CI Gear Tech Blog: VoIP, UC, Response Point, Asterisk, 3CX

You can change the ring tone on Syspine IP Phone 310 through the web interface or the phone itself. The procedure is given below:

Web Interface:

1. Check the phone IP by pressing  #*47  (#*IP#)
2. Open a web browser and type in the IP address
3. Use the phone login as ‘admin’ and password as ‘0000’
4. Under YV5 click on Phone Settings YV5->Phone Settings. Here you can change the default ringer volume and ringer tone. There are 11 ringtones built in.
5. Web interface does not allow you to preview the tones before selecting them, so you have to try them one by one.
6. Once done, click on MODIFY. The ring tone is changed.

Phone Menus:

1. Go to the phone menu by pressing #*MENU or #*6368
2. Scroll down to “3.Phone Settings” and press the Enter key (#)
3. Scroll down to “3.Ringer” and press #
4. Scroll down to “2.Ringer Type” and press #
5. You will hear the first ringer tone. Scroll down to preview the ring tone that you like.
6. Press Enter (# key) to select.
7. Press Speaker-Phone or Call-History button to exit menu.
8. You can also use the shortcut after Step-1 as 3#3#2#

Tags: IP Phone 310, Response Point, Syspine, Technical Support

Syspine Phones Shortcut Codes / Star Codes / Settings / Shortcut Keys or Command Codes

Following has been recompiled from different sources including the response point mailing list.

Tags: Aastra, IP Phone 310, Microsoft, Microsoft Response Point, Response Point, Syspine, Technical Support

The LCD Panel and the ventilation plate on Syspine unit are removable and adjustable. It is helpful when placing the unit on a wall or in another direction.

The LCD Panel on Syspine base unit can be detached by pressing the button on the right hand side. Once taken out, you can flip it and put it back in the same slot. You should be able to hear two clicks when it is properly adjusted. For the ventilation plate on the unit, the procedure is given below:

a) Grip the top ventilation panel (see Front View on page 5) and twist counter-clockwise to remove it.

b) Invert the ventilation panel so that the Syspine name is readable and replace the panel.

c) Twist clockwise to secure the panel in place.

Tags: Base Unit, DOS A-50, LCD Panel, Response Point, Syspine, Ventilation Plate

You can reset the password of Syspine base unit if you have physical access to the system.

You need to look into the “Utilities” folder in the installation CD Rom that came with your Syspine System. You will see a password reset utility there. Please copy it to a USB Drive and plug it into the Syspine Base Unit. Instructions are included in the same folder. It is recommended that the USB drive has a indicator light on it.

You might have to wait for up to 30 minutes to get the password reset. Once done, plug the USB drive back into a computer. The executable file will be changed into a text file confirming that the password has been changed. If you still have a .exe file in the drive, please repeat the procedure and wait longer this time.

Tags: Base Unit, DOS A50, Microsoft Response Point, Syspine, Technical Support

Response Point supports only 1 SIP Trunk configuration into the system. That means you can configure only one ITSP/SIP Trunk or a Voice Over IP phone line. However, depending on the provider, this trunk can provide you with multiple inbound phone numbers and several outbound calling channels for multiple outbound lines.

For further details and service provider recommendations, please contact sales@cigear.com.

CIGear is now providing SIP Trunks for small businesses and VARs. Please check the number availability and pricing from the website http://www.33phone.com/ providing services across Canada. VARs can contact us for further details and special discounts.

A screenshot of the VoIP Account screen with sample configuration information is attached for reference:

Microsoft has shortlisted some of the Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) to be included into the Microsoft Response Point administrator application. These companies may not be available in your area. In which case you can setup another ITSP providing services in your area.

The Response Point system uses a standard SIP based trunk configuration which allows you to configure any ITSP providing you the SIP Trunk with login/password and the domain/ip address.

CIGear is also providing SIP Trunks for small businesses and VARs. Please check the number availability and pricing from the website http://www.33phone.com/ providing services across Canada.

A screenshot of the VoIP Account screen with sample configuration information is attached for reference:

If you do not have a DHCP Server in your installation location, you need to get the Security Gateway card for the Syspine base unit. This allows you the VPN, Router functionality and the DHCP Server. Security gateway features include:

* WAN Interface 10/100 Mbps auto-sensing (1 RJ45 connector)
* Features DHCP server with NAT
* Static/PPPoE/DHCP for broadband type selection
* Support up to 20 VPN connections (PPTP/IPsec)
* Firewall to protect your network from internet attacks
* QoS bandwidth for voice traffic

For availability and further details please contact us.

Microsoft Response Point software with Service pack 1 gives you the ability to access your office from outside without any problems. Most of these features are based on the Caller ID.

Voicemail:

You dial the office phone number, and say “Voicemail” or dial 886.

