The Universal Data Converter
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Written by: Maldoror
~~~ChUrcH oF ThE nOnConFOrMisT~~~
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-=[ DELAMO LABS INC ]=-
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What IS a UDC?!
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The Universal Data converter (UDC), by Applied Computing Devices,
was put into widespread use in 1979. A UDC is used primarily in
connection with a variety of switches, to log everything the switch does,
and report it to the Central Office in a standard format, allowing the
monitoring and reporting of a variety of different switches by one processor
without the need of understanding each individual switch. This lets the
Telco-Trouble shooters monitor exactly how much traffic is passing
thru a given switch. Exact number of calls, busys & fraud attempts, are
some examples. A UDC will give detailed reports of such activity, as
well as hold it in a buffer file which you can view for your own excitement.
The real purpose of this piece of hardware is to buffer data, convert it
to a standard format, and send it on it's merry way to the Central Processor.
Information may be buffered for up to an hour, before being able to be
received by the Central Processor.
Which Switches use a UDC?
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Well, apparently, nearly all switches owned by a tel-co use a UDC
for their daily reports. Here is a list of the switches of which I know
may be connected to a converter:
At&t Autoplex 100
ITT/North 1210
ITT/North NX-1E
ITT/North "1200" Series (DSS-1)
GTE GTD-1 (Automatic Electric no. 1 EAX)
GTE GTD-2 (Automatic Electric no. 2 EAX)
GTE GTD-3 (Automatic Electric no. 3 EAX)
GTE GTD-5
Motorola EMX-250
NEC NEAX-61
NEC ND-20S
Northern Telecom DMS-10
Northern Telecom DMS-100
Northern Telecom DMS-200
Northern Telecom DMS-250
Northern Telecom DMS-300
Northern Telecom SL-1 (Seen these around locally)
Northern Telecom SP-1 PABX
Stromberg Carlson DCO
TRW Vidar ITS-4
TRW Vidar ITS-4/5
TRW Vidar ITS-5
Western Electric 5 ESS
GTE PBX's (GTD-1000, GTD-4600)
General Configurations:
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A UDC may be configured in several ways. A UDC consists of up to 6 ports.
Port 0 is usually a dialin line, in which it is connected to a 300/1200
baud modem, so that GTE employees may call to check their switch
information in the field.
Port 0 may also be a dedicated line, which is linked to a computer somewhere
important, but if this is the case, you can't have found it anyways, so don't
worry about it. (Unless of course you another indial port possibly 1)
Port 2 is usually the line which is hardwired to the data output of the
switch. This port receives the messages of a switch, analyses the data,
buffers it, and waits until it is told to send the data to the CP, which
may be every time the buffer flips, which of course is configured by hardware.
It is not required that port 2 be the hardwire, although it is just the
most common configuration.
Port 1 & 3-7 are also multi-use ports , which may be configured
either for a dedicated line, or a standard phone line, just like port 1.
The difference between this port and port 0 however, is that this port may
also be used to test lines other than the hardware set report line #.
(More later.)
NOTE: ANY of these ports can be completely different depending on the
setup of the UDC's cards, and which slot they are in...
The UDC can be configured (though I have never seen it this way) so that any
of the six ports can preform the functions instead of the first three.
If you find a UDC, be sure to check all the ports, and not just three.
The general idea of this box of tin is that it will monitor any
switch, collect data into a buffer, and store it until it need be
converted and polled by the SAC. When the data is sent out, it is sent
in standard UDC format, regardless of the type of switch, therefore any
switch may be monitored by the SAC without having to be converted on
the spot.
Yeah Great what the ?#!$ do I do?
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Scan your local area for all numbers ending in 99xx or 00xx, often
(with GTE anyways) the prefix may be something like 446-9988, or something
outright obvious. Once you find one, you will know, because you will
get one of two things. Depending on the configuration of the UDC,
you will either begin getting a dump of data, which will go into detail
about the switch information, or you will get a prompt:
*B*>
When you receive this prompt, you can make your life easy by typing
HELP in all caps, for a menu of commands, which will seem important at
first (don't fool yourself).
Each letter between *'s represents a separate processor (yes even this tin
box has more than one! These letters will be in the menu
when you type HELP. To change processors, you will need to hold control
while pressing the letter of the processor you wish to change to.
