interSeptor Support FAQs

interSeptor is an ethernet environmental monitoring system that is used to monitor a variety of environmental conditions in critical IT and comms rooms and racks.

interSeptor is supplied with a temperature/humidity sensor as standard and this will usually be a key requirement. Over-heating in IT rooms due to air conditioning failure is one of the most common causes of system downtime.

Yes. interSeptor can accommodate a variety of optional sensors to detect other environmental alarm conditions: Water, smoke, security, power. As well as dry contact cables to provide for your own alarms.

interSeptor can send out emails to up to 4 recipients to notify both alarms and day to day status conditions. The optional Jacarta Alert Centre package can also be used to provide SMS and Voice message alerts. Also, as interSeptor is an SNMP device, it can integrate into network management system (NMS) if required.

For temperature and humidity, it is possible to configure high/low warning and critical alarm thresholds. Once these are exceeded interSeptor will provide an alert. For other sensors (security, water, power, smoke and dry contact), interSeptor will provide an alert as soon as the sensor switches to an alarm condition.

All the interSeptor sensors have been designed for quick and easy installation and monitoring. The temperature / humidity probes connect directly into the interSeptor and any optional sensors are simply connected to the temperature/humidity probe.
This is a key benefit of the interSeptor design as it helps to minimise cabling runs to the additional sensors.

Two temperature or temperature / humidity sensors can be connected to the interSeptor.

Two to each temperature/humidity or temperature probe. So if you have two temperature/humidity probes with your interSeptor, you can connect up to 4 optional sensors.

There are currently five different optional sensors : smoke, water leak, power, security and dry contact sensors.

The interSeptor smoke detector uses an ionosiation type detection system to check for smoke. When smoke is detected an audible alarm sounds and the smoke detector sends a signal to the interSeptor to start the alarm process.

The interSeptor water detector uses a specially designed cable to detect the presence of moisture at any point along the length of the cable. The water detection unit will sound an audible alarm upon detection and also sends a signal to the interSeptor to start the alarm process.

The interSeptor security sensors are based around magnetic reed switches that signal the interSeptor when they are moved apart. For instance, the two halves of the reed switch could be located on a door frame and the door respectively, meaning when the door is opened the alarm signal is sent.

The interSeptor voltage sensor can be plugged into any standard mains outlet to monitor for power outages. When a power outage is detected the voltage sensor notifies the interSeptor which starts the alarm process.

The dry contact cable can be connected to any device with a suitable normal open / normal close output, such as a relay output, to give potentially unlimited uses when provided with suitable sensors.

If the browser is being displayed without any actual readings (ie. the sensor readings on the comprehensive page or the alarms on the detail page) then this is most likely due to the JVM (Java virtual machine) for your browser being disabled. In Internet Explorer this can be changed by going to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced and locating the appropriate setting.
For more information regarding installation and / or setup of a JVM, please consult Sun Microsystems JVM site for more information.

The default IP address of the interSeptor will be 172.17.XXX.ZZZ where XXX and ZZZ are the last two pairs of the MAC address in decimal (for a hexadecimal to decimal converter online click here.)

However, if DHCP is enabled on your network the interSeptor will request an IP address automatically from the DHCP server (this feature is enabled by default but can be switched off). In this case you can use the upgrade utility provided on the CD-ROM in the /upgrade/ directory to locate the interSeptor. Simply run the utility and press the "Discover" button, and all interSeptors on the network will be located with their associated IP and MAC addresses.

If the BOOTP / DHCP capability is left on (see the interSeptor Control page in the management section of the browser) then the interSeptor's IP will be whatever your DHCP server assigns it as and may change upon rebooting or restarting if the DHCP lease on the IP address runs out.

If a spare IP is available it may be worth disabling this feature so that the interSeptor is always in the same place (in IP terms!)

When configuring the unit over telnet the password entered at the start of the session has to be the administrative password and therefore the configuration options will all be available.

To configure the unit via the web browser you must actually log in as the administrator by pressing one of the buttons located on each of the configuration pages. This will bring up a dialog box in which you need to enter your username (the default is "interSeptor") and a password (the default is "admin").

The administrator password can be changed in a telnet session with the interSeptor unit (which will require you to enter the current administration password). When in the telnet session choose "interSeptor Configuration" and then "Control Group". Option 3 ("Community read / write") is the choice required to change the administrative password.

The interSeptor administrator password cannot be changed through the interSeptor browser interface to ensure maximum security of the password.