Minimum equipment for option 11c mini 1

[htroberts]

I see people dumping meridian 1's on eBay, and I wonder which pieces you need to make a functional system to experiment with/learn on. Say for a couple of M3900 series phones and a couple of analog (loop-start POTS, nothing special) lines.

Is this written up somewhere?

Or does the key/licensing model make this basically unworkable unless you bought a complete/working system?

 

[KCFLHRC]

An 11 Mini will either have an MSC or SSC card. You will need a digital line card for your 3900 phones and a universal trunk card for your pots lines. Make sure if you buy one it has the dongle and key codes with it.

 

[htroberts]

So, a minimum config would be one (station) line card, one trunk card, and either an MSC or SSC? What's the difference between MSC and SSC? What does the dongle look like, and what's the admin interface for these? Serial port for a VT-style terminal?

Thanks

 

[KCFLHRC]

The MSC and SSC is just the type of processor. MSC is Mini System Controller and SSC is Small System Controller. The dongle looks like a big watch battery and is required for key code verification. Admin is via serial port using command line and a terminal or terminal emulator like Procomm or hyper terminal.

 

[htroberts]

Okay, so a follow-up: people seem to sell these either as piece parts, which are inexpensive, or as nearly turn-key systems with voicemail, digital trunks, and way more terminals/sets/phones than I want.

If I buy a cabinet, power supply, trunk & line cards and an SSC seperately, how does the licensing work?

Does the SSC remember the keys/licenses/capabilities that it had when it was in production? Or are those tied to a system ID that's stored somewhere else?

Thanks again.

 

[KCFLHRC]

The licensing, AKA Keycode, is input into the switch during the installation of the software. On the CPU card there is a dongle, looks like a big watch battery, that has a unique identifier stamped on it, that is your serial #. The keycode file matches that serial # or dongle ID and the keycode is unique to that machine. That keycode will not work in any other machine.