SARK UCS/MVP Extensions Panel

_SARK UCS/MVP _ Extensions Panel is the place where extension instances are declared. In addition to more general information about each extension, it's type, cluster, identity and location, there is also a "state" icon which gives information as to whether the device is currently connected (i.e. registered with the switch) or not. From -340 onwards, the icon is clickable and it leads to a panel which gives more information on the state of the device.

Dynamic Proxy Support

From -370 onwards, clicking on the state icon will attempt to set up a dynamic proxy session to the physical phone. This feature and its attendant tools; "Adopt" and "Resolve", has been specifically developed to enhance support for remote customers, allowing us to debug right down to the individual phone level. This is particularly valuable for complex devices like the Snom300, which are quite prone to users accidentally "messing up" their configs. Dynamic proxying allows us to remotely correct the problem without fuss. The following limitations apply to dynamic proxying...

Dynamic Proxy Rules

• Dynamic Proxying will only work for locally attached phones (remotes attached via vpn tunnels should, in theory, also work).
• Dynamic Proxy will not be allowed (the icon will not be clickable) for devices which do not have a local browser presence; for example analogue (FXS) extensions, remotely connected SIP devices and devices which are not detectable on the local network.
• Some phone browsers will only partially proxy (largely due to poorly written, inconsistent browser code on the phones themselves).
• First out supported phones...
  • All Snom variants (300,320,360)
  • All Aastra variants (9112i,91331,480i)
  • All Grandstream variants (100,101,GXP)
  • All Polycom variants with some restrictions
  • All Sipura/Linksys variants for browsing but update does not work
  • All Mitel SIP 52xx variants for limited browsing (some individual screens will fail) but update does not work

Adoption

From -389, SARK/SAIL supports a concept known as "adoption". By pressing the "Adopt" key on the extensions screen, you can have SARK/SAIL search the local network for phones which are not known to it. They may be newly connected phones or perhaps units registered to an adjacent PBX. Internally, SARK/SAIL will use "nmap" to scan the local network neighbourhood for SIP devices (by comparing their MAC Addresses with known manufacturers' signatures).

Adopting an Orphan Phone

Pressing Adopt at the extensions screen will result in a screen like the one shown below.

Provided the "connected" state icon is showing, you may attempt to Dynamically Proxy to any of these "Orphan" phones. Here we proxy to an Aastra 9112i which has been detected at 192.168.1.113...

The Proxy attempt succeeded and we are now logged in to the phone.

An "Orphan" may be "Adopted" (i.e. provisioned) by pressing the "Adopt" button. This will take you to the standard "New Extensions" screen...

You MUST fill out the correct Model Number for the phone. In this particular instance SARK/SAIL has detected that the unit is a SNOM but it DOESN'T know the model number (300), so you must tell it - this is particularly important for SNOMs because the model number forms part of the tftp name for provisioning. SARK will fill out MAC address details etc and suggest a free extensions number (which you can override if you wish).

Once these details have been filled out press save and you will be returned to the extensions screen.

The newly adopted phone is shown with an 'X' in the state field to show that it is not registered (this is because it has been defined to SARK/SAIL but it has not yet been restarted so it still has its old identity. At this point you may manually restart the phone and it will pick up its new identity from the SARK/SAIL tftp or http server. However, the physical unit may be some distance from you or you may be supporting a remote site. The "resolve" button can help...

Resolve

Pressing the resolve button forces SARK/SAIL to physically attempt to contact each unregistered phone in its extension list and resolve its IP address. Wherever this is successful, the icon next to the phone will be changed from 'X' to the '!' warning icon. This means that the phone is not registered but it is contactable and you may be able to dynamically proxy to it by pressing the '!' icon...

We will now attempt to proxy to our SNOM300 Orphan and then remotely reboot it...

The Dynamic Proxy has been successful. We can now navigate to the reboot screen on the phone and reboot it remotely...

After restart, the Snom300 will read its identity from the SARK server and (hopefully) register correctly.