I have no idea what is going on. Only that there is something taking place where the hotspot network is not providing a connection for the node. I am able to use laptop and other devices through the hotspot either via ethernet or Wifi. My node is connected via ethernet (and also tested working perfect on my home network with ethernet connection).
Any ideas? Was it a real waste to get this hotspot and service thinking I had an easy remote option here?
As noted in ASL3 Manual : IAX-Based Registration, many of the cellular hotspots intercept/direct web traffic and route it differently from IAX traffic. This creates issues for both the HTTP-based registration AND the HTTP-based stat posting.
If you need to switch over to IAX-based registration you should disable stat posting.
Thank you for responding. Taking the first recommended step, I did switch this over to IAX as a first step and had successful connectivity on my home LAN.
But, with regard to disabling STAT posting, I’m not sure what or how. Since the node is not connecting to any other nodes, will disabling this allow for connectivity? If so, I am curious as to why.
My goal is to try and keep this node running only the tools that are provided with the ASL3 download and configure it for operation over the hotspot, without having to start getting into adding a VPN client, etc., that others have seemed to do to fix the IP/presence. This will help me make a decision if I am wasting my time with a hotspot or not.
What do you think should be the next actions/testing?
sudo asl-menu
Node Settings
AllStar Node Setup Menu
Update node <your node>
Post node status
<No>
Doing so does not affect your ability to establish connections. You just won't see any added info for your node on the stats.allstarlink.org page (i.e. no Bubble Chart).
Also, while monitoring in Asterisk CLI, I get these messages about once a minute:
Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.18:20577 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.17:59649 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.18:9601 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.17:14824 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.17:35440 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.18:31825 with no messages waiting
-- Registered IAX2 to '52.20.63.146:4569', who sees us as 108.147.187.18:52737 with no messages waiting
Looks like it keeps switching IP's and ports all around.
Yet, when I run "rpt lookup 66142 " it seems to not always track the same updated IP at the time. Is this our issue that is blocking connectivity?
These messages reflect your node maintaining its registration with AllStarLink. Essentially, your node is saying "I'm still here" with the log messages being normal / expected.
Yes, the changing IP reflects one of the issues associated with using the cellular network hotspots.
As for connectivity, as long as your node successfully registers with the AllStarLink servers you should be OK to make "outgoing" connections.
Thank you.
You mention "outgoing" connections. After walking away for a few hours I came back and was able to link from this node (66142) to another node (66143). First shot. But, when I attempt to link into this node (66142, using the Repeater Phone app on my iPhone) it never connects. And, I cannot establish a connection from the other node (66143) back to this one (66142). It seems to just be one way (66142 ===> 66143). So, is the real issue with mobile hotspots the incoming connections to a node on it?
In order to receive an incoming connection the server for your node needs to have a publicly accessible IP address, something not available from most cellular hotspots.
For those with home cable/fiber networks, you typically have a router with a single IP address that must be shared by all of your [home] devices. For "incoming" connections, you need to ensure that the network traffic gets to the intended server. That's where "port forwarding" comes into play (e.g. sending all traffic to port 4569 to the local IP address of your ASL node).
In short, you should not expect that incoming connections will work if you are using a cellular hotspot.