Network monitoring programs are widely used in companies to
improve effectiveness and ensure the stable working of IT environment. Now
with this solution you can improve the features of your network monitoring
system.
Practically, if you implement Ozeki NG SMS Gateway you will be able to send SMS
alerts and notifications from your IT system to mobile devices. Thus, if you integrate
Ozeki NG SMS Gateway with Big Brother, reports
about network errors generated by Big Brother can be sent as SMS text messages
to mobile phones.
Prerequisites for your SMS system
As it was mentioned, for providing SMS functionality you need to install Ozeki
NG SMS Gateway software. Once it is installed, your system also needs to be
connected to the mobile network for sending SMS messages out of your system.
You can do this with Internet connection or with a wireless connection (a GSM phone/GSM
modem is attached to the computer). To choose the more suitable option, you can
check the following webpage:
Internet based SMS connections vs. GSM modem based (wireless) SMS connections.
Depending
on what you select, you need the following prerequisites.
IP SMS connection
If you wish to connect your system to an SMS service
provider over the Internet you need the follows:
Figure 1/a - IP SMS connection parts
In case of IP SMS connectivity, you need sign up for the service
of an SMS service provider. The selected provider should be able to reach
the mobile phones of your area and must support SMS services via the Internet.
You can easily find such providers on the following webpage:
SMPP SMS Service providers.
Once you have selected a provider, you need to sign up for
their service and you will get the connection parameters. You can use these parameters
to configure your Ozeki NG SMS Gateway software.
GSM modem connection
In case you do not want to connect directly over the Internet,
you can still connect your system to the mobile
network wirelessly. For this connection type you need a GSM modem or GSM phone that you
can attach to your computer with a data cable. In this case your Ozeki
NG SMS Gateway software will operate this phone and will send and receive
SMS messages wirelessly. To setup this connection method, you need the following
components:
Figure 1/b - GSM modem connection parts
System overview
After you have gathered all the prerequisites, you can build
a system that operates in the following way:
When Big Brother indicates an error in your system, it sends an e-mail
message to the SMTP server of Ozeki NG SMS Gateway about this error.
As a result, a C# script is executed in the SMS gateway software that segments the
incoming message into smaller pieces and makes it available in human readable
format. Finally, Ozeki NG SMS Gateway forwards the SMS alert to given mobile phones. The SMS
gateway sends SMS messages through a mobile phone (or GSM modem) attached to
the computer with a data cable. In case an Internet SMS service provider account is
configured in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway, it can also send the message over the
Internet. This process can be examined in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - SMS messaging from Big Brother
with Ozeki NG SMS Gateway
Installation guide for Big Brother SMS alert solution
First go to
C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Big Brother\BBNTD\4.20\etc. Open the following
file to configure: "bbwarnsetup.cfg" (Figure 3).
Figure 3 - "bbwarnsetup.cfg" file
Complete the mailrelay line in the following way:
Please note that Ozeki NG SMS Gateway has been installed on my local computer
and its IP address is "127.0.0.1". Therefore the mailrelay value will be
"127.0.0.1".
Then close and save this file (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Mailrelay
Now open "bbwarnrules.cfg" file (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - "bbwarnrules.cfg" file
Next complete the line with:
*;;*;;*;*;*;+36301234567@localhost:0
|
'+36301234567' will be the phone number of the recipient, localhost is the
computer on which Ozeki NG SMS Gateway has been installed. In the end there is
a "pagedelay” value. With this value you can set how many minutes Big Brother
should wait for sending delivery message to Ozeki NG SMS Gateway. So if this
value is "0", it will send delivery messages immediately (Figure 6).
Figure 6 - Mail rule
To make these changes come into operation the service needs to
restart (Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Restart Big brother server
service
Now you need to do some configuration in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway.
First, add a new service provider by clicking on "Add new service provider"
(Figure 8).
Figure 8 - Add a service provider
Select "Loopback Connection" from the list and click on
"Install" (Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Install loopback connection
To complete the installation of service provider, click on "OK"
(Figure 10).
Figure 10 - Finish installing loopback
connection
If it is done, click on "Management" view (Figure 11).
Figure 11 - Management view
Now add a new user. To do so click on "Add new user or
application" (Figure 12).
Figure 12 - Add user
Then select "ASP" user from the list and click on "Install"
next to it (Figure 13).
Figure 13 - ASP user
Provide a name for the user. In our example it is "big-brother",
and click on "OK" (Figure 14).
Figure 14 - Provide an application name
To complete the installation, click on "OK" (Figure 15).
Figure 15 - Finish user installation
Next you need the following file: BigBrother.aspx. You can
download it now: BigBrother.zip.
Extract and save it. In our example it is extracted to
C:\Program Files\Ozeki\OzekiNG - SMS Gateway\config\big-brother (Figure 16).
Figure 16 - BigBrother.aspx file
Now click on "Script Setup" menu item of the installed ASP
user in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway (Figure 17).
Figure 17 - Script setup
Provide a path and the name for the script file and click on
"OK" (Figure 18).
Figure 18 - Big Brother file in user
Now click on "Management" view and on "Add new route" on
outgoing route panel (Figure 19).
Figure 19 - Add outgoing route
Select "admin" as source user, then select the installed
loopback connection as destination. In this way the messages of admin
are forwarded to loopback connection (Figure 2).
Figure 20 - Outbound setup completed
Now click on "Add new route" on incoming route panel
(Figure 21).
Figure 21 - Add incoming route
Select Loopback connection as source, and the installed ASP
user as destination (in our example it is "big-brother") and click on "OK".
Therefore, the outgoing messages of admin user will be transmitted to the
incoming mail box of the ASP user (big-brother) (Figure 22).
Figure 22 - Created inbound route
Now you need a route, which will send the ASP user's outgoing
messages to mobile phones. In our example it will be an SMPP connection. Add a
new outbound route to the existing route table. Select source: big-brother. Then
select destination: SMPP. Finally, click on "OK". In this way the processed
message will be sent to the mobile phone (Figure 23).
Figure 23 - Final outbound route
The final route of an outgoing message will look like as
follows in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway (Figure 24):
Figure 24 - Final routing
Start Big Brother. To do so, type the follows into your
web-browser (Figure 25):
Please note that Big Brother has been installed on my local computer therefore
the address for Big Brother's console is "localhost".
Figure 25 - Big Brother host
Then open the configuration window of Big Brother's client:
Start/ All programs / Quest software / Big Brother Professional Edition / Client
/ Configure (Figure 26).
Figure 26 - Big Brother client
In the appeared "Client Configuration Editor" window click on
"Start Service" (Figure 27).
Figure 27 - Big Brother configuration
Now the monitored services will appear in the window of Big
Brother. You can see that the monitored msgs service is red. It means that
there are detected error messages (Figure 28).
Figure 28 - Msgs is red
If you click on this red icon, you will get more information
about this error (Figure 29).
Figure 29 - Error information
If you have configured your system properly then Ozeki NG SMS
Gateway has sent a notification to the given addressee (Figure 30).
Figure 30 - Sent message
Thank you for reading this guide about Big Brother SMS solution!
If you wish to add SMS extension to your Big Brother
software, please go to the download page to download Ozeki NG SMS Gateway >>>
