Nimsoft Monitor smsgtw Guide v2.1 series
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Contents Contents 5
Chapter 1: smsgtw The Nimsoft GSM/SMS Gateway (smsgtw) is a gateway between Nimsoft and the GSM/SMS network. The Nimsoft GSM/SMS Gateway provides a powerful tool to send and receive alerts/messages over the GSM cellular telephone networks. Mission critical systemsand applications alerts can be forwarded automatically to a cellular/ mobile telephone. It is the preferred tool for an administrator that not always has the time to constantly watch the management console. The gateway operates independent of the Internet and is the most reliable way of sending alerts/messages to a Cellular Phone. It uses the same mechanisms as a phone-phone message transfer, and supports a wide range of mobile phones. The gateway will prioritize the outgoing messages according to the message priority/severity level. This means that if there are vacant queue slots, then the message with the highest priority will be sent first. Features The Nimsoft GSM/SMS Gateway has the following characteristics: Reliable messaging. The Nimsoft GSM/SMS Gateway is a cellular to cellular communication and operates independent of the Internet. Sending SMS messages over the Internet has shown to be very unreliable and insecure With the GSM/SMS Gateway it is even possible to communicate when the LAN is not functioning. Integration with Probes. Probes that monitor critical system-, application- and network components can utilize the GSM/SMS Gateway to present alerts directly in the hands of the right administrator. A simple dedicated desktop. SMS client without requirements to other Nimsoft components. Requirements A cellular phone e.g. Nokia 5110 or 6210. A SMSC or PSWinCom message server. A connection to the PC normally provided by the phone manufacturer e.g. Nokia PC Suite. This could be PCMCIA based, RS232 based or USB based. A Robot. 6 smsgtw Guide
For additional information and configuration hints, see Release Notes http://www.nimbus-software.com/archive/smsgtw.html and Support info http://www.nimsoft.no/support/faq_probes/probes/smsgtw.htm for smsgtw. smsgtw Overview The smsgtw is connected to the Nimsoft via a permanent queue on the Hub, the queue name will correspond the gateway identification number of the smsgtw. All messages will be channeled through this queue. The gateway offers various methods of high-availability features, hence, increasing the possibilities of message delivery. A single gateway may be configured with a primary adapter and/or a secondary adapter. The adapters are dedicated message converters that supports specific GSM/SMS sending methods. i.e. a GSM cellular phone hooked to your PC with a cable, or through 3'rd party software like SMSC and PSWinCom. Fig1. shows a smsgtw with the identification number 1, with one (the primary) adapter. The primary adapter will, as the name implies, be used whenever possible. This means that the less costly method of sending a GSM/SMS message should be used as a primary adapter. The SMSC or PSWinCom solutions are methods that hook up via modems or internet to GSM/SMS message centers. These solutions should only be considered when you anticipate a lot of traffic over the Nimsoft GSM/SMS Gateway. The proven (and secure) solution is a phone-to-phone message transfer via a cellular phone. Chapter 1: smsgtw 7
Fig2. shows a smsgtw with the identification number 2, with a primary and a secondary adapter. The secondary adapter will only be used when the primary adapter fails while delivering the message. Example: If you want the messages to be sent as e-mail messages when the primary adapter fails, you should specify EmailGtw in this field. Messages will then be sent as e-mail messages to user profiles that are enabled as Report Receipient in the Nimsoft emailgtw probe if the primary adapter fails. High availability features In addition to having multiple devices connected to the smsgtw, various features increasing the availability of the SMS message service are available. It is possible to chain multiple gateways, or inducing a master/slave relationship in a hot-standby setup. Lets look into the various scenarios: Chaining multiple gateways (HA fail-over) Figure 3. shows three smsgtws with identification numbers 1,2 and 3. These gateways are running on three different Robots, connected to the same Nimsoft. The first gateway will be the entry-point for SMS message delivery in this Nimsoft system. Whenever gateway 1 fails to deliver the message, it will target the message for the next gateway in the chain and so on. This scenario results in three permanent queue definitions on the Hub. Master/Slave gateways (HA Hot-standby) 8 smsgtw Guide
