Questions about setup using online OBiTalk.com portal

[restamp]

OK, after fiddling with my OBi202 for a couple days, I added it to the OBiTalk portal and registered a Google Voice number with it.  I must confess it all went quite smoothly, but I do have a couple questions:

1.  The OBi202 doesn't seem to know my gmail password.  How does it authenticate with Google Voice?  Does it use some built-in credentials?

2.  How does OBiTalk.com communicate with the OBi202?  Does it use the OBiTalk voice interface?

3.  I notice that the OBiTalk voice service now has an altered InboundCallRoute: 

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{(290xxxxxx)>(xx.):SP1},{(290xxxxxx):aa},{ph,ph2}
(There is actually an OBiTalk 9-digit number in the dialstring above, with digits in place of the x's, but on the off chance that this may be specific to my device, I'm not giving the full string.)  But, my question is:  What is this number and how is it used?  It appears that it has the ability to access my GV trunk, my auto-attendant, and ring my phones.  Is it used to program my device?  Why don't my phones ring when a call comes in from it?

4.  What is the **5 service?  Is it explained somewhere?

5.  What does the "*" next to the "OBiTalk Settings" in the Expert Configuration Menu mean?

6.  Finally, if I decide I'd rather manage the device locally, can I use System Mgmt -> Device Update -> Backup,
remove the OBi202 from the OBiTalk.com portal, and then restore from the backup, or will this hopelessly mess things up.

Thanks in advance.

[drgeoff]

Some answers:

2. Not sure what you mean by "Obitalk voice interface". They communicate by data packets over the internet.

3. That 290 number is probably that of the unique softphone number Obihai has allocated to you should you ever wish to use it. Look on your Dashboard and read the stuff about "Circle of Trust".

4.  **5 is the mechanism for registering an Obi with the portal. It is more secure than just manually entering the 9 digit number on a web page.   Anyone could enter any number. AFAIK there is no published documentation.

6. My understanding is that making the backup is not necessary. If you switch from configuring via the portal to locally, the portal settings are already in the device's flash chip and do not disappear when you disable remote provisioning.  However,  if you go the other way,  enabling remote provisioning will overwrite what you had set locally. That is when making a backup and importing it into Obitalk Expert is useful. Be aware that backups contain no passwords so those need to be re-entered manually.

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drgeoff, thanks for your answers.  Referring to the numbers in my original query,

1.  Unlike the Asterisk GV implementation, the OBis seem not to care about your GV password.  (The applicable SP AuthPassword is left set as its default, blank.)  I do see under System Status, there is a field "CertificateStatus ... Installed" and I wonder if perhaps GV is using public/private key cryptography to authenticate.  If so, this would explain why we can no longer configure GV manually, although it wouldn't explain why my Asterisk interface to GV, which uses my gmail password, still works.

2. What I am asking is whether OBiTalk Provisioning (configuring the device remotely from obitalk.com) uses the same interface as OBiTalk Voice (the facility for making calls directly between OBiHAI devices)?  Perhaps these are two entirely separate mechanisms which happen to both use the OBiTalk name?

3.  My device's OBiNumber is 500 xxx xxx.  I have no idea what the 290 xxx xxx number is.  It appeared after I registered my device with obitalk.com.  If you try to call it, you get a "404 not found" error.  What do others have in their Setup Wizard -> OBiTALK InboundCallRoute (at the bottom of the page)?

6.  I thought I had observed that when I deregistered my OBi200 from obitalk.com provisioning, that it removed what it has provisioned.  I suppose that if you manually disable remote provisioning first (Will setting all System Mgmt -> Auto Provisioning Methods to "Disabled" accomplish this?) then it won't be able to do this and the device may retain its programming.

Anyway, thanks for your assistance and if anyone can shed any additional light on these questions, I'd be grateful for the input.

[drgeoff]

Look at your Dashboard.  Isn't that 290 number shown against Softphone?  Until/unless you install a Softphone (Obion) and give it that number, it doesn't do anything.

You automatically get one gratis Softphone number per Obitalk account.

