On Wed, 2002-04-17 at 19:13, Daniel MacLaren wrote:
> Our product consists of a server that runs under UNIX (Solaris, AIX and
> one day Linux) and clients that run under Windows. Sometimes we need to
> connect directly to our customer's UNIX machine and a simple connetion via
> Hyperterminal will do. Other times we need to use our Windows clients on a
> local machine to connect to the customer's UNIX server over PPP. When a
> PPP connection is necessary, only the person doing the dialing needs
> access to the customer's network and Windows _should_ take care of the
> routing.
>
> Winport allowed us to use virtual modems on our workstations for
> Hypterminal and PPP (how well it worked I can't say, because I never used
> it). The Modem-Sharing-minihowto gave me some hope that I could use a
> Linux server for sharing the modems, but without a windows client that
> won't happen (it is hard to say "use Linux" if the clients, Dialup/IP will
> cost us $1700 - I need to verify that).
Derek's solution of Winpool was an interesting one.
http://opensource.lineo.com/winpool/winpool.htm
This presents virtual com ports to your Windows boxen. And it's FREE.
Microsoft natively supports virtual com device sharing with their Small
Business Server Modem Sharing Service.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q264157
http://www.allcentex.com/ce/pc/sw/modemsrv.htm
This *might* be your easiest way of doing what you want, if you don't
mind a pure Windows network (and the licensing cost).
Note: The above solutions are proprietary. One is by an OpenSource
project, the other is from Microsoft directly.
There is an IETF standard for what you're attempting to do - it's the
basis for Tactical Software's tech.
Check out RFC 2217 (http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2217.html)
Windows RFC-2217 clients:
Cisco has a DialOut Utility that you can load on your PC to support
RFC-2217:
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/acs_soft/dialoutd/dialout1/dialch1.htm
There is bound to be a free RFC-2217 client out there somewhere.. I just
haven't found it yet.
If you want a commercial package that does this, you may be stuck
dealing with Tactical software (they seem to have close workings with
Cisco, and may have actually designed their windows client):
http://www.tacticalsoftware.com/
Linux RFC-2217 clients:
On a Linux box, you can use kermit to transparently access RFC-2217
devices.
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck80specs.html
Linux RFC-2217 servers:
As for your Linux box with a modem attached, you can run Denis
Sbragion's "sredir" which implements RFC2217 as an OpenSource daemon:
http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/system/serial/sredird-2.0.0.tar.gz
There is a hack of sredir by Ayman Akt called "msredir" that supports a
bank of modem devices instead of just one:
http://www.asymmetrica.com/software/msredird/
Commercial RFC-2217 servers:
Try Tactical software for a commercial RFC-2217 server software package,
if you dare. I'm not sure about their client vs server licensing, but
you may get by with "msredir" and the Tactical client software without
spending a fortune.
Many other vendors have hardware async terminal servers that support
this IETF standard.
Digi
http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/devsrv/digioneSpRp.shtml
http://www.digi.com/solutions/devtermsrv/devsrv/digioneIA.shtml
Axel
http://www.axel.com/uk/os_ex_uk.html
Precidia
http://www.asymmetrica.com/software/msredird/
.. do a google search for "RFC 2217", there are dozens of vendors ..
I'm really trying to find tech specs behind the Microsoft modem sharing
stuff. I'm betting that it's related to the "netbios vt" support in SMB
from way back when (I think Samba can support it, but noone seems to
talk about it anymore).
More info as I find it (may take a while the next few evenings).
- Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net> <ian@blenke.com>
http://ian.blenke.com
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