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Rearranging SPs

Started by tvBilly, August 28, 2014, 04:50:53 PM

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tvBilly

Using a OBi200 with all four SPs in use; I'd like to rearrange them.

Current arrangement is:

SP1 - Google Voice (curiously still working fine)
SP2 - CallCentric (primary DID)
SP3 - CallCentric (secondary DID)
SP4 - Call With Us

I'd like them to be:

SP1 - CallCentric (primary DID)
SP2 - Call With Us
SP3 - CallCentric (secondary DID)
SP4 - Google Voice

The CC primary (currently SP2) is the default. Everything is working perfectly and the only reason I want to change the order of the SPs is pretty much cosmetic (and that I guess I'm anally retentive).

Is there any "easy" way to do this without just resetting the OBi and reprogramming everything from scratch? Or editing the backup xml (which totally terrifies me) and reloading it? Changing the primary SP is trivial, but I have LOTS of changes in LOTS of places in my configuration.

Should I just leave well enough alone...

Oh, and when I save a backup, with the purpose of being able to restore it after I mess up things beyond belief, do I want to select any of the (1) Incl. Running Status  (2) Incl. Default Value  (3) Use OBi Version checkboxes?

Thanks

azrobert

I've always used the OBi Version backups and restores work perfectly. FYI, backups do not include passwords. If I remember correctly when you do a restore the current OBi passwords are left unchanged, so if the trunks were re-ordered you might have the wrong passwords after a restore.

In addition to backups I keep a notepad file of the major OBi parms. I find it easier to modify the notepad file and then I do a cut and paste. Do a cut and paste to a notepad file and do the mods there.

Is CallWithUs outbound only? If yes, you can setup a Voice Gateway for them instead of using a SP trunk.


tvBilly

All four SPs are provisioned for in and out, so the Voice Gateway trick won't work for me.

I'm encouraged to hear a backup and restore work as expected, and thanks for the warning about passwords not being saved or restored, and hence will possibly re-ordered. I finally found the section in the manual that explains the backup checkboxes, and the password warning was there too.

I take it no shortcuts (other than the cut and paste route) exist that will do what I want, so I guess cut and paste will have to do. Can I also presume that you don't recommend that I edit the backup xml, but rather make changes the "normal" way. Actually, rather than presume, I should just ask.

I've always had my OBi configured to use the obihai dashboard online settings, so I guess I'll continue to leave that enabled and make the changes online. Do I understand correctly that if I turn off the automatic link between the OBi200 and the online dashboard programming, and make the changes locally, that I can never turn the automatic link back on without having the (now obsolete) online settings propagated back to my OBi200?

azrobert

I never tried or looked at modifying the backup file, so I can't help there. If you want to try just make 2 backups and keep one un-modified. If you totally trash the OBi you can do a factory reset and a restore.

I've always configured my OBi locally. If you switch to locally modifying the OBi, you can return to the dashboard by doing a backup locally and then an import on the dashboard.

Are you aware of the new procedure of configuring GV? Currently, it's only allowed from the dashboard.
See: http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8456.msg55553#msg55553

It looks like after a restore you might have to delete GV and then re-define it.


tvBilly

I did NOT know about the new method (requirement) to keep GV working. Thanks for the pointer to the thread, which I glossed over when I was catching up before posting about this. One of the reasons I want to re-order my SPs is that I want their order to represent the relative usage and permanence of the providers. Right now I consider GV to be the most likely to stop working first. The CC alternate DID is one of their free numbers, which if I forget to use for a month, will go away...

Seems like I'm going to have to trash the GV entry in SP1, the primary CC entry in SP2, and the CallWithUs entry in SP4. Then I have to provision the primary CC entry in SP1, the CallWithUs entry in SP2, and finally the GV entry in SP4. I guess it could be worse; the secondary CC entry in SP3 gets to stay there.

Question: Can I leave the primary CC entry in SP2 while I'm setting up SP1 with the identical info? It will make checking for mistakes (and copying and pasting) much easier. Can I just disable SP2 via unchecking the "Enable" checkbox in the SP2 Service screen or do I really need to delete SP2 first?

If disabling an SP (via its "Enable" checkbox) is OK, then I can delete SP1, "move" SP2's info to SP1, check to see if it works and if it does, then delete SP2, disable SP4, "move" SP4's info to SP2, check it before deleting SP4, etc.