[drgeoff]

6.  I thought I had observed that when I deregistered my OBi200 from obitalk.com provisioning, that it removed what it has provisioned.  I suppose that if you manually disable remote provisioning first (Will setting all System Mgmt -> Auto Provisioning Methods to "Disabled" accomplish this?) then it won't be able to do this and the device may retain its programming.

De-registering is not the same as disabling Obitalk provisioning.  Setting all the auto provisioning methods to disabled will not erase settings on the device.

[restamp]

Look at your Dashboard.  Isn't that 290 number shown against Softphone?  Until/unless you install a Softphone (Obion) and give it that number, it doesn't do anything.
You automatically get one gratis Softphone number per Obitalk account.

I think you're right about the soft phone, drgeoff.  I remember seeing a soft phone entry on the dashboard when I registered my OBi200, but didn't pay too much attention to it at the time.  It disappeared when I deregistered the OBi200, and doesn't show up in the dahsboard again now that I've registered the OBi202.  (A bug?)  I don't recall the soft phone's Obi number, but there is some ancillary evidence that the number in question does equate to a soft phone -- something to look into if I ever have occasion to want one.

Regarding your second response:  So, if I decide I want to start manually maintaining my OBi, I should just turn off OBiTalk provisioning, but leave the device registered?   I guess that would work.  Actually, it would probably be a mistake to go with manual provisioning if GV is involved as it might be problematic if I ever wanted to add a second GV number to the device.

Thanks.

[SteveInWA]

drgeoff, thanks for your answers.  Referring to the numbers in my original query,

1.  Unlike the Asterisk GV implementation, the OBis seem not to care about your GV password.  (The applicable SP AuthPassword is left set as its default, blank.)  I do see under System Status, there is a field "CertificateStatus ... Installed" and I wonder if perhaps GV is using public/private key cryptography to authenticate.  If so, this would explain why we can no longer configure GV manually, although it wouldn't explain why my Asterisk interface to GV, which uses my gmail password, still works.

This has been discussed at great length, here on this forum.  Do some reading through the forum to learn more.

OBi devices now use Google's approved OAUTH 2.0 authentication method to permit access to the service on your Google account by presenting a secure access token.  The OBi password field is unused, as it should be, for security reasons.  The OBi doesn't store your Google password.  The other (non-OBi) methods that still submit your user name and password are obsolete and neither recommended nor supported by Google.

With regard to swapping between portal-based or local configuration, you can read Robert's post on making use of backups:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8685.msg57331#msg57331

[azrobert]

To display the OBion app on the dashboard:
From the OBiTalk dashboard click Edit Profile on the left column.
At the bottom of the page check "View Softphone on Dashboard"
Also check "Enable Obi Expert..."
Now you can go directly to OBi Expert from the dashboard by clicking on the icon.
Click Submit Query.

[OzarkEdge]

Regarding your second response:  So, if I decide I want to start manually maintaining my OBi, I should just turn off OBiTalk provisioning, but leave the device registered?   I guess that would work.  Actually, it would probably be a mistake to go with manual provisioning if GV is involved as it might be problematic if I ever wanted to add a second GV number to the device.

If you use OBiTALK Provisioning to enable GV and then want to manage your OBi using its local web interface, I would fully disconnect and remove your OBi from online and disable these OBi settings:

Auto Provisioning - Auto Firmware Update::Method = Disabled ;prohibit remote access.
Auto Provisioning - ITSP Provisioning::Method = Disabled ;prohibit remote access.
Auto Provisioning - OBiTalk Provisioning::Method = Disabled ;prohibit remote access.
OBiTALK Service - OBiTALK Service Settings::Enable = NOT checked ;prohibit remote access.

It would be nice if Obihai could implement a simple button control on OBiTALK Provisioning to enable GV on SPn and that's all... no long term marriage to OBiTALK Provisioning required, no risk of OBiTALK Provisioning overwriting a working OBi configuration... just enable GV on SPn and then get the hell out of the way.

OE

[restamp]

Thanks for the pointers, folks.  I'm beginning to understand the OBi better, little-by-little.  BTW, with azrobert's assist, I did find my Softphone entry, and yes, it was the same 290 number.