BL465c - Modem Options

[sgunelius]

Good morning. I'm looking for options to connect an external modem to a BL465c. I have a paging software solution currently running on a DL and while it uses network protocols (WCTP & SMTP) as the primary method for transmission of text messages, it will use TAP Dial-Up over modem as a failover method.

I don't have room in my chassis to accommodate a PCI Expansion Blade with internal modem and I doubt that using the serial port on the Blade SUV Cable is a good solution. I am considering a USB modem as an alternative to the serial modem currently in use. Has anyone had to use a similar solution with a BL465c? Thank you in advance for your response.

[Matti_Kurkela]

I agree that using the SUV cable is not a suitable solution for long-term use. But using USB does not help much: as far as I can see, the only USB connectors are the ones on the SUV cable and the internal connector inside the blade (intended for software protection dongles and the like).

Even if you can find an USB modem small enough to fit in the internal port, there is no clean way to route a land-line cable out of the blade. And putting a wireless modem inside a metal box would not be a good idea, unless its antenna is outside the box.

The blades really aren't an optimal solution for situations where you need just _one_ system with unique hardware.

If you could make the modem accessible over the network, that might solve your problems nicely... unless the role of the modem is to be the last resort for when the local network is down.

Many manufacturers have products similar to this:
http://www.moxa.com/product/NPort_5110.htm

I've used this particular product in a project a few years ago. It came with drivers that allow Windows to see it as a real serial port, if your application requires that.

(For us, making that particular device accessible over a TCP port was enough. In that mode, it works much like JetDirect for printers: connect to a pre-defined port on the IP address of the box, and you're talking directly to the serial device.)

If your network configuration allows you to place this device close enough to your server so that a network failure is not an issue, something like this might be a workable solution.

MK

[Ole Thomsen_1]

We have used moxas for modem connection to blades - running virtual machines - several years.

Works great.

Ole Thomsen