E3switch llc High-speed ethernet to single/dual ds3/e3 network extender... Owner's manual

High-Speed Ethernet to

Single/Dual DS3/E3

Network Extender V5.4

October 31st, 2011

Operating In ormation

Legal Preface:

All other produ t names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their

respe tive ompanies.

LIMITED WARRANTY

E3Swit h LLC (E3Swit h) guarantees that every unit is free from physi al defe ts in material and

workmanship under normal use for one year from the date of pur hase, when used within the limits set forth

in the Spe ifi ations se tion of this User Guide. If the produ t proves defe tive during the warranty period,

onta t E3Swit h Te hni al Support in order to obtain a return authorization number. When returning a

produ t from outside of the United States of Ameri a, learly state “NOT A SALE. RETURNED FOR

REPAIR” on the ommer ial invoi e; and failing to do so, the ustomer will be responsible for imposed

duties and taxes. All ustomers are responsible for shipping and handling harges for returned items.

IN NO EVENT SHALL E3SWITCH'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE PRODUCT

FROM DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES

WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST PROFITS) RESULTING FROM THE

USE OF THE PRODUCT OR ITS DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF E3SWITCH HAS BEEN ADVISED

OF, KNOWN, OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. E3Swit h

makes no warranty or representation, expressed, implied, or statutory, with respe t to its produ ts or the

ontents or use of this do umentation and spe ifi ally dis laims its quality, performan e, mer hantability, or

fitness for any parti ular purpose. E3Swit h reserves the right to revise or update its produ ts or

do umentation without obligation to notify any individual or entity. Please dire t all inquiries to:

E3Switch LLC

80 Coronado Ave

San Carlos, CA 94070

U.S.A.

http://www.ds3switch.com, support@ds3switch.com

TEL: +1-650-241-9941

FCC STATEMENT

This devi e omplies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subje t to the following two onditions:

1. This devi e may not ause harmful interferen e.

2. This devi e must a ept any interferen e re eived, in luding interferen e that may ause

undesired operation.

Note: This equipment has been tested and found to omply with the limits for a Class A digital devi e,

pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable prote tion against

harmful interferen e when the equipment is operated in a ommer ial environment. This equipment

generates, uses, and an radiate radio frequen y energy, and if it is not installed and used in a ordan e with

the instru tion manual, it may ause harmful interferen e to radio ommuni ations. Operation of this

equipment in a residential area is likely to ause harmful interferen e, in whi h ase the user will be

required to orre t the interferen e at his own expense.

INDUSTRY CANADA NOTICE

This digital apparatus does not ex eed the Class A limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus

set out in the Radio Interferen e Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communi ations.

Le present appareil numerique n'emet pas de bruits radioele triques depassant les limites appli ables aux

appareils numeriques de la lass A pres rites dans le Reglement sur le brouillage radioele trique edi te par

le ministere des Communi ations du Canada

EUROPEAN UNION (EU) STATEMENT

This produ t is in onformity with the prote tion requirements of EU Coun il Dire tive 89/336/EEC on the

approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to ele tromagneti ompatibility. The

manufa turer annot a ept responsibility for any failure to satisfy the prote tion requirements resulting

from a non-re ommended modifi ation of the produ t.

This produ t has been tested and found to omply with the limits for Class A Information Te hnology

Equipment a ording to CISPR 22/European Standard EN 55022. The limits for Class A equipment were

derived for ommer ial and industrial environments to provide reasonable prote tion against interferen e

with li ensed ommuni ation equipment.

Attention:

This is a Class A produ t. In a domesti environment this produ t may ause radio interferen e in whi h

ase the user may be required to take adequate measures.

International Ele trote hni al Commission (IEC) Statement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: DESCRIPTION AND REQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER 2: QUICK SET-UP ................................................................................................................................. 7

CHAPTER 3: FRONT PANEL .................................................................................................................................. 8

FRONT PANEL INDICATORS ...............................................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 4: REMOTE MANAGEMENT HTTP AND SNMP ..................................................................................... 8

UNIT'S IP/MAC ADDRESS ...............................................................................................................................8

Automati Link-Lo al IP Address.........................................................................................................9

Initial Numeri IP Address....................................................................................................................9

Unknown IP Address Re overy............................................................................................................9

MANAGEMENT PASSWORDS .............................................................................................................................10

SECURITY .....................................................................................................................................................10

HTTP Interfa e Se urity.....................................................................................................................10

SNMP Se urity....................................................................................................................................10

HTTP MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................................................11

Event Log File.....................................................................................................................................11

Resetting..............................................................................................................................................11

SNMP ........................................................................................................................................................11

UPGRADING FIRMWARE ..................................................................................................................................11

FEATURE ACTIVATION/UPGRADE .....................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER 5: OPERATING MODES AND CONFIGURATION ........................................................................................ 12

TELECOM .....................................................................................................................................................12

Clo k Sour e.......................................................................................................................................12

DS3 Cir uit ID PMDL........................................................................................................................12

PACKET FLOW ..............................................................................................................................................13

Pa ket Order and Channel Bonding/Aggregation...............................................................................13

PORT TO PORT PACKET FLOW .........................................................................................................................13

LAN-to-LAN.......................................................................................................................................14

Forwarding..........................................................................................................................................14

Loopba k.............................................................................................................................................14

LAN PORT SETTINGS ....................................................................................................................................14

LAN Port Speed..................................................................................................................................15

Autonegotiation Problems...................................................................................................................15

SFP Se ond LAN Port........................................................................................................................15

Dedi ated Management/Data LAN Ports............................................................................................15

VLAN ........................................................................................................................................................15

VOIP / VIDEO OR HIGH-COS PRIORITY FRAMES ..............................................................................................16

