UCP Connection
In this chapter you can find out how to install
and configure the UCP IP SMS protocol for SMS messaging using the
Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway software. In addition to an introduction
containing general information about this protocol, this page provides
detailed installation and configuration instructions.
Introduction
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 Universal
Computer Protocol (UCP) connection.
This protocol is often used by GSM service providers
for IP SMS connectivity. The currently used protocol versions (v3, v3.5,
v4.0) can be used to transfer high volumes of SMS traffic. It is used
for both premium rate and normal rate SMS messages.
One of the advantages of using UCP connections is
that you can specify the sender address of the message. The sender
address can be a custom phone number or a short word containing alphanumeric
characters. (See the instructions about the overridable checkbox
below.) Note, however, that some GSM service providers restrict the use of this
option.
Another advantage of UCP is that it allows sending
messages of every type the GSM network can carry. It can be used to
send binary SMS messages (operator logos, ringtones), WAP Push messages,
as well as other types of messages. (Check out the
Appendix for links to pages
about different message types.) Concatenated SMS messages and various
alphabets can also be used.
In order to use UCP to connect to an
SMSC over the Internet or other private TCP/IP network,
you need to subscribe to the service of a service provider.
If you wish to use UCP to connect to your service provider,
you need the following information from the service provider:
| IP address of the SMSC |
| Port number of the SMSC |
| User name |
| Password |
Some service providers require you to
set up an IPSEC VPN tunnel to connect to their SMSC (Figure 1).
Figure 1 - UCP connection with VPN
In most cases you need a fix IP address, which you
have to let the GSM service provider know so that they can give you
access through their firewall. In some situations, the service provider
does not want you to be able to set up more than one UCP connection from
your computer to their service. If this is the case, they might ask you
to use a specific source port for the connection.
Installation and configuration
You can install and configure this connection using the
graphical user interface of
Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway.
To start installing and configuring a UCP service
provider 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 UCP protocol, click the Install link
in the respective entry in the list (Figure 2).
Figure 2 - Starting to install the UCP connection
When you have installed the UCP Connection,
the Configuration panel will show up on the right of the interface.
The first tab of the panel is the
UCP settings tab.
First,
specify the UCP server settings. This information is provided by the
GSM service provider whose service you have subscribed to. The connection
parameters are the host name (or IP address), 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 3).
Figure 3 - Specifying the server settings
Then, specify the telephone number assigned to this
connection and the service provider 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.
Some UCP servers require login. If this is the case,
check the Server requires login checkbox.
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,
and if the outgoing SMS message does not carry a sender phone number either,
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
Sending and receiving, Timeout handling, Communication
link management section.
In Sending and receiving section 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 4).
Figure 4 - The General settings tab
In the other sections of the tab you can make choices
and specifications to handle your connection to the SMS Center and the
status of your SMS messages.
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.
In the right section of this configuration panel you
can manage communication links. At first, in "Windows size" line you can
increase the window size, if your UCP service provider supports windowing.
If you check the checkbox in the Communication link management
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.
You can also check the Limit speed to checkbox (you can provide
the exact time in MPM) if your service provider does not support high speed.
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 5).
Figure 5 - 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 8000 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 5 above).
If you are content with the default specifications, leave
the text boxes unchanged.
On Advanced tab you can make further settings
related to the operator and delivery reports, and you can specify the
Original Protocol Identification. In Operator-specific settings
you can check or unchecked Server requires login and Include
checksum in PDU options if your service provider requires it. In
Delivery reports section you can provide the "Notification Type" by giving
a number from the follows:
0 is the default value set by your service provider.
If you set 1 in the edit box, Delivery Notifications (DN) are reported only.
If you set 2 in the edit box, Non-Delivery Notifications (ND) are reported only.
If you set 3 in the edit box, both Delivery and Non-Delivery Notifications are
reported.
If you set 4 in the edit box, Buffered Message Notificatons (BN) are reported only.
If you set 5 in the edit box, both Buffered Message Notifications and Delivery
Notifications are reported.
If you set 6 in the edit box, both Buffered Message Notifications and Non-Delivery
Notifications are reported.
If you set 7 in the edit box, all notifications (DN,ND and BN) are reported.
After you set the notification type you can select from these options:
Leave (N)PID and (N)AdC empty; Use 0639 and OAdC;
Use 0539 and client source IP and port;
Use 0539 and the following (N)AdC (Figure 6).
Figure 6 - Advanced tab
On Charset tab you can specify how to handle
character set differences. Select Charset Handling Policy from the
dropdown menu:
Best match: Use the lowest cost charset which contains all characters
in the message. (Character substitutions are not allowed.)
Transform: Transform to the preferred charset if possible.
(Character substitutions are allowed.)
Enforce: Always use the preferred charset.
(Character substitutions and character losses are allowed.)
Finally, specify the characterset you preferred: GSM7bit,
UCS2, IA5_AO (Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Charset tab
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 8).
Figure 8 - 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.
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