Backing up your Linksys / Sipura configuration

[mike557]

This idea was originally posted by mrdude (thanks) on another forum, and is a simple way to make sure you can always return your Linksys PAP2/SPA 3000 device back to a known state.

Connect to linksys advanced admin page via your browser using http://ip-address-of-box/admin/advanced

If you do not know the "ip-address-of-box", on the phone enter **** (should get an announcement) followed by 110#
Your ip address will be read back to you

You should be presented with the standard configuration page.

Now save the page (right mouse, save Page as) and choose a name and location suitable for the backup.

You then edit the page using notepad/textpad and find the line

<form action="asipura.spa" method="POST">

This should be changed to

<form action="http://ip-address-of-box/admin/asipura.spa" method="POST">

Save the file.
When you wish to restore a configuration, just load the file into the browser and click on "Submit all changes"

mrdude has also written a program to do this automatically on an spa3102

[PaphosAL]

I used this method back when mrdude originally released it on the Cave, Mike- it works very well!

But I'd steer clear of using notepad or wordpad to edit html code like this, m8. Be safe, and use metapad (Freeware >> Google) for stuff like this!!

Cheers- AL

[mike557]

It was you that I remembered banging on about this

Just got an spa3000 which for less that £25 inc delivery off ebay is bloody good value.

Plugs in to your landline allowing your phone to make / receive voip and analogue calls.

Using it on the PABX so calls made after 18:00 and weekends go out over BT (free). An extra feature is that you can cut the call off before 1 hour so no charges are raised

It can also be configured so that you can call in on the analogue line and breakout onto voip. This could be handy if you have a mobile with a cheap 'call home' option.... Now you can make all you calls at the call home rate and get the benefits of free UK calls and many international destinations.

Like the PAP2, this box has so many options that it is well worth keeping a working backup as you can easily screw things up.

[PaphosAL]

Mike- can we revisit this please? I've just tried to backup my PAP2 config using MrDude's excellent tute, but when I right click on the admin page (using IE7 still) the popup menu carries no mention of Save page as

Am I finally losing the plot, and succumbing to AL-zeimers?

[PaphosAL]

To answer my own question, with the PAP2 hot on your LAN, once you've loaded your backup file into your web browser, you just click on SAVE at the bottom of the screen

A bit like you'd connected directly to the PAP2 'as' admin via the web I/F in fact. It does the same thing- reloads your config file straight into the PAP2, and you get a popup saying that PAP2 is resetting.

I love belts and braces, LOL!

Cheers- AL

[PaphosAL]

Mike- in post #3 above, you mention something rather interesting, which may (or may not) apply to PAP2. Please help my family out of our current comms dilemma, if possible...

I have PAP2-NA, using only Line 1 for outgoing calls. It has a Local code landline number - free in the good old days of voipstunt. That number is never used for incoming calls.

So basically, we're using VOIP for all outgoing, and our Virgin landline for all incoming voice calls.

Our Grandson in the Shropshire area only has a Virgin mobile, which I managed to skank onto a 30 day rolling contract @ £5 a month, giving him 100 free voice minutes (01/02/03 and other mobile networks), 3000 virgin mobile to virgin mobile minutes (so he can keep in touch with us for free), and 3000 texts- which even he won't be able to devour, LOL! Not a bad deal, considering that Vermin haven't even cabled his area yet, and probably never will...

PROBLEM: How does he communicate with his Mum's (our Daughter's) landline in France? We can call her for free via voipstunt from here in UK.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION?

Is there any way I can tell my PAP2 that on receipt of an incoming call from a particular VM mobile number, to instantly forward it straight through to a particular French landline number? In effect, using the PAP2 as a one-off call re-router?

If this would be possible, my Grandson's call to me would be free (from his free minutes) and my forwarded call to France would also be free, assuming I'm still on Free Days. Else it would only cost me about 1.5p/min to act as the middleman, while I'm using up remaining voipstunt credit.

Any advice appreciated, as always.

Cheers- AL

[mike557]

Hi AL.

I know you 'love' your PAP2 and are very happy with it...... however the firmware is not designed to allow what you are asking afaik

There is at least one possible solution.

I would use as suggested in post 3 an spa3000 these cost about £4 more than a pap2 from Hong Kong. The key difference is that they have a landline port meaning you plug them in to your Vermin line and plug your phones into the box. When a call comes in on vermin your phones ring and likewise a call on voip also rings the same phones. They can also act as a 'relay' device answering the vermin line and relaying on to voip - even letting the pstn caller dial the number they wish to connect to !!

Obviously you would not want all your pstn/vermin callers dialing through your box so (big if) IF you have calling line ID on vermin, you could use this to recognise your Grandson's mobile number and provide dial-through capabilities. All other callers just ring your house phone.

Configuration of an spa3000 is via a very similar web interface to the pap2 and you can save its config using the same trick as the pap2. Configuration as I am sure you remember can be a bit complex as there are so many potential tweaks you can make.

