RF Node network topology

AllStarLink
1

Hello Community. I installed Debian 12 image without desktop environment, and installed ASL3 as per the instructions on the Allstar Help Page.

My objective is to deploy node 48455, using a VPN to register to Allstar. I am using the open source version of OpenVPN, which is located on another VPS, did create a client file in order to have the same VPN client IP every time it connects, created the iptable rule to forward 4569 to this client. I use this VPN setup to work my WIRES-X node, forwarding all ports to the WIRES-X client, and works, have also used it for EchoLink. I mention this because my pi does not register with Allstar when connected to the VPN.

I tried pushing a DNS option via the pi client file, but still it did not register. So I tried the following:

I also have a working node on a public IP, this is a radioless node(node 48270). I wanted to create a connection between RF Node 1000 and node 48270 similar to a connection using DVSwitch phone app. I created RF node 1000 on the pi. I used the [iaxrpt] credentials from the working node and used them in the RF Node’s pi iax registration, pointing it to node 48270 and not to register.allstarlink.org. On node 48270’s Asterisk’s CLI it comes a unregistered.

So I then created a user, similar to my DVSwitch user on node 48270 , and this did work, it registers. But then, since Node 1000 is not on a VPS, and not on a static IP, I have no way of interacting with it remotely other than by RF. I did try to create node 1000 on the pi with the IP of node 48270 (1000 radio@ip.of.48270:1000, NONE) but this yields no control from 48270 to node 1000.

I would like to make the RF node work like the phone’s DVSwitch client, where it just connects to 48270.

There is no node 1000 on 48270’s rpt.conf since the pi does not work when connected to the VPN.

I wanted to install ASL3 on the VPN VM, but it is using Debian Stretch, and I did install the ASL packages as per the Allstar help page, but it will not apt update because of the Debian version.

Thank you.

TG9AOR

2

Make sure that your network setup on the ASL device includes tagging output UDP/4569 (or other UDP port if you customized it) to go up the VPN. The registration system will only use the IP address it perceives your traffic as originating from. Right now, node 48455 is perceived as coming from:

$ nslookup 48455.nodes.allstarlink.org

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    48455.nodes.allstarlink.org
Address:  181.209.151.104

181.2091.151.104 needs to be the IP address used for ALL AllStarLink traffic TO and FROM the node. If that isn't feasible for the "interior" of your setup, you need to hard-code the internal IPs: Multiple Nodes on the Same Network - AllStarLink Manual. This link should give you the gist although your situation isn't necessarily all on the local LAN.

For example, I have a multi-site ham network that's connected with a mix of WiFi links and Wireguard tunnels. All of the hosts inside that perimeter are hardcoded into rpt.conf on each system because the registration system gives back the public IP each node uses vs. what they are reachable with internally.

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Thanks for the prompt reply. I will give it a try. If I am to put both nodes on the same IP, the iax.conf applies to both nodes? By that I mean the stanzas for DVSwitch, for example. Same user same password for both node numbers? Of course same IP but different port for each.

73

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To make sure we’re using the same terminology, I will refer to the server as the running Linux host and asterisk. A node is a configuration item within asterisk.

You can only have one IAX connection per server. So you can configure IAX at the server level. Each server will have exactly one IA export and IP address. Each node is just a configuration attribute within the server. Multiple notes on the same server will use the same IP address and IAX port. The internals of the system then will route appropriately to each node as necessary.

5

Good evening. I managed to connect the pi with OpenVPN and run allstar and be able to resolve the IP addresses once connected to the VPN by using this information:(Debian Bookworm: Let’s set up DNS | by Oblate | Medium)

I installed openresolv, added the line resolvconf=NO to /etc/resolvconf.conf

then I entered googles DNS nameservers on /etc/resolv.conf

and that did it. I can ping google, the allstar register IP, etc. The only issue now is that stats are not being posted. On the asterisk CLI I get this message:

[2025-07-06 18:16:17.795] WARNING[898]: app_rpt.c:1040 perform_statpost: (Please note I had to delete the statpost URL because I am a new user) node=48455&time=1751847377&seqno=4&nodes=&apprptvers=3.5.4&apprptuptime=90&totalkerchunks=0&totalkeyups=0&totaltxtime=0&timeouts=0&totalexecdcommands=0&keyed=0&keytime=100' failed with code 401 : Unauthorized

And although the server shows registered, iax2 show registry comes back empty on the asterisk CLI. The node list does see it.

I will try connecting to other nodes and see if all goes well so I may deploy it in this new configuration.

Again, thank you.

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Try rpt show registrations however getting back a 401 error from statpost means your node password is incorrect.

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rpt show registrations
Host Username Perceived Refresh State
34.105.111.212:443 48455 172.83.156.171:4569 179 Registered
1 HTTP registration.
The only thing is, I did post port 4570 for this node on my portal, and did enter it into the rpt.conf. But it is working fine, this data was remotely fetched through the VPN.

Many thanks. 73

UPDATE:-- after a few minutes it registers correctly. All works well.

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