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Control4 driver for Cisco SBS series switches and network monitoring tools

This driver set is the Swiss army knife, it combines network monitoring tools with the ability to automatic reset power lines and/or ports of a switch. So first we need to make sure to have s Cisco Small Business Series switch in the project, a SG300-28 or whatever, 500 series also should work. It does not matter in which configuration the switches are running.

So for simple port control of the switch we just need the switch driver, setup as follows:

  1. Setup the Switch to allow Telnet access
    Login with your credentials and find the point to activate telnet. Usually Security->TCP/UDP Services
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  2. Setup the driver in Control4
    Find the driver by tipping “cisco” into the search field
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    And insert the properties
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    If the driver starts correctly under Programming all ports are listed
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    Each port can be switched on/off/toggled using this variables.

But wait, what about my ADSL that hangs every 2 days? No need for expensive power relays (that hang by itself…), we use C4 combined with the Cisco switch to do the job!

How to restart my ADSL modem if its not responding anymore

  1. Add the ping check driver
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    Insert the IP of the router or in case of a modem a IP from the internet/from your provider
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    Careful set the properties, in the drivers Documentation tab is explained what they do.
  2. Set the actions to take on ping loss
    To get something happen if the ping is lost, we have a variable named device_power_control, it goes to false if the ping times out, true if it the device answers correct. Furthermore a direct relay connection can be done
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    The relay connection can be connected to a low voltage relay (to break 12V or such) like theĀ  one from the Controller, also possible to connect to a high voltage relay from a DIN-8REL module to break the power. The down time is 10 seconds, after that the relay closes again
  3. Switch a POE port of the switch on pingĀ  loss
    Jump to programming and set the ports variable to the device_power_control variable
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Ping is ok but can I test also a telnet port, like the one from Director? Hang on!

Restart devices that should be checked on a telnet/TCP port

  1. Add the telnet check driver
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    And set the properties, again read the Documentation tab of the driver..
  2. Set the actions to take if port is not available
    The telnet driver has the same variables and relay outputs as the telnet driver, see above how to set up

The drivers for all this you find here (login needed)
ping_check_network_diagnostic_driverworks
telnet_check_network_diagnostic_driverworks

Latest switch driver version 1.00.005. Does expose a relay binding for each port
Download here (login needed)
switch_300-500_Series_Managed_IP_driverworks_cisco

Latest version switch driver 1.00.009

  • For each POE port and each link port a separate Relay connections is available in Connections
  • Only ports that are physically available are listed
  • Divers improvements

Download here (login needed) switch_300-500_Series_Managed_IP_driverworks_cisco_1_00_009