[arm-allstar] Split site repeater

[David]

Great synopsis. I setup two private Allstar Nodes today, over AREDN, as a repeater link. To bad I did not see this earlier, would of saved me some time. 
I am going to steal this writeup for our Allstar/AREDN discussion at Paris on Oct 14 for MTC's big annual event for NCTC.info system.
Thanks Doug
David KG5RDFNCTC.info
-------- Original message --------From: Doug Crompton via arm-allstar <arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> Date: 9/24/17  12:03 AM  (GMT-06:00) To: ARM Allstar <arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> Cc: Doug Crompton <wa3dsp at gmail.com> Subject: Re: [arm-allstar] Split site repeater 
Glenn,

  As long as you have static or reserved DHCP IP's on both link ends it is
easy. You can set them up as private nodes. Lets say one was 1500 and the
other 1501. They do not need to be registered (no registration lines in
iax.conf)  but you do need to put routing information in the [nodes] stanza
of rpt.conf with IP addresses and ports pointing back to each other. You
also do not do any status updates on either node as this would be
meaningless. The rc.updatenodelist file could be disabled - comment in
/usr/local/etc/rc.allstar and the astdb daily cron update could be
commented in crontab. Once that is setup you should be able to connect
between them. I would use a *73 permanent connect. It probably does not
matter which end initiates the connect whatever is most convenient for you.
You also should setup a startup_macro at the connection end so it connects
automatically at boot.

Understand that private unregistered nodes can only connect to other nodes
that they have specific routing information for and that have specific
routing information back to them. In this case they would be very secure
because not only are they unregistered they also are on a private network.
They could only connect to each other.

This howto explains the [nodes] setup. It would be the same for private
nodes. Just use the correct IP and port for the server you are connecting
to.

https://www.hamvoip.org/multi-server%20howto.pdf

Note since these are private servers no setup at allstarlink.org is needed.
You select the IAX ports you want in iax.conf - bindport=   You can use any
port you want. Pick some high 5 digit port to avoid any conflict with other
Allstar servers. Something like 40000 40001   Just make sure you specify
the port in the routing info  IP:port  - 192.168.1.200:40000

If you want to then connect to the Allstar network add another Pi with a
registered node and connect when you want Allstar traffic. Specific routing
in the [nodes] stanza of rpt.conf would be needed between them.

It is also important to have stable power. Pi's don't like to be power
cycled quickly and that can sometimes happen on the power grid. A small UPS
or battery backup would work fine. Some people run them on the car adapters
12V to 5V 3A and then you could parallel a battery with diode isolation and
a charge circuit.

I hope this addresses you question but it is a little more complex
installation so if you don't understand something please let me know.


*73 Doug*

*WA3DSP*

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