Bypass Receptionist:

You can redirect callers based on their caller id or phone number. For example, if your wife calls in, you don’t want her to go to the reception or play with IVR. Instead you tell your system to route the call directly to your desk phone or your extension. This is very easy to configure.

Step 1: In the Administrator application click on the “Call Routing” and then “Configure Bypass Receptionist”. Check the box that says “Allow to calls to bypass the receptionist base on the caller ID Phone number”. Click OK. The Administrator part is complete.

Step 2: In Assistant application, open Contacts. In front of your desired contact check the box that’s under “Bypass Receptionist”.

That’s about it. All calls from this number will be forwarded to your extension bypassing the receptionist and all IVR menus.

External Access / Remote Outbound Dialing / DISA:

Microsoft Response Point provides you with External Access feature. This enabled you to call your office, get another line and dial out to your contacts as if you were in the office. In Administrator->Call routing, select “Configure External Access”. Here you will see the message:

“Response Point will answer calls from the following phone numbers as if the specified user had pressed the Response Point button on a phone in office.”

That explains pretty much everything. Just add your cell number or another number you will be calling from, and you will be treated as if you have picked up your office extension and pressed the RP Blue Button on your handset.

Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 is very easy to install.

However, sometimes on some of the computers you may have problem upgrading or even accessing the response point. This happens very rarely. A couple of issues that we have seen so far are:

• During or after MSRP SP1 upgrade, Administrator application gives you a scripting error shown in the image below. It will not let you complete the upgrade or access the base unit again. In this case, we recommend using another PC and contact Microsoft for help with XP/Vista Error. Screen shot attached.



• Sometimes the Firmware upgrade from within the Administrator fails. In this case please contact us by email support@cigear.com. We will help you in installing the upgrades manually.
• Administrator or Assistant will not detect the base unit. It happens usually because of the firewall. Please diable to windows firewall or any other firewall that you may have on the system.
• The security certificate will not get installed in Vista. Please contact support for assistance.

Microsoft Response Point Service Pack one was officially launched on July 8, 2008. It is available free of cost to everyone. The only requirement is the free online registration or windows live id (MSN/Hotmail).

Main features of Service Pack 1 (SP1) include:

•    SIP Trunk Facility
•    a better and exportable call log
•    Firmware Upgrade utility from admin interface.

When SP1 was released, Syspine also release some updates. These are the firmware upgrades for the Syspine base unit DOS-A50, the ATA inside the base unit and the Syspine IP Phone 310.

The latest firmware versions as for date are:

OEM Page:    Ver 01.00.15 (filename: OEM_OEMUpdate-01.00.15.bin)
ATA Firmware:    Ver 1.2.04 (filename: oem_ATA_1.2.04.binz.gz)
IP Phone 310:    Ver 1.1.0.23 (files: YV5-1.1.0.23.bin.Z.enc.aes and YV5-1.1.0.23.FactoryDefault.cfg.enc.aes)

If you have any kind of problem upgrading to SP1, please check this site for updates or send an email to support@cigear.com for assistance.

Microsoft Response Point works on DHCP Inform and DHCP ACK. That is how the base unit detects the phones and vice versa. If either of these is assigned a static IP, the auto detection procedure stops working. The phones cannot connect to the base unit and the PBX becomes unusable.

Although we have an option to set a static IP Address into base unit as well as in the phone setup, it is not recommended. In other words, Microsoft Response Point does not work with Static IP Addresses. Please do not try assigning one.

There is a way around if you have a *better quality* DHCP server. You may be able to assign IP Addresses based on the MAC addresses also known as “Force IP-Mac Mapping”. This will virtually assign static IPs to the base units and all the phones. This is the best way to assign static IP Addresses to Microsoft Response Point. Of the record, you do not really need static IPs on the system. It works just great with or without static IP Address.

In case you want to play with phone settings, the admin password for IP Phone 310 is 0000.

Any further questioned can be sent to support@cigear.com.

If you are a Response Point VAR, I’m sure you can relate to this article. It sheds some light on the ongoing debate about phone systems moving into retail.

In the SMB market, the VAR model has been proven to be quite effective in delivering “Added Value” to business customers. We’ve seen many examples of customers who found the Syspine Response Point product at Costco.com but then contacted us to find a local VAR to supply, install and support the solution.

I believe the VAR channel will continue to play a vital role in SMB telephony solutions. As technology evolves, retail channels will inevitably sell to the mass market. However, I believe there can be peaceful coexistence between the channels.

http://www.phoneplusmag.com/articles/indirect-versus-direct-channel-ip-pbx-sales.html

Tags: channel, Costco, Microsoft, Response Point, Syspine, VAR

Looking for a solution to add bandwidth and Internet resiliency without breaking the bank? Look no further….

Astrocom’s PowerLink Pro™ is a family of multi-homing WAN link failover and Internet load-balancing appliances that guarantee Internet high availability at about one-third the total cost of ownership of other products.

