Procomm Vs OTM? 1

[motox2]

Hi everyone, i am doing a little research on OTM here and wondered if OTM is as good or better than Procomm? I have used Procomm in the past and like the fact that it can run scripts making tasks a lot easier, unlike OTM can do, at least as far as i know. Thanks for the input!!

 

[jamie2]

Save your money Nasty!

 

[pronei]

I am polar opposite on this topic.

Many years ago, I was a Network Engineer who was given responsibility over a enterprise with a single 61c and several 11c's. I was told to learn the switch and begin using it. When I asked where the management interface was, I was shown MAT (which became OTM and currently TM). I noticed every time a made a change in MAT it would open a terminal window and process commands. After a month or so of watching MAT's terminal window process changes, I began to use the tty interface directly. I used MAT as a learning tool to program.

Today I still use TM regularly, but not to manage sets, I use the virtual terminal as I like how TM's virtual terminal helps with the programming.

There is a status bar that converts the nortel abbreviations to plain english on the fly.

You are allowed to use the backspace key, the commands don't actually process until you hit enter.

There is built in help buttons.

When an error occurs on the switch such as bug or sch, there is a single button you can push for explanation.

When you enter a LD through the virtual terminal, there is a button that will bring up the Software Input/Output for the LD you just entered.

In conclusion, TM's virtual terminal for maintance to me, is much more effecient. Procomm is better for bulk changes as it supports scripting.

TM is much more heavily used in my case than procomm, then again I'm a Telecom Admin for a large company, not an install tech for a vendor.

 

[hhallett]

This sounds terribly like the old DOS vs Windows arguments I remember from eons ago.

OTM/TM was/is not designed, as I recall, for techs or engineers but for administrators as it automates many administrative tasks.

Both approaches have strengths/weaknesses so I think what you use depends upon your needs, skill and patience.

ProComm, or any terminal emulator that allows you direct CLI, is great because you're talking directly to the PBX and will know immediately if what you're trying to do will be accepted and what the issue is if its not accepted. However, adds/moves/changes become tedious and time consuming.

OTM/TM allows you to automate administrative changes to a single phone or to mass quantities of phones and lets you schedule the task for a time of least system usage. You don't even have to be around. But, if any of the adds/moves/changes aren't accepted by the PBX you won't find out about it until the next time you're there and, if there are enough errors, it can hose your entire batch job.

I use ProComm far more than OTM/TM principally because I visit many customers in any given week, have many different systems to service and am sometimes tasked to do work that OTM/TM couldn't handle (ex: programming trunk circuits).

It all depends upon the needs of the person using the program and what they are more comfortable with.

Regards,
Harry
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson

 

[phones1]

procom all the way & only use TM/OTM for the less educated & mass set changes if you cant write scripts

Remember if it doesn't work hit it harder

Scott UK

 

[acewarlock]

If everything is automated and you don't have to think and know what to do, they will beable to hire DAY WORKERS and pay miniumn WAGE. Learn CLI and keep your job.




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