EOL notice

A NetPing SMS marked as EOL on our website.

We marked the device with EOL status on our website. After some time (usually after 1 month) we will mark the device as “Archive” and the device will become unavailable for purchase on our website.

EOL advance notice

A NetPing SMS device will be labeled as EOL on our website.

This is an advance notice. In a certain period of time after this notice (usually, in 1 week), we are going to label a device with an EOL status at our website. In some more time, (usually, in 1 month) we are going to label a device as "Archived" as a device will be unavailable for purchase on our website.

The NetPing east Co Ltd. company announces issuing the firmware update for the NetPing SMS gateway. New firmware versions for devices contain new features and error corrections.

This article is a logic sequel to the article «Example of Server Room Monitoring on the Basis of MONIT, INFLUXDB, GRAFANA, and NetPing Monitoring Units». Within this article, a feature of configuring SMS notifications from the Monit monitoring system using NetPing SMS gateway will be examined (hardware SMS gateway for Monit).

For sending SMS, it is possible to use the next devices of the NetPing company:

• a gateway for sending and receiving SMS notifications NetPing SMS;
• a device for monitoring microclimate of server rooms UniPing server solution v4/SMS;
• a device for remote power control (IP power distribution unit) for the server equipment NetPing 8/PWR-220 v4/SMS

A feature of SMS notifications will allow the IT personnel to react to events in the network urgently and thus minimize business downtime caused by failures in the operation of the IT equipment. Also, a company can significantly save on third-party services for SMS-sending because in this case, the cost of SMS will correspond to the tariff provided by the cell operator with no additional commissions.

The Dude network monitor is an application developed by the Latvian company MikroTik that can significantly improve the operation of the network environment. The application automatically scans all devices in specific subnetworks, draws and complies a network map as well as tracks services of devices and warns if some services have issues. A current version of The Dude server (when writing this article, it was the version 6.43.7 Stable) works under RouterOS only and allows monitoring the entire network infrastructure, from routers and switches to servers and virtual machines. Devices for microclimate monitoring of server rooms and remote controlling of the power supply (IP PDU) by NetPing company can also be connected to The Dude network monitor. A connection process is explored in details here. Also, we examined the process of configuration of e-mail notifications from The Dude in our blog before. In this article, we will consider a way of expanding the functionality of The Dude for sending SMS notifications about monitoring events (SMS gateway for The Dude). To send SMS, it is possible to use the next devices by NetPing company:

• a gateway for sending and receiving SMS notifications NetPing SMS;
• a microclimate monitoring device for server rooms UniPing server solution v4/SMS;
• a device for controlling the remote power supply (IP power distribution unit) for the server equipment NetPing 8/PWR-220 v4/SMS

A feature of SMS notifications will allow IT personnel to react to network events quicker and minimize business downtime caused by the IT equipment failure. Also, a company will be able to significantly save on third-party services for sending SMS because in this case, the price of SMS will correspond to the price charged by the cell phone operator with no additional commissions.

Logically, this article is a continuation of the article "Example of Monitoring a Server Room on a Basis of OpenNMS and NetPing Devices". Within this article, a feature of configuring SMS notifications from OpenNMS using NetPing SMS (SMS gateway for OpenNMS) will be regarded. 

When network engineers and administrators work, they often need to receive notifications in any time seven days a week. What communication means can be more suitable for this than SMS? Using external SMS services critically depends on the Internet connection, but what to do if there is a need to receive notifications about Internet connection failure? USB GSM modems could solve this issue but their operation stability and often level of support are not the best. There are very few modems that can boast working 24/7 without external maintenance (manual checking, scripts or other means). In addition, it must be connected to a server or a PC for operation. In turn, this server or PC will work as an SMS gateway, which is not the simplest and not the most reliable scheme. A proper solution in this situation would be the use of NetPing SMS. It is a standalone device that is connected to the Ethernet network and working as an SMS gateway for any monitoring system, service, or any other system. In addition, it has no disadvantages described above because it works independently as it does not need an Internet connection and a computer for the operation, and the 24/7 operation is implied.

This article suggests that you have already installed and configured the OpenNMS monitoring system and it works correctly. A configuring process of Open NMS monitoring system has been described before.

Cacti is an open-source web application. The system allows building graphs using RRDtool. Cacti gathers statistical data for specific periods of time and allows representing them in a graphic view. Most often, standard templates are used to represent statistics on a processor load, memory allocation, number running processes, using incoming/outgoing traffic. Basically, Cacti is only a shell to visualize accumulated monitoring data, namely drawing graphs. In this article, we will regard a way of extending Cacti features for sending SMS notifications on monitoring events (SMS gateway for Cacti). To send SMS, it is possible to use the next devices of NetPing company:

• hardware gateway for sending and receiving SMS notifications NetPing SMS;
• device for monitoring microclimate of server rooms UniPing server solution v4/SMS;
• device for remote controlling of the power supply (IP power distribution unit) for server equipment NetPing 8/PWR-220 v4/SMS

This allows minimizing the expenses for third-party services of SMS distribution because in this case, the cost of each SMS will be equal to one specified in the plan of your mobile network operator with no additional commissions.

