Questions about ASL capabilities when internet is down

Jean-Michel_Vien_VA2 · February 6, 2019, 7:23pm

Hi everyone,

  I guess those questions has been asked before, but I found no

efficient way to search past posts from the mailing list (and I
must admit I prefer forums over a mailing list that I usually
avoid).

  So we are a small group wishing to deploy an amateur network of

analog and fusion repeater along with other features like
phonepatch. I play with AREDN at the moment and we plan to use
that to inter-connect our sites over a 5Ghz WISP network (kind of
like wifi). It allows us to bring internet to each site and open
up a lots of possibility (VoIP network, network camera, remote
access to control devices, emails… all that over a single link).

  I actually know nothing about Asterisk/ASL. I just downloaded

ASL, I plan to start reading docs as soon as the baby goes to nap
(and I feels he won’t go to nap until mama gets back…) and I
will start playing with ASL soon after.

  So far I know we can use internet to connect to other networks

(just like Fusion Wires-X), but my main concern is what happen
when internet goes down (it is a problem over here). So here is a
list of questions:

    Can we manage our network without connecting to ASL servers ?

Let’s say without any internet network, all our repeaters needs
to stay linked.

    Is there a way to have redundant link between the HUB and RPTs

? All RPTs would be normally connected to the HUB server, but if
the HUB goes down or one node can’t connect to it, it would try
to connect to other nodes to remain inside the network.

    Does one needs to manage links manually or a "link" / "unlink"

switch can be used ? Ex: *1 : connect/disconnect the RPT to/from
the network (trying to connect to HUB first, then to other nodes
until it can reach one) or a user needs to try each links
manually using DTMF.

    For the phone patch I am thinking about using an LTE phone

interface that we can connect any regular analog phone to it.
What kind of interface would be needed for it to work ? We
prefer this LTE interface over VoIP services simply because the
cellphone network is way more reliable than internet.
If you have any good links to projects similar to what we look
for, just send them.

Thanks in advance for your help,

···

-- Jean-Michel Vien - VA2XJM

VA2XJM@gmail.com

W9CR · February 6, 2019, 7:32pm

So we are a small group wishing to deploy an amateur network of analog
and fusion repeater along with other features like phonepatch. I play
with AREDN at the moment

ARDEN is not deterministic, and voip will be a crap shoot on it. Dedicated
links with QoS are needed.

So far I know we can use internet to connect to other networks (just
like Fusion Wires-X), but my main concern is what happen when internet
goes down (it is a problem over here). So here is a list of questions:

1. Can we manage our network without connecting to ASL servers ? Let's
say without any internet network, all our repeaters needs to stay
linked.

There is no requirement to have your nodes talk to AllStar Link. Asterisk and
app_rpt are completely independent for private nodes (beginning with 1xxxx).
The HUB could be a public node if you wanted too.

2. Is there a way to have redundant link between the HUB and RPTs ? All
    RPTs would be normally connected to the HUB server, but if the HUB
    goes down or one node can't connect to it, it would try to connect
    to other nodes to remain inside the network.

You can do a permanent link where if the system goes down it will try to
reconnect. You can setup a script to try reconnecting too if you want.

3. Does one needs to manage links manually or a "link" / "unlink"
    switch can be used ? Ex: *1 : connect/disconnect the RPT to/from the
    network (trying to connect to HUB first, then to other nodes until
    it can reach one) or a user needs to try each links manually using DTMF.

It will connect to the hub, and then bridge to the other nodes.

4. For the phone patch I am thinking about using an LTE phone interface
    that we can connect any regular analog phone to it. What kind of
    interface would be needed for it to work ? We prefer this LTE
    interface over VoIP services simply because the cellphone network is
    way more reliable than internet.

Most people use SIP. There are SIP interfaces to LTE/GSM which would work.

···

On 2/6/19 2:23 PM, Jean-Michel Vien - VA2XJM wrote:

--
Bryan Fields

727-409-1194 - Voice
http://bryanfields.net

JJC · February 6, 2019, 7:48pm

Inline…

Hi everyone,

  I guess those questions has been asked before, but I found no
efficient way to search past posts from the mailing list (and I
must admit I prefer forums over a mailing list that I usually
avoid).

  So we are a small group wishing to deploy an amateur network of
analog and fusion repeater along with other features like
phonepatch. I play with AREDN at the moment and we plan to use
that to inter-connect our sites over a 5Ghz WISP network (kind of
like wifi). It allows us to bring internet to each site and open
up a lots of possibility (VoIP network, network camera, remote
access to control devices, emails… all that over a single link).

  I actually know nothing about Asterisk/ASL. I just downloaded
ASL, I plan to start reading docs as soon as the baby goes to nap
(and I feels he won’t go to nap until mama gets back…) and I
will start playing with ASL soon after.

  So far I know we can use internet to connect to other networks
(just like Fusion Wires-X), but my main concern is what happen
when internet goes down (it is a problem over here). So here is a
list of questions:

    Can we manage our network without connecting to ASL servers ?
Let’s say without any internet network, all our repeaters needs
to stay linked.

ASLs only requirement is that you have IP connectivity to whichever node(s) connect to one another, the internet has nothing to do with it… We run a private Analog repeater network of 15+ repeaters all across a private microwave network built out for just this purpose.

    Is there a way to have redundant link between the HUB and RPTs
? All RPTs would be normally connected to the HUB server, but if
the HUB goes down or one node can’t connect to it, it would try
to connect to other nodes to remain inside the network.

There are a number of ways to do this, from scripting on the hub/node(s) themselves to building redundant networking (probably the better option)

    Does one needs to manage links manually or a "link" / "unlink"
switch can be used ? Ex: *1 : connect/disconnect the RPT to/from
the network (trying to connect to HUB first, then to other nodes
until it can reach one) or a user needs to try each links
manually using DTMF.

Could be scripted on the node(s)/hub… you can also define custom dtmf commands to do custom things

    For the phone patch I am thinking about using an LTE phone
interface that we can connect any regular analog phone to it.
What kind of interface would be needed for it to work ? We
prefer this LTE interface over VoIP services simply because the
cellphone network is way more reliable than internet.

There are a number of ways to do this, the underlying system of ASL is Asterisk - an open source PBX system that has enough extensibility to use things like SIP, or hardlines with special hardware etc etc…

···

On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:24 PM Jean-Michel Vien - VA2XJM va2xjm@gmail.com wrote:

  If you have any good links to projects similar to what we look

for, just send them.

Thanks in advance for your help,

-- Jean-Michel Vien - VA2XJM
VA2XJM@gmail.com

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