Paging Gateway 1.0 Install and User Guide - Virtual Appliance · PDF file• A successful installation of InformaCast 8.2 or later ... Paging Gateway Server Configurations” on page

Paging Gateway 1.0.2

Installation and User Guide for an InformaCast Virtual Appliance Environment

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Singlewire Software 2601 West Beltline Highway #510 Madison, WI 53713© 2012 Singlewire. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Singlewire. All rights reserved.

InformaCast is a trademark of Singlewire Software.

All other referenced trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners and our reference to them does not imply or indicate any approval, endorsement, sponsorship or affiliation with such owners unless such approval, endorsement, sponsorship or affiliation is expressly indicated.

Last updated: July 17, 2012

Table of ContentsPaging Gateway Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Paging Gateway Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Note on Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Managing the Paging Gateway Server/Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Install the Paging Gateway Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Configure the Paging Gateway Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Managing the Paging Gateway Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Manage Paging Gateways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Send an InformaCast Broadcast via a Paging Gateway . . . . . . . . . . 16

Upgrading Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Install a Software Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Manage your New License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Server/Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Appendix. Optional Paging Gateway Server Configurations . . . . . . 31

Change the Server’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Assign a Static IP Address/Gateway/Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Set the Time/Time Zone/Time Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Reboot the Paging Gateway Server and its Applications . . . . . . . . . . 39

Upgrade Software on the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Release Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Server/Application Version 1.0.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuidePaging Gateway Overview

Paging Gateway OverviewThe Paging Gateway is designed to allow you to send InformaCast’s audio broadcasts across a network that does not/cannot support multicast traffic. The Paging Gateway is comprised of three components:

• Server (physical or virtual)

• Application

• Plugin

The Paging Gateway server runs the Paging Gateway application, which works in conjunction with the Paging Gateway plugin (installed on an InformaCast server) to communicate with InformaCast and send audio broadcasts out across your network.

In order to get the most out of the Paging Gateway, it’s important to understand how it works. In the following example, a company’s headquarters has three sites that are connected by a WAN that does not support multicast traffic (see image).

An InformaCast server (with the Paging Gateway plugin installed) is at Headquarters and phones and speakers that will receive InformaCast broadcasts are at Sites 1, 2, and 3. Placing a Paging Gateway server running the Paging Gateway application at Sites 1, 2, and 3 allows the following process to happen:

1. InformaCast alerts the phones/speakers and the Paging Gateway that a broadcast is starting

2. Concurrent to the multicast packets sent by InformaCast at Headquarters, InformaCast also streams the audio directly to the Paging Gateways at Sites 1, 2, and 3 over unicast

3. The Paging Gateway receives the unicast audio and multicasts it at Sites 1, 2, and 3

4. The phones/speakers receive the audio sent by the Paging Gateway

5. InformaCast alerts the phones/speakers and the Paging Gateway that the broadcast has ended

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Along with running the Paging Gateway application, the Paging Gateway server also runs its own operating system (OS) that has its own OS administrative interface.

Intended AudienceThis user guide is written with two audiences in mind, the installers and users of the Paging Gateway.

PrerequisitesThe Paging Gateway has the following prerequisites:

• A successful installation of InformaCast 8.2 or later

• At least one Paging Gateway server or virtual instance (contact [email protected] to obtain one)

• A valid Paging Gateway plugin license, which should have been provided to you by your Singlewire salesperson (contact [email protected] to request a license if you have not received one)

• If you have a firewall between the InformaCast server and Paging Gateway server, you’ll also need network traffic open for the following ports: TCP port 8080 to the Paging Gateway, TCP port 9876 to the InformaCast server, and UDP ports 17000-17005 to the Paging Gateway

Paging Gateway CaveatsSeveral administrative points are important to note:

• Although multicast does not need to be enabled on the WAN, multicast packets do need to be able to find their way from the Paging Gateway to remote recipients. Thus, make sure multicast is supported at remote sites.

• It takes a non-negligible amount of time to send unicast audio to the Paging Gateway, process it, and multicast it to remote recipients (this length of time is even greater if compressed audio is used), resulting in InformaCast possibly instructing remote recipients that a broadcast is over before the Paging Gateway has finished sending audio at the remote site. To ensure all of the audio is played by recipients at remote sites, add a post tone of two or three seconds of silence to any message that will be sent to a remote site.