PORT AUTO-DISABLE AND RETURN-TO-SERVICE DELAY ....................................................................................16

DS3/E3 Return to Servi e delay..........................................................................................................16

LAN Auto-Disable..............................................................................................................................16

CHAPTER 6: INTEROPERABILITY ......................................................................................................................... 16

LAN ..........................................................................................................................................................16

Autonegotiation problems...................................................................................................................17

SFP LAN Port 1..................................................................................................................................17

Pause Frames.......................................................................................................................................17

VoIP / Video or High-CoS Priority Frames........................................................................................17

TELECOM .....................................................................................................................................................17

FIBER/COPPER MEDIA CONVERTERS ................................................................................................................17

ROUTERS AND SWITCHES ................................................................................................................................18

CHAPTER 7: TELECOM CONNECTIONS ................................................................................................................. 18

FRAMING AND PHYSICAL LINK ........................................................................................................................18

TELECOM CABLING ........................................................................................................................................18

CHAPTER 8: LAN CONNECTIONS AND PERFORMANCE ......................................................................................... 18

LAN PORTS ................................................................................................................................................18

AUTONEGOTIATION ........................................................................................................................................18

LAN CABLING .............................................................................................................................................19

LAN SEGMENTATION AND PACKET SWITCHING .................................................................................................19

LAN BUFFERING, LOADING AND FLOW CONTROL .............................................................................................19

LAN PACKET PRIORITY ................................................................................................................................19

LAN PACKET ORDER ...................................................................................................................................19

TCP/IP AND GENERAL PERFORMANCE TUNING ................................................................................................20

CHAPTER 9: DS3 PACKETS AND LINK TOPOLOGY ............................................................................................... 20

LINK BIT-ERRORS .........................................................................................................................................20

LINK AGGREGATION ......................................................................................................................................20

CHAPTER 10: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................................................................................................................... 20

GENERAL .....................................................................................................................................................20

LOOPBACK OF DS3 .......................................................................................................................................21

Warnings.............................................................................................................................................21

Terminology........................................................................................................................................21

Limitations...........................................................................................................................................21

Alternatives to Loopba k....................................................................................................................22

Initiating Loopba k.............................................................................................................................22

PERFORMANCE ..............................................................................................................................................23

INTEROPERABILITY .........................................................................................................................................23

LABORATORY TESTING ...................................................................................................................................23

PINGING .......................................................................................................................................................23

STEP-BY-STEP DIAGNOSIS ..............................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 11: THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHT NOTICES .............................................................................................. 25

ECOS LICENSE ..............................................................................................................................................25

THE FREEBSD COPYRIGHT ...........................................................................................................................25

THE NET-SNMP COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................................26

THE APACHE LICENSE ...................................................................................................................................27

THE SHA2 COPYRIGHT .................................................................................................................................28

THE BZIP2 LICENSE ....................................................................................................................................28

THE ATHTTPD LICENSE ..............................................................................................................................28

CHAPTER 12: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS ................................................................................. 29

Chapter 1: Des ription and Requirements

Chapter 1: Description and Re uirements

The E3Swit h onverters des ribed herein are used in pairs to onne t two Ethernet LANs via either one or

two E3 or T3/DS3 links at up to 88Mbit/s a tual user data rate per dire tion. The LAN interfa e is RJ45

100/1000BaseTX opper or SFP 1000BaseX fiber opti . The tele om link must be point-to-point and may

support either framed or unframed data. The two onverters must have an E3 or T3/DS3 link between

them. Reverse topology to bridge an E3 or T3/DS3 data stream over an intermediate IP or Ethernet LAN is

not possible with this produ t; for that, onsult our TDM over Pa ket do umentation.

The onverters must be used in pairs. Single-ended operation is not possible, i.e., onne ting to a DS3/E3

PPP/HDLC ba kbone or ISP remote router is not supported.

For ease of installation, the onverter does not require a onfiguration setup and will typi ally work

immediately upon onne tion of LAN and tele om ables.

The hot-swappable onverter ard draws a minimal amount of power and may be pur hased in a variety of

hassis. Standalone, single units ship in high-reliability, fan-free 1U hassis with ra kmount bra kets and

are available in a 100-240VAC or a ±35-75 volt DC models. NEBS-III, redundant-power multi ard

hassis are available in 6-slot/1U and 20-slot/3U versions.

Both HTTP and SNMP management of the onverters is possible either in-band through the LAN or

tele om ports or out-of-band through either LAN port if the software option to enable the se ond LAN-SFP

port has been pur hased. Firmware shipped prior to June 2007 does not support management.

Remote firmware upgrade to a onverter is possible through either the LAN or DS3/E3 onne tion (for

onverters ontaining firmware shipped after February 2007).

If the dual DS3/E3 option or password upgrade has been pur hased, then LAN data is forwarded at twi e

the single-DS3/E3 data rate a ross the link. The onverter will monitor the tele om onne tion status and

automati ally swit h to an available link should a single DS3/E3 link fail. Firmware shipped after April

2008 has the ability to maintain stri t pa ket order at the re eiving end of dual DS3/E3 links if desired and

automati ally hoose the lowest-laten y DS3/E3 path during transmission.

The onverter will buffer data, and implements flow- ontrol and quality-of-servi e me hanisms to eliminate

data loss. This model will not perform MAC address filtering to forward only required pa kets a ross the

tele om-speed link.

The onverters at ea h end of the tele om link are identi al and ea h an generate its own DS3/E3 transmit

lo k if so onfigured. There is no master/slave relationship. If spare units are being pur hased, only one

rather than two is required sin e there is not a spe ifi master or slave unit.

