totally nuts. :) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Dave/Mike: Handango has a bevy of software and handheld applications. See weblink below http://www.handango.com/home.jsp?siteId=1 F. --- David E. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mike Hammett wrote: I'd think a Sprint PocketPC device would be the way to go, but I haven't tried it. The device would probably work, but Sprint's coverage around here is atrocious. (My personal phone is on Sprint, and it doesn't work reliably at about half of our tower locations, for instance.) Based on cell coverage, I'll probably have to go with Alltel or (maybe) ATT. I've got more experience with Alltel's phones (that's what basically everyone else in the office uses) and know their coverage is pretty good in my service area; I'm just concerned about finding a device and software that will cover what I need. David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
Alltell is all CDMA. They have acquired a couple companies that were GSM, but they pretty quickly migrate custoemrs to CDMA handsets and replace the equipment at the towers. Alltel/Verizon/Sprint = CDMA (no SIM cards) ATT Wireless/Cingular and T-Mobile = GSM (SIM cards) Dave - Original Message - From: John Scrivner [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 6:58 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I think the Alltel network around us is all GSM based which would mean, I would assume, that we could load a SIM card into any unlocked GSM device and use it on their network. Any reason why I might be wrong with this thinking? Anyone ever load a SIM card from an unlocked device for use on their home GSM network (be it Cingular or other)? Scriv David E. Smith wrote: JohnnyO wrote: I've used my Cingular 8125 to do SSH and Web based management I have not looked into what upgrades they have for this but it's been nice at times. What SSH client are you using? (And does the keyboard actually have a Ctrl key?) It's likely I'll still be stuck with a Blackberry because of cell coverage, sadly. (Around here, the best coverage by far is Alltel, who recently bought out local company First Cellular; ATT/Cingular has, by most accounts, pretty iffy coverage. And Alltel is all about the Blackberry. Either that or the Moto Q.) I'll look into that one, though. Thanks for the reassurance that my idea isn't totally nuts. :) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
HTC 8525 http://www.america.htc.com/products/8525/default.html Chuck Profito 209-988-7388 CV-ACCESS, INC [EMAIL PROTECTED] Providing High Speed Broadband to Rural Central California -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David E. Smith Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I'm looking for a way to keep an eye on my network, and to fix some basic stuff, while hiking, or on vacation, or what-have-you. Ideally, something I could take to a baseball game with me, even. A laptop computer is far too big for what I've got in mind, as it's likely to double as a pass-around pager for whoever's on call this week. Thus, I'm probably limited to a Blackberry or maybe a Windows Mobile device like the Motorola Q, running on a cell phone network. Most of our towers are running Valemount's StarOS software, so we need something that has an SSH client, and that SSH client needs to support key chording (Control-whatever, basically). Most devices like this, a Web browser is a given, which should handle the rest of our needs (looking in on the network monitoring system, and a couple Ligowave towers). The ability to receive (and, maybe, send) emails is important, but that's pretty much guaranteed these days too. (Worst case, I whip up some email-to-SMS voodoo.) VNC support would be swell but probably not strictly needed. (Besides, it'd take forever to scroll around a 1208x1024 desktop on one of those...) I can't be the first one here who's looked at getting a Blackberry (or something similar) to handle basic network stuff remotely. What works? What doesn't? Will I even be sorta-happy with, say, a Blackberry 8700? David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go!
My mom and sister have CDMA handsets with SIM cards. That said, however, they're dual mode CDMA\iDEN. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com - Original Message - From: David Sovereen [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 7:35 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! Alltell is all CDMA. They have acquired a couple companies that were GSM, but they pretty quickly migrate custoemrs to CDMA handsets and replace the equipment at the towers. Alltel/Verizon/Sprint = CDMA (no SIM cards) ATT Wireless/Cingular and T-Mobile = GSM (SIM cards) Dave - Original Message - From: John Scrivner [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 6:58 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Managing your network on the go-go-go! I think the Alltel network around us is all GSM based which would mean, I would assume, that we could load a SIM card into any unlocked GSM device and use it on their network. Any reason why I might be wrong with this thinking? Anyone ever load a SIM card from an unlocked device for use on their home GSM network (be it Cingular or other)? Scriv David E. Smith wrote: JohnnyO wrote: I've used my Cingular 8125 to do SSH and Web based management I have not looked into what upgrades they have for this but it's been nice at times. What SSH client are you using? (And does the keyboard actually have a Ctrl key?) It's likely I'll still be stuck with a Blackberry because of cell coverage, sadly. (Around here, the best coverage by far is Alltel, who recently bought out local company First Cellular; ATT/Cingular has, by most accounts, pretty iffy coverage. And Alltel is all about the Blackberry. Either that or the Moto Q.) I'll look into that one, though. Thanks for the reassurance that my idea isn't totally nuts. :) David Smith MVN.net WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
