Hi Graham (et al), Since my mail about this a few weeks ago, we have replaced our "mobile-via-cable" with a proper GSM modem - one of these, to be precise:
http://www.rfsolutions.co.uk/acatalog/USB_GSM_Modem.html Results so far are an improvement on the original, but still not bulletproof. Let me explain. The modem is set up to send out alerts under two conditions. Firstly (and most importantly), SA checks for Internet connectivity. If that check fails, it implies that our normal methods of alerting (email to Blackberry and SMS via an Internet SMS provider) will also fail. Therefore SA uses the GSM modem to send out an alert directly to a range of people. When I simulated an Internet failure, some of the alerts were sent out, but not all of them. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any way to determine what exactly happened from SA's logs. Because this Internet failure is (hopefully!) very rare, but nonetheless critical, I need to be confident that the GSM modem is always working. I therefore have another check set up (the second of the two conditions referred to above), which checks a nonexistent host and therefore always fails. This then sends a "GSM modem is still alive" message every 250 checks (roughly once a day). This isn't a very elegant way of doing it - I'd rather be able to send a set message at a set time every day. I tried doing that with Exec Alerts or Status Summary, but that doesn't work for that purpose. Part of our difficulty is that SA seems to get mixed responses from the GSM modem. At different times I see any of the following messages in the SA log: INFO AT+C for message 0 info: (0) ERR AT+C for message 0 error: Device in use (202) ERR AT+C for message 0 error: No response from modem (50) The first is, I think, an indication that a message has been successfully sent, although it would be really useful if it indicated the number that the message had been sent to. The second, I suspect Dirk will tell us, points to a Windows problem - i.e. that some other application is accessing the GSM modem. What confuses me, however, is that nothing else on that box is set up to use the modem, so I just don't understand why it would give an in use message. The third speaks for itself - again I guess Dirk will say that this is a Windows problem (and I would believe that), but again I don't know why the modem should be unresponsive sometimes. I wonder if it would be possible for SA to keep retrying the GSM modem, in the event that it is "in use" or doesn't respond? I also wonder if it would be possible to get a better log of what messages have been sent, when, to whom, and with what success? Cheers, Ian _________________________________ Ian K Gray OEL IS - European Infrastructure Support Tel: +44 1236 502661 Mob: +44 7881 518854 Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit <graham.br...@bentley.com> Sent by: Servers Alive Discussion List <salive@woodstone.nu> 20/11/2009 12:10 Please respond to Servers Alive Discussion List <salive@woodstone.nu> To Servers Alive Discussion List <salive@woodstone.nu> cc Subject [SA-list] Using SMS in the UK for alerts Hi, Usual question... Does anyone have a bulletproof way of actually making this work? I have tried with a modem, with a mobile attached via cable but does not work. I don’t mind paying within reason – I just want to be able to receive SMS alerts quickly when there is a problem. Thanks Graham ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Graham Brown IT Analyst Bentley Systems UK Ltd Bentley Systems (UK) Ltd, North Heath Lane, Horsham, West Sussex. 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