The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert sends a numeric message via a mobile service provider to a pager device capable of receiving a SMS message. Messages can only be made up of numbers, spaces, and depending on your pager model and wireless provider, a limited number of punctuation characters. Most pagers will only accept simple punctuation (dashes, commas, periods); accented characters and other special symbols will not display properly.
SMS is a text message service that enables short messages of no more than 160 characters in length to be sent and transmitted to and from a pager, cell phone or IP address. Unlike paging, but similar to e-mail, short messages are stored and forwarded at SMS centers, allowing you to retrieve them at a later time. SMS messages are sent to the pager or cell phone over the system's control channel, which is separate from the voice channel.
UCP is the primary paging protocol used by European network providers. This protocol is implemented to run over TCP/IP and X.25 networks.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert:
- Is used primarily in Europe to take advantage of UCP/SMS numerical paging.
- Uses TAPI or Direct Port Access to communicate with a modem.
- Supports entering a password for pager services that require a password.
- Supports pausing the dial sequence, for example while your phone system selects an outgoing phone line.
- Allows full control over modem settings: COM Port, Baud rate, Data Bits, Parity, Init String and Dial String, as well as forcing the modem to behave as low-speed modem.
- Supports ipMonitor Alert Tokens.
Use the SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert to:
- Send custom Failure and Recovery Notifications to a pager or cell phone that supports UCP/SMS paging, using numerical values and ipMonitor Alert Tokens containing numeric-only data.
The Alert Parameters dialog box is used to specify the pager ID or phone number of the device receiving the Alert and any parameters required to connect to it.
To Pager ID / Phone Number
The pager number or ID of the device to receive the Alert. Depending on your service provider's requirements, the pager ID can be the entire pager number with area code, your pager number without area code or a Personal Identification Number (PIN). If you do not know your pager ID number, contact your paging service provider to determine this information. Enter only the numeric digits of the ID and not the hyphens ("-").
From Pager ID / Phone Number
The telephone number or ID of the device that will appear to the recipient as the sender of the Alert.
UCP Operation
The UCP Operation to be used when sending the Alert, as required by your service provider.
Provider Phone Number
The Paging Service Modem Number required is different than the numeric or voice paging numbers, as it is answered by the paging service modem. If you dial this number manually from a phone, you should hear only a modem tone signal indicating the attempt to connect.
If you are using a business phone system that requires you to dial a prefix to call out, you can enter it here directly. For example: 9-123-4567.
If your phone system requires a pause, you can enter it directly into the dial string, using a comma for each second needed. For example: 9,,,,,1-800-123-4567
Provider Password
Some providers require a PIN or other authorization code to be sent prior to the message.
Dial Attempts
The maximum number of attempts that will be made to communicate with the modem using the phone number provided.
Delay Between Attempts
The total number of seconds ipMonitor will wait before making another dial attempt.
Use TAPI for communicating with your modem
If this option is selected, ipMonitor will use the Telephony Settings for the modem as defined in the Control Panel.
Use Direct Port Access for communicating with your modem
If this option is selected, ipMonitor will communicate directly with the designated COM Port.
Modem
The drop-down menu displays a list of all configured modems on the machine. Select the desired modem to use with this Alert.
COM Port
The communications port your internal or external modem is connected to. COM1 through COM16 are supported.
Baud
The baud rate is the speed at which data is transmitted and/or processed, supported by your pager service. Options are: 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400 and 57600 Baud.
Data Bits
The number of bits used to represent one character of data. When transmitting ASCII text via modem, either seven or eight bits may be used. This setting depends on the pager protocol used by your pager service provider.
Parity
An extra bit added to a byte or word to reveal errors in transmission. This setting depends on the pager protocol used by your pager service provider. Several types of parity are supported:
- None indicates there is no parity calculated.
- Mark indicates that the parity bit is always a '1'.
- Space indicates that the parity bit is always a '0'.
- Even and Odd parity insert '1' or '0' parity bits so that the total number of '1' bits is even or odd, including the parity bit.
Use the connection settings from the Control Panel
If enabled, ipMonitor will use the pre-configured modem settings stored in the Control Panel.
Init String
A group of commands that initialize the modem, usually starting with "AT," for "attention". The initialization string typically sets options such as speed, error correction, compression, various timeout values, and display options.
Dial String
The commands or access codes ipMonitor requires to be able to access an outside line.
Force the modem to behave as low-speed modem
If enabled, the modem will connect at a speed of 9600 baud or lower, regardless of its capabilities. This is normally required if your pager service only accepts low-speed connections.
Use the connection settings from the Control Panel
If enabled, ipMonitor will use the pre-configured modem settings stored in the Control Panel.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert can be configured to send Failure Notifications using user-defined numerical values and ipMonitor Alert Tokens that contain numeric-only data.
Send Failure Notifications
If enabled, ipMonitor will send a Failure Notification message to the numeric pager device specified in the Pager ID / Phone Number field.
Failure Message Text
ipMonitor will use the numeric sequence defined here to send a page to the specified pager device when a failure occurs. Numerical values and ipMonitor Alert Tokens that contain numeric-only data are valid content entries.
Token List
Click the Token List button to place a Token between alphanumeric characters, words, or sentences. When a Token is found, it is replaced with dynamic content.
Note: Refer to Alert Tokens for more information.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert can be configured to send Recovery Notifications using user-defined numerical values and ipMonitor Alert Tokens that contain numeric-only data.
Send Recovery Notifications
If enabled, ipMonitor will send a Recovery Notification message to the numeric pager device specified in the Pager ID / Phone Number field.
Recovery Message Text
ipMonitor will use the numeric sequence defined here to send a page to the specified pager device when a recovery occurs. Numerical values and ipMonitor Alert Tokens that contain numeric-only data are valid content entries.
Token List
Click the Token List button to place a Token between alphanumeric characters, words, or sentences. When a Token is found, it is replaced with dynamic content.
Note: Refer to Alert Tokens for more information.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert requires the following hardware to be installed on the ipMonitor host computer:
- A COM Port for your modem.
- A Hayes-compatible Modem that is 2400 baud or faster.
- A telephone line that will not be used by any other device when ipMonitor needs to page administrators.
Should the telephone line be in use when ipMonitor attempts to send an Alert, the number of times ipMonitor will retry the connection is determined by the value specified in the Dial Attempts field.
The telephone line used for ipMonitor cannot be shared with a RAS (Remote Access Server). Even when idle, the RAS owns the communication port in order to watch for and connect to incoming callers.
Before configuring the SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert, you may want to contact your paging service provider to obtain necessary configuration details. Paging services most often accept pages through the use of operator dispatch: the operator types in a message, transmits it to their server, and then to your pager. Most paging services also have the ability to receive messages by modem, which are in turn broadcast by their wireless telecommunications equipment. You will want to ensure that pages generated by ipMonitor are sent to a modem and not a human operator.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert can be identified within a Profile's Alerts List by the numeric readout icon: 
.
The SMS Numeric Pager: UCP Alert can be scheduled based on a weeklong calendar. Refer to the section titled Scheduling Alerts for more information.
For information regarding escalated (ordered) alerting, refer to Alert Escalation.
For information on other features and concepts related to those discussed in this article, refer to the following ipMonitor resources:
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Last Updated: March 30, 2007 | What did you think of this topic?