ACS R8 PC Admin mystery. 1

[vtsnaab]

I have been getting this system ready to put into place for a friend.

Programing the system functions via station 10 is no problem - but I did find button programming had me making errors because of the slight differences between stations.

So I tried the PC Admin software on an XP PC and it worked very well for the button programming...for a while.

Then it just quit connecting anymore for no apparent reason.

The exact time that it quit was during the 'Retrieve System Information' function - it said there was an error, and from that minute on has refused to connect.

The connection was made via a USB to serial adapter using either COM 1 or 2 and worked instantly from the very 1st attempt, until it quit altogether.

Any idea of how to correct this will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Telecomboy]

Have you tried power cycling the system? The programming port might be hung up.

 

[vtsnaab]

Thanks Telecomboy.
Indeed I did - as well as trying it with & w/o the backup/restore card, wiggling around the RJ45, re-installing the USB to serial adapter driver, using a different adapter, rebooting the PC, changing the COM port back & forth from 1-2, and even tried it from my NB PC thinking it might be a problem in the DT PC...nothing helped.

I was thinking maybe the Admin port itself has failed, but that seems a bit far-fetched ?!?

 

[Telecomboy]

I have seen a programming port go bad, but not very common. It does need the backup card in order to connect and the backup card you are using must also say remote access on it as well or else it is just a backup/restore without remote access capability.

 

[vtsnaab]

Interesting.
Thanks again !!

It failed with the backup card in place actually.
Yes - one of the backup cards here says remote access on it and one is just a backup/restore card.

Now I'm a smidgin confused though - doesn't the very presence of the RJ45 port labeled 'Admin' in an R7 or 8 ACS do enough to connect even without the card ??

Thanks.

 

[Telecomboy]

Yes. not thinking properly. you need the remote access card to connect remotely. On-site you should be able to connect direct without it.

 

[vtsnaab]

OK, thanks for un-confusing that !!

As I'd mentioned - no modem was involved in my connections, which worked fine, on and off for weeks between the very same Admin port, cable, USB to serial adapter, and PC.

So maybe it is the port gone bad after all.
That would be very sad as the rest of everything is working fine.

 

[vtsnaab]

Unfortunately there are too many possible points of failure in connecting an ACS for the admin s/w to a 'modern' PC...

Tried it on a nice, fully functional XP PC with a DB9 serial port at COM1 - and the s/w itself failed;

Altogether tried using it from 5 different PCs - none worked more than momentarily to connect, then fail.

It may be any of the 6 USB to serial adapters or the software drivers they use to emulate the serial function - OR:

It may be the home-made DB9 to RJ45 cable I made up to simulate a 355AF adapter...

It may be the Admin port on the ACS R8 itself - or ultimately it may just be that this really old s/w for PC Admin just cannot be used unless one has a seriously ancient PC with everything else 100% matching to the original design requirements from way back when.

I may never know.
It was a pleasure to use while it lasted though.

Thanks.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Plug your serial cable setup into the SMDR port, launch Hyperterminal or PuTTY set for 1200-N-8-1 and see in you receive call info when place or receive outside calls. That will tell you if your USB/Serial adapter and 355 adapter are good.

If you have a Cisco console cable, here is an adapter to convert to Avaya 355 without cutting apart the Cisco cable

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1761771

 

[vtsnaab]

Thanks Again TouchToneTommy !!

The next time I'll be traveling that way will be (roughly) in a couple of weeks and if I have enough time I will try what you've suggested.

The system is in place and functioning acceptably - all except for the PC Admin.

It was attempted from a total of 5 different PCs, some with normal serial ports, some with the USB to serial adapters - many times - and the best it did was to connect briefly, then fail.

Part of what -may- be wrong is that I did make my own cable by using the info I found here & at all the various articles I could find about it.
(Time & life simply did not allow me the luxury of buying a pre-made 355AF due to a forced & sudden house move.)

I suspect that the Admin port is what gave up, which means it may cast a shadow upon the ACS's main module and that perhaps it is time to seek a good deal on a spare.

The Cisco cable idea would have been possible a year or so ago - but since then I got rid of all the excess stuff I had sitting around and no longer have one.

Finally - I am also duplicating here what I've posted to the Avaya Support Forum in case it may be helpful for anyone else, or if anyone would like to clarify and/or condense it into a better form than I did:

************************************************** *****************

Some cabling info here:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1344059

************************************************** *****************

(Next info is from:

http://www.iaug.org/p/fo/et/thread=18449)

RJ45 pin DB9 Female
1 9
2 1, 6, 8
3 4
4 5
5 2
6 3
7 no connection
8 no connection

I bought a serial cable already made up from Radio Shack.
I stripped back one end, matched the color wires to the pins using a continuity tester.
Then I soldered 1, 6 and 8 together and attached one wire to it.
Then I put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the end and crimped it to an RJ45.

************************************************** *****************

(Next info is from:

http://www.cabling-design.com/references/pinouts/EIA-TIA-561.shtml)

Here a useful pinout for anyone who wants to connect their PC to devices such as key or PBX (Private Branch eXchange) phone system or other devices that have a serial port connected to a 8P8C jack. In fact, phone systems may have more than one port of this kind. For example, Avaya Partner ACS and Avaya Merlin Magix have two ports with this pin layout - the Admin port and the SMDR port.
Please note that there are several competing pinouts for this kind of connection. For example, Cisco console adapter has different pin layout even though it is also a DB9-to-8-pin connector device.

EIA/TIA-561 Pin Layout and RS-232 pin assignments:

RJ45 DB9 DB25 Signal Description
1 9 22 RI Ring Indicator
2 1 8 DCD Data Carrier Detect
3 4 20 DTR Data Terminal Ready
4 5 7 SG Signal Ground
5 2 3 RXD Received Data
6 3 2 TXD Transmitted Data
7 8 5 CTS Clear To Send
8 7 4 RTS Request To Send

************************************************** *****************

(From here=>

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=568649)

db9===========rj-45
PIN 1 ORANGE 2 CD
PIN 2 GREEN 5 RD
PIN 3 YELLOW 6 TD
PIN 4 BLACK 3 DTR
PIN 5 RED 4 SG
PIN 6 BROWN 7 DSR
PIN 7 WHITE 8 RTS
PIN 8 n/a CTS
PIN 9 BLUE 1

db9====rj-45
1 2-- Orange
2 5-- Green
3 6-- Yellow
4 3-- Black
5 4-- Red
6 ?(7?)
7 8-- White
8 7(?)-- Brown
9 1-- Blue

************************************************** *****************

More info here:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/que...o-program-Avaya-Partner-ACS-phone-system.html

************************************************** *****************

More cable info at these:

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=6237

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1575198

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1350768

************************************************** *****************
Page 34 here has some info=>

http://downloads.avaya.com/css/P8/documents/100065043

************************************************** *****************

Ultimately what I did was to compare all the above for consistencies and used what was most consistent between all of them to connect a sliced off, nicely stranded CAT5 cable with a DB9 breakout adapter - and carefully verified correctness/connection via continuity.

As said above - it worked very well - for a while - and now it will not.

Thanks for any further info !!

 

[libertyinstaller]

In programming***Have you checked to see if hunt group 6 with extension 76 enabled

If I remember correctly
Feature 00
Left intercom twice
POUND OR HASH 505
Hunt group 6
Extension 76 (1 to enable)

 

[vtsnaab]

Thanks for replying Lbertyinstaller.
From all the reading I did, I seem to remember that the stuff about hunt group 6 & ext 76 were about using a modem to connect rather than a direct connection via serial to the admin port...

Am I mistaken in that recollection ??

Thanks.