PowerLink sits between your LAN and WAN. It allows you to use multiple Internet connections for true network redundancy and ISP failover. Depending on the model, PowerLink™ products provide:

* WAN link redundancy for ISP failover and Internet high availability among as many as 15 links for important internal and customer applications.
* Traffic load balancing (both inbound and outbound) from your network for bandwidth aggregation of up to 500 Mbps.
* Point-to-point channel bonding among as many as 40 locations, providing uninterrupted Internet access for reliable performance of applications like VPN and VoIP.
* Redundant hardware failover and monitoring capabilities for mission-critical applications that eliminate all potential single points of WAN link failure.
* QoS capabilities for bandwidth management that guarantee your most critical applications get the bandwidth aggregation required for smooth and consistent performance.
* The best service and support in the industry, with 90 days of free service and support from U.S.-based factory technicians, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a three-year depot warranty

For more information, please visit:
http://www.cigear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=147

Is a firewall just a firewall? The very purpose of a firewall, to stop attacks from the Internet, also stops new applications, such as IP Telephony, from working. Specifically, all protocols or applications initiating access from the Internet to a device on a private LAN are a challenge. SIP is the protocol of the future for such applications and real-time communication is the future for the Internet. The Intertex Internet Gate SIP capable firewalls all include an access router enabling several PCs and other devices to share a single broadband connection and a firewall for privacy and security. The firewall has the unique feature of handling IP telephony and other applications conforming to the SIP standard.

Intertex line of SIP-smart firewalls and routers are designed for the small-office/home-office (SOHO) market and have unique support for the SIP protocol through a built-in SIP Proxy and Registrar. Intertex products can also include a built-in ADSL modem, 802.11b wireless access, and smart card reader, making it a complete solution for the SOHO segment.

The IX67 and IX78 were developed with the needs of the SOHO market in mind, creating a product line that could take care of current and future communication for these types of users, including live person-to-person communication, e.g. voice and video, in addition to handling their data. During the on-going product development, Intertex has created a stable and extendable architecture and filled it with features like a real SPI and packet filtering firewall, a user friendly web interface as well as enhancements such as email notification, display and control panel, built-in support for wireless networks, and its unequalled SIP support.

For more product information, visit:
http://www.cigear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=141

Obtaining a reliable, fault tolerant, highly available system with ASTERISK® has been difficult and nearly impossible especially from the PRI/TDM standpoint. IP based toolsets have been around for a number of years to allow integrators the ability to provide fault-tolerance on the VoIP side of their implementation. Until today however, providing quick, reliable and robust T1/E1 fail-over has been nearly non-existent. The foneBRIDGE fills this void allowing IT Managers and Systems Integrators to implement Asterisk in the most demanding of environments where downtime is a luxury a business simply can not afford.

High Availability

The general objective of deploying HA (High-Availability) in a server environment is to provide reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS). In the traditional Asterisk implementation model, T1/E1 connectivity is provided by PCI based interface cards on a single server. In this scenario the systems overall integrity and availability is limited by the reliability of that single server. For many businesses, taking this gamble on a mission critical function such as voice is unacceptable.

As an externalized point of T1/E1 termination, the foneBRIDGE is decoupled from the single server limitation and when combined with the proper tool set can be implemented to provide rapid and automatic failover amongst a cluster of servers.

The most common tool set used to provide this functionality when paired with the foneBRIDGE and Asterisk is the ‘heartbeat’ tool from the Linux-HA project www.linux-ha.org. As the name employs, ‘heartbeat’ monitors the state of 2 or more nodes (servers) in an Asterisk cluster. If it detects a fault, for example when a primary node stops responding to the heartbeat messages it executes scripts that allow it to quickly failover to a secondary server. All of this is done transparently and without user intervention.

Rapid Recovery

With the foneBRIDGE, rapid failover and system recovery can occur in seconds, not minutes or hours. Through the foneBRIDGEs’ rapid re-configuration options, we can program it on the fly through high availability tools to begin routing the TDM stream and calls to a secondary standby server in under one second. Add to that the short amount of time it takes the server to start Asterisk and clear circuit alarms and your stand-by server can be operational and handling calls in under 3 seconds, all transparently and without admin intervention.

Uptime During Maintenance and Upgrades

Over are the days when it was necessary to bring down a server for patching or software upgrades. With fone-BRIDGE, the server admin can manually failover to a back-up server and maintain the voice system operational while performing upgrades or patching on the primary server. This unique feature also lends itself nicely to the ability to failover to a server where production testing can be done on new code releases or features and in the event of a bug discovery or issue that may jeopardize the integrity of operations the system admin can easily fail back to a primary server with only seconds of downtime.

Scalability

With connectivity externalized, and placed on the Ethernet not tied to any PCI card or single server, adding additional T1/E1 capacity to an Asterisk implementation is simplified and can be realized with little or no downtime to operations.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.cigear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=101