Make your IT system reliable

There are several options in an SMS gateway to ensure the reliability and security of your corporate IT system. In this article you can read about how you can make your IT environment more reliable if you decide to build an SMS system.

Introduction

If you decide to add SMS functionality to your corporate IT environment, you need to consider reliability and safety of your system as they are essential issues in a corporate IT infrastructure. Especially in corporate IT systems it is inevitable that the system has to work properly and at the same time it is necessary to be secure, reliable and stable.

SMS technology has several benefits that can be noticed immediately after its implementation. When you use SMS technology you can further improve corporate communication and you can do this time and cost efficiently. Moreover, your company also will be up-to-date and more attractive to customers and business partners. With this solution you can ensure reliability and security; and you can send and receive SMS messages even if you are on the move. You will always be available in case of emergency or critical problems. Furthermore, you can reach anybody in case of problems as SMS messages are sent to given mobile phones. Beside sending important information and notices, SMS technology can be used in several other actions. For example, for sending news letters, promotions, notifications, alerts, etc. These are the obvious advantages of using SMS technology.

On the other hand there are further issues that can be guaranteed by the use of the proper SMS software. You can achieve these benefits if you setup a powerful SMS gateway software. This software will provide SMS extension to your IT system and ensure other benefits. This article explains these further issues and improvements.

Reliable, long-term, fail-safe SMS systems

There are large companies that are in contact with several customers, business partners and even their own employees. These corporations operate with hundreds of SMS messages per day. In these cases it is inevitable that their IT system needs to work in a reliable way. Beside reliability the long-term fail-safe operation, safety, high performance, and manageability are important options for companies and even for SMS service providers.

To achieve these properties you need a well-functioning and stable SMS gateway software such as Ozeki NG SMS Gateway. Now you can read about how this software can satisfy these various demands.

Businesses operating with large numbers of SMS messages want a well-functioning system. In this way they especially want to avoid SMS losses. Ozeki NG SMS Gateway has been designed to be able to prevent these losses. This excellent function is due to the fact that solutions for the possible difficulties that can occur during SMS and MMS sending has been worked out. Therefore the software is able to handle the temporary connection breaks with the mobile network, temporary overladen, or the cases originate from false data input of the user.

Though it needs to be mentioned that if you want a well-functioning and stable system then it is recommended to use a high-quality hardware. In case of GSM modem connectivity industrial GSM modems are proper for operating without faults in long-terms. We recommend a Wavecom Fastrack, a Maestro, or a Siemens modem to use.

On the other hand, traditional mobile phones are not recommended to setup a high-capacity SMS system. During the use of such handset devices there can be several problems with the batteries or with the unstable software of the device. This instability is due to the fact that there are too many functions have been integrated in the software. The software of industrial GSM modems is simple and optimized for long-term operation. In case of GSM modem connection it is also very important that the program should use the resources of computers economically. It is especially important if you want a long-term operation without faults. To avoid these problems Ozeki NG SMS Gateway rotates the logfiles of the system. During this rotation it is able to delete the old SMS messages from the system. In this way it makes place for the new messages and the hard disc will never be fulled.

Clustering, redundancy

Redundancy is another option of a reliable IT system. With this solution you can setup a stable and a constantly functioning system. The aim of setup clusters is to eliminate hardware errors. In a cluster there are several computers to operate. If one member of the cluster goes wrong then an other computer takes over the operation. In this way you can minimize shutdowns. Ozeki NG SMS gateway supports the setup of clusters containing two or even more computers. You can do it with the clustering service of Windows. This function is available in the windows server operational system.

Redundant SMS service provider connections

In a system with high capacity it is important to develop a redundant service provider connection. In practice it means that there needs to be at least two connections between the service provider and the SMS gateway. If there is a break in one of the connections then the system can operate on another connection. In this way this function makes a constant workflow possible. In Ozeki NG SMS gateway there is an automatic, built-in backup routing function. This function makes it possible to notice the line breakage automatically. Therefore, the system can automatically switch to another operating connection. This connection can be a GSM modem or an IP SMS connection. This automatic backup routing functionality makes it possible to notice if the broken network connection is operable again. In this case it sets back the service to the original connection.

The configuration of a high safety level VPN connection

Safety is another important aspect of a reliable SMS communication system. If you want to setup a system with high-quality but at the same time you want a secure system you need to do the follows. In these cases we recommend to setup an IP SMS connection through a VPN channel with the mobile service provider. This VPN connection can be setup with L2TP and PPTP. With the help of VPN connection you can connect your IT system to the mobile network over the Internet or a leased line, which is in direct connection with the service provider. This connection uses IP SMS protocols (such as SMPP, UCP/EMI, CIMD2, HTTP). These are setup for TCP/IP transfer and they make it possible to transfer "keepalive" messages. These messages makes it possible to keep alive the connection. In Ozeki NG SMS Gateway you can configure this "keepalive" interval freely.

Encryption, firewalls

There are further aspects of safety: the user authentication and the secure handling of the accessibility of the user interface. Therefore Ozeki NG SMS gateway stores the user password encrypted. The encryption process has been setup on the basis of MD5 technology. By default the user interface of the program is available from a web browser. This web browser connection can be setup through an encrypted HTTPS channel. To this HTTPS connection you can freely assign the digital signature of the administrator. This digital signature will function as a server certificate. Furthermore, you can control the accessibility of the user interface. You can do this with the use of an external firewall or you can install one on your computer. In this firewall you can determine which port can be accessed from which IP address.

Load share among more SMS service provider connections

If there are more than one service providers then you can configure a load share among the service provider connections. You can do this if you connect the service provider connections together. In practice it means that the capacity of the two or more connections are added together. In this way the whole transfer capacity can be increased. It can be important in cases when you need to transmit a huge amount of SMS messages within a short period of time to the service provider. The load share function of Ozeki NG SMS Gateway increases the error margins. It means that if this load share function is set and one of the participant connection is broken, then the whole loading is switched to the remaining operable connections. Due to this function the service remains operable only with a lowered capacity until the line breakage is restored again.

Manageability

Ozeki NG SMS Gateway is easy to integrate into various installation manager software systems. It is possible because it has a standard MSI installation package. After the installation the Ozeki NG SMS Gateway software can be connected to network management systems which support SNMP. The status of the connection with mobile service providers also can be monitored via SNMP. Therefore, you can be informed about line breakage and can query other important system parameters.

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