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Pros and Cons of using OBiTALK Provisioning and OBiTALK portal for configuration

Started by MichiganTelephone, April 02, 2012, 11:17:45 AM

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Felix

I think pfranks is asking about applying firmware updates from OBihai, right? Those are two separate settings - you can decide whether to push firmware update and whether to push Obitalk changes independently.

Sorry if I misunderstood your question.

ibotalk

right---sorry for the confusion
so if i accept firmware updates from Obihai does that then over-ride any changes i have made previously via the obi portal?  (because, for example, it sets everything back to default values; meaning i would then have to reapply my locally desired changes)

jimates

If you are managing a setting, either from the portal or from the device, a firmware update should not change the action of the setting.

MichiganTelephone

Just as a data point, I would like to repost the text of a comment by ShermanObi that was originally posted another thread - everything beyond this paragraph is what he wrote there:

If you disable OBiTALK provisioning or OBiTALK Service you definitely lose functionality.  Any changes made to the OBi device should be performed via the OBiTALK portal and OBi Expert Configuration pages (if required).

By keeping OBiTALK Service and OBiTALK provisioning enabled, the following services are available today (more will be available in the future):

  • OBi-to-OBi Calling
       Including: Calling to/from your OBi to/from the OBiON for iPhone or Android and OBiApp for PC
  • OBi-to-OBi-to-SIP or Google Voice Service Calling (and vice-versa)
  • OBiTALK Device Configuration
       Including Configuration of SIP and Google Voice Service(s)
       Emergency Calling Service Set-Up
       Convenient Setting Time-Zone, Attendant PIN, etc.
  • OBiTALK Circle of Trust Invites / Acceptance
  • Speed Dial Configuration Across All Your OBi Devices & Soft Phone
  • Assignment of Trusted Callers' Phone Numbers for Access to the OBi Attendant for Service Bridging
  • OBi Expert Cloud Based Configuration
       By the way: We are Fixing the Config Import Function
  • Direct Support from Obihai via e-mail or Phone
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

MurrayB

I have something I need to understand how to deal with. I may be missing something which is easy with so much to take in.

How can individual Obi 110 be set up with different speed dial lists with ObiTalk provisioning enabled? I am under the impression that the speed dial lists would be under the control of the portal.

Thanks!






 


MichiganTelephone

Quote from: MurrayB on May 23, 2012, 10:39:19 AMHow can individual Obi 110 be set up with different speed dial lists with ObiTalk provisioning enabled? I am under the impression that the speed dial lists would be under the control of the portal.

The only way I know of to do that (short of not using the OBiTALK portal for configuration) is to create a separate OBiTALK account for each device.  That approach may have drawbacks of its own, particularly if you use the "Circle of Trust" feature, which only works if all devices are on the same account.  If you don't use the CoT, then just create a new account for each device.  Note you'll have to unregister the device from the existing account, which will wipe all the existing settings, and then register it to the new account, and recreate your settings.  But because it's on a separate account, you can configure the speed dials separately.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

infin8loop

Quote from: MurrayB on May 23, 2012, 10:39:19 AM
How can individual Obi 110 be set up with different speed dial lists with ObiTalk provisioning enabled? I am under the impression that the speed dial lists would be under the control of the portal.

I don't know how many Obi's and speed dials you are dealing with but another option may be to use a range of speed dial numbers for each Obi device.  Speed dial #1 is forced to a soft phone when managed by ObiTalk, so skipping it you could have something like:

Obi#1:  speed dial range  2-29
Obi#2:  speed dial range 30-59
etc.

All the speed dials would be on all the Obi's but the user(s) of a particular Obi would know that a range applied to them.

Obviously this too has limitations if you have many Obi's and a large number of speed dials. It would keep it all in one ObiTalk portal account if the limitations work for you.

I have mentally reserved speed dial range 91-99 to use with "Single-Stage Dialing Through Any Trunk" documented in another thread.  I use speed dial 91 for Obi#1 and 92 for Obi#2. I only have two devices at the moment.  Mentally the first "9" equates to the 9 in **9 used to dial Obi numbers and the second digit (1-9) is a particular Obi.  This is incidental to your question but is something else to think about when setting up a speed dial plan. 

     


 

   
"This has not only been fun, it's been a major expense." - Gallagher


piperspace

I am regretfully turning Obi provisioning OFF on my two units only because I need separate speed dials.

This discussion was very helpful in clarifying the issues. Thanks!

Felix

Quote from: piperspace on May 27, 2012, 05:00:26 PM
I am regretfully turning Obi provisioning OFF on my two units only because I need separate speed dials.

