3Com Total Control documentation

Thu Jul 28 15:22:03 UTC 2011

By the way, a simple Google search of "3Com Total Control" yields this as 
the first result:

http://www.brianpinon.com/brian/assets/PDFs/3Com/ARCGSG.pdf

matthew

On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:19:11 -0700
  Matthew Black <black at csulb.edu> wrote:
> My sympathies to your unfortunate situation. The last tech probably 
>doesn't want to be bothered...that's a management issue. A PortMaster 3 may 
>solve your problems.
> 
> I looked at 3Com Total Control about 15 years ago but know nothing about 
>it. We employed US Robotics rack-mount chassis paired with Xyplex terminal 
>servers. That was replaced with the Livingston PortMaster 3 (later bought 
>by Lucent). Each PortMaster 3 connects to two T1 lines and a 10BaseT 
>Ethernet, supporting 48 users. Use RADIUS authentication and you're all 
>set.
> 
> You can probably pick up some of those for a hundred dollars.
> 
> You will need to learn about T1 phone lines and RADIUS.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> matthew black
> california state university, long beach
> 
> 
> On Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:35:35 -0700
>  Hector Herrera <hectorh at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have "inherited" several 3Com Total Control racks that are used to
>> provide dial-up service to rural areas.
>> 
>> The racks have been running in auto-pilot for several years now and
>> the last tech's comments with regard to the racks was along the lines
>> of "I don't know".
>> 
>> I would like to regain control over the network as recently the
>> outages are becoming more frequent and extended and we don't usually
>> know about it until customers call the support line a week later.
>> 
>> Decommissioning the racks is not currently an option as there are no
>> other reasonable alternatives for internet service (other than
>> satellite).  The ISP being an marginal area provider is also short in
>> funds.
>> 
>> I'm having a hard time finding documentation, firmware updates or
>> support for these racks.
>> 
>> As far as I can tell, the current owner of the product line is
>> UTStarCom in China, but their website does not make any reference to
>> the product.
>> 
>> I also found a company that sells the equipment and provides support
>> contracts, WRCA, but their pricing is out of the budget range for the
>> ISP.
>> 
>> I am hoping that some of you who used to work with this equipment may
>> still have documentation CDs or firmware updates stored away
>> somewhere.
>> 
>> I'm looking for any documentation, firmware updates and some help
>> figuring out which NAC goes with which NIC.
>> 
>> Or perhaps you can suggest other companies that provide support for
>> the equipment at more reasonable rates.
>> 
>> I would be willing to setup a public repository to help other admins.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> -- 
>> Hector Herrera