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This chapter provides detailed instructions on how to install and configure an SMPP service provider connection for SMS messaging using the Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway software.

As you can read on the Service Provider Connections page, you need to install and configure one or more service provider connections for SMS messaging using Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway. One of the service provider connections supported by the software is the Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) connection.

The SMPP protocol can be used to connect your computer directly to the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) of the service provider. This way you can send and receive SMS messages over the Internet or over a private IP network.

You can install and configure this connection using the graphical user interface of Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway.

To start installing and configuring an SMPP connection, click the Add button in the top right-hand corner of the Service providers panel on the left of the Management Console interface. (To find out how to open this interface, check out the QuickStart Guide.)

You can also add a service provider connection by clicking the Add service provider item in the Service providers menu.

After you have clicked one of these, the Add service provider panel will show up on the right of the interface. The panel contains a list of protocols you can install and use for communication with an SMS service provider.

To select the SMPP protocol, click the Install link in the respective entry in the list (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Starting to install the SMPP connection

When you have installed the SMPP Connection, the Configuration panel will show up on the right of the interface. The first tab of the panel is the SMPP settings tab, which consists of a Connection and an Identification section.

In the Connection section, specify the SMPP server settings. This information is provided by the GSM service provider whose service you have subscribed to. The connection parameters are the host name (sometimes only an IP address is given), the port number, a username and a password. Service providers often use the phone number of the service or the port number as the username. Enter the information in the respective edit boxes (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Specifying the server settings

In the Identification section, specify the telephone number assigned to this connection and the service provider connection name. To facilitate identification and to avoid confusion, you should name the connection after the GSM service provider. E.g., if you have set up an SMPP connection with Vodafone, it is advisable to name it "Vodafone". Also, note that different connections should be given different names. If you have different connections from the same service provider, you can use different but similar names for them, e.g.: "Vodafone1", "Vodafone2" (or something of the like). However, some load balancing solutions require an identical name for different connections. For details, visit the Load Balancing and the Load Balancing for SMPP v3.3 page.

Enter the information in the respective edit boxes. Remember to enter the phone number in international format: starting with "+". You can check the overridable checkbox to the right of the Telephone number edit box. This ensures that you can replace the phone number specified in the Telephone number edit box with a different one to be displayed as the sender of an outgoing message. You can also replace the number with (alphanumeric) text consisting of a maximum of eleven (11) characters. Therefore, when a message is sent out, e.g. using the Database user, you can specify any different phone number or a name to be displayed as the sender of the message.

Note that the phone number to be specified in the Telephone number edit box is a mandatory value. If you leave the edit box empty, the sending will be unsuccessful.

To perform general settings related to sending and receiving SMS messages using this protocol, click the General Settings tab. This will open a panel consisting of the Send, receive and delivery report options and the Timeout handling section.

In the upper section of the panel you can check any or all of the checkboxes. Which one(s) to check depends on what you wish to use this connection for and whether you need a delivery report. You can choose to use the connection for only sending or only receiving SMS messages (or both sending and receiving), and you can choose to request a delivery report for outgoing messages (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - The General settings tab

In the lower section of the tab you can make choices and specifications to handle your connection to the SMS Center and the status of your SMS messages.

If you check the checkbox at the top of the Timeout handling section, you can make the program send keepalive packets to maintain connection. Proxy servers will drop a connection after a short period of time if there is no activity on it. Keepalive packets are sent during idle periods to keep the connection open.

In the Keepalive period edit box you can specify the maximum length of idle connection between the Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway and the SMSC. You can specify it by giving the number of seconds in numerical characters representing any positive whole number. If you are content with the default specification (30 seconds), leave this edit box unchanged.

In the Submit timeout edit box you can specify the maximum waiting time for an SMS Center response confirming that your message has been successfully submitted. Successful submission means that the SMS Center has accepted the message for delivery. You can specify the waiting time by giving the number of seconds in numerical characters representing any positive whole number. If you are content with the default specification (60 seconds), leave this edit box unchanged.

You can choose how to consider a message you have sent if there is no response from the SMS Center after the specified length of time. Select one of the three radio buttons.
Select Sent to consider a message sent even if there is no response from the SMS Center.
Select Not sent to consider a message not sent if there is no response from the SMS Center.
Select Retry later to make the program try to send a message later if the SMS Center has not confirmed its status as sent. Then, the message will be placed last in the outgoing message queue and sent out again when it is its turn.