This discussion was very helpful in clarifying the issues. Thanks!
Another solution would be to keep several ObiTalk accounts; so separate speed dials are getting pushed to different devices.
I have the same dilemma, and haven't decided yet which way to go  ???

Lavarock7

I use both but generally use the device itself to configure (I have a 110 and a 202). For my sisters 110, I use the portal. I wish I could see her last 100 calls because it is very hard to look for problems with only 10 calls.

At home my 202 is connected to the modem and a router sits between me and the Obi202. I end up using my dynamic DNS entry to access the device, although I guess I could look up its real WAN ip address.
My websites: Kona Coffee: http://itskona.com and Web Hosting: http://planetaloha.info<br />A simplified Voip explanation: http://voip.planet-aloha.com

MrGadget

Old topic, but I have just been hit with this problem.

I have been using 2 110's for about a year with OBiTalk Provisioning turned OFF, as suggested when I first installed the units. Each Unit has unique speed dial requirements, as such, the Portal is unable to fulfill this service requirement (unless new accounts are created). I have since added a third 110 and need to manage it from afar.

Several issues come to mind. Can I keep the two original units disabled and the third unit enabled with OBiTalk Provisioning, and setup the Speed Dials using the portal without any impact to the other units?

Or can I in some manner, return all units to OBiTalk Provisioning enabled, and sync the changes on the units into the Provisioning server without impacting my Speed Dials and such?
For Example, would this work on the UnProvisioned units:
1) First, export my current settings to .xml files, edit them as needed (if needed) to keep my customization.
2) Enable Provisioning on the old units.
3) Import the .xml configs to put my changes back on the device and sync the server.

Or, leave Provisioning OFF on the original units, Provisioning ON for the new, and then use a .xml file to create SpeedDials for the new Provisioned unit? Will the Provision Server overwrite my .xml SpeedDials? I am not sure using the Portal for managing my SpeedDials is very efficient. (Editing an .xml file is easy)

The solution would be for ObiHai to support Speed Dials on a unit by unit basis, instead of account, then I would turn Provisioning ON for all units. And, if needed, edit all the changes for each unit from the Expert Portal (slow, cumbersome) to replace my customization efforts.

In either case, If I wanted to enable provisioning, how can I get the provisioning server in sync with my unprovisioned devices? Is there a server upload sync feature of some sorts?

Oh the web we weave.

Felix

If you enable provisioning, your speed dials will be wiped out (talking from first-hand experience  :'( ) If you need to keep different speed dials on different units - two choices are to have provisioning off, or to have the units on different Obitalk accounts. At least, I didn't find any other options.

And, if for whatever reason you have to use speed dial 1 or 99, then unprovisioned is your only option

QBZappy

Felix,

I know that Speed dial#1 reserved for the OBiAPP, what is so special about Speed dial#99?
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

MrGadget

I might be able to live with Speed Dials managed by the portal. Yup, I am using 99, of course. More changes.

But, how can I get my 'off-portal' config into the portal management system and maintain functionality?

I have been reviewing some of my settings, and I can't seem to remember why I have them set the way I do, and everything works the way I want/expect. I would hate to go back to portal management and lose my current functionality.

It would be nice to have a DRC (Design Rule Checker).

ProfTech

There is no way to load an "off-portal" config into the portal. There is a button on the web screen that says "import" but I don't believe Obihai ever got it to work. Anyway, as QBZappy said if you press **5 and register your unit on the portal, a bunch of stuff gets set back to default settings in the Obi and you have to start over. However, for your new unit that you want to manage from afar you should be able to do that just fine. Just be sure and create a new account for it. Be advised that you can't look at call history via the portal and as previously stated, you can't use speed dial slot #1. I have two Obi's that I administer via the portal and one [mine] that I administer locally and it works fine.

jimates

I was a fan of the portal (for unknown reasons) until the Callcentric fiasco. I had to reset my Obi202 to factory settings using the phone port. I thought the portal would automatically reconfigure my device using the configuration from the Obi Expert Configuration via provisioning. Not so. Eventually I had to delete my device, add it back and then manually input all my configurations. If I had to do that, what benefit is the portal.

QBZappy

Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

Ostracus

Quote from: jimates on November 16, 2012, 10:50:50 AM
I was a fan of the portal (for unknown reasons) until the Callcentric fiasco. I had to reset my Obi202 to factory settings using the phone port. I thought the portal would automatically reconfigure my device using the configuration from the Obi Expert Configuration via provisioning. Not so. Eventually I had to delete my device, add it back and then manually input all my configurations. If I had to do that, what benefit is the portal.

Noted, although the ability to load configuration on the device's web page itself is still there, so the pain isn't quite as bad as starting completely fresh.