Richard Bedwell

So I am a Network Engineer, and something that has always been troubling me is this concept of Reverse Telnet.

The theory is that from a router that you can connect to, you can use the aux port of that router to connect or "Telnet" into another router or devices' console port.

Pretty simple concept, however everyone and their brother posts and says for this to work you need a straight thru cable... (568A, or 568B cat 5, 5e, or 6)

Pretty simple concept... I know... but what these idgits seem to have gotten wrong, is that you don't use a straight thru cable, or a cross over cable, or even a rollover cable, you use an ethernet rollover cable, basically a rolled over straight thru cable.

Example... http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=1312

Once you do that configuration is simple....

Cables

         Straight Thru  (B)                                 Cross over           

S1   o/w-o-g/w-b-b/w-g-br/w-br      o/w-o-g/w-b-b/w-g-br/w-br 

S2   o/w-o-g/w-b-b/w-g-br/w-br      g/w-g-o/w-b-b/w-o-br/w-br   

                          Rollover                              Ether Rollover

S1    o/w-o-g/w-g-b/w-b-br/w-br      o/w-o-g/w-b-b/w-g-br/w-br

S2    br-br/w-b-b/w-g-g/w-o-o/w      br-br/w-g-b/w-b-g/w-o-o/w

on cisco devices you go into the Line Aux0 and configure modem inout. Then check line numbers, you'll see a line associated with Aux 0, usually on newer routers this is 1, add 2000 to that and you have your port number....

Once you figure out the port number of your line simply connect the cable, and telnet to the lo0 using that port number.... Simple...

I don't know about the IPhone, because I don't have one, and I'm willing to bet that most of you won't be able to answer this either; but here's a scenario. You have your phone unlocked so that you can use another GSM SIM in your phone... say you are going to Europe, and want to use a prepaid SIM card. Here's a limitation I found on the BlackBerry Storm 2. If you take out the Verizon/Vodafone SIM that comes with the phone, you loose WIFI capability. The moment you put in another SIM the phone removes all the service books and routing tables. The problem with that is the phone no longer knows how to route WIFI information.

What would be interesting to find out, is when the IPad comes out with the WIFI 3G capability, whether they will have this catch as well. Think about it, you Travel to another country, and instead of spending 100 bucks just in roaming fees, you pay 40 bucks for a local number, and say 10 euro in charge.... The moment you change out the SIM you're no longer going to be able to use the WIFI in your device. At least it's this way with the BBerry Storm 2.

Now don't mistake what I'm getting at here. I love my BBerry Storm2 (BBS2). I am a non-conformist. I don't want what everyone else has, So while I was initially interested in the IPhone, when it because a common device, I lost interest. That's when I found the BBS. I'm not saying I haven't had any issues, but you always expect that with a brand new product, as people continue to use them in ways that they were never intended to be used.  With the knowledge that they are coming out with a WIFI only version, I'm sure that Apple has addressessed this issue, however it would be interesting to find out, I don't know how many of you actually have taken out your SIM in your IPhone and still tried to use it. but I would think it's no different than the ITouch, which has WIFI, the IPhone just builds on that; Much I'm sure the IPad has as well.

So I just got into work this morning, to find out that our Customer has yet to pay for our next installment on our contract. What does this mean? This means that I learn a new term... - Forced PTO. This is where there is no money to pay you for the rest of the "Term" until the money hits, and since it's illegal to charge against money that isn't there, then you are "Suggested" to take PTO. For those of you that are unclear, PTO is Paid Time Off. It's basically paid leave, and you only get so much per year. This is basically your vacation time. But if you want to get paid, you need to take it, otherwise you're just not going to get paid. I'm sure there's many different variations of what happens when this type of thing happens, but now I'm wondering if I need to start looking for another job. Lovely Process of being a contractor. At least when I was in the Army I knew I was still getting a paycheck.