Here is a list of commands for each processor:
The Basic processor
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*B*> DATE Display the system Date
*B*> DATE mm/dd/yy Set the date to mm/dd/yy
*B*> DIAGNOSTIC This puts you in debug mode for the UDC's program
When typing this command the UDC will respond with
"PASSWORD" and will not echo letters. If the password
given is correct, you will get a prompt like this:
*B*> DIAG
PASSWORD 305 > I enter the good password<
DEBUG 1,3 > 1,3 are the ports in use <
?
At this point you can reboot the UDC by typing:
? G
(ADDR)=1000 > I tell it to jmp to 1000 <
Then all hell will break loose...trust me!
O.k. well it will look like it anyway...
*B*> HELP Duh um, a Menu
*B*> RAMPAGE Test traffic data storage area
*B*> SYSTEM Display system checksums
*B*> TIME Display system time
*B*> TIME hh:mm:ss Set system time (confuse them, set it back then forwd)
The Patch Processor
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*P*> ANSWER n Take channel 'n' off hook (neato)
*P*> BAUD c,bbbb,nnn Set Channel 'c' Baud rate to 'bbbb', and
number of nulls to 'nnn'
*P*> HANGUP n Put channel 'n' on hook (log out too)
*P*> HELP Help Menus
*P*> PATCH n Patch calling port to port 'n' (Dial out!)
It IS possible to patch to modem ports, but I don't
recommend it...all GTE numbers have their own COS.
(Easy to find you)
The Plant Queue Processor
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*Q*> ALARM Display the alarm (error message) string
*Q*> ALARM xx..xxx Set Alarm String (change it back if u want)
*Q*> CLEAR Clear buffer without printing contents (not preferred)
*Q*> DUMP Print and clear contents (destructive, not preferred)
*Q*> HELP Help Menu
*Q*> LIMITS Display buffer alarm threshold
*Q*> LIMITS nnnnn Set buffer alarm threshold to 'nnnn'
*Q*> LIST Display buffer contents (Better than dump)(ok!)
*Q*> LIST nnnn Display buffer contents from 'nnnn' to end
The Report Processor
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*R*> BACKUP Transfer a copy of the ROM based table to the
editor workspace
*R*> DEFAULT Make the ROM based table effective (can crash)
*R*> EDIT Engage in edit mode
APPEND Add line to RMT (Hi there Gen-Tel!)
DELETE Delete line from RMT
END End edit session
HELP List Editor Commands
LIST List RMT
MODIFY Modify a line in RMT
*R*> DOWNLOAD Download RMT to PROM programmer (ha!)
*R*> HELP More menus
*R*> LIST List effective RMT
*R*> LIST N List RMT without Heading
*R*> LIST nnnn List line 'nnnn' of effective RMT
*R*> LIST nnnnN List line 'nnnn' of effective RMT without heading
*R*> LIST nnnn,mmmm List lines 'nnnn' to 'mmmm' of RMT
*R*> LIST nnnn,mmmmN List lines 'nnnn' to 'mmmm' of RMT without heaading
*R*> NEW Clear the editor workspace
*R*> USER Make RAM based RMT active
The Scanner Processor
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*S*> CIRCUIT Display Status Report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn OFF Turn off circuit 'nnn' and print Status report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn OFF N Turn off circuit 'nnn' without report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn,mmm OFF Turn off circuts 'nnn' to 'mmm'
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn,mmm OFF N Turn off 'nnn' to 'mmm' without report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn ON Turn 'nnn' ON and print report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn ON N Turn 'nnn' ON without report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn,mmm ON Turn circuts 'nnn' to 'mmm' on and print status report
*S*> CIRCUIT nnn,mmm,ON N Turn on 'nnn' to 'mmm' but do not print report
*S*> REPORT Display names of disable reports
*S*> REPORT report.type OFF Disable 'report.type' for printing
*S*> REPORT report.type ON Enable 'report.type' for printing
*S*> RESTART Restart scanner interrogation
*S*> ROUTE n Display all future alarm reports on channel 'n'
*S*> STOP Stop scanner interrogation
*S*> TEST Dial the alarm number set on the system optioning
board (dip switches on the config board) for
communication line testing.
*S*> TEST 3,1 nnn nnn nnnn Dial the indicated number (on port 3) and test
the communication lines.