(See what I mean about being anally retentive). "move", in the above thought, really means "let the portal configure the "new" SPx to my provider, then edit in all the changes I make to the default provisioned settings (like ring and signal tones, digit maps, who gets 911 and 311, etc).

Oh, and another thanks for telling me how to save settings locally and then restore them to the dashboard, if I ever decide to unlink my OBi from the dashboard, and subsequently want to relink them.

azrobert

You need to keep the SP from registering so the new definition won't be rejected. Disabling the SP will accomplish this.


tvBilly

Just want to drop a note thanking you (azrobert) again. All went well, everything re-arranged, everything working, including Google Voice.

;D ;D ;D

SteveInWA

It's great that it worked, but I've been repeatedly performing factory resets and reconfiguring my OBi phone during testing, and, in about 20% of the time you spent discussing this, you could have simply deleted the device off of the portal, factory reset it, and added it back again, and then configured the SPs, using Obihai's pre-configured settings for each service provider.  Speaking of being anal, this would also have ensured that any service-provider-specific settings that Obihai or you may have added previously would have been removed before changing which provider you are using on each OBi SP slot.

I can typically set up 4-6 SPs (GV + multiple CC + Localphone) in about 5 minutes.

tvBilly

Steve: You're presuming there wouldn't have been extensive changes to all four SPs beyond what the OBi wizard provides, as well as not taking into account all the changes I made to settings outside the individual SP settings (rings, phone sounds, phone digit maps and call routes) that would have been wiped when I factory reset the OBi and the portal. Or is there (yet another) something I don't know about the OBi web provisioning? Would it have saved and restored, for example, all my modified ring sounds and phone digit maps and call routes, after I deleted the device off the portal and factory reset the OBi200? The changes I make outside the SP stuff require much more editing than the SP stuff.

As far as taking advantage of what the wizard knows that I don't, I did. I did everything from the portal and nothing from the local web interface. I deleted GV from SP1 on the portal, disabled SP2 (but didn't delete it yet), then had the wizard set up SP1 for Callcentric. Once the wizard was done configuring SP1, I made my Callcentric changes into SP1 by copying and pasting from the (disabled but) working settings in SP2. I then tested SP1, and when it verified as working, deleted SP2 via the portal. Repeat the same thing for the move of CallWithUs from SP4 to SP2, and then I finally deleted SP4 and just let the wizard setup GV for me in SP4.

I only had to change two things outside the SP settings; Set SP1 to be the default SP instead of SP2, and make sure my Phone Outbound Call route vectored the "x11" group to SP1 instead of SP2. If I had wiped the OBi, there would have been dozens of changes to make.

I only do this stuff once every six months or so, but if I were "repeatably performing factory resets and reconfiguring my OBi" testing as frequently as you are, I wouldn't have been as apprehensive to wipe everything and start from scratch. I was particularly concerned that I wouldn't remember to write down some obscure change I made, and would wind up with the configuration not working the way it did previously. And while it didn't take me five minutes, it certainly took less than a half hour, and was well spent time for me because I learned some new stuff and it all worked the first time.

Plus I like asking questions here, and the answers might be of use to someone else.  ;D

Johnny

I'm with you tvBilly.

I like to ask questions once in awhile too.  Hopefully the answers will help myself and others as well.

Keep asking, that's the only way to learn.

Even if it means wasting a little time. ;D

SteveInWA

I wasn't suggesting that people don't ask questions; ask away!

I was simply pointing out that, for the average (not advanced) user, who isn't customizing call routes and digit maps, the cleanest way to change SPs is to just delete and re-add them.  By doing that, and also selecting the service provider company (e.g. Callcentric, Anveo, Localphone, etc), ObiTALK will pre-configure any necessary changes to the defaults.  It's quick and easy, and it avoids propagating some forgotten tweak that may have been needed for one SP but not another.

As for why I was repeatedly re-configuring my device, I was beta-testing the new 1032 phone before it was released, and new, unstable firmware releases were being pushed every few days.  In some cases, it just borked up the device, and in other cases, features were being changed or added or fixed.  The only way to deal with it was to start over.  In so doing, I found (as Azrobert mentioned) that keeping a manual list of any personalization or unique configuration changes, either on a good old fashioned pad of paper, or in a text editor, in combination with a re-configuration, was a quick and easy way to handle config changes.

As always, YMMV and there are several different approaches to dealing with OBi device management.