Connecting Meridian 11C to LAN / PC

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Alright, so we have a Nortel Meridian Option 11C (release 2.11 I believe?) PBX which is currently connected to a VT520 terminal.
We are currently experiencing some intermittent issues with an external VoiceMail / auto attendant messaging system which sometimes just stops working for an hour or two and then miraculously comes back up again.

For troubleshooting purposes, I was wondering if it is at all possible to connect the PBX to our LAN via an ethernet cable (not seeing any ethernet ports on the Option 11C PBX though). Or possibly connect a different terminal (a newer PC running Windows XP/7?) to it that has better logging capabilities than our current VT520 setup... we are also scared the VT520 might just die on us at some point in the future since it's so ancient and has been running non-stop for the last decade or so.

Thanks!

 

[KCFLHRC]

It wouldn't be Release 2.11. The option 11 has a special cable that connects to a transceiver for LAN Administration. However, you have to build PTY's to use it and if the PBX is a really old release then it may not be possible.

 

[KCFLHRC]

You can connect any PC to it via a serial port and use a communication software like Procomm

 

[WANman94]

what happens when it is unresponsive?
does it ring busy, or ring at all? have you checked the channels on your voicemail or on the media card? could be just filling up due to demand..

 

[KCFLHRC]

Sounds like he still has Meridian Mail since there is no ELAN connection, could be anything with MerMail.

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Thanks for the responses, we will go the PC + serial route.

We used to have Meridian Mail (not 100% sure why we stopped using it, but I think the card or piece of hardware in the PBX handling mermail broke).

The VM / auto attendant we purchased is just this desktop computer running windows XP, it has a modem + dialogic card and it runs a software called InnLine Express. It interfaces with the PBX somehow, and when everything is working correctly, Innline Express shows the ports filling up and activity is shown for each port. When calling the main number from an outside line, the auto attendant message will play and an extension can be dialed to any office or the front desk.

When things don't work, however, all ports are just shown as idle/waiting on the VM system, and when calling the main number from an outside line, all calls just arrive at the front desk directly (no auto attendant message will play, nor an extension can be dialed - it's basically just as if there's no VM system present at all). When attempting to dial the voicemail extension from an internal line, it rings busy.

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Forgot to mention: rebooting the InnLine Express VM desktop never seems to fix this issue... after a successful reboot the ports still remain idle. Things just start working again randomly a couple of hours later

 

[KCFLHRC]

It probably interfaces with digital ports. Sounds like you have some really old equipment.

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

If you log onto the Option 11c system, then go into LD 22 and key in TID and also ISS to find out what software you have.


Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Ah, I just happened to have run ISSP after an LD 22:
Output:


Version 2111
Release 24
Issue 24

in-service patches: 0

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

Your system can support up to 4 PTY's for use via the ELAN. You can even access it via Rlogin.

I did a guide some years ago on it.


Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

I've also attached a guide to setting up the IP address on an Option 11c system.


Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Thanks FirebirdScrambler, I will give this a try!
One more question though, I don't actually see any way to connect an ethernet cable to the PBX. Is there some kind of adapter to "convert" one of the TTY ports to something that can interface with ethernet?

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

Yes, you will need the adapter and a transceiver module to connect up the Ethernet cable. I've attached a photo that shows a blue Ethernet cable being attached to it.


Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

So, we purchased one of these, since the PC that has actual serial ports seemed to have died on me:

https://www.amazon.com/TRIPP-Serial...ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465918583&sr=1-5

Hooked up my Ubuntu PC to the PBX, I installed minicom and attempted to connect through /dev/ttyUSB0.
It shows the following output:


Welcome to minicom 2.7

OPTIONS: I18n
Compiled on Jan 1 2014, 17:13:19.
Port /dev/ttyUSB0, 16:37:52

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys


However, it seems I'm unable to do anything at this point. When pressing CTRL+A, minicom says I'm "Online" at the bottom. Hardware + Software control flow are off, baud is set to 9600 and par/bits 8N1.
Local Echo is also set to ON, so I can see when I type things. Reset and init strings are empty.

I've tried typing in LOGI, then the password, but nothing seems to happen, how can I actually interface with the pbx?

 

[bhassell2000]

I dont know anything about ubuntu but normally I have to use a null modem to connect to an Option 11 but I connect to a TTY port not the cable for the transceiver

Thanks,

Buddy

Linked in Profile

http://www.linkedin.com/in/buddyhassell

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

Ah, ok we've connected the USB2Serial cable to a modem inverter, then that to one of the 3 cables of the octopus cable... I'm not sure whether our PBX has TTY ports also.

 

[yyrkroon]

The 3 port octopus cable off of the main cabinet is tty 0, 1 and 2. tty 0 setting is set by the ssc card, tty 1 and 2 are set in software - not 100% sure, but they're default at 2400baud.

 

[phoneswitchnewbie]

I see, they actually appear to be set at 1200 baud, when I run LD 22 => PRT => ADAN.
Will keep trying different settings @ 1200 baud with minicom / hyperterminal. Thanks!

By the way, I noticed there's an AUX port on the back of the PBX (looks like a DB9) right below the SDI port which feeds the octopus cable. Is it possible to just directly hook up a PC to that port and get terminal access?

 

[KCFLHRC]

That AUX connector is for a Nortel Specific Aux Cable that gives you different voltages and alarm connections, don't use it for your PC.