The onverter will pass all error-free pa kets unaltered whi h do not ex eed 1650 bytes in length (or 9600

bytes with jumbo-frame upgrade). This in luded sta ked-VLAN, QinQ frames and all modern router

proto ols.

The onverter has been designed with attention paid to maximum throughput, minimum laten y and

minimal pa ket loss – ontaining effi ient, path-bonding fun tionality not found in other produ ts. The

onverter is often both a ost-effe tive and bandwidth-effi ient alternative to routers. Even when onne ted

to a LAN port from a router, eliminating a router tele om ard an free up expensive, limited, router

ba kplane bandwidth .

The onverter is plug-and-play and an often be installed in several minutes. Network topologies and

onfiguration settings of equipment onne ted to the onverter an be omplex, however, so additional time

should be allo ated to a hieve a properly fun tioning system.

Chapter 2: Qui k Set-up

Chapter 2: Quick Set-up

Atta h the onverter to a power sour e. The front panel lights should illuminate. Green is normal; orange

indi ates an error.

Atta h an Ethernet UTP5 able from your LAN equipment to the RJ-45 LAN Port 2. The onverter an

perform automati ross-over vs straight-through able adaptation. The LAN 2 light will hange from

orange to green if a properly negotiated link has been established. The network equipment attached to

the LAN port o the converter should be set or autonegotiation mode in order to allow the converter

to negotiate a 100Mbit ull-duplex connection. Disabling autonegotiation or using old LAN equipment

may result in the atta hed LAN equipment onfiguring to half-duplex mode, resulting in CRC errors and

pa ket loss. Refer to the interoperability se tion of this do ument for more information

Atta h two 75-ohm oaxial ables from either Port 1 or 2 BNC onne tors of the onverter to the input and

output onne tors of your E3 or DS3 link. On e ea h onverter is re eiving a valid signal from the remote

partner, the DS3/E3 Port LED will hange from orange to green. This indi ates that the onverter has

a hieved proper syn lo k with the remote onverter. A green indi ator will only be seen if a remote

E3Swit h onverter is onne ted.

Refer to the management hapter of this manual if HTTP or SNMP operating statisti s are desired or to

hange the default administrator password. Changing the de ault password is highly recommended to

allow onging con iguration changes. When the password has not been changed rom de ault,

con iguration changes are prohibited or security reasons a ter 5 minutes a ter any new power cycle.

Simply power cycle again to change the password – i the unit is still in your possession and the link is

not passing important data.

There is no further onfiguration or setup required for the onverter.

Chapter 3: Front Panel

Front Panel Indicators

All Indicators: Green indicates normal operation.

Orange indicates an error condition.

Black indicates a disabled port.

DS3/E3 1/2: Green if the unit has synchronized to a valid carrier signal pattern from the remote unit and data can

be transferred on the link.

Flashes black each time a packet is received on this port.

Orange indicates no valid connection or loss of receive sync with remote unit.

Flashes orange/green if incoming signal is OK but either looped back or remote unit is not receiving

a valid sync from local unit.

Flashes orange/black if link is OK but waiting in a configured return-to-service delay period.

BER: Green if OK.

Orange flash for each BPV bit error.

Orange steady for absence of DS3/E3 receive signal, loss of frame lock onto receive bit-stream,

drive-level fault on transmit cable, or excessive receive bit errors.

Note: In a dual DS3/E3 unit, the BER will reflect the status of the operational link if one fails.

LAN1/2: Green when a properly negotiated 100/1000BaseTX Full-Duplex or SFP LAN connection exists.

Flashes black each time a packet is received on this port.

Orange indicates no valid connection.

Flashes orange/black if in a configured “down if telecom down” mode.

Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP

Converters shipped or upgraded with firmware after Mar h 2007 ontain an HTTP management interfa e.

Converters shipped or upgraded with firmware after June 2007 ontain an SNMPv2 agent.

Unit's IP/MAC Address

The sour e Ethernet MAC address of E3Swit h onverters is 00:50:C2:6F:xx:xx. The onverter's urrent

IP and MAC addresses are always both shown at the HTTP management s reen.

If the unit ontains a management interfa e, as des ribed at the beginning of this hapter, it an be initially

onta ted at either its automati link-lo al IP address e3swit h.lo al as des ribed below or at its initial

numeri IP address des ribed below. Note that after initial setup, an operator may have hanged the onta t

IP address to a new value and the initial addresses below may not work. Prior to operator re onfiguration

the unit will respond to HTTP, SNMP and ping requests to its initial IP address.

For initial ommuni ation with the onverter, it may be ne essary to set the network address of the host port

ommuni ating with the onverter to 169.254.xxx.xxx with subnet mask 255.255.0.0. For se urity, routers

are advised not to forward pa kets with these link-lo al IP addresses, so a dire t onne tion is advised.

On e initial onta t has been established with the HTTP management interfa e of the onverter, the

onverter's IP address an be set to a new, stati value if desired.

If a unit's operator- onfigured IP address is lost or forgotten, it an be re overed as des ribed later in this

hapter.

Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP

Other than the e3swit h.lo al addresses des ribed below, all IP addresses used within the onverter's

management interfa e must be in xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx numeri format rather than a human-readable DNS-

resolvable hostname.

Automatic Link-Local IP Address

E3Swit h onverters are shipped with an initial IP address that onforms to re ent zero- onfiguration link-

lo al standards. This allows multiple E3Swit h onverters on the same IP network to initialize with unique

IP addresses without onfli t and allows simple ping/HTTP/SNMP a ess to the onverters using

hostnames e3swit h.lo al or e3swit h-2.lo al,... provided that the free ZeroConf mDNS software has been

installed on the ma hine attempting to ommuni ate with the onverter. Do not pre ix www. prior to

e3swit h.lo al. www.e3swit h.lo al will not work.

