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“OBiTALK” vs. “OBi Expert” config: Observations and bugs(?)

Started by sjd004k, October 27, 2020, 01:22:08 PM

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sjd004k

What a wild ride this has been -- my quest to validate my understanding of Device portal/web configuration vs. OBiTALK portal/web configuration and OBi Expert Configuration as a newbie with a new OBi2182.

I've read ShermanObi's "OBi Expert Configuration" thread numerous times and I don't believe the inconsistencies I describe below -- which are on the Expert Configuration pages and the device portal pages -- are related to "settings and service indications as shown on the higher-level OBiTALK portal may display inaccurate configuration information")   ;)

In addition to a device's static database/table of default values, I find that (per ShermanObi's post) OBiTALK introduces two databases: an OBiTALK database and an OBi Expert database.

As I understand it, in order to use the OBiTALK and OBiExpert configuration pages, a device must first be added to OBiTALK's dashboard using OBiTALK configuration with "OBiTALK Provisioning" enabled in the device portal.  The resulting OBiTALK configuration database contains all device parameters.  Each parameter's value is stored in the OBiTALK database; the value is either the device default value (if OBiTALK didn't change it) or the value set by OBiTALK. 

Observation: The OBi Expert database is initialized with the device default parameter values.  Parameter values in the OBiTALK database are modified only by the OBiTALK configuration pages (and technically, I suspect by Google Voice when setting up a Google Voice service).  Parameter values in the OBi Expert database are modified only by the OBi Expert configuration pages  (or can be imported from a device backup) i.e. values are never synched nor copied from one database to the other.

The OBi Expert config page: each parameter has a checkmark in the "OBiTALK Settings" column indicating that the parameter's value has not been overridden in OBi Expert.  When "OBiTALK Settings" is checked, the parameter value displayed is from the OBiTALK database.  If an asterisk (*) appears in the "OBiTALK Settings" column, it signifies that the parameter is "OBiTALK controlled" according to ShermanObi.

Observation and bug(?): ShermanObi says "asterisk (*) [indicates] this parameter is currently being used in the OBiTALK portal for feature configuration".  This suggests to me that any parameter whose value was set by OBiTALK should be tagged with an *, but I'm not finding that to always be the case.  For those parameters that were set by OBiTALK but are not tagged with an *, I find that if I uncheck "OBiTALK Settings" for the parameter and Submit changes, the parameter is then tagged with an *.  I find that this is not the case when unchecking "OBiTALK Settings" for a parameter that was NOT set by OBiTALK i.e. the parameter remains untagged (i.e. no * after Submit changes).  This suggests to me there's a bug re: not all "OBiTALK controlled parameters" are tagged with an * when "OBiTALK Settings" is checked.

Observation: I find there are three scenarios for "OBiTALK controlled parameters":
1)   A parameter's value has been changed to a value different than the default value
2)   A parameter's value has been explicitly changed to be the same value as the default value
3)   A parameter's value was not changed by OBiTALK (but is still a "controlled parameter")

The 2nd scenario makes more sense when examining a comparison of a device backup before and after OBiTALK provisions a device: see attachment "1) OBiTALK controlled parameters"

Observation: If a parameter's value has been updated in the OBi Expert database, changing the parameter to "Device Default" will reset the OBi Expert database to the parameter's default value.  I note this because I find one can toggle between three different values after OBi Expert has set (i.e. after Submit changes) a value that differs from the device's default value which differs from the value set by OBiTALK: see attachment "2) Three different values"

This led me to initially (mistakenly) believe that the OBi Expert database retains a parameter's value if I select "Device Default" and Submit changes so that later, if I uncheck "Device Default", the OBi Expert value will appear again, but that is not the case.

Observation: If the value is tagged with a red exclamation mark, this means the parameter's value is not the same in the OBi Expert database and the OBiTALK database (it seems to do a case-sensitive comparison between the two databases).

Observation and bug(?): If a parameter is "OBiTALK controlled", setting it to "Device Default" in OBi Expert does not always set the parameter's "Default" checkbox in the device portal.  E.g.:

1)   DeviceInfo.WiFi.Basic.>Enable (OBiTALK explicitly set the value to the default value "true"):
Setting to "Device Default" doesn't set the Enable's "Default" checkbox in the device portal.  I suspect his may be related to my suggestion that there is a bug re: "not all "OBiTALK controlled parameters" are tagged with an * when "OBiTALK Settings" is checked"; this is an example of one of those parameters.

vs.

2)   DeviceInfo.Time.>DaylightSavingTimeStart (OBiTALK explicitly set the value to the default value "3/8/7/2" – see screenshot):
Setting to "Device Default" sets the Enable's "Default" checkbox in the device portal


QUESTIONS:
Anyone else experiencing these behaviors?
Am I missing or misunderstanding anything?
Any thoughts or explanations?

With Regards-
Sam