To configure logging, click the Logging tab in the Configuration panel.
The tab has a Logging and a Log file settings section. Here, you can choose whether to make the program write log entries about sent and received messages in human readable format and/or log low level communication. Choosing the latter option will make the program produce logfiles containing binary codes representing the communication data.
You should check at least the Log sent and received messages in human readable format checkbox, as logfiles can be useful in debugging communication problems (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Logging options

In the Log file settings section of the tab, you can make specifications for the size and the number of available logfiles.
Log rotation saves disk space, as it ensures that older (and probably no longer needed) logfiles will be automatically deleted from the log directory, which is specified in the Log directory text box. By default, the access path to the logfiles is: C:\Program Files\Ozeki\OzekiNG - SMS Gateway\Logs

In the Maximum log file size text box you can specify the maximum size of a logfile. Once this size is reached, a new logfile will be created. Specify the number of kilobytes for the size of a logfile by entering a positive whole number. By default, the maximum logfile size is 2000 kB.

In the Number of rotated files text box, specify the maximum number of rotated logfiles that are saved. Specify this number by entering a positive whole number. By default, the number of logfiles that are saved is 4 (see Figure 4 above).

If you are content with the default specifications, leave the text boxes unchanged.

In the Advanced tab of the Configuration panel, you can define detailed protocol-specific options (in the left section) and specify NPI and TON settings (in the right section).

Selecting either of the radio buttons (v3.3 or v3.4), you can specify the protocol version.

You can specify the system type by entering its name in the System type text box. The system type is for assigning the protocol standard of the other side (SMSC). It is specified by the service provider.

To specify the bind mode, select one of the three radio buttons: Transmitter, Receiver or Transceiver.

The bind mode describes the way of communication between Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway and the SMS Center of a service provider.
Select Transmitter if you use this connection only for sending SMS messages.
Select Receiver if you use this connection only for receiving messages.
Select Transceiver if you use this connection for both sending and receiving messages (Figure 5).

In the SMSC Charset dropdown menu, you can select the character set you wish to use for SMS messaging with this connection.

You can check the Encode text into GSM 7bit checkbox to make the program encode the text of your SMS messages into text composed of characters of the GSM 7bit character set (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Advanced configuration settings

In the right section of this configuration panel there are six text boxes for NPI and TON settings. NPI is short for Network Protocol Identification. TON is short for Type Of Number. In each of them, you can enter numbers. This information is provided by the GSM service provider.

In the bottom left-hand corner of this section you can check the Remove leading plus signs checkbox to make the program remove "+" at the beginning of phone numbers. It may be necessary, as some CDMA providers do not allow leading plus in phone numbers.

The Configuration panel for service provider connections contains a Connect automatically on startup checkbox (in the bottom left-hand corner). If it is checked, Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway will automatically initiate a connection with the SMS Center when the program has started.
If this checkbox is not checked, the connection has to be initiated manually.

To initiate the connection manually, click the Connect link in the panel of the service provider connection (Figure 6).

Figure 6 - Links to operations

You can open the panel of a service provider connection by clicking its name in the Service providers panel in the Management Console.

The panel of a service provider connection consists of three sections.
In the upper section you can find the name of the service provider connection (with the name of its protocol in brackets).
You can see an icon showing if the service provider connection is connected. If it is not, the icon is marked with an "x".

To the right of the icon you can find links to perform different operations.

Configure: to configure or modify the configuration of an installed service provider connection. Clicking this link will take you back to the Configuration panel.
Events: to view the logging of the latest server events related to the service provider connection. Clicking it will bring up the Events panel containing the logging of the latest server events.
Connect: to connect the service provider connection with the SMS Center.
Disconnect: to disconnect the service provider connection from the SMS Center.
Uninstall: to uninstall the service provider connection.

In the middle section of the panel you can see some of the most important configuration information.
The options that have been (re)activated during the configuration are marked with a tick.
The options that have not been activated or those that have been deactivated during the configuration are marked with an "x".

In the lower section of the panel of the service provider connection you can read some information about its protocol.

Gadget Maniak

Wednesday 3 June 2009

SMPP Connection

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