Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

There are no plans to utilize the pcomSerialNumber object supported by 
almost all DEChub900 devices.  Customers are welcome to write the serial 
numbers of their equipment into this object.  The serial number will be
stored until the unit is reset to factory default values.

(At little history....originally this object was to contain a serial number,
written in manufacturing and stored forever.  It sounded like a simple thing
to do, proved too costly to do this in the manufacturing process.  Then it 
was to be used with HUBwatch to help customers track their assets.  A lot of 
issues killed this idea.  One of the things that killed it was that there is 
no common asset tagging scheme out there;  there's a different scheme for 
every customer.  It eventually devolved into what it is today, a small,
piece of non-volatile memory on a device.  In other words, it became useless.)

What type of use would help customers?

						-Shawn

Hi -

The field you ask about is probably chasChassisSerialNumber.
HUBwatch/clearVISN does not support this field, but it can
be set manually through a generic NMS utility that supports 
SNMP sets.  If you are hoping that a hub would automatically
read a chip with a burned-in serial number, you're out of luck.

When you do a "Show Current Settings" for the Hub 900,
the second page shows Hub Name, Hub Serial Number, Hub Location,
and Hub Contact.  Hub Name (sysName), Location (sysLocation), 
and Contact (sysContact) can all be set through HUBwatch
on the Manage Current display.  Hub Serial Number is the
chasChassisSerialNumber object.

If sysName and/or sysLocation are set, the values are
shown in the hub's LCD display.  Customers could use the
sysLocation object as a serial number field, since both 
support a generic octet string.  That would allow them to
use HUBwatch to set it.

	Dotsie

Interesting notes collision with .1...
In the Hub, pcomSerialNumber and chasChassisSerialNumber map
to the same value.

    To add to what Dotsie said (and this depends on how many
    characters the syslocation field will support), customers
    could enter the unit serial number *and* possibly some other
    alpha-numeric digits to indicate building, floor number,
    and closet (IE: 1R65299999-lkg13-4), or some other such 
    thing to identify the unit and its location.
    All of our products that we make have a 10 digit serial number 
    that I know of, in case anyone is wondering about that.
    
    Bob

    And, just as a design NIT....
    
    In order to PHYSICALLY CHECK the *$(@#*@$( hub serial number you need
    to de-install it if it's rack mounted.
    
    This is a REAL PAIN when you have customers with older installations
    who need to check their serial numbers for potential changes to
    backplanes etc.  (i.e. remember that stiff hub is happy hub? I have a
    customer with about 10 REV A01s out there...)
    
    I'd like to recommend that we make a SMALL manufacturing change and
    move the label over  a few inches on the top....
    
    Regards,
    j
    

    Jon, that's been a small but sticky point with me also. I've made
    noise in the past to some ME's about this too, all to apparently 
    no avail. It's another one of those small things that appears to
    fall on deaf or selective hearing ears.
    After having learned this the hard way, if I have to install a hub, I
    make sure I note the s/n *before* I install it.
    
    Bob

    
    A different subject, but another pain about the DEChub. We really need
    to consider what it would take to put TELNET capabilities on these
    hubs. I had to upgrade 14 DECrepeater 900TMs in 3 different closets and
    was that a royal pain. I had to go to each closet to set the IP address
    to do the upgrade on the DECrepeater 900TMs. If I could telnet to the
    hub and then re-direct, I could have done it from a central location. 
    
    GUI is nice, but only if all the features available in the terminal
    mode are also available in the GUI mode. 
    
    Does the DECrepeater 900TM SNMP MIB support the ABILITY to have its
    SNMP address set from a program?
    
    

>    A different subject, but another pain about the DEChub. We really need
>    to consider what it would take to put TELNET capabilities on these
>    hubs. I had to upgrade 14 DECrepeater 900TMs in 3 different closets and
>    was that a royal pain. I had to go to each closet to set the IP address
>    to do the upgrade on the DECrepeater 900TMs. If I could telnet to the
>    hub and then re-direct, I could have done it from a central location. 
 
The DEChub 900 does not contain TCP support, the connection-oriented
protocol upon which telnet operates.  An experienced implementer of these
protocols once estimated that added them would take about 200K of RAM.
This is not feasible with the current hub hardware.

There could be other ways to solve the problem, however.  Please communicate
your request to the product manager, Mike Bouchard.

	Dotsie

    
    
    
    Ted,
    
    	I felt that lack of TELNET capability "pain" many times ... would
    be nice to have some way of doing it....
    
    -Charlie

    This is being circumnavigated in note 3434.2, but man, that really
    blows your security all to heck. In fact, maybe we should set that
    note HIDDEN!
    
    To borrow a phrase: "Trade freedom for security, lose both!"
    

    
    
    Adding a DECserver 90M to hub for Telnet connectivity does the trick
    ... for about $1900 ... a wee bit expensive for your average customer 
    ... not to mention the slot it requires and IP address ...
    
    -Charlie