The onverters negotiate between themselves to determine whi h onverter is assigned name e3swit h.lo al

and whi h re eives e3swit h-2.lo al and so on. Sin e the assigned name will not ne essarily be fixed to a

parti ular onverter after power y les, the system manager will probably want to use/set the onverter's

numeri IP address sometime during or after initial installation.

Web des riptions are available for ZeroConf mDNS and Link-lo al IPV4LL ip addresses. Free ZeroConf

software su h as Bonjour for Windows or Avahi is available for Windows/Linux/Unix ma hines.

Initial Numeric IP Address

The onverter an also be onta ted at its initial default IP numeri address whi h always takes the form

169.254.aa.bbb. Units shipped after O tober 20th, 2007 typi ally have the initial IP address listed on top of

the hassis or an be initially onta ted at the IP address above where aa.bbb mat hes the serial number

listed on the front label. For units shipped prior to November 2007, serial numbers listed on the front label

translate to IP addresses as follows:

●.51.bbb => .51.bbb

●.15.bbb => .49.bbb

●IP3.bbb => 51.bbb

●B2hh6 => .50.bbb where bbb is the base10 de imal version of the base16 hexade imal number hh.

The onverter's urrent IP and MAC addresses are both shown at the HTTP management s reen.

Unknown IP Address Recovery

The following methods may be used to determine a onverter's IP address if lost or forgotten. Note that

on e determined, management ommuni ation may only be possible from the same IP network if the

onverter's default router address is invalid.

For firmware dated July 9th, 2008 or later, unplug all LAN and BNC ables from the onverter and power

y le the unit. 30 se onds after powerup, the onverter will begin blinking out its IP address on the leftmost

LED. Ea h digit is ounted up as an orange blink with a pause between digits and a short blink for a 0. A

de imal in the IP address is indi ated with a green blink. For example, <orange><orange><pause><short-

orange><pause><green>... would be an IP address that begins “20.”

For earlier firmware or those with a ess to pa ket sniffers, upon powerup, the onverter will broad ast

several gratuitous ARP pa kets on its network ports whi h an be examined with a sniffer or pa ket

monitoring software to determine a unit's IP address. The sour e Ethernet MAC address of su h pa kets

and E3Swit h onverters is 00:50:C2:6F:xx:xx. T pdump or Wireshark are two readily available software

pa kages to examine network pa kets.

Additionally, examination of the MAC address table of an atta hed LAN swit h or router may provide the

IP address if the E3Swit h MAC address prefix (00:50:C2:6F:xx:xx) an be lo ated.

Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP

Management Passwords

Note: In order to log in with Internet Explorer 7+ or if difficulty occurs when logging in with credentials

known to be valid, firmware prior to ctober 18th, 2007 must be upgraded to ameliorate a new feature

present in IE7 authentication messages. This is also the case with some versions of pera. Contact the

factory for an upgrade or attempt to login with FireFox, Mozilla, or a browser earlier than IE7+ for

immediate resolution.

The HTTP management statisti s page is initially a essible without a password. The HTTP settings page

is initially a essible within the first several minutes after powerup with username admin and no password.

If the unit has not had its default password hanged, after several minutes the settings page will be lo ked

for se urity reasons. It is desirable to hange the default password of the unit. For se urity reasons,

hanging the default password of the unit must be done within the first several minutes of powerup. If the

HTTP management password is lost or forgotten, it may be reset by a essing the HTTP management

settings within the first minute after powerup and with no BNC ables atta hed to the unit.

SNMP statisti s may initially be a essed using the read-only ommunity name public. Write- ommunity

names and variable a ess authorization may be set through the HTTP management interfa e.

Security

Please also refer to the password se tion above.

HTTP Interface Security

A ess to the HTTP management interfa e statisti s and settings pages an be sele tively limited to users

knowing the HTTP management password, whi h is transmitted se urely on the network using MD5

en oding. New values of management settings, or modifi ations of the administrator password are not

en rypted and are visible to users monitoring network pa kets, as is statisti al data requested by an MD5

authorized user or any information visible on a HTTP page.

When logging out rom any secure webpage, the browser window should always be closed! Browsers

typi ally ontinue to send administrator redentials ontinuously even after apparent logout.

SNMP Security

The onverter implements SNMPv2 , whi h is inherently an inse ure proto ol; however, the onverter

enhan es se urity by implementing view-based a ess management (VACM), whi h an restri t read or

write a ess to spe ifi management settings and statisti s. When shipped, the onverter allows read a ess

to “safe” SNMP statisti s and prohibits read and write a ess to statisti s and settings whi h ould allow

determination of network topology or interfere with normal link traffi . The VACM onfiguration an be

updated through the HTTP management interfa e to meet the user's needs, and most SNMP variables an

also be set through the HTTP management interfa e in a more se ure manner than SNMP allows.

– SNMP VACM Se urity Warning –

As shipped, the default “safe_ro_view” is se ure but not private.

View based a ess model VACM for SNMPv2 provides good restri tion

of a ess to only spe ified statisti s but no data priva y and

minimal user authenti ation. When a spe ifi variable is enabled

for reading or writing, from a se urity perspe tive it should

be onsidered either publi for reading or publi for writing.

Alternatively, most onfiguration parameters an be set through

the HTTP password-prote ted interfa e whi h is se ure.

Viewing snmpd. onf exposes it and ommunity names to visibility by

3rd party network sniffers. All SNMPv2 data on the network

is visible. All ommunity names an be "guessed" and, when used,

be ome visible to sniffers. Sour e IP addresses of requests

an be forged. Enabling a write ommunity should be onsidered

inse ure with respe t to the spe ifi view variables enabled.

Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP

Variables in the groups: interfa e, ds3, dot3 & mau, ontrol the

link datapath; allowing write a ess allows disabling the link.

