Re: Opengear alternatives that support 5g?

[Jared Mauch <jared () puck nether net>]

If someone wants to assemble some of the freetserv boxes, I have some of the PCBs and components here if you want them.

- Jared

> On Apr 26, 2024, at 1:27 PM, Andrew Latham <lathama () gmail com> wrote:
>
> If anyone is interested in https://freetserv.github.io/ but does not want to build one I have sort of documented an 
> alternative at https://lathama.net/Tech/Hardware/USB-32COM-RM so you can use anything to connect the 5G or dialup to
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 11:21 AM Michel Blais <Michel () targointernet com> wrote:
> Doesn't meet #3 but I'm testing Banana Pi BPI-R3 and seems way better than RPI for this purpose.
>
> You need to add the mini-pci modem of your choice but their 2 SIM card slots on board. There are also 5 RJ45 ports if 
> your devices have OOB ethernet ports.
>
> There are 2 onboard storage (NOR and NAND) and you can add a M2 SSD so it is possible to have failover disks.
>
> I also like the fact that there are 2 SFP ports. There are some places in our area where the LTE / 5G network is 
> really awful so we can use a fiber wavelength instead. It depends on the same fiber but at least, doesn't depend on 
> any active devices on site.
>
> The bad is that you still need a USB to serial ports adapter. Also, you can customise OpenWRT as much as you like.
>
> For me, it's an advantage but in your case, it seems like an issue. For the OP, having several VPN options like 
> zerotier seems like an advantage. 
>
> Le ven. 26 avr. 2024, à 12 h 44, Warren Kumari <warren () kumari net> a écrit :
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 12:43 AM, Saku Ytti <saku () ytti fi> wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Apr 2024 at 03:11, David H <ispcolohost () gmail com> wrote: 
> Curious if anyone has particular hardware they like for OOB / serial management, similar to OpenGear, but preferably 
> with 5G support, maybe even T-Mobile support? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get static IP 4g machine 
> accounts out of Verizon, and the added speed would be nice too. Or do you separate the serial from the access device 
> (cell+firewall, etc.)? 
> You could get a 5G Catalyst with an async NIM or SM. 
> But I think you're setting up yourself for unnecessary costs and failures by designing your OOB to require static IP. 
> You could design it so that the OOB spokes dial-in to the central OOB hub, and the OOB hub doesn't care what IP they 
> come from, using certificates or PSK for identity, instead of IP.
>
>
> Yup, I agree — but that simply rewrites the question to be:
> "Curious if anyone has particular hardware they like for OOB / serial management, similar to OpenGear, but preferably 
> with 5G support, which can be a spoke that dials in to the central OOB hub, and the OOB hub doesn't care what IP they 
> come from, using certificates or PSK for identity, instead of IP."
>
> I've been on the same quest, and I have some additional requests / features. Ideally it:
>
> 1: would be small - my particular use-case is for a "traveling rack", and so 0U is preferred.
>
> 2: would be fairly cheap.
>
> 3: would not be a Raspberry-Pi, a USB hub and USB-to-serial cables. We tried that for a while, and it was clunky — 
> the SD card died a few times (and jumped out entirely once!), people kept futzing with the OS and fighting over which 
> console software to use, installing other packages, etc.
>
> 4: support modern SSH clients (it seems like you shouldn't have to say this, but… )
>
> 5: actually be designed as a termserver - the current thing we are using doesn't really understand terminals, and so 
> we need to use 'socat -,raw,echo=0,escape=0x1d TCP:<termserver>:<port>' to get things like tab-completion and 
> "up-arrow for last command" to work.
>
> 6: support logging of serial (e.g crash-messages) to some sort of log / buffer / similar (it's useful to be able to 
> see what a device barfed all over the console when it crashes. 
>
>
> The Get Console Airconsole TS series meets many of these requirements, but it doesn't do #6. It also doesn't really 
> feel like they have been updating / maintaining these.
>
> Yes, I fully acknowledge that #3 falls into the "Doctor, Doctor, it hurts when I do this" camp, but, well…
>
> W
>
>
>
> -- 
> ++ytti
>
>
>
> -- 
> - Andrew "lathama" Latham -