HA server rebuild coming along nicely...

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

You may recall I started a thread a week or two ago about replacing my
Geovision card with a hardware CCTV recorder, primarily because this was
pretty much the only thing stopping me from virtualising that server. Well
in the end, I decided to change tack slightly, and use VMware server
running
on top of Windows 2008 server as the virtualisation platform *instead of*
my
current ESXi implementation...  One of the things I needed to do to
accommodate this change was to scrap my existing 8-port PCI RS232 card and
find an alternative means to provide 8 COM ports to a virtualised HA
server.
Eventually, I ordered one of these from EBay:
http://www.connectivity.avocent.com/products/network-based/esp_8_mi.asp
Which I've been playing with for a couple of days now, and I'm happy to
report seems to be doing the job nicely.

One thing that has transpired though, is that the box uses 10-pin RJ45
outlets, and uses pins 1 & 10 for hardware flow control (RTS/CTS)...
typically, none of the existing plugs, cables or adapters I have in my
possession are 10-pin, - everything I have is the more standard 8-pin
variety. Once I'd noticed that, and accounted for it when I worked out the
correct pin-out for the modular adapters I *do* have, and determined that
the particular serial device I was using as my first test connection (A
Comfort UCM),  does not require use of RTS/CTS, it was pretty
straightforward.

Of course, if I encounter any serial devices that *do* require hardware
flow control via RTS/CTS, then I'm going to be a bit stumped unless I can
source some 10-pin RJ45 parts... Avocent list a variety of pre-made 10-pin
modular adapters & cables in the user manual, and there are 3rd-part
components available such as:
http://www.cablestogo.co.uk/product.asp?productid=81554
is a suitable
modular adapter, I'd still need 10-core cable, and 10-pin RJ45 plugs,
neither of which I've tracked down yet (only been looking for a couple of
hours this morning though)...

Hopefully the situation won't arise, as most modern serial devices seem not
to need or care about hardware flow control, although sod's law almost
guarantees that at least one of the numerous HA sensors or controllers that
connects via RS232 will... L So I'd appreciate any pointers to 10-pin RJ45
plugs and compatible 10-core cable...

As an aside, I'm happy to report that the latest Geovsion software works
perfectly well under 32-bit Windows 2008 server.

TIA

Paul G.







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