Figure 4. shows 2 smsgtws with identification number 1, running in a master/slave configuration. This scenario shares a single permanent queue (smsgtw-1) on the Hub, and will be shared amongst the master and its slaves. The master will release the queue whenever an adapter failure happens. If the master smsgtw detects a change (i.e. the adapter becomes operative again), it will instruct the slave that currently operates the queue to release it. Dial-in features The gateway is capable of receiving SMS messages as well, provided that one of the adapters is of the type GSM (the external GSM phone). This feature is by default locked, and is unlocked by a license. However, the heartbeat functionality and a "gateway status" request are available without the "dial-in" license. Gateway status The message sender must be a registered user in the smsgtw, and have dial-in privileges. Send "smsgtw status" to the GSM phone connected to the PC. Building your own command parser The smsgtw will send the incoming messages onto the Nimsoft using the subject "SMS-IN". You may create a "listener", using the many SDK available, to create your private message command center. If you need assistance in doing this, contact support@nimsoft.com mailto:support@nimbus-software.com. Chapter 1: smsgtw 9
smsgtw Configuration The smsgtw is configured using the user-interface that is included in the smsgtw package. Setting up the smsgtw adapters Please make sure that the underlying hardware/software is properly installed before you attempt to install the GSM/SMS gateway. Note: Also note that change in the primary/secondary adapter settings will require a deactivate/activate (coldstart) of the SMS gateway. When Device, Com port, and Service provider has been set correctly, make sure the SMS gateway has loaded the settings. A Deactivate, Activate is required. This can be done in the Infrastructure Manager by right-clicking the smsgtw probe, selecting deactivate and then activate from the right-click menu. External GSM/SMS phone Attach the cellular phone to the cable provided by the manufacturer Install the accompanying software. Some phones communicate directly over a RS232 interface and require no additional software, while other require a driver to be installed. Most older Nokia phones require an installation of the Nokia DataSuite. Remember the COM port that is used. The Nokia DataSuite creates a virtual COM port. E.g. the phone may physically be connected to COM1 while COM3 is the virtual interface. You should use the virtual interface when specifying the COM port in the smsgtw. Note the GSM service provider name. Note the telephone modem setup. Note the telephone's "own" number. SMSC service Install the server software and set it up according to the manufacturers guidelines. Note the location of the outgoing spooling directory. Select the appropriate message format Format 0: Generates a file named gsm<unique-id>.998 containing: 0<Recipient> <message> Format 1: Generates a file named sm<unique-id>.998 containing: 10 smsgtw Guide
[SMS] To=<Recipient> From=<Account ID> Text="<message>" Format 2: DATEK SMSC Gateway Generates a file named gsm<unique-id>.998 containing: A1<Account ID>[padding]<Recipient>[padding]<message> Format 3: The message validity settings conforms to GSM 3.40, the following validity settings are valid: Validity Meaning 000-143 (VALIDITY + 1) * 5 minutes 144-167 12 hours + ((VALIDITY - 143) * 30 minutes 168-196 (VALIDITY - 166) * 1 day 197-255 (VALIDITY - 192) * 1 week Chapter 1: smsgtw 11
NOTE: The GSM operator determines which of the above values are supported and handled, please note that some CPA's (Content Provider Access) do not support the validity period. PSWinCom service Install the server software and set it up according to the manufacturers guidelines. Note the location of the outgoing spooling directory, normally (C:\Program Files\PSWinCom\Server\out) Using the smsgtw configuration tool The user-interface is automatically extracted to the clients running older versions of the smsgtw, and to new clients. When the adapters are installed, it is time to configure the smsgtw to use the adapters. Configure the primary (and secondary) adapter by selecting from the pull-down list. Then press the Setup button of the corresponding adapter. This brings up the property sheet for the adapter. Lets consider the following setup: Nokia 5110 Cellular phone installed on COM1 Set the COM port to 3 (using the virtual port created by Nokia Data Suite) Set the modem device to Nokia Data Suite Set your service provider from the pull-down list. Save your configuration by pressing Apply Select the Status tab, and wait some time (e.g. 30 sec.). The indicator should turn Green. Generic phone, USB connection The USB must be attached to a com port. Open the Control Panel on your computer to find the com port attached to. Open Phone and Modem Options. Select the Modem tab. Find the USB modem used, and check the com port attached to. Open the GUI configurator of the smsgtw in the Infrastructure Manager. Select the Setup tab. Click the Setup button on the (primary or secondary) adapter, and the Adapter properties dialog pops up. 12 smsgtw Guide
