Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

2635.0. "Remote Setup Proposal: pls comment" by NETCAD::WILS (Sailing the universal wind) Fri Aug 11 1995 15:44

                REQUEST FOR COMMENT
    
    After a visit to the NPB Asia Headquarters I got an idea to support
    remote setup of hubs and hub line cards and I would like comments from
    others in the field.  I am an engineer in the hub products group.  The
    folks at that office pointed out to me that doing the setup of a hub
    with a terminal was a significant problem for them.  They pointed out
    that at many locations where hubs were installed no one available who
    could do hub setup.  Such sites were small sites that were too small to
    justify a resident network management staff.  An example could be a
    bank branch office, a warehouse or a store.
    
    A wiring company could do the wiring of a newly delivered hub, but
    often they couldn't or wouldn't do the setup to give the hub an IP
    address, because that was not their line of business.  Some wiring
    companies would do installation and setup, but only for a fee.
    
    To deal with this a network manager will have a hub sent to his own
    main site, where he can give it an IP address.  Then he would send it
    back out to the remote site to be installed.  
    
    For a hub the above method is somewhat acceptable, but what if a
    WANrouter needed to be installed too?  Then the network manager would
    also have to setup the serial/ISDN line at his main site and hope that
    he got it right.  For if he didn't, he would have no way to connect to
    the remote site, once the hub was installed there!!
    
    To resolve this customer problem, which introduces both risk and cost I
    have a proposal to support "remote setup".  This would make it possible
    to set up a hub and configure a router fully from a remote site.  The
    only work that the wiring company would need to do would be to wiring
    the hub and routers.
    
    To to this the hubgroup would publish a list of cheap "approved"
    modems.  A customer would order one of these and have the wiring
    company connect the modem to the OBM port of the hub and a dial-up
    phone line.  Upon powerup the hub would detect the presence of the
    modem and send the commands to it to put it into auto-answer mode.
    Furthermore while in this mode the hub would support the setup menu.
    
    The network manager would then dialup the remote modem using a local
    modem of his own.  Then he could get the hubs setup menu and use it to
    give the MAM and its line cards both in-band and out-of-band IP
    addresses.  Once completed he would set the OBM port into slip via a
    menu selection.  Then he could bring up HUBwatch to the hub and then
    use telnet to get to the router.  Once at the router he could bring up
    the WAN link.
    
    For security reasons the OBM port would stay in SLIP mode permanently
    unless a factory reset was done to the hub.
    
    Please provide your comments on this.  I believe I am solving a
    problem that both saves the customer money and reduces his risk. 
    Others think that this feature is opening up a security hole or is not
    big enough to solve.
    
    Regards,
    Joris 

    As someone who, in a past life, was responsible for managing a largish
    network, I think this is a *really* good idea.  
    
    There were many times when I had to talk a remote person (secretary,
    etc.) through some basic configuration steps of networking equipment to
    get it to a point where I could access it through the network to
    complete the config either after a crash or during the initial setup.  
    IMO, having a setup feature as you decribed would ease many a person's 
    pain.  
    
    BTW, there will be those that complain about security risks.  Those can
    be countered through setting up a business case for lost productivity
    versus minimal security risks.  The security risks can be minimized
    through the use of modems that have dial-back and password capabilities.
    
    Brian Pituley
    NPC, Calgary
    

    Any more comments on this one?  Any word of support would help.
    to convince the powers that are that this is the right thing to do!
    

	If the idea is ok, my opinionis that experience will show some          
	difficulties to realize it.
	
	1.Type of modems and RTT approvals for different countries
	2.Who will do the modem configuration
	3.Dedicate telephone line
	4.Security aspects, line quality, slow baud rate  etc.. 
	5.Most of the time hubs and modules are not a the latest version
	  so configuration starts by an f/w upgrade 
	6.Configuration of a hub is an interactive job.	 
           - need to talk with poeple for configurations parameters
	   - need to perform external physical connection and verification
	   - not all module can be configured through the hub manager.
	7. Who will support the cost Customer, Cable compagny, Digital ?
	
	The are some aspects out of my mind that should be examined before
	going to such a solution.

	Hoping this will open the discussion,
	B.r.

	Robert