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  ISDN Router/Hub Combination Devices: A Complete SOHO Solution? All of the other vendors' configuration utilities, though disparate in concept, were more complete, offering the ability to fine-tune router performance from within a GUI or menu-based environment. Unlike the others, Cisco has split its first-version monitoring application into a separate program from its router setup application. It offers general line condition and error reporting as well as historical channel usage logs. Although the router was working properly, we couldn't get the monitor application to recognize the router, and once received Dr. Watson debugger errors on our Windows NT station. Routing Support All of the routers we tested had strong routing support. IP, IPX and bridging with packet-level filtering and source/destination address filtering were common to all of the products. The only router to rank significantly below the others was Ramp Networks' WebRamp EntrŽ with i ts IP-only routing. The Cisco 776 also offers support for NAT, and though we could only set this feature up via the command line, it was the quickest and easiest to install. We set an IP address, range, gateway and Domain Name Service (DNS) settings for the DHCP server built into the 776 router and enabled the NAT handler on the port, and immediately our DHCP-bound Windows NT workstations picked up the address from the router pool and made connections. The address was mapped directly to the single IP address assigned on the Ascend MAX 4000 at the corporate end of the link. With the exception of ADC Kendrox's product, all of the other routers supported NAT. We attempted to test the Cisco 776's compression capability with the Ascend MAX 4000 and had problems getting the two to negotiate the Stac LZS algorithm. In Cisco's defense, we were operating on a very recent softwar e version on the Ascend. The compression implementation was STAC-9, Stac Electronics' ninth implementation of the algorithm. Cisco w as able to replicate the problem with Ascend's new firmware and should have the problem resolved by press time. The Cisco 776 supports fixed Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) community names and SNMP GET commands, letting us monitor the performance and configuration from Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView Node Manager. The 776 didn't accept SNMP SET commands, most likely for security reasons, so we were not able to actually manage the unit from our SNMP management station. We were skeptical about using SNMP over a tarriffed connection, feeling that we might not derive enough benefit to justify the additional connect charges. But when we saw the routing tables, system information, statistics tables and graphs of individual channel and protocol usage rolling onto our management stations screen from the SNMP-capable routers, we were convinced that this was the answer to keeping periodic tabs on remote connections--especially on large networks. SNMP SET capability would have been a plus for the Cisco 776. All of the other products except for Ramp Networks' WebRamp EntrŽ, which has no SNMP support, offer SET capabilities. Although ADC Kentrox's PACESETTER has the most durable POTS interface for driving a variety of telephones, the Cisco 776 offers the most advanced POTS functionality in terms of programmability. It has DTMF commands that provide useful features, such as call transfer, call conference and call-waiting cancel. It also supports "always answer," "conditional answer" and "never answer" modes for bumping data calls or signaling busy during data transfers. This lets the user decide how the router should behave on incoming voice or data calls--whether to drop existing connections or to ignore the call. The Cisco 776 also supports multiple ring types of up to six other devices over its S/T interface, letting users distinguish rings destined to other users on the same line or destined to other devices such as fax machines or modems.
ADC Kentrox PACESETTER SOH
O Access Router
Follow the Arrows Although the PACESETTER has a weaker GUI than the other routers we tested, its text-based arrow key-driven menu utility lets you access every setting on the router without resorting to learning a command-line syntax. It is fairly intuitive and easy to follow and offered us a quick-start setup routine that walked us through our ISDN setup--much like Cisco's Fast Step routine but without the GUI interface.
How We Tested ISDN Router/Hubs HP Takes the Lead in the Fast Ethernet Analyzer Race By Peter Morrissey For other up to date information on ISDN Check out these Links ISDNsights Eicon DIVA Pro 2.0 Hits All The Right ISDN Notes Making The Connection With ISDN Routers ISDN PC Card Adapters: Tiny Bundles of Remote Connectivity Pack a Punch ISDN Connectivity Updated September 8, 1997 
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