Chapter 1: smsgtw 13
Select the COM port the USB modem is attached to. Click the OK button to exit the Adapter properties and then the Apply button in the smsgtw GUI to activate the configuration. Also the service provider must be setup correct. Select the Setup tab in the smsgtw GUI, click the Setup button of the adapter in use, and the Adapter properties dialog pops up. Select the service provider. The service provider must be the same as your phone is using. If needed, check the service provider in your phone, it can typically be found from messages, new messages, options, settings, text message, message centers and also message center in use. If the message center does not appear in the list in the smsgtw GUI, it can be added to the smsgtw.cfg file, see C:\Program Files\Nimsoft\probes\gateway\smsgtw. Add an entry in section <services>, existing example: <TeleNor - GSM (N)> SMSC = +4790002100 </TeleNor - GSM (N)> Finally click Yes to restart the smsgtw probe to reread the configuration settings. Check the status tab, and send a test sms by using the right-click menu. Nokia (6210) Cellular phone installed on COM1 Make sure that you installed the Modem setup for Nokia 6210 (on the CD) Set the COM port to 1 Set the modem device to BLANK (no modem device) Set your service provider from the pull-down list. Save your configuration by pressing Apply Select the Status tab, and wait some time (e.g. 30 sec.). The indicator should turn Green. The "Setup" Tab The controls under the setup-tab configure various elements of the smsgtw, such as setting up gateway parameters and user profiles. This section will discuss these elements in detail. The "Parameters" section Configure general properties, outgoing and incoming message properties, etc. The "General" section Field Gateway identification id. Description Specifies the identification number for the gateway. Use 1 if you only run one gateway. 14 smsgtw Guide
Subscribe to alarms Configures the gateway to receive events from the Alarm Server (NAS). The severity filter specifies which alarms that will be forwarded onto the SMS dispatcher. Notify on Clear : When this option is checked, a notification will be sent if the failure causing the alarm is fixed by an operator, or by the probe itself. High availability features Primary adapter Secondary adapter Setup Configures the gateway to be part of a high availability concept, using a Hot-Standby (master or a slave) or Fail-Over to gateway (Auto or 1-5). Specifies the preferred SMS sending method. Specifies the "backup" device, to be used whenever the primary adapter fails. Example: If you want the messages to be sent as e-mail messages when the primary adapter fails, you should specify EmailGtw in this field. Messages will then be sent as e-mail messages to user profiles that are enabled as Report Receipient in the Nimsoft emailgtw probe if the primary adapter fails. This button brings up the adapter properties. The "Outgoing messages" section Field Alarm message settings Message length Description Specifies which piece of alarm-information to be included as part of the SMS message. Specifies the length of the outgoing SMS message. A single SMS message may only contain 160 characters. This means that a longer message will be split into multiple SMS messages, unless the length is set to e.g. 160. The "Incoming messages" section Field Send reply when dial-in access is denied License string Description The SMS gateway checks each incoming message for "dial-in access", thus allowing some incoming traffic as well as denying others. This is defined in the user-profiles. Dial-in access may be used to send incoming requests via the Nimsoft to a "listener". All dial-in messages are published onto the Nimsoft under the subject "SMS-IN". Obtain a valid license string to unlock this feature of the smsgtw. Chapter 1: smsgtw 15
