Re: Motorola Bit Surfer Pro and BONDING (Ignore if not interested in ISDN/PPP/Linux)
Peter Iannarelli wrote:
>
> For those of you who are using Motorola Bit Surfer Pros for ISDN internet access and
> have been unsucessful in getting Bonding to work. I have got it working. Following is
> a description of what I've got and what I did.
>
> My internet gateway is a 100Mhz 486 running Debian 1.3.1 with the 2.0.30 kernel.
> I did custom compile my kernel and activated the ISDN options. (all of them). I am
> using an external Bitsurfer Pro and dialing into a Livingstone Portmaster digital
> modem bank. The Livingstone is configured for PAP and two channels have been
> enabled under my user ID.
>
> Modem setup:
>
> I set the modem as follows with the AT command set. (I am using an NI-1 network)
>
> AT%A2=95 -- set modem to negotiate bonding
> AT@B0=2 -- set modem to support 2 B channels
>
> NOTE don't forget to set you SPIDs and TEI and all that stuff.
>
> My /etc/ppp.chatscript looks like this:
>
> ABORT BUSY
> ABORT "NO CARRIER"
> ABORT VOICE
> ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
> "" ATD#######&####### --> where ####### are the phone numbers
> CONNECT '' <-- this is not a double quote but two single quotes
>
> My /etc/ppp.options_out looks like this:
>
> defaultroute /dev/ttyS1 115200 persist name ????? --> your account name
>
> My /etc/ppp/pap.secrets looks like this:
>
> # OUTBOUND connections
>
> # Here you should add your userid password to connect to your providers via
> # pap. The * means that the password is to be used for ANY host you connect
> # to. Thus you do not have to worry about the foreign machine name. Just
> # replace password with your password.
> # If you have different providers with different passwords then you better
> # remove the following line.
>
> ????? * PPPPPPP --> where ????? is my user ID and PPPPP is my password
>
> In my /etc/ppp/options file I changed only one thing
>
> domain <ISPdomain.net>
>
> Observations:
>
> This is not a great solution due to the fact that the system does not have control
> over the respective channels. It would be nice if we could access the respective
> channels as separate ttys (ie ttyI1 and ttyI2). In that manner we could function
> as a gateway/bridge to two separate ISDN locations. I am of the understanding
> that the ICN product functions in this manner. If someone knows how I may
> acquire one of these modems It would be greatly appreciated. Based on what
> I have read about the ICN 2B and 4B product and Debian, it is a much better fit.
>
> Thanks
>
> Peter Iannarelli
The ZyXEL OMNI TA128U supports PPP/MP and supports Bandwidth ON Demand.
It allows you to specify criteria to control when the TA will auto-
magically bring up or drop the second connection. There are six
parameters as follows (I'll just refer to them a P1-P6, although they
are set using AT commands): P1) Add-threshold for BOD. If the
line utility is higher than this threshold for Add-persist time
interval, PPP/MP will add another B-channel connection, range is
0-255 in units of Kbps; P2) Add-persist time minutes, range 0-63 in
units of minutes; P3) Add-persist time seconds, range 0-63 in units
of seconds; P4) Sub-threshold for BOD. If the line utility is lower
than this threshold for Sub-persist time interval, PPP/MP will drop
one of the B-channels, range 0-255 in units of Kbps; P5) Sub-persist
minutes, range 0-63 in units of minutes; P6) Sub-persist seconds,
range 0-63 in units of seconds.
This unit was a snap to get working. I added *nothing* to the kernel
and use the stock pppd. NOTE WELL: That said, I current use only one
B-channel and have not enabled PPP/MP. I'd be happy to test how these
things work for you, but our ISDN line has only one B-channel (oh yes,
you can get line with only one B-channel, at least from Ameritech--we
wanted to save a few bucks) and what's more our account with our
provider only allows us one channel.
I should also mention that the ZyXEL also has *two* async ports and you
can in fact make simultaneous, independent ISDN calls on the ports.
The second port will only do 115.2kbps while the first port will
do 460. There are also limitations on the protocols supported on the
second port but nothing that would really be limiting. If you want to
know more, let me know.
And finally, no, I'm not associated or affiliated with ZyXEL, I just
really think this is a nice product. As to the price, we picked it up
under a promotion direct from ZyXEL for $300. (And if this wasn't made
obvious before, this is an *external* adapter. I don't know if there
is an internal version.)
--
Jens B. Jorgensen
jjorgens@bdsinc.com
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