I would always buy an spa3000 in preference to a pap2 because of its flexibility. The only exception being if I wanted 2 independent voip lines.

The spa3000 can handle multiple voip accounts but can only support one physical phone interface. There is also a slight downside to the spa3000 as there is some 'feature' which means you cannot use the g729 codec to provide this relay - for most people this is irrelevant so not really a problem.

If you do go down this route, expect to spend a lot of time testing/configuring. I can certainly give you a good starting template.

If I think of any other solution, I will let you know.

[PaphosAL]

Thanks for that speedy and info-packed reply, Mike!

Okay, I see a spa3000 on fleaBay @ £23 inc free P&P from HK. This will leave me with two PAP2-NA units to flog: my original one that self-healed itself last week (LOL) and it's brand-new replacement still on it's way from HK (panic purchase, when I thought the other one had gone fubar...)

I don't have Caller ID on the vermin landline, but could add it if this is 100% necessary. But this would make me cry, as it's £2-25 per month, which is £27-00 a year - which is more than my entire year's voipstunt costs me!

Reading the spa3000 tech spec, it looks to have TWO phone ports: one voip and one telco (vermin in my case). So there is one aspect of your reply that baffles me a bit, m8... Let me explain the phones setup in our 'umble abode:

1. Siemens C475 Gigaset twin Dect- base station up here in the office, connected to Line 1 on PAP2 for outgoing voip calls. Second extension downstairs in the dining room.

2. BT Graphite triple Dect- base station downstairs in lounge, connected to the vermin main wall socket, for incoming calls (and Sat/Sun outgoing calls to landlines [if my voip Freedays have expired and I'm using up credit] and free calls to vermin mobiles),
Second extension in the diner (alongside the voip handset)
Third extension up here in the office, alongside the voip base station, and also adjacent to an unused vermin landline extension point.

So how would that little lot be reconfigured were a spa3000 to replace the PAP2 up here in the office? I can visualize a line from office wall socket to spa3000 pstn socket, but what happens to the Graphite triple set from there?

A thought on working around the need for Caller ID, and possibly the need for connecting vermin landline to spa3000? My voipstunt a/c has a dedicated local-code phone number which is NEVER used for incoming calls. What if I give Olly (our Grandson) THAT number as his gateway to Mum's French landline?

If that's feasible, could it be setup on his vermin mobile as 015blahblah | pause | 0033blahblah (ie first my voip number, pause, then the french number)?

To prevent abuse, would my call plan be able to block outgoing voip calls to 0845, 0870 etc? ie premium rate numbers that fall outside of the Free Days and would heavily eat into my remaining credit. And finally (honest), would Olly be able to use my voip number as a gateway for dialling 0800 numbers for free, instead of the 40p / min he'd currently be charged?

Sorry to be a pain with all these questions, Mike

Cheers- AL

[mike557]

Hi AL.

The simple answer to your phone configuration is that you plug ALL phones into the voip socket and plug the telephone port directly into the vermin socket(you will need a T piece for the different base stations etc).

Appreciate the description of a voip socket is confusing - depending upon config of the spa the port will pass pstn and voip calls through it. Another good feature is that upon mains failure the spa connects the phones connected to the voip port directly to the pstn port.

Your other suggestion about using your voipstunt dial-in number is another option that I had thought about but unlikely to work. The reason being that you are routing in and out over voip which is something I have not tested. I can confirm that voip in to pstn would work.

As for dial-plans barring 0845 etc, that is all possible on the spa.

Is your Grandson using a smartphone e.g. Android? If he has a data package (and sip is not blocked), he could make his calls by having his own voipstunt account and app. This works well over wifi but can be iffy depending upon the mobile data coverage.

An asterisk server is the solution and would provide you with so many other options......

I will keep thinking.

[PaphosAL]

Thanks, Mike! Yes, there is a possibility of Olly using his Samsung Galaxy S android smartphone, once he's paid what he owes O2 and they unblock it.

At that point, I'd move his VM 30 day rolling contract from the existing £5 a month (100 mins / 3000 vermin calls / 3000 texts) up to the £10-99 per month jobbie, which would give him all that plus 1.0GB of web per month.

However, I reckon his best way of talking to Mum in France with that scenario would then be via Skype voice only, rather than have his own voip account...

Sorry, another couple of questions arising from your last reply, Mike. With both dect base stations connected to the spa3000 voip port via a T adaptor, (and the vermin line connected to the pstn port), will an incoming vermin call ring all 5 handsets? If it will, then I'd need to spread them around the house a bit better than now, LOL!

And assuming that outgoing VOIP calls will be possible from any of the 5 handsets, how does the system differentiate between outgoing voip and outgoing vermin? I wouldn't want to call my daughter in France thinking it was free on voip, only to get a nasty shock when my next vermin ebill arrives and I find that the call was actually routed through them, at their rip-off 40p/min!!

Conversely, I wouldn't want to call our Grandsons on their VM mobiles on Saturday and Sunday, thinking it was free via vermin, only to find it was actually using my voipstunt account @ 23p/min either!

Cheers- AL