Spe ifi variables disabled for all write users are se ure.

Spe ifi statisti s disabled for all read users are invisible

and se ure.

HTTP Management

The onverter ontains a omprehensive, user-friendly HTTP management interfa e whi h allows a

manager to monitor bit-error-rates on the DS3/E3 link, lost pa kets, and user-friendly status messages at a

single, olor- oded HTTP s reen. A s reenshot is available at www.e3swit h. om. Most settings that an

be modified via SNMP an also be set through the HTTP interfa e in a more user-friendly manner.

Refer to the onfiguration se tion of this do ument for guidan e on spe ifi settings.

vent Log File

A timestamped log of operating status and events may be a essed at the HTTP management administration

page.

Resetting

Two options for resetting the onverter may be a omplished at the HTTP management administration

page. A management software reset will reset ounters, statisti s, MIB variables, and management software

of the onverter without interrupting data flow a ross the link. A hardware reset will temporarily interrupt

link data flow as if the onverter had experien ed a power y le. A hardware reset is only possible with

hardware version 5.4 or greater and firmware sin e July 29th, 2008 as shown at the HTTP management

s reen or SNMP sysDes r variable. For new fun tionality to take effe t, a hardware reset is required after

upgrading firmware but need not be initiated immediately. A software reset is not appropriate after

upgrading firmware, as only the management CPU would be reset while the pa ket transfer CPU would be

operating with the older, in ompatible version of firmware.

SNMP

The onverter ontains an SNMP agent whi h an respond to version 1 and version 2 requests for network

statisti s from remote SNMP lients. The agent an also generate notifi ations of important network events

su h as when network ports go up/down or experien e high error rates. These trap notifi ations an be sent

to multiple hosts if desired, and using free or ommer ial software, the re eiving hosts an log the

notifi ations or even generate email or pager messages for network managers.

SNMPv2 is inherently an inse ure proto ol, so the onverter implements VACM to restri t a ess to

“safe” statisti s and settings. Please refer to the se urity dis ussion se tion of this do ument.

SNMP onfiguration of various parameters su h as ommunity names and trap destinations is a essed

through the HTTP management interfa e and is implemented as a onfiguration file having an snmpd. onf

stru ture. Snmpd. onf is des ribed by third parties in publi ly available do uments.

Statisti s and settings a essible via SNMP are alled MIB-variables and are organized in a hierar hi al

tree topology. The MIB variable trees implemented by the onverter in lude re ent versions of the DS3/E3,

interfa e, MAU, dot3, and many of the typi al IP-network MIB trees. The full list of MIB trees available is

listed by viewing the system.sysORTable of the onverter. As mentioned earlier, a ess to ertain trees or

variables is initially disabled for se urity reasons, but an be set as the user wishes through the VACM

settings. The onverter an typi ally return 1000 MIB variables per se ond in bulk requests and support

SNMP response message sizes up to 5000 bytes.

Upgrading Firmware

For a tivation of additional apabilities of the onverter, see the “Feature A tivation” se tion. Feature

upgrades do not ne essarily require a firmware upgrade.

Chapter 4: Remote Management HTTP and SNMP

Firmware upgrades may be transferred to the onverter via the LAN port (or DS3/E3 port, if management of

the remote onverter is enabled). A hardware reset, whi h will interrupt link data flow for several se onds,

will be required at some point after the transfer in order to begin using the new firmware. Instru tions for

performing the TFTP transfer are in luded with all firmware shipments. The most ommon sour e of

problems when performing upgrades is attempting a TFTP transfer in ASCII or text mode rather than binary

or image mode, resulting in a “too large” or “out of room” type TFTP error.

Feature Acti ation/Upgrade

For a tivation of additional apabilities of the onverter after initial pur hase, supply the fa tory with the

serial number from the front of your onverter (also shown at the HTTP management page for re ent

firmware) and pur hase an alphanumeri “fa tory upgrade key” whi h is entered at the HTTP management

s reen.

Chapter 5: Operating Modes and Configuration

Telecom

There are five, low-level onfiguration settings for tele om ports; though, typi ally, the default settings are

appropriate:

●E3 vs DS3

●able length (for long DS3 runs only)

●M13 vs C-Bit (for DS3 only)

●Cir uit ID message (for C-Bit only)

●Transmit lo k sour e

Use a “DS3” onfiguration setting for North Ameri a, Japan, and South Korea; otherwise, “E3” speed.

The able length setting will transmit a slightly stronger signal on long DS3 oax runs. The M13/C-Bit

setting sets the AIC bit in DS3 frames to either 0 or 1. This bit is typi ally ignored by the DS3 arrier;

however DS3 arrier equipment set to autosense the in oming DS3 framing type will need this setting to be

orre t.

Clock Source

The transmit lo k sour e is typi ally “lo al” for both units. Certain DS3/E3 arrier equipment or opti al

onverters require the same transmit lo k in ea h dire tion; this may manifest itself as frame-slip errors. In

su h a ase, set one unit to “loop” lo k sour e. In very rare ases the arrier DS3/E3 equipment will

generate the lo k for the entire path, and ea h unit should be set to “loop”. Setting both units to “loop” is

typi ally inappropriate and an result in transmission failure if a master lo k is not being generated by

arrier equipment. Without a master lo k, two units set in “loop” mode will wander to an unspe ified

lo k speed, whi h is unlikely to meet DS3/E3 spe ifi ations.

Dual- hannel DS3/E3 units allow Port 2 transmit lo k speed to be derived from in oming Port 1 lo k

speed. This is an un ommon onfiguration requirement and should typi ally be avoided.

In the event of in oming lo k loss, the transmit lo k will automati ally swit h to a lo ally generated

DS3/E3 lo k sour e.

