Networked Point of Sale terminal/workstation

[winging_IT]

Hi guys, first post. Great site here, great resources.

 

A bit of history of my situation, sorry to bore you.

 

It appears I have become the default IT guy at work, I have a smattering of knowledge of bits and pieces but due to being busy, other unrelated duties (my actual job), ADD or laziness most times I don't have the necessary skills to know what I am doing.

 

Networking for instance I'm aware of the basic concepts but I never get to use what I learn since I don't have admin access (head office IT staff 250km away does).

 

My issue at the moment is I have to find out how to connect a Point of Sale (POS) terminal/workstation to the POS server (Windows Server 2003...no admin password of course). It should be as easy, the problem is in the server room the POS terminal isn't patched to the correct router since the POS workstation was moved a new network jack has to be set up. All of this done without head office IT being here or caring if it works or not (long story, don't ask).

 

I compared a working POS workstation that is working and tried to hook up the other in the same way but it doesn't appear to be working. I wonder if the POS server network service has to be restarted or refreshed since the POS terminal I connected to the "live" system.

 

It's confusing, the POS workstation network jack goes up to a 3rd floor patch panel, to a Cisco 3750 router, the router output goes to a cross connect panel which is connected to another cross connect panel on the 1st floor, from that cross connect it's patched to yet another Cisco 3750 router and from there I lost it (what a mess) but I assume it's connected somehow or somewhere to the POS server - the server is only inches away from that router!

 

Sorry for the novel, I'm interested in learning this but it's frustration without the support or necessary access.

[jamesreedersmith]

Chances are the routers and/or switches are acting as intelligent hardware and not getting the traffic from the terminal to the server - if you put the new terminal on the exact cable of the old one does it work?

[winging_IT]

Chances are the routers and/or switches are acting as intelligent hardware and not getting the traffic from the terminal to the server - if you put the new terminal on the exact cable of the old one does it work?

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I wish I could James but the area where it used to be was torn down and completely redesigned, if I can track down its old network jack name/designation on the panel I could just re-use that cable but nothing is labeled.

 

What I don't know is anything about Cisco routers, is each port assigned a specific IP address, I'm just plugging it in and if I get a green link light and I see activity (no orange light so no collisions/problems?) I assume something is working or traffic is flowing. I'm curious to know where the POS terminal gets its IP address since it's going through two routers, I mean I assume the Cisco 3750 is a only router but which one is assigning an IP address, it must be static IP I can't see it being dynamic.

 

I may use Ophcrack to see if it can detect all the passwords on the server, I've had luck with it on Win XP but I'm not sure how different Windows Server is, it does seem significantly different just from the looks of it and they way it's set up (I have it running in Virtualbox to practice).

 

As frustrating as this is (more so because it was dumped on me) in a way I'm loving it since I'd rather do this than what I do now (which I'd rather not say).

[clareq]

I would have thought the server would allocate IP addresses via DHCP, not the router.

[jamesreedersmith]

It sounds like you need to get in someone who knows the system as it sounds like you have a very complex system that you dont understand and would be difficlut for us to help on without a LOT more information. Sorry

[SYNACK]

It is a difficult one when the setup is obscured like that. Are you able to look at the working POS machine and see its settings, this should tell you if it is running off DHCP or a static IP and also what IP range it is supposed to be on.

 

The 3750 is a layer3 switch meaning that it can act as a switch and a router, being a router you are correct in assuming that is would be able to assign ip addresses by hosting its own DHCP if this is the way that it has been setup. I imagine that the switch has probably been VLANed into multiple unconnected groups of ports so it may be that the other ports are not attached to the right bit of the network. The VLANs may even be configured by the MAC address of the individual devices in which case your only option is through central IT.

 

If the other working device is configured with DHCP or even manually then there may be a really nasty hack that would work. Get another small switch and plug in the new and existing POS systems to it then patch this switch back the the working port on the 3750. As long as it is not setup to VLAN by MAC address this should put both devices on the network segment.

 

As I say this is a very dirty hack and it would be much better to go through whatever channels are necessary to get the core IT people to set it up properly. There are cleverer ways but given the shear amount of configuration afforded by the 3750s and whatever servers it would probably take a while to unwind exactly how everything fits together to gain a clear picture.

[winging_IT]

Yeah SYNACK pretty much what you and others suggested, a small switch the "dirty hack" has been done as a temporary fix and from what the boss told me I think we will be getter some better IT support, some actual in-house people which is great but now my learning is over.

 

Thanks for your help everyone.