Our office PBX croaked during a power outage and I spent some fifteen hours getting our SPA3102 hooked back up to a new PIAF (which I now regret) install. All the HOWTOs I found out there were mostly long lists of instructions that didn’t really explain what was going on, and following them didn’t work for me, so in the end, I cleared everything out and worked it all out myself.
This HOWTO is the result of that. I broke the HOWTO up into separate pieces, each of which get one function working: Syslog, Line 1, PSTN line dial out, PSTN line dial in. I put in some simple tests to make sure the reader is on track as she goes along. There’s also a crash-course in SIP debugging at the end. The idea is to make each piece shorter and more manageable, and to give the reader tools to understand the logic behind the configuration instead of blindly following steps.
I think it’s pretty complete and doesn’t assume too much background knowledge, but it also isn’t for the reader who wants a cookbook to follow without actually understanding what he is doing. I would love feedback on the HOWTO. YMMV, and enjoy.
It must be noted that configuring a SPA3000/SPA3102 is not a “one size fits all” operation, You have to make some choices with regard to certain settings. For example, there is one way to configure the unit that makes sense if you have Caller ID service on the PSTN line, but a couple of settings should be tweaked if there is no Caller ID data coming in on that line. Also, there are ways to tweak volume levels, etc. But at least you addressed the bad default setting for the RTP Packet Size (my #1 gripe about many of the howtos out there - if you don’t fix this setting you will very likely get clicks and pops and other weirdness that is impossible to fix without changing the RTP Packet Size setting).
My suggestion would be that people who are Linux geeks and enjoy using the command line, etc. start with your howto - that’s obviously your intended audience - but they should probably also at least take a look at the link above to check for additional applicable information. Those who get cold chills when confronted with a Linux command prompt will almost certainly want to start with our page, which is probably a bit more verbose than it has to be (the result of one person starting the page and another adding much of the existing content) but will almost certainly get SPA3000/SPA3102 users up and running.
Good points, wiseoldowl. I referenced (twice!) your HOWTO in mine. I’ll find some time to add the tweaks you recommend in my own HOWTO. For now, I mentioned their nature and pointed to your HOWTO.
zultron, I added a link back to your page from mine (well, not entirely mine, I just updated it and added some info). I can see where your page might have greater appeal to certain types of people, particularly those who cut their teeth on Linux and/or write code while they sleep. Not to imply that it would only appeal to such folks.
I tend to write the type of pages I would want to read, giving all the options I know of (that are significant, anyway) and in some cases explaining the “why” behind different option choices. Others prefer a more terse style. My only concern is that if you are unaware of some options (or how to configure them), these may be the very things that you need to know to fix problems. That said, I’ll probably never win any awards for my writing style, and particularly not for brevity, so it’s good to have more than one place to obtain such information.
Not to imply that it would only appeal to such folks.