The re eive lo k speeds are shown at the bottom of the unit's HTTP management statisti s page to assist

timing diagnosis.

DS3 Circuit ID PMDL

Firmware sin e November 2009 allows DS3 Path Maintenan e Data Link (PMDL) identifi ation messages

asso iated with C-Bit framed DS3 links to be re eived and transmitted if desired. Cir uit ID messages

onvey human-readable, onfigurable, physi al lo ation information of the DS3 sour e equipment. These

Chapter 5: Operating Modes and Configuration

messages are transmitted in the C-Bits of the frame and do not de rease bandwidth available for data.

PMDL Cir uit ID messages fa ilitate onfirmation of the data sour e when presented with a pair of

unlabeled BNC ables.

Packet Flow

Packet Order and Channel Bonding/Aggregation

On single-tele om onverters, LAN pa ket delivery order is guaranteed with the ex eption that high-priority

802.1p CoS pa kets may by transmitted before lower priority pa kets. The remainder of this se tion applies

to dual-tele om units only.

Dual DS3/E3 onverters have three settings available for DS3/E3 utilization:

●Failover

●Load-Balan ing

●Bonded (in firmware beginning Mar h 2008)

Failover mode utilizes only one DS3/E3 hannel and transmits only syn signals on the other DS3/E3

hannel unless the first fails. This setting is generally not useful, as the other two settings will also revert to

a single operational hannel if either fails.

The next two modes determine pa ket order preservation. While traveling a ross dual tele om links, pa ket

ordering an be lost as short pa kets arrive on one path before longer pa kets on the other or if tele om path

lengths differ. As an aside, to redu e laten y, E3Swit h onverters dynami ally ompute tele om path

delays and attempt to use the shorter path first.

“Bonded” mode guarantees pa ket delivery order is preserved, although high-CoS traffi will bypass low-

CoS traffi . In “load-balan ing” onfiguration, or for firmware shipped before Mar h 2008, pa ket order is

generally maintained but not guaranteed.

The optimum settings for bandwidth, laten y performan e or data integrity is often determined only by

trying ea h setting in the field. “Bonded” is preferred from a data-integrity and interoperability standpoint;

however, “load-balan ing” mode will generally deliver pa kets to their final destination faster, espe ially

for very high traffi loads of onsistently small pa kets (<128 bytes).

Link aggregation (bonding) of the tele om hannels allows pa kets to be delivered to the remote onverter's

LAN port in the same order in whi h they were presented to the lo al onverter's in oming LAN port. The

E3Swit h onverters do this in a highly effi ient manner whi h allows full bandwidth of both tele om

hannels to be utilized. 802.3ad link aggregation is not used and is a less effi ient proto ol whi h would

segregate spe ifi “ onversations” to spe ifi tele om links, leaving the bandwidth of the se ond path

unavailable for utilization by a parti ular “ onversation.”

Maintaining stri t pa ket order an sometimes be detrimental. The TCP proto ol already has some ability

to assemble in oming pa kets in their orre t order. In su h a ase, waiting to deliver pa ket number three

until pa ket two has arrived at the onverter simply introdu es additional laten y. If a pa ket is lost, this

laten y an grow larger until the loss is re ognized. E3Swit h onverters have the ability to immediately

re ognize pa ket loss if su essive pa kets are re eived from the same tele om hannel, and in the worst

ase will not delay longer than 10ms waiting for a missing pa ket. Maximum pa ket-per-se ond forwarding

rates an also be impa ted if the bonding mode is required to re-order pa kets whi h are onsistently < 128

bytes in length.

Maintaining pa ket order is most useful for non-TCP traffi su h as finan ial UDP data where some

expe tation may exist for the data to arrive in the orre t order.

Port to Port Packet Flow

Pa kets typi ally pass between LAN and tele om ports and are typi ally not filtered by MAC address.

Chapter 5: Operating Modes and Configuration

Pa kets arriving at one tele om port will not be passed out the other, so it is not possible to use one dual-

hannel onverter in a 3-unit topology at the jun tion of a Y or V; use two onverters at su h a jun tion

with a LAN swit h or router to properly ontrol traffi flow to the bran hes of su h a topology.

LAN-to-LAN

LAN-to-LAN pa ket flow an be enabled, if desired, in units where the se ond SFP/LAN port has been

enabled/pur hased. LAN-to-LAN unidire tional flow for monitoring may also be onfigured if desired.

LAN-to-LAN flow an result in dropped pa kets if the destination LAN port bandwidth setting is too low.

An example would be 2x 44Mbit/s traffi from a dual-DS3 and > 12Mbit/s traffi from the other LAN port

ex eeding 100Mbit/s of a 100Base-TX LAN port whi h was re eiving both DS3 and LAN-to-LAN traffi .

The unit will attempt to preserve in oming DS3/E3 pa kets while dropping LAN-to-LAN pa kets in su h

an instan e.

LAN-to-LAN should be used cautiously in combination with management or data-only LAN port settings.

The blocking of a subset of traffic can result in network and spanning tree topologies which can be

inappropriate or difficult to diagnose.

Forwarding

Certain pa kets are not forwarded. Management uni ast pa kets destined for the lo al unit are not

forwarded. Dual-LAN units an be onfigured for management-only LAN ports whi h will drop in oming

uni ast pa kets not destined for an E3Swit h MAC address. Spanning-tree pa kets are passed transparently

between LAN and DS3/E3 ports, but not ne essarily between LAN and LAN ports.

