[arm-allstar] How do you set up your node, to connect to another, once boot has settled down and updated from allstar.org

[Doug Crompton]

I should probably do a howto on this as it is often asked.

The way Allstar works BOTH connection ends need to have IP address
knowledge of each other. This information either comes from static routes
entered in the rpt.conf nodes section or the downloaded  database.

Static routes are often  used locally but outside of a local network (LAN)
unless both ends have static public IP addresses or use dyndns this will
not work as addresses can and will change and render the circuit unusable..
Portable nodes using the cell system have no way of knowing their public IP
address ahead of time so it is not possible to setup static IP addressing.

Here is the way Allstar works at this point. When you boot your system you
register with Allstar. At this point you (your end) has all the current
online Allstar nodes IP address information. Your Allstar server updates
this database information once every ten minutes. Every node does this on a
random schedule. So if you come online your ability to connect to another
node could take up to 10 minutes even though you know how to get  TO that
node. The distant node will not know how to connect back to your for some
period. If the node your are trying to connect to has done an update
request just before your node was registered you would have to wait almost
the entire 10 minutes before they again would update their database and
have knowledge of your your node and you could connect. So the bottom line
is it could take up to about 10 minutes to connect to other Allstar nodes
when you first come online. Up to this point you will get "connection
failed" messages.

I might point out we are working on a method to eliminate much of this
delay but this is not yet implemented. The delay is not a problem for 24/7
nodes but can be annoying for the increasing number of portable or mobile
nodes where the delay can be a large part of your on air time.

When you attempt a connection and you get no response back at all it is an
indication you do not have that node in your database OR you have not
received the database due to it not being downloaded for some reason. Check
/tmp for the file rpt_extnodes.  If it is not there there is a problem with
downloading it. If it is there then your can look at the file to see if the
node you want to connect to is listed using grep. The method would be:

grep <node> /tmp/rpt_extnodes    So for node 40000

grep 40000 /tmp/rpt_extnodes

If you attempt a connection and you get a connection failed message it is
usually because the other end has not yet been updated with your node
information. Wait for them to update (up to 10 minutes) and try again.


*73 Doug*

*WA3DSP*

*http://www.crompton.com/hamradio <http://www.crompton.com/hamradio>*


On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 4:02 AM, "kd4ont via arm-allstar" <
arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> wrote:

> I know the node I want to connect to at boot. It can take minutes until I
> can manually connect to my target node. How can I set this up so it will
> connect once the ip address info has finally updated from allstar.org?
> My node isn't 24/7. It is a personal mobile low power repeater node.
> Searches on the subject give no useful info to my situation.
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