Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
Do things because you should, not just because you can.John Thurston 907-465-8591 John.Thurston at alaska.gov Enterprise Technology Services Department of Administration State of Alaska
We used to have an old nokia phone and used a script driving the gnokii linux driver and a serial cable. There were a number of issues with this approach:
- the phone kept filling up with reply SMSs (we also used it for general business SMS)
- the power supply would become unplugged or the phone would be powered off, serial cable unplugged, etc
- queue handling was an issue as the local MTA hands the message over to the sms script
It has been much more reliable using an external SMS service. We have two separate MTAs on two separate uplinks. I monitor both links for successful comms, if the primary goes down, I change the local mail server to point to the other MTA. I also monitor the queue lengths on all MTAs, so we are notified well before they get too full.
I believe one can send SMSs to an android phone via a USB cable but after a quick look didn't find any useful programs. Probably looking in the wrong place.
cheers, Phil
From: Xymon on behalf of John Thurston Sent: Wednesday, 8 January 2014 11:29 AM To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: [Xymon] State of the art SMS alerting?
Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
Do things because you should, not just because you can.John Thurston 907-465-8591 John.Thurston at alaska.gov Enterprise Technology Services Department of Administration State of Alaska
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
You can get cell modems in a USB thumb drive format. They also used to be available as PCMCIA cards, and one of those could be plugged into a regular PC using a carrier that plugs into a PCI slot. I believe either type appears in the system to be a Hayes-type modem, which gives you the ability to dial out. I wouldn't be surprised to find the command set extended to SMS messaging.
Here's a selection of cellular modems in mini-PCI express format:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-3004_7-0.html?filter=500284_14401104
I know this type would fit in my laptop. I don't know if desktop motherboards have suitable slots these days. In either case, I imagine an external antenna would be desirable.
I don't have one, so that's as much as I know.
Ralph Mitchell
On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:01 PM, Phil Crooker <Phil.Crooker at orix.com.au>wrote:
We used to have an old nokia phone and used a script driving the gnokii linux driver and a serial cable. There were a number of issues with this approach:
- the phone kept filling up with reply SMSs (we also used it for general business SMS)
- the power supply would become unplugged or the phone would be powered off, serial cable unplugged, etc
- queue handling was an issue as the local MTA hands the message over to the sms script
It has been much more reliable using an external SMS service. We have two separate MTAs on two separate uplinks. I monitor both links for successful comms, if the primary goes down, I change the local mail server to point to the other MTA. I also monitor the queue lengths on all MTAs, so we are notified well before they get too full.
I believe one can send SMSs to an android phone via a USB cable but after a quick look didn't find any useful programs. Probably looking in the wrong place.
cheers, Phil
From: Xymon on behalf of John Thurston Sent: Wednesday, 8 January 2014 11:29 AM To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: [Xymon] State of the art SMS alerting?
Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
Do things because you should, not just because you can.John Thurston 907-465-8591 John.Thurston at alaska.gov Enterprise Technology Services Department of Administration State of Alaska
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
On Tuesday 07 January 2014 15:59:57 John Thurston wrote:
Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share. We use a SMS box (I know it's from Siemens but I don't have the correct model number) connected to a laptop with a serial cable. On the laptop I have written a http frontend that accepts a number and the sms text. It does an insert in a mysql table. This is picked up by smsd and the sms is send. When done, it's reported back via the http site. Works flawless.
I have 2 of these so the script on the xymon server can switch over to an other sms gateway if one fails. It also has a mail 2 sms gateway implemented. Mail to a sms domain (sms.intra) is forwarded to this box. Via procmail the sms is inserted in the same mysql database.
Stef
Here we use an old Hayes-alike modem on our Slackware Linux box.
It's plugged into our UPS and sitting in our racks (thus avoiding problems with power cables going walkies).
The alerts are sent by a script, which calls "sms_client", which uses "TAP"[1] to talk down a POTS line to the (in our case Vodafone) service provider (thus avoiding issues with phone reception, and also avoiding issues with not being able to send email to a mail-to-SMS gateway).
http://howto.gumph.org/content/send-sms-messages-from-linux/
The link in there is broken, but you can get the source code from here: http://fossies.org/linux/misc/old/sms_client-2.0.8y.tar.gz/
There's what is apparently a near-definitive list of TAP Dialup Numbers here: http://avtech.com/Support/TAP/index.htm
Hope this information is of use.
Regards,
Carl
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telelocator_Alphanumeric_Protocol
Carl Inglis Systems Administrator
Rakon UK Limited Dowsett House, Sadler Road, Lincoln LN6 3RS, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1522 812630 | Fax: +44 1522 812664 | Mob: +44 7786 552915 Carl.Inglis at rakon.com | www.rakon.com
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Please be aware that Rakon UK Limited may monitor email traffic data including the date, time, subject line, sender and recipients for the purposes of security and usage monitoring. Automated monitoring systems may also be applied to ascertain whether incoming/outgoing emails are likely to contain viruses, other destructive devices or inappropriate content. -----Original Message----- From: Xymon [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] On Behalf Of John Thurston Sent: 08 January 2014 01:00 To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: [Xymon] State of the art SMS alerting?
Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
Do things because you should, not just because you can.John Thurston 907-465-8591 John.Thurston at alaska.gov Enterprise Technology Services Department of Administration State of Alaska
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
Den 08-01-2014 01:59, John Thurston skrev:
Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
If you're ok with relying on an external service, then the easiest is probably to talk to your phone company and ask if they have a webservice interface for sending an SMS. Then you can fire them off with a simple script using "curl" or a similar tool.
If you prefer doing something locally, then a USB modem works ok - most of the time. I have had some problems with a type of Huawei modems that would go into a low-power (i.e. non-responding) mode from time to time; on Linux they could be revived by unloading and reloading the USB driver modules. So I had to check if messages had been queued for "too long" and then reset the modem if necessary.
There is software available for managing most types of cell modems. I personally use the "smstools" package http://smstools3.kekekasvi.com/ . Sending an SMS with this tool means creating a text file in the "outbound" directory, which is simple enough to do from a Xymon alert script. I also made a simple webpage so I can send an sms without having to muddle with the tiny keyboard on my phone :-)
Regards, Henrik
On 1/7/2014 at 7:59 PM, in message <52CCA30D.5000404 at alaska.gov>, John Thurston <john.thurston at alaska.gov> wrote: Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb‑modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email‑>SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that
the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
We have been running this package for several years: http://smstools3.kekekasvi.com/
Connected to a MultiTech GSM modem: http://www.multitech.com/en_US/products/families/multimodemgprs/
I cannot remember the exact model of modem we have, but it connects via serial port and works very well. Sending SMS messages is not particularly speedy (about 2 seconds for each message), but it works fairly well.
Good luck!
--
Jon Dustin - Network Specialist University of Southern Maine Portland, ME 207-780-4152
There's SmushBox: smushmobile.com
Easier to find technical info here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smush/smart-sms-texting-for-everyone-the...
Connect via ethernet, handles queueing, web interface for configuration, access controls, etc. But $400 is a big investment. I've never used one, but they sound kind-of neat.
In the past, I've used Gnokii, with an old Nokia phone connected via cable to a serial port. Due to the lack of queue management, I wrote a script to interface Postfix with Gnokii, so that Postfix handles all the queueing. Script details here: http://tools.rebel-it.com.au/sms-transport/
Also, have used sms_client (mentioned by others) with a modem talking to Vodafone (Australia) via TAP. Also used an MTA for its queueing features. This was a long time ago, and I'm a bit surprised that TAP services still exist.
IMHO, Gnokii+Postfix is probably the best option, perhaps with a 3G modem, as described here:
http://wiki.gnokii.org/index.php/ZTEUSBModem
Because it's USB, it doesn't require a separate power supply. So no worries about someone kicking the power cord out and draining the battery.
But most telcos provide a web interface, and if you're not paranoid about losing Internet connectivity, this is a good option that requires no specialist hardware and corresponding software/drive maintenance.
If you're super-paranoid about your paging solution failing and hence not getting an alert about it, you can get a pair of smart 3G modems that can be configured to probe each other via SMS, and one will send you an alert if the other one doesn't respond. If you had using a separate carrier and located at a different site, you'd have a pretty good HA solution. I think the company that made these was Maxon.
J
On 9 January 2014 02:45, Jon Dustin <jdustin at usm.maine.edu> wrote:
On 1/7/2014 at 7:59 PM, in message <52CCA30D.5000404 at alaska.gov>, John Thurston <john.thurston at alaska.gov> wrote: Can anyone shed light on the current 'state of the art' for alerting by SMS from Xymon? Are there recommended usb-modem/software combinations to achieve this?
I'd like to have the option of sending alerts from my Xymon server without relying on email->SMS gateways. (When I need to announce that
the mail queue has reached critical, it seems foolish to try to dispatch that alert by mail.)
I'm running Xymon on Solaris which will ultimately limit my options, but I'm interested in any information you have to share.
We have been running this package for several years: http://smstools3.kekekasvi.com/
Connected to a MultiTech GSM modem: http://www.multitech.com/en_US/products/families/multimodemgprs/
I cannot remember the exact model of modem we have, but it connects via serial port and works very well. Sending SMS messages is not particularly speedy (about 2 seconds for each message), but it works fairly well.
Good luck!
--
Jon Dustin - Network Specialist University of Southern Maine Portland, ME 207-780-4152
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
Our solution was to send the alerts to a script that formatted a message nicely and uses the Pushover.net API. Pushover sends push notifications to one or several mobile phones. This doesn't help if the internet is down, but we're an ISP and have other ways of knowing if that specific scenario were to happen.
We used to use the email-to-SMS gateways offered by providers but it's foolish if email is down and we also found that those gateways were very unreliable.
participants (9)
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Carl.Inglis＠rakon.com
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feld＠feld.me
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henrik＠hswn.dk
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jdustin＠usm.maine.edu
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jlaidman＠rebel-it.com.au
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john.thurston＠alaska.gov
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Phil.Crooker＠orix.com.au
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ralphmitchell＠gmail.com
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stef.coene＠docum.org