Vodafone MachineLink 3G

C3 confidentiality classificationIntegrated M2M TerminalsIntroduction Vodafone MachineLink 3G v1.0

1

Vodafone MachineLink 3G

Connect on demandFeature Spotlight


2

What is “Connect on demand”?• Allows you to keep the data connection

inactive when it’s not in use. It does this by transparently connecting and disconnecting the mobile broadband connection according to the type of traffic generated from the LAN side of the device.

• Devices connected to the router continue to

see an Internet connection even when the mobile broadband connection has been disconnected.

• Can be configured to connect or disconnect based on type of traffic or by time elapsed.

• When enabled, the router monitors the packets passing through it and determines when it should connect or disconnect the mobile broadband network based on your configuration.

• The data connection can be re-established by sending an SMS message to it when SMS diagnostics feature is enabled.


3

What can you do with the Connect on demand feature?• Set the router to dial a connection when traffic is detected on specific

ports

• Exclude certain packet types from triggering the connection to dial

• Exclude certain application types from triggering the connection to dial

• Set timers for dial-up and disconnection

• Wake-up the router’s mobile broadband connection by sending an SMS message to it.


4

Configuring Connect on demand

1

2


5

Configuring Connect on demand

3


6

Port filtering

To enable port filtering, click the “Enable dial port filter” toggle key and enter the ports that will trigger the router to connect when traffic appears to those UDP/TCP destination ports.

Port filtering allows you to configure the router so that it only connects when outbound traffic to an external host’s port or range of ports is sent to the router.

Computers running Microsoft Windows regularly send out NCSI traffic which helps the operating system to correctly display the Internet connection status. Since this traffic can trigger the router to connect, you can configure the router to ignore these packets by enabling the “Ignore Microsoft network awareness (NCSI) traffic” option.


7

Protocol and application filteringThese options allow you to configure the router to ignore ICMP, TCP and UDP protocols so that they do not trigger the router to connect/disconnect.

These options configure the router to ignore DNS requests, network time protocol requests and Microsoft network awareness traffic so that they do not trigger the router to connect/disconnect.


8

Connection timersKeeps the router online for a minimum time period after data activity is detectedKeeps the router online for this time period after a connection first is established.Stops the router from dialling a connection for a period of time after hanging upForces the router to disconnect after a specified wait periodInstructs the router to connect regularly at this intervalWhen regular connection is configured, the dial time may be randomised to avoid network congestion


9

Logging and manual controlThe router can log all activity which matches the above configuration by toggling this switch to the ON position.

The router can be manually forced to connect or disconnect from the user interface


10

Example 1

Internet

Vending machine MachineLink 3G Router

Take for example a vending machine which connects to the 3G network via the MachineLink 3G Router. The vending machine reports its stock level and sales figures daily. The carrier charges by the minute for internet usage so we want to minimize the time that the device is connected to the network.

Time Activity

From00:00

to23:58

From23:58

to23:59

InternetMachineLink 3G RouterVending machine


11

Example 1To achieve this, we can configure the router like this:

• The router will connect every 12 hours with a random dial timer of 1 minute meaning that it will dial at a random time within 1 minute of the time it is due to dial.

• It will stay online for at least 1 minute after the last packet of data is transmitted or received and will disconnect within 2 minutes, regardless of whether the data has been transmitted.

• If it fails to transmit the data during the time of the connection, it must wait 12 hours for the next window of opportunity to connect.


12

Example 2

Say the same vending machine is required to send data back to head office each time a purchase is made. When a purchase is made, the router generates TCP traffic in an outbound direction. We want the router to keep the mobile broadband connection offline until traffic is generated by the vending machine.

Internet


Status Activity

No traffic

TCP traffic Internet

MachineLink 3G RouterVending machine


13

Example 2To achieve this, we can configure the router like this:

• Enable Connect on demand by clicking the Connect on demand toggle key.

• We don’t want other traffic types to trigger the broadband connection so turn on Ignore ICMP and Ignore UDP. Ensure that Ignore TCP is set to OFF so that TCP traffic triggers the mobile broadband connection to connect.

• Just to be sure that DNS, NTP and Microsoft network awareness traffic do not wake up the broadband connection, toggle these keys to the ON position.


14

Example 2The vending machine only needs less than 1 minute to send the data so we can configure the router to:

• Stay online for at least 1 minute after data activity

• Stay online for at least 1 minute after connecting

• Wait 10 seconds before redialling the connection

These settings will ensure that the vending machine has enough time to transmit its message without the connection dropping.


15

Example 3

Internet


In another scenario, the vending machine is required to send data at hourly intervals.

Time Activity

00:00 – 00:0201:00 – 01:0202:00 – 02:0203:00 – 03:02Etc.

All other times Internet

MachineLink 3G RouterVending machine


16

Example 3The vending machine only needs less than 1 minute to send the data so we can configure the router to:

• Stay online for at least 1 minute after data activity

• Stay online for at least 1 minute after connecting

• Wait 10 seconds before redialling the connection

• Connect regularly every 1 hour

These settings will ensure that the vending machine has enough time to transmit its message without the connection dropping.


17

For more informationFor more information on Connect-on-demand, a whitepaper is available on the NetComm Wireless website at http://vodafone.netcommwireless.com

Vodafone MachineLink 3G

Documents

Transcript of Vodafone MachineLink 3G