Loopback

Pa ket flow from DS3 ports to LAN an be onfigured to automati ally halt in ertain situations in whi h

the onverter is re eiving loopba k data. This prevents atta hed LAN equipment from be oming onfused

or disabling ports when it re eives pa kets ontaining a sour e-MAC-addresses identi al to its own, unique

sour e address. For firmware shipping sin e August 5th, 2009, any DS3/E3 loopba k an be dete ted. For

firmware prior to August 5th, 2009, the automatic loopback traffic disable will only occur if the local

converter has requested the remote to loopback. This occurs when an SNMP request sets the local

converter dsx3SendCode variable to dsx3SendLineCode, which requests the remote converter to loopback

DS3 data received. DS3 loopback initiated by the carrier or any source other than described above cannot

be recognized as loopback data and the setting described will be irrelevant.

LAN Port Settings

The hardware for two LAN ports exist on all onverters shipped; however, entry-level models ship with

only the RJ-45 100Base-TX mode enabled. See upgrades se tion of this manual to enable these additional

features if required:.

●GbE, GigE 1000Base-T for the RJ-45 LAN port2.

●Jumbo frames (9600 bytes).

●SFP LAN Port 1 whi h an a ept opti al or opper (100/1000) SFP trans eivers.

●If SFP port has been enabled, either LAN port an be onfigured as a dedi ated out-of-band

management port if desired.

See the “Interoperability” se tion of this manual for information on pa ket lengths and detailed port

onne tion/autonegotiation dis ussion.

The autonegotiation mode o the converter must match the autonegotiation mode o attached LAN

equipment. If autonegotiation is enabled on the onverter it must be enabled on the atta hed equipment. If

disabled on the onverter, it must be disabled on the atta hed equipment. This requirement is ne essary to

fulfill 802.3 standards whi h mandate a fallba k to half-duplex operation if an autonegotiation mismat h

exists. The onverters require full duplex to operate.

Chapter 5: Operating Modes and Configuration

LAN Port Speed

1000Mbit/s LAN speeds are only available if firmware enabling the SFP port option or GbE LAN has been

pur hased.

100Mbit/s is generally preferred over 1000Mbit/s, whi h generates signifi antly more power-requirements,

heat, and radiated noise even in the absen e of pa ket flow. 1000Mbit/s may slightly redu e path laten y,

as an in oming LAN pa ket must be fully re eived before being forwarded to an outgoing port. The laten y

savings to re eive or transmit a 1500-byte pa ket at 1000Mbit/s vs 100Mbit/s speed is 0.108 millise onds

(1500bytes/pa ket x 8bits/byte / (100Mbits/s) - 1500bytes/pa ket x 8bits/byte / (1000Mbits/s)).

1000Mbit/s LAN port speed may be desireable when one LAN port is onfigured to monitor the other LAN

port in addition to re eiving in oming DS3/E3 data. In su h a ase, the data rate that the LAN port is

expe ted to transmit (the sum of all ports that ould be a data sour e for the LAN port) may be greater than

100Mbit/s. The HTTP management statisti s s reen will show overflow errors if a port's data rates are

ex eeded.

Setting more than one LAN port to 1000Mbit/s is not recommended and may result in

under low/over low errors in certain high packet load, memory-intensive cases.

Autonegotiation Problems

There are rare ases with older LAN equipment in whi h it may be ne essary to disable autonegotiation. If

r -errors or short pa ket errors are seen in the management statisti s of the LAN port, the atta hed LAN

equipment has probably onfigured itself to half-duplex mode and olliding pa kets are being lost. In su h

a ase, autonegotiation should be disabled on both the onverter and the atta hed LAN equipment, with

both for ed to 100BaseTX full-duplex. Autonegotiation interoperability and standards were not well

understood by the industry at the in eption of 100BaseTX, resulting in some older LAN equipment not

understanding the onverter's autonegotiation advertisement of stri tly full-duplex apability.

SFP Second LAN Port

The SFP LAN Port 1 hardware exists on all onverters shipped and may be enabled as pur hased or enabled

by pur hasing an upgrade password. This upgrade enables out-of-band management, through either LAN

port, or fiber-opti LAN onne tions of 10km or more. Refer to interoperability se tion of this do ument

for ompatible SFP trans eivers.

Dedicated Management/Data LAN Ports

If the SFP Se ond LAN Port has been pur hased and enabled, then either LAN port may be onfigured to

pass all pa kets to DS3/E3 or, sele tively, to pass only management or only data pa kets when su h an be

determined.

LAN-to-LAN forwarding should be used cautiously in combination with management or data-only LAN

port settings. The blocking of a subset of traffic can result in network and spanning tree topologies which

can be inappropriate or difficult to diagnose.

If a LAN port is onfigured for data-only pa kets, the unit will drop in oming management pa kets destined

for an E3Swit h MAC address. This provides a moderate level of se urity. These pa kets and

management broad ast/multi ast pa kets may not be forwarded to the se ond LAN if LAN-to-LAN traffi

is onfigured.

If a LAN port is onfigured for management-only pa kets, the unit will not forward, to the DS3/E3, uni ast

pa kets destined for non-E3Swit h MAC addresses. Broad ast and multi ast pa kets will be forwarded.

LAN-to-LAN forwarding may o ur if so onfigured.

VLAN

The onverter passes all VLAN information, unaltered, between ports. VLAN onfiguration settings shown

at the HTTP management page apply only to ommuni ation with the onverter's management entity.

Chapter 5: Operating Modes and Configuration

As shipped, the unit will a ept management pa kets with any VLAN tags and attempt to respond to the

same. For more robust performan e, spe ifi VLAN tag settings an be onfigured. These settings only

apply to pa kets to and from the onverter's management entity. VLAN tags in pa kets destined for the

DS3/E3 link are passed unaltered.