The "Logging" section Field Logfile Loglevel Log incoming traffic Log outgoing traffic Description The name of the smsgtw log-file. Specifies the degree of granularity of the log-message. All incoming traffic is logged to the file inbox.log in the smsgtw directory. All outgoing traffic is logged to the file outbox.log in the smsgtw directory. The "Advanced" section Field Additional window title Secondary adapter settings Heartbeat settings Heartbeat interval Expected round-trip time Send QoS message Description Adds text to the window title-bar. Useful when more than one gateway is present and different service providers are used. You may if a secondary adapter is used, reduce the traffic over this adapter by setting the priority filter. Activates the heartbeat functionality. Specifies the interval on which to send the SMS message. The interval is in minutes. Specifies the expected time a message should until it is received. Please note that this feature is only available using the GSM adapter (with its "own" number set) As part of the heartbeat functionality, a Quality of Service message may be generated to display trend data over a period of time. The "User profiles" section This section manages the users receiving (or sending) SMS messages from/to the smsgtw. Manage users by right-clicking the list, to bring up a popup-menu. The checkbox in front of the user indicates that the user is an active/inactive alarm recipient. This applies only when the smsgtw is configured as an alarm subscriber. E.g. if you have a number of administrators that operate in shifts, each shift should then "check" whomever is on duty. The "user profile" User profiles can be created by right-clicking and selecting New in the profile list under the User Profile tab. Field Name Description Name of user. 16 smsgtw Guide
Phone number Receive alarms Grant dial-in access User token The number of the users cellular phone. Specifies whether the user should receive alarms or not. Gives the user permissions to send SMS messages to the smsgtw. The user-token may be used to group users together for sorting purposes, as well as a token to be used when generating SMS messages targeted for the group. E.g. the NAS auto-operator may have a profile that generates a SMS message targeted for a specific group (the phone number field is the user-token). Then active users will receive the message. The "Status" Tab This section will be activated whenever the smsgtw is active and responding to requests from the User Interface. The status bar will show the current status of the gateway and the available adapters. The outgoing messages queue Polls the smsgtw for a status on the outgoing message queue. Indicators will represent the message state. The following message states are available: State Queued Send Ok Timeout Fail Failover Description Message is received, and queued. Next state is send Message is sent to adapter. Next state is one of ok, timeout, fail, and failover. Message is successfully dispatched by adapter. Message is moved to completed. Message has timed-out during the send operation. Next state is fail or failover. Adapter failed to send message. If secondary adapter is available, then the next state is queued on secondary. If the gateway is part of a failover chain, then the next state will be failover. The message has been passed onto the next gateway in the chain. Chapter 1: smsgtw 17
A right-click popup-menu is available when the smsgtw is active. The following is available: send message sends a SMS message (useful for testing). remove message removes "queued" messages. suspend outgoing will "hold" messages in the queued state, and prevent outgoing traffic. The incoming messages queue Shows the current state of the incoming messages queue. The completed transactions list Shows all outgoing transaction activities that have happened since the gateway startup. This list will be consulted during shutdown, and all messages in "timeout" and "fail" state will be saved for later resending. A right-click popup-menu is available. resend message resends any message clear transactions cleans up the selected or all transactions 18 smsgtw Guide
smsgtw Troubleshooting You may run the smsgtw in foreground mode, giving you complete control over the GSM adapter settings. 1. Deactivate the smsgtw in Infrastructure Manager 2. Do a cd to the.../probes/gateway/smsgtw directory. 3. Run smsgtw -configure and log in as "administrator" 4. Select Setup/Configure/GSM device or press the GSM icon in the lower right-hand corner. 5. Set the active COM port, select default service carrier and enable input/output spoolers. 6. The probe now runs in the foreground enabling you to see the traffic in the incoming/outgoing windows. 7. Terminate the smsgtw. 8. Configure the probe from the Infrastructure Manager, add/activate one or more recipients. 9. Activate the probe from Infrastructure Manager. Chapter 1: smsgtw 6 smsgtw Overview... 7 smsgtw Configuration... 10 smsgtw Troubleshooting... 19 Chapter 1: smsgtw 19