Re: [SLUG] Modem Pooling

From: Derek Glidden (dglidden@illusionary.com)
Date: Wed Apr 17 2002 - 11:27:57 EDT


On Wed, 2002-04-17 at 09:29, Daniel MacLaren wrote:
> To clarify:
>
> We have a partial T1 for Internet access.
>
> At times we need to dial in to our customers' systems for support or
> testing. Rather than installing a phone line and modem for each computer,
> we were using Winport - which allowed client machines to use the modems on
> the server as local modems (in dial-up networking). In this way, we could
> use either modem to dial any customer.
>
> We are setting up VPN's to some of our customers, but that is not always
> an option and will not totally remove the need for modems.

How do you "dial in" to your customers' systems? Do you just use a
terminal program or do you have to use something silly like some kind of
PCAnywhere thing? If all you need is a terminal application, you can
just set up logins on the Linux box with the modems and allow the users
to log into the Linux box and then use something like Minicom to dial
out.

If they need to actually use some kind of windows application that dials
directly into a proprietary server, then you're probably going to have
to either spring for licensing for something that works with the Linux
modem sharing, or use something like "Winpool"
(http://opensource.lineo.com/winpool/winpool.htm) which is GPL'd, but
requires an NT server for the modem pool.

I think this is such an unusual request, and nobody's really actively
maintaining any sort of "Linux modem pooling" software anymore, because
it's mainly Windows boxes and proprietary vertical and embedded OS's
that ever use modems to dial directly to each other anymore. Linux, by
virtue of its inherently networkable architecture, just does everything
over TCP/IP; whether via gigabit or dialup, it's still going to be
TCP/IP at the bottom of it.

I look at the $millions being spent on Windows "remote access solutions"
like PCAnywhere and laugh, because Linux has always had that built-in
from day one.

-- 
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