Accessing the Enterprise:Ascend's MAX TNT is expensive but worth
Large-Scale
Rescue
April 5, 1999
Ascend Communications MAX TNT
Ascend's MAX TNT is expensive but worth
it. Outstanding management consoles,
including the command line, NavisAccess
and NavisConnect, provide unique features for every
level of the organization. The TNT, which supports 720
modems, performed flawlessly along with the Cisco,
Ericsson, Lucent and 3Com units during throughput and
dial tests. The TNT also supports a variety of
authentication, VPN protocols and WAN technologies, all
of which are hot-swappable--unlike those found on the
Cisco AS5300, Multi-Tech CommPlete and Shiva LRAS
servers. But there is a price to pay: $685 per port for the
system we tested ($778 if you include the price of
NavisAccess)--the highest of these systems.
Customers have tight uptime requirements, so redundant
services are a must. Like the other devices in this test, the
MAX comes with redundant power supplies to maximize
uptime, and critical services, such as RADIUS, SNMP
and DNS, can be configured with backup servers. Modem
and system software are upgraded via NavisConnect or a
TFTP server, though you must reboot the system for the
new software to take effect. But you cannot "busy out" the
modems, so users are dropped when the reboot takes
place. Ascend says it can't accurately determine the
appropriate "service unavailable" signaling for telco
switches.
Managing the TNT from the command line or GUI is a
breeze. The TNT doesn't have the VT-100 terminal
screen found in smaller MAX units. Like all CLI
schemes, Ascend's takes some time to learn, but
context-sensitive syntax helps. Ascend uses a profile
scheme, in which configuration takes place in different
sections of the TNT. Unique among the CLI-editing
features, configuration sections are first read into an edit
buffer, where changes are made, and then to memory.
This enables you to view other configuration profiles
while editing without having to drop out of edit mode,
read the configuration and resume edit mode--a distinct
advantage over Cisco's IOS (Internetworking Operating
System).
NavisConnect, the TNT's Java-based configuration
utility, is much like Shiva's Java Configurator, though it
lacks Shiva's monitoring capabilities. NavisConnect
simplifies initial configuration by hiding the
command-line details behind check boxes and default
settings. Once we started NavisConnect, we gave it the
TNT's IP address and it downloaded the configuration
from the TNT. We made our changes and sent it back. We
also saved the configuration locally for safety reasons.
The Explorer-like interface is intuitive and useful.
With NavisAccess, Ascend's enterprise management GUI,
the administrative power comes in. This tool can run as a
standalone or within Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP
OpenView on Windows NT or Unix; we used a Sun
Microsystems SPARC10 with Solaris 2.6. Available for
nearly all Ascend Pipeline and MAX devices, it has
extensive reporting and scheduling mechanisms that
surpass almost all other management stations;
CiscoWorks 2000 is a possible exception. For example,
we were able to archive and compare configurations
during testing within NavisAccess. If we made a
configuration that caused a failure, we could see what
changes had been made and revert to a working
configuration.
We found the NavisAccess scheduler exceptionally
useful, too. We could automate management tasks, such as
retrieving and archiving configuration changes and
publishing reports. Even firmware updates can be
scheduled with a few short keystrokes.
Although all the RASes we tested provide accounting via
RADIUS, NavisAccess goes further by accepting
RADIUS accounting and compiling canned reports for
billing and monitoring. The reports can be output to a
variety of formats, such as CSV (comma-separated
values) or HTML. System messages also can be archived
to provide a historical view of the TNT. We liked the
canned reports; they provided pertinent accounting
information, such as start and stop times, data transferred
and other connection information. The error history and
trending reports were compelling. Port unavailability,
modem retrains, WAN errors and other low-level
information can be tracked for historical analysis and
capacity planning. |
