Retronetworking

h1. Livingston Portmaster 3

@laforge bought three Livingston Portmaster 3 PM3A-1E, which are RAS (Remote Access Server) that

* terminates one 1E line (30 B-channels)

* provides ISDN dial-up on those channels

* provides DSP based modems in case analog modem calls should be handled.

One unit (rbbs-pm3) is part of the [[retro-bbs:Dialup_Network_In_A_Box]], another unit (pm3-2) is part of the [[octoi:Colocated_Hub]], the third one is at @laforge's basement.

Livingston Enterprises, Inc. was acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1997, so the PM3 was also sold with Lucent branding.

h2. Documentation

* attachment:portmaster3_hardware_installation.pdf

* attachment:portmaster3_configuration.pdf

* more below (Attachments)

h2. Electronics / Pictures

h3. External pictures

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h3. Mainboard

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h3. DSP / Modem Board

There are 6 slots for modem boards, each board typically has 10 soft-modems, resulting in a total capacity of maximum 60 modems (equaling the number of B-channels in 2 E1 PRI links)

{{thumbnail(Livingston_Portmaster3_dsp_top.jpg)}}

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h3. PM3-CMP Stac Compression Board

There is a set of expansion headers on the mainboard which, according to the hardware installation guide, can accommodate a "compression or accelerator card". The compression card is model PM3-CMP and allows Stac compression to run on up to 60 channels.

{{thumbnail(pm3-cmp-1.jpg)}}

h2. Spare Parts / Mods

h3. Fan

The original fan is a Fonsan DFB0812M (DC 12V 0.1A) fan by DELTA ELECTRONICS INC. The specs seem to state 2600 RPM / 24.8 dB(A) / 29 cfm.

I found it too noisy and replaced it with a Noctua NF-A8 FLX with L.N.A (reduced to 1650 rpm / 12.9 dB(A) / 24 cfm)

Fun fact: The PM3 actually seems to have a 5V -> 12V DC/DC upconverter just for the fan - instead of simply using a 5V fan...

h3. Power Supply

One of the PM3A-E1 at @laforge had a broken power supply.  The original PSU is an ASTEC LPS1112 rated for 5V/22A output (80W convection cooled, 1120W with 30cfm forced air).

It was replaced with a Mean Well LRS-150F-5. Mechanical assembly via a custom adapter plate that was fabricated easily from a small piece of aluminium sheet metal (175 x 102 mm) with a few drill holes.

{{thumbnail(PM3-PSU-1.jpg)}}

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h3. Serial console cable

A null-modem cable can be built with the following pin-out:

|_.DB-9 female (PC)|_.DB-25 male (PM3)|_.Suggested RJ45|

|1|20|1|

|2|2|2|

|3|3|3|

|4|8|4|

|5|7|5|

|6|-|-|

|7|5|6|

|8|4|7|

|9|22|8|

h2. Configuration

h3. route to different telnet hosts based on called party number

Assuming one wants to use a PM3 to act as modem bank for accessing different [virtualized] BBSs over telnet, the problem is how to  route the inbound call to a specific telnet IP address.  The non-radius stand-alone configuration of the PM3 only permits either:

* automatic forwarding of all calls to one global telnet/rlogin host

* allowing the users to enter the hostname for telnet themselves

* providing a list of pre-configured telnet destinations to all users (this was used at the 36C3 retronetworking installation, see [[retro-bbs:36C3]])

However, with the _Call-Check_ radius feature, it should be possible to receive the called + calling identity before the call is even accepted, and then in return provide the telnet IP/port to which the call shall be routed.

Details in

* Page 4-17 of the PM3A Radius for Unix manual

** PM3A sends _access-request_ with

*** User-Name=SETUP.Calling-Station-Id/No-Call-ID

*** Service-Type=Call-Check

*** Called-Station-Id=SETUP.Called-Station-Id

** Radius sends response with

*** Login-IP-Host pointing to IP of telnet/rlogin

*** Login-Service=(Telnet,Rlogin,TCP-Clear)

*** Login-TCP-Port pointing to IP of telnet/rlogin

*** Service-Type=Login-User

* Page 3-4 of the PortMaster Command Line Reference

** @set call-check on@