This guide walks through using any Opengear 3G cellular enabled appliance with the Telstra Next G network in Australia. While the installation examples used refer to installing a ACM5004-G, the comments also relate to installing ACM5500-G-W and IM4200-X-G console servers and to installing other console server models with external USB cellular modems.
Data Plans and SIM Cards
The ACM5004-G comes with an internal 3G cellular modem so you will need to purchase a data plan for the Telstra Next G network that does not require you to use a Telstra Mobile modem. Which plan you select will vary depending on your organisation and whether you are already a Telstra corporate, enterprise or government customer. Most small operators will use the ACM5004-G over the public Internet while larger organisations may use a telco managed MAN/WAN.
Now Telstra will not supply you any hardware with your plan, but they will supply you with a SIM card. For 'business customers' SIM cards are generally shipped in bulk. Depending on the process Telstra establishes with them the SIM cards may be non-active or some customers receive SIM cards that are active. This gives you maximum flexibility in integrating them into a wide range of solutions some of which may benefit from activation taking place at install time.
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Before powering on the ACM5004-G you must insert the SIM card into your ACM5004-G as shown. :
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Telstra offers a number of "SIM only" connection services and by default these only offer dynamic, private IP address assignments to 3G devices. While this is perfectly adequate general use, to be able to OoB access your ACM5004-G will require either a publicly accessible fixed IP address or a publicly accessible dynamic IP address. If you select a dynamic IP address then a DDNS service will need to be configured to enable the remote administrator to initiate incoming access. For more details refer faq 348.html.
Telstra Business or Enterprise Network Service
Telstra has a range of plans for a wide variety of customers. They provide customised pricing to 'business customers' that are managed by a Telstra account executive and have, or commit to a particular telco spend with them.
The Telstra Next IP-based range of products is designed for medium and large businesses, Enterprises and government providing Private IP VPN (IP WAN) services, integrated access to the Cellular network and other optional services such as hosted e-mail, conferencing and IP telephony. These are sold by Telstra through their Telstra Business Account Representative. They can arrange for your cellular data plans to be provided with a Static IP address through a wireless port into a Next IP fixed data network. This means that all your ACM5004-G devices will be directly accessible through this network by authorised users.
Telstra does also have the ability to provide some business customers with dynamic public IP addresses, but there is no SLA. To have this feature activated on customers need to request of their account reps that "Extranet codes (GPTEXB3) be added to the applicable numbers.
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For more information you should contact your existing Telstra Business Account Representative or call Telstra on 1800 125 593. |
Member Data Pack for smaller businesses
If you don’t want to engage with an account executive or reseller then you can order a Member Data Pack online. These plans are tailored for low, medium and high usage and run for a contracted term. All you need is a local Australian address and a local business number (ABN or ACN). There is no need for them to be an existing customer. Data pack pricing (June 2010) is shown below:
www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/productsservices/memberplans.44018
These Member Data Packs will allow your ACM5004-G to connect to the Internet. However by default all 'generic' mobile data services are provided with a NAT'd private address.
Telstra can offer 'business customers' a dynamic public address at nil cost but there are no guaranteed service levels with this solution. It’sbest effort so should there be no public IP address available, as a device tries to connect, it will fall back to a NAT'd private IP address. Also this option may be restricted to account managed customers only. However any customer can contact Telstra's helpdesks (phone 125111) and request the GPTEXB3 code. With this their SIM can access the Internet using APN telstra.extranet which assigns a dynamic real IP address. There's more details on Telstra APNs online at mobilesfaq.com
The premium option providing a Static IP address is through integration of Next G services through an access port into a Next IP fixed data network (e.g. Connect IP). So if you want to get a static Next G IP then it is important you become a Telstra 'business customer' and explore one of these services.
How do I access my ACM5004-G without a publicly accessible IP address from Telstra?
However there are some "indirect" paths available for remotely accessing devices behind remote firewalls. For details refer faq377-Public-IP
What can I do once the ACM5000 Cellular Internet Connection is working?
Once an ACM5004-G device is contactable across the Internet with a publicly accessible IP address it can be used for out of band access to your remote site. The ACM5004-G also supports fail-over from wired connections to mobile wireless out of band connections.- Access to the ACM5004-G is via a secure browser (HTTPS), secure terminal emulators (SSH) and Opengear’s SDTConnector SSH tunneling software to access specific network services (RDP, VNC, Telnet ...).
- The ACM5004-G devices can also be accessed over corporate VPNs using industry standard secure IPSec or OpenVPN tunneling. So managed devices on the ACM5004-G’s private network can be securely IP accessible from VPN clients or the corporate VPN.
- Once connected to the ACM500-G you can manage serial consoles, UPSs, PDUs, environmental modules, service processors and digital and easily connect to remote utility or branch office installations
- ACM5004-G products also support M2M applications, serial COM port redirection using PortShare, serial bridging and digital I/O control
ACM5004-G cellular configuration
Installation and configuration is quite simple and you can find details in the User Manual and Quick Start provided with your ACM5004-G (or refer faq 354.html)
Once the SIM has been installed the configuration procedure requires you to select the ‘dialout’ (Cellular Modem) link on the web management interface, then switch on the Cellular Radio and enter the Access Point Name (APN).
What's an APN? Customers on all plans whether standard or customised have access to the general Telstra.Internet and Telstra.Datapack APN. Additional APN's are available for customers with additional products such as fixed IP networks with wireless access ports; this can also include having a custom APN created. The general Telstra.Internet APN is telstra.internet).
Once configured the internal cellular modem will retrieve critical settings from the SIM and set up the connection according to that information and the radio signal strength. There are specific statistics screens that also allow you to monitor cellular parameters including signal strength, band, and temperature and so on. You can also monitor the IP address that Telstra has assigned.
Click here for a printable version of this guide: AppNote-Telstra NextG.pdf
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