Cellular enabled console server

Sun Feb 26 14:07:20 UTC 2017

Hi.

I use lots of opengears boxes - mainly the Console Manager range 41xx then 71xx for "big location" with more than 8 consoles needed
 550x when it's less than 8.
We use them only as out-of-band access when either we have inband pbm or when a intervention is risky - so no fancy feature is needed here ( hense the CM71xx range.. )

I tried from them a cellular one ( 5504 I guess back in the days ) but the cellular cover wasn't great in the particular DC i've tested it.
+ it was hard to get a cellular with static IP ....
So I stayed with small/cheap 10mb access for that box.

short feedback:
+ It just works - no hardware issues so far ( in years ) - software stable.
+ ZTP also works okay for provisionning with XML config ( I do it with Ansible/Jinja2 )
+ Support ready to help - even though we are not a huge buyer, they provide us the feature we needed right quick ( beeing able to touch the serial config as a "user" instead of admin
+ cisco pinout by default - no overcharge if you want the classic serial rs232 pinout

- From my test, provisionning is limited to a basic config - I couln't make it work buy generating the whole setup in the .opg images.
So I generated basic XML config file to make the box pings then i use ansible in RAW SSH for post-deploy.
- No python on the box so for every-day update/config I need to use ansible in raw SSH mode - which is a bit dumb in 2016/17 :)
- Still no that cheap for a rasp like base box

Cheers,
Nico

-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-bounces+nanog=lodpp.net at nanog.org] On Behalf Of Ben Bartsch
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2017 5:09 PM
To: NANOG <nanog at nanog.org>
Subject: Cellular enabled console server

NANOG - Are any of you running a console server to access your network equipment via a serial connection at a remote site?  If so, what are you using and how much do you like it?  I have a project where I need to stand up over 100 remote sites and would like a backdoor to the console just to be able to see what's going on with the equipment to hopefully avoid a truck roll for something simple like a hung device.  I need 4 console ports and 1 RJ45 ethernet jack.  My quick Google search landed me at BlackBox LES1204A-3G-R2, but I've never actually used such a device.  This would be for use in the USA.

Thank you in advance.

-ben