By following this article, you will get a tool for monitoring managed switches through SMS notifications. A described solution will be useful for network administrators, technical support staff and other employees, whose responsibilities include monitoring and servicing of networks of all levels. Now, technical staff will get the opportunity to receive information about a port status of a managed switch  (up/down) rapidly without accessing the network with target switches.

The solution will be represented in two variants:

1. Using the features of NetPing SMS GSM gateway only (up to 32 ports).
2. Using the features of NetPing SMS GSM gateway and a Zabbix server (unlimited number of ports).

Nagios – is an open source program, designed for monitoring computer systems and networks, namely: monitoring, controlling the status of calculation nodes and services, and alerting system administrators in case of stopping or continuing of operation of any services.

Together with sending e-mail notifications to notify system administrators, it is possible to use SMS notifications, which increases the reaction speed to the issues that appear during the service operation. To send SMS, it is possible to use the next devices of the NetPing company:

Micro-climate monitoring of a server room and sensors of "dry contact" type can be performed for example using UniPing server solution v4/SMS. However, when the power supply is lost or the network fails, the device will not be able to send notifications to Zabbix monitoring system. To solve this problem, it is possible to send SMS notifications from sensors, connected to a UniPing server solution v4/SMS device. These notifications will be sent to NetPing SMS gateway to convert SMS to SNMP TRAP notifications with the following sending them to Zabbix monitoring system.

Today there are many services that require authorization with a confirmation code sent by SMS only for working with them. For a company, employees of which work remotely, an issue of receiving such SMS notification may be solved by redirecting it to the email of a group mailing list for company employees. To do this, there is a need to create a service e-mail account on a corporate mailing server or register it on one of popular free services.

Let's consider a simple case – interaction a NetPing SMS gateway and a zapier.com service.

Sometimes certain situations happen when there is a need to coordinate the actions of employees, send company's news to the customers and notify them about alterations without excessive spending on a corporate communication. Also the same important is the use of a tool for SMS notifications when critical events appear at important objects, for example, a notification about exceeding a safe temperature in a server room, sudden server shutdown, or entry of unauthorized individuals  to an object, and many others.

A connection between a NetPing SMS gateway with a Zapier platform allows organizing a possibility to receive information from emails to cell phones as SMS notifications. NetPing SMS is an independent network device that works as an SMS gateway and allows sending SMS notifications and execute SMS commands that are sent via the Ethernet/Internet network. Zapier is a system platform for the exchange of data between web applications using software that supports more than 300 applications. Zapier may be used to connect different cloud services and automation of repeated processes. Zapier eliminates a necessity to pay a developer for a mutual integration of services that have crucial meaning for business. In addition, the platform allows configuring a free account and deal with configuring connections between applications in several minutes.

NetPing global Ltd. company announces the issue of an updated firmware version DKSF 707.3.5 for a NetPing SMS gateway. This firmware version contains error fixes, implementation of new features and a small update of a design of a device web interface.

So what have been changed in the latest version?

A difficult job of a network administrator is based on watching the status of a network equipment and servers. This task is complicated when there is no access to the Internet network at fingertips either a necessary equipment. The article describes how to solve this issue with a monitoring system Zabbix by using a phone with a possibility to send/receive SMS-messages and a NetPing SMS device.

Zabbix is a universal and flexible OpenSource solution for monitoring a network equipment (NMS) of a corporate scale. The system has a possibility to notify about events in different ways: E-mail, SMS, Jabber, user scripts. In the article, a method of using user scripts and a NetPing SMS device as an SMS gateway for sending SMS responses about a status of requested sensors in Zabbix monitoring system will be described. To receive SMS requests, a NetPing SMS device will be used as well. The device can transmit SMS requests in Zabbix in the form of SNMP traps. As a result, when organizing this method, a system administrator will always have an actual information about a status of the network equipment at any moment of time.

NetPing company announces the issue of updated firmware version DKSF 707.3.3 for a NetPing SMS device. This firmware version contains fixes of errors, new functionality implemented and an updated design of a device web interface.

So what have been changed in the latest version?

Today there are a lot of services, which require authorization through a confirmation code to work with them. The code can be received through SMS message only. In the scale of a company, employees of which work remotely, the issue of getting such SMS message can be solved by redirecting the message to e-mails of a group of company employees. To do this, there is a need to register an office e-mail account on a corporate email server or register it at one of the popular free services.

Let us consider a simple case, when a gateway NetPing SMS and equipment with the application Trap Receiver are located in one local network. A scheme works the next way:

NetPing company announces updating the firmware of the device NetPing SMS. A new firmware version of a device allowed to do working with a device more functional and stable.

What has been changed in the last version?

Devices with enhanced features and a built-in modem, such as a gateway for sending and receiving SMS commands NetPing SMS, a device for remote monitoring of sensors via a network UniPing server solution v4/SMS and a device for remote controlling power supply sockets NetPing 8/PWR-220 v4/SMS have got a feature of sending random SMS notifications using HTTP API. This innovation can be used in the monitoring system PRTG Network Monitor to send SMS notifications about certain events in monitoring objects. As a result of organizing such system of SMS notifications PRTG Network Monitor, it is possible to save some funds using alternate services for sending SMS notifications, available on the Internet.

NetPing Global Ltd. company announces starting the sales of a new device of uninterruptible power supply - NetPing Mini-UPS