MSC WAN card 1

[acewarlock]

How do you use the WAN port in MSC card??? I want to be able to connect to the BCM remotely.

 

[biv343]

There isn't a WAN port in the MSC card - the WAN card is a separate card with a T-1 CSU/DSU and a V.35 connection which can be purchased as an option. You'd use that to connect the BCM directly to a point to point data T-1 or frame relay circuit.

The port in the MSC card is a DS-256 connector for connecting to an expansion cabinet.

For simple remote access to the BCM (for management, I'm guessing), I'd toss a POTS line in the modem and use that - it's slow, but it's still faster than driving to the site...

 

[acewarlock]

I should have remembered that as I have installed 3 BCM's with expansion cabinets. I was looking for another way to connect to the BCM directly instead of relying on the PC ports. I have 1 BCM that twice I had to have someone at the site pull the plug and reboot the system.

 

[acewarlock]

Just after I sent the last post I was in the BCM that I'm having trouble with, I lost connection though the LAN again and when I called the site, they said the Vmail was down again. the phone system keeps working except for Vmail, which depends on the PC platform in the BCM to work. Is there any way to do a warm boot of the PC platform so I don't have to bring the BCM. I lose all connections to the PC platform including Modem, LAN and serial port. The BCM relies on the PC platform for the Vmail to access the harddrive. Any idies????

 

[3Sixty]

You can reboot the BCM without powering down the whole system. If you can get into unified manager or serial prompt. I find it strange you can not get to the serial prompt simply because it does not rely on the hard drives like the rest of the system. It is a bit like a bios on a standard pc.

If the serial is still working you could connect a seperate modem and connect to it the serial port of the BCM.That way you can warm start the BCM.Eventually some will power it down and it won't power up. Good old hard drive corruption.

 

[biv343]

If you can't get to the Unified Manager or serial port, you can use the paper clip trick. There's a small hole to the right of the rightmost LED - poke a paperclip in there and you'll feel a small rubber reset button. GENTLY push that, and you'll reload the NT side of the box and leave the MSC/phone side alone.

Also, the serial cable does rely on the hard drives - if the drive is bad or the OS isn't loading, the serial port is worthless. Thats when you get to break out a keyboard and a monitor.

 

[acewarlock]

I don't want to reboot the BCM as it is working fine, the problem I'm having is with the Motherboard (PC platform) if the Motherboard hangs ie: the famous Microsoft Blue screen of death, then you can't commicate with the harddrive as it is part of the PC not the BCM. The BCM is entirly seperate from the PC, it just get power from the motherboard and uses the serial, LAN and harddrive. I want to soft boot the PC portion of the system so I can get IP connection again without shutting down the BCM which is still working and proccessing calls, just Vmail is not working.

 

[biv343]

Follow the procedure I mentioned above using the reset button and the paperclip - that reboots only the NT side of the BCM, it does NOT affect the MSC card, the media bay modules, digital phone sets, etc. Applications (voicemail, IP trunks, IP sets, etc) will be affected until the OS reboots.

I think you're confusing the terms BCM (which is the system as a whole) with MSC, which is what runs the telephones and trunks.

 

[acewarlock]

biv343 I was replying to mrmarshell's reply, so i didn't see your reply until just now. yes that will work, but I was looking for something I could do remotely as I have 47 BCM's that I install and maintain and I didn't want to have someone at the site do it.

 

[3Sixty]

Sorry biv343

I forgot I had booted in to the Maint OS not the BCM profile.

Marshall

 

[MagnaRGP]

You could also try to establish a PuTTy session and restart the BCM from the command prompt.

If you are having issues with NT portion, go to the command line (option 7), type "chkdsk /f" and answer "y" when asked if it can run on the next system restart.

Type "exit" to return to the options and select 8 to restart.

This will warm boot the NT portion and attempt to correct any corruption that may be occuring on the hard disk during the restart.

I have found that it helps.

 

[biv343]

No problem marshall - and sorry for the confusion acewarlock. Gotta love the speed at which these forums update sometimes.

Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot I've found that can be done remotely when a BCM goes to lunch on the NT side of the house. Maybe a robotic arm that can poke it in the eye or something like that...

 

[3Sixty]

You could go for one of those handset lifters for the wireless headsets and attach a match stick.

LOL

Marshall

You could use the remote schedule and schedule a reboot once a day or week bit of a pain for you and the user. Have you contacted Nortel about the problem.I know there was a security patch released again for the good old NT platform.Role on 4.0 linux.

 

[acewarlock]

I tried to schedule a reboot for 7PM today, but the system locked up. I don't know if the schedule took or not, I guess I'll find out tonight.

 

[acewarlock]

Had user hir reset button and was able to do a remote backup to my laptop. I did a restore from my laptop to a spare BCM 400 and shipped it to site.