OVERVIEW - SCALABLE AND SECURE

Asentria’s SitePath makes it easy to securely access hundreds, or even thousands of Asentria TeleBoss T830 and T850 units to monitor equipment such as PBX, and email and voicemail servers at remote sites from a single, central management application. Connections from SitePath to each of the TeleBoss units is achieved via a highly secure socket layer (SSL) VPN.

PASSWORDS & USER RIGHTS

With a single sign on, a user can have access to potentially thousands of devices at thousands of sites. SitePath can support hundreds of individual usernames and passwords, each having specific access rights. The single user interface of SitePath greatly reduces issues related to password management. If a technician leaves the company and should no longer be given access to any remote sites, it is only necessary to remove the single user name and password in the SitePath installation instead of changing user names and passwords on potentially hundreds or thousands of individual TeleBoss units.

Sitepath also allows a high degree of flexibility and granularity for what rights any particular user is given. The first graphic shows User 1 is being allowed access to all three remote sites, A, B, and C. User 2 has is allowed access to only sites A, and B. User 3 is allowed access to only Site A. In the second graphic, Users 1, 2, and 3 are all have access to Remote Site A, but each user has access to a different piece of equipment.

PROTOCOL & ALARM SUPPORT

SitePath creates an SSL VPN tunnel from the NOC to the TeleBoss unit in the field. It is through this secure tunnel that SitePath passes data back and forth to the remote unit, and also how the unit pushes data back to SitePath. SitePath offers network connectivity for any type of data interaction across it’s secure SSL VPN connection, but we will describe the 4 most common forms: Alarm Notifications, SNMP Management, Call Detail Records and CPE Management.

ALARM NOTIFICATIONS

Alarm notification protocols typically used across this connection from the TeleBoss to SitePath include, but are not limited to, Asentria's own alarm formats, SMTP (email), and SNMP traps (SNMPv1, v2c, v3), as well as SNMP informs (SNMPv2c).

SNMP MANAGEMENT

Outside of SNMP traps and informs as notification, the SitePath VPN can also be used for SNMP Gets, Sets, and MIB Walks.

CALL DETAIL RECORDS (CDR)

All the IP-based CDR transfer protocols are usable across the TeleBoss to SitePath connection, including “Real-Time Sockets” (the ability for a TeleBoss unit to collect CDR data and send the CDR data across an IP connection as it becomes available), as well as FTP “Pull” or “Push” methods.

CPE MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS

Basically any TCP/IP or UDP-based protocol can potentially be supported across the SiteBoss/TeleBoss connection. In most cases this will be telnet.

SIMPLE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

SitePath reduces the complexity in setting up VPN connections from remote customer sites. SitePath was designed with the intent of simplifying the deployment process by an on-site technician. The ease of commissioning reduces the cost of deploying each additional new site. The TeleBoss unit is precommissioned, meaning that the unit is pre-loaded with certain key data so the unit can correctly and securely locate and connect to it’s associated SitePath installation. The on-site technician simply needs to cable and power the unit at the customer site, and TeleBoss will automatically reach out and connect to its associated SitePath server.

NORTHBOUND INTERFACE

SitePath contains its own basic alarm interface for capturing alarms. This interface may be suitable for smaller deployments, but in larger deployments SitePath is specifically designed to be used as a “north bound” interface to forward its alarms upstream to other network management software/alarm software.

ALARM MANAGEMENT

SitePath’s basic Alarm Management module enables you to collect and log alarms, from serial data to Syslog and SNMP. Prioritize new alarms and send alerts to specific individuals, groups and departments, as well as pass the alarm information to another application. SitePath can also acknowledge whether an alarm is open acknowledged or closed.

FIRMWARE UPDATES

SitePath’s Firmware Update abilities allow a user a single point of management for potentially thousands of TeleBoss units located in remote sites anywhere in the world. Users can use SitePath to pull or push firmware software from any TeleBoss unit. Firmware updates can be done based on various search criteria such as group name, by type of CPE attached, by the type of TeleBoss hardware, or by firmware version. SitePath also enables you to schedule firmware updates at some point in the future. SitePath simplifies your ability to stage patches and upgrades, and to schedule them to thousands of TeleBoss units.

SETTINGS KEYS

Settings Keys (SK) allows the user to upload into SitePath files for Asentria TeleBoss products. The SitePath Settings Keys are essentially a text representation of the unit’s configuration, organized as a series of ‘key=value’ pairs. ‘key’ is a string that identifies the setting and has some hierarchical structure. This provides a consistent configuration mechanism for both units and SitePath machines.