VoIP / Video or High-CoS Priority Frames

Re eive queue spa e is reserved in the onverter to allow frames with high 802.1p lass-of-servi e (CoS)

priority settings to bypass existing frames waiting to be transmitted to the DS3/E3. This allows voi e, video

and other high-priority traffi to experien e low-laten y transmission. Firmware shipped sin e July 2008

allows the “high” CoS level to be onfigured. Most VoIP traffi is tagged at CoS 5 or 6, so level 5 is

typi ally a good setting for the high-CoS value. Prior firmware has the fixed, high-CoS level set at >=6.

On su h units, CoS an often be set/ onfirmed at 6 on the sour e VoIP equipment.

Port Auto-Disable and Return-to-Ser ice Delay

In addition to manually onfiguring a port as disabled, the onverter has the ability to delay a DS3/E3 port's

return to servi e for a spe ified period of time after it has failed or disable a LAN port if both tele om links

are down.

DS3/ 3 Return to Service delay

The return-to-servi e delay prevents network topology thrashing if a tele om link is flapping up and down.

If the tele om link is the only path to the remote network, the return-to-servi e delay should probably be set

to 0. During the time that a tele om port is in a return-to-servi e delay, management pa kets will ontinue

to flow a ross the tele om link in order to allow management of the remote onverter.

Some tele om arriers will interrupt servi e for 50mse , on e per day as a link test. Firmware shipping

sin e August, 2010 has a onfigurable, failure-time setting to prevent su h tests from triggering a link-

down, retun-to-servi e delay.

To exit the return-to-servi e delay, power- y le the onverter or li k the button whi h appears on the

onfiguration HTTP s reen of a onverter that is in onfiguration delay.

LAN Auto-Disable

The LAN port an be onfigured to automati ally disable itself when no tele om link exists. This setting is

useful for atta hed LAN equipment whi h requires the LAN port to go down in order to understand that the

path to the remote network is no longer available. Use this setting autiously, as management of the

onverter will also no longer be possible through a disabled LAN port.

To exit the LAN-port-disabled ondition, power- y le the onverter, whi h will allow ommuni ation with

the onverter for approximately one minute even if tele om ports are down.

Chapter 6: Interoperability

LAN

The LAN ports of the onverter support, at a minimum, all 100BaseTX Full-Duplex Ethernet onne tions

up to maximum line lengths and are set to auto-MDI/MDIX to automati ally dete t/ orre t rossover vs

straight LAN able and autonegotiate for full-duplex and pause frame modes with the atta hed LAN

equipment. Passwords may be pur hased to upgrade to enhan ed LAN port modes as des ribed elsewhere

in this manual.

The onverter will pass all unerrored pa kets whi h do not ex eed 1650 bytes in pa ket length (9600 with

jumbo frames enabled). This length allows QinQ, sta ked VLAN, and extended pa ket-length router

proto ols to be passed without on ern. The management agent a epts and responds with pa kets having

MTU of 1350 bytes in order to automati ally allow room for se urity proto ol overheads.

Chapter 6: Interoperability

If LAN equipment appears to disable a port onne ted to the onverter, be aware that “sophisti ated”

routers and swit hes will often disable a LAN port if data being sent appears similar to data or MAC

addresses being re eived, as is the ase in tele om loopba k.

Autonegotiation problems

There are rare ases with older LAN equipment in whi h it may be ne essary to disable autonegotiation. If

r -errors or short pa ket errors are seen in the management statisti s of the LAN port, the atta hed LAN

equipment has probably onfigured itself to half-duplex mode and olliding pa kets are being lost. In su h

a ase, autonegotiation should be disabled on both the onverter and the atta hed LAN equipment with both

for ed to 100BaseTX full-duplex. Autonegotiation interoperability and standards were not well understood

by the industry at the in eption of 100BaseTX, resulting in some older LAN equipment not understanding

the onverter's autonegotiation advertisement of stri tly full-duplex apability.

It is highly desireable to leave autonegotiation enabled so that hanging atta hed LAN equipment does not

result in the new equipment defaulting to half-duplex if set to autonegotiate.

SFP LAN Port 1

This port is designed to be ompatible with inexpensive, high-quality, opper or fiber-opti , SFP

trans eivers from Finisar, whi h allows LAN onne tions of 10km or more. Most other industry-standard

SFP trans eivers will work as well; however, fiber-opti features su h as temperature and opti al

transmit/re eive power and alarms will only be available if using Finisar trans eivers. Non-Finisar opper,

RJ45 SFP trans eivers may only operate in 1000Base-T mode, while re ommended trans eivers from

Finisar, and possibly Avago or 3Com will operate in 100Base-TX mode as well.

Pause Frames

Unless disabled in the settings or through autonegotiation, the onverter sends pause ommand frames to

atta hed LAN equipment when the onverter's in oming LAN buffers be ome nearly full. The onverter

ignores pause ommand frames sent to it.

VoIP / Video or High-CoS Priority Frames

Re eive queue spa e is reserved in the onverter to allow frames with high 802.1p lass-of-servi e (CoS)

priority settings to bypass existing frames waiting to be transmitted to the DS3/E3. This allows voi e, video

and other high-priority traffi to experien e low-laten y transmission. Firmware shipped sin e July 2008

allows the “high” CoS level to be onfigured. Prior firmware has the high-CoS level set at >=6.

Telecom

The onverter an transmit over a variety of E3 or T3/DS3 links (with appropriate media onverters) su h

as fiber opti , mi rowave radio, laser, opper, satellite, or a ombination; however, the atta hment interfa e

is always via 75-ohm opper oaxial rather than opti al. The point-to-point tele om link must be

un hannelized, i.e., not subdivided into T1 or E1 hannels. The tele om link may be either framed or

unframed and supports both M13, M23, lear- hannel, C-Bit, and G.751 framing. C-Bit framing is

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