Re: [hobbit] Modem monitoring

["Ralph Mitchell" <ralphmitchell (at) gmail.com>]

Have you considered "expect"??  It's an extension to Tcl that can spawn a
program, such as telnet, and then send commands to it.  I have a script that
telnets to a given server, answers TACACS prompt if necessary, and logs in,
then su's to root - if the password is provided.

You should be able to spawn a telnet command to a specific IP + port number,
just as you would on the command line.  Send the AT command, wait for the
response.  If it times out, do one thing, if the response occurs, do another
thing.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

I haven't yet got into running much stuff via Hobbit, but I've had a lot of
success over the last 5 years firing off Big Brother scripts from cron.

Ralph Mitchell


On 6/12/06, Smith, Jim <JMSmith (at) stvincenthealth.com> wrote:
>  *I've been using Big Brother for about 4 years and have been testing
> Hobbit and plan to switch over soon.  I have a situation that I have never
> been able to figure out how to address, so I'd like to throw it out here and
> see if anyone has any ideas.*
>
> * *
>
> *We have a terminal server with 7 fax modems connected to it.  A Unix
> server uses it to fax reports out to various doctor's offices around town.
> For reasons that we've never been able to figure out, one or more of the
> modems will occasionally "lock-up", i.e. quit responding to commands.
> This usually locks the associated serial port on the terminal server as
> well.*
>
> * *
>
> *I would like to be able to monitor these modems by connecting to their
> port on the terminal server, i.e. 192.168.1.15:2001, send them an "AT"
> command, wait a few seconds for a response, then disconnect.  I can't figure
> out a way to connect to them with the additional requirement of having to
> use the network port that they addressed by on the terminal server…in this
> case, 2001 through 2007.*
>
> * *
>
> *Any help would be greatly appreciated.*
>
> * *
>
> *And , by the way, I think Hobbit is great!  I think it is a big
> improvement upon Big Brother, although I must admit that we're on the
> "better than free" license since we are a non-profit, so I haven't seen what
> Quest may have done with it.*
>
> * *
>
> *Thanks in advance!*
>
> * *
>
> *Jim Smith*
>
> * *
>  NOTICE: This email contains confidential or proprietary information which
> may be legally privileged. It is intended only for the named recipient(s).
> If an addressing error has misdirected the email, please notify the author
> by replying to this message. If you are not the named recipient, you are not
> authorized to use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email,
> and should immediately delete it from your computer system.