If you test with the port you called in on,
you will have to hangup and call back for the
results. (Port 0)
The Traffic Processor
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*T*> ACTIVE Display the contents of the active buffer
*T*> BANK Display bank to be polled
*T*> BANK n Set Bank to be polled (bank 'n')
*T*> FLIP Flip the buffers (this MAY cause polling, depending
on the hardware (switch) & port configuration)
*T*> HELP Processor Menus
*T*> METERS Display current meter limits
*T*> METERS nnnn Set upper meter limits
*T*> METERS mmmm,nnnn Set lower and upper meter limits
*T*> METERS mmmm,nnnn V Set variable meter limits
*T*> METERS mmmm,nnnn F Set fixed meter limits
*T*> PASSIVE Display the contents of a Passive buffer
*T*> TRAFFIC Interrupt or resume traffic after user interaction
with channel 1
Standard Control Codes
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^A Start of Heading
^B Start of Text
^C End of Text
^D End of transmission
^E Enquiry (no not like CBI)
^F Acknowledgment
^G Bell :)
^H Backspace
^I Horizontal Tab
^J Line feed
^K Vertical Tab
^L Form Feed
^M Carriage return
^N Shift out
^O Shift in
^P Data line escape
^Q Device Control 1
^R Device Control 2
^S Device Control 3
^T Device Control 4
^U Negative Acknowledgment
^V Synchronous Idle
^W End of Transmission Block
^X Cancel
^Y End of Medium
^Z Substitute
What is all this?
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The RMT data is the data transmitted to the UDC by the switch. This data
is formatted in such a way that it tells the UDC what is happening and what
has already happened since the last buffer flip. This data is then converted
to a standard format to be transferred to the Central Processor. For examples
of switch output, refer to the switch example list further in this article.
Here is an example of the System Output data, after being translated into
standard format by the UDC:
The first two lines of the System Output data will contain the values
of the 19 status registers as follows:
0 UDC control program number (usually 345, newer versions may be diff.)
1 UDC control program version (1,3,5,etc.)
2 Hour at buffer flip (active to passive)
3 Minute at buffer flip (active to passive)
4 Number of buffer flips since power on (65535 maximum)
5 Power interrupt flag (99 if fewer than two intervals have occurred
since the power interrupt or hard restart; 0 otherwise)
6 Number of reports in the buffer
7 Total number of meters in this buffer (including headers)
8 Hour at buffer flip (passive to active)
9 Minute at buffer flip (passive to active)
10-13 Strapping Card signature
14 Total number of errors since last had reset or power up
15 Number of soft restarts since last power-up or hard restart
16 Number of buffer flips since last soft restart
17 Address of last error which caused a soft restart
18-19 unused
When a traffic report is to be sent, the following header will be sent
(in the System Output) to the UDC processor(s) to tell the traffic processor
to begin buffering the report:
0 65535 (This signals the beginning of the switch report)
1 Message type obtained from the 'type' field of the RMT
2 The number of registers used by the message, including the
10 registers of this header.
3-9 unused (00000)
Ok ?! Now what?!
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Well now that I have explained all the commands, the data formats, etc,
of the UDC, you can now check the RMT or TRAFFIC buffers to see exactly
what type of switch you are monitoring. Here are some examples of the
Data format for the following switches:
Example of TRAFFIC report:
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I 00 HO UR 1:00:00
R 00 ME RR 9
R 00 MS 19 7 COUNTS GREATER THAN 0
R 00 MS 19 1,01 1152 1,02 1350 1,03 1194
R 00 MS 19 1,04 1378 1,05 1212 1,06 1231
R 00 MS 19 1,07 1099
R 00 MS 21 7 COUNTS GREATER THAN 0
R 00 MS 21 1,01 397 1,02 570 1,03 574
R 00 MS 21 1,04 542 1,05 682 1,06 668
R 00 MS 21 1,07 542
R 00 MS 22 7 COUNTS GREATER THAN 0
**************************************************************************
--------- THE GTE GTD-2 (Automatic Electric No.2 EAX) Switch -------------
**************************************************************************
Example of RMT data:
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ACTION IN LINE 007 VARIABLE LOWER: 00000 UPPER: 00079
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-------------- TRW Vidar ITS 4/5 and ITS 5 Switches -------------------
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Example of RMT data
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ACTION IN LINE 006 VARIABLE LOWER: 00000 UPPER: 00837
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------------- Western Electric ESS 5 Switch -------------------------
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Example of RMT data
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ACTION IN LINE 003 VARIABLE LOWER: 00000 UPPPER: 00100