• When sending an audio message to recipients at a remote site, make sure the Paging Gateway at the remote site is included in the recipient group, otherwise the recipients will not receive any audio.

A Note on UsageSpecific fonts are used to represent specific kinds of information in this user guide. The fonts and their meaning are listed here:

• Bold fonts indicate the name of a button, text field, or other element with which you interact and any text that you must enter.

• Italic fonts indicate the name of an area or section on one of InformaCast’s pages.


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mailto:[email protected]



• Angled brackets enclose text that varies with your specific environment, i.e. http:\\<Your IP Address> means that you would enter your specific IP address instead of the brackets and what they enclose.

• Blue, underlined text indicates a hyperlink.

There are several kinds of notification boxes used in this guide:

• Tip. These offer advice or “best practices.”

• Note. These contain additional information, usually relevant in special cases.

• Caution. These contain information about a procedure that may reduce the performance of your system.

• Warning. These contain information about a procedure that can impair or disable your system.

TroubleshootingIf you’ve followed the instructions in this guide and are still having trouble getting the Paging Gateway to work, “Troubleshooting” on page 28 may help you figure out what’s wrong.

Getting HelpYou can find additional help with the installation process, answers to frequently asked questions, and troubleshooting tips in the online Knowledge Base, which provides Level 1 and 2 support. If you are unable to find an answer through the Knowledge Base, you can submit a support request, which will be assigned to Singlewire Support personnel.


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http://www.singlewire.com/support-knowledge-base.html

http://www.singlewire.com/online-support-request.html

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideManaging the Paging Gateway Server/Application

Managing the Paging Gateway Server/ApplicationThe Paging Gateway server (VMware is also supported) runs the Paging Gateway application at a remote location, allowing phones and speakers that are known to InformaCast and Communications Manager, but are deployed across a non-multicast-enabled Wide Area Network (WAN), to broadcast messages (in conjunction with the Paging Gateway Plugin) by converting the multicast audio stream to unicast and sending it across the WAN to a remote Paging Gateway. The unicast message is converted back to multicast and re-broadcast for the phones and speakers to receive.

You can deploy a Paging Gateway for each Local Area Network (LAN) where no multicast network connectivity exists to point back to your InformaCast installation.

Install the Paging Gateway ServerThe Paging Gateway server is a Linux machine, either virtual or physical, on which the Paging Gateway (and potentially other applications) may run.

Install the Paging Gateway as a Virtual Machine

Use the following steps if you’ve chosen to install the Paging Gateway server as a virtual machine.

Note Singlewire supports the Paging Gateway virtual machine on the VMware ESXi platform. These platforms are managed through the vSphere client. This section describes how to import the Paging Gateway VM using the vSphere client.

Step 1 Download the Singlewire-Paging-Gateway-VM.ova file from the Singlewire website.

Step 2 Open and log into the vSphere client. The vSphere Client window appears.


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Step 3 Go to File | Deploy OVF Template. The Deploy OVF Template dialog box appears.

Step 4 Click the Deploy from File radio button and click its Browse button. The Open dialog box appears.

Step 5 Navigate to where you saved the Singlewire-Paging-Gateway-VM.ova file, select it, and click the Open button.


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Step 6 Click the Next button. The Deploy OVF Template dialog box refreshes.



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Step 9 Select the datastore on which the new virtual machine will reside and click the Next button. The Deploy OVF template dialog box refreshes.

Step 10 Click the Finish button. The Paging Gateway virtual machine will begin importing.

When it’s finished, click the Close button.


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Step 11 Click the Inventory icon ( ) on the vSphere Client window. The vSphere Client window refreshes.

Step 12 Select your virtual machine (by default, this is Singlewire Paging Gateway VM).

Step 13 Go to Inventory | Virtual Machine | Open Console. The Singlewire Paging Gateway VM console window appears.


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Step 14 Click the green arrow button ( ) to turn on the virtual machine. The Singlewire Paging Gateway VM console window begins booting the virtual machine.

Note If your Paging Gateway server has previously shut down abnormally, it will actually reboot twice before continuing operation. This is expected behavior seen after an abnormal shutdown.

Note Depending on the hardware resources available to a virtual Paging Gateway server, it will likely boot in less than a minute. All installed software should be running and available.

When the Paging Gateway is done booting, it will acquire an IP address using DHCP. The acquired DHCP address can be seen in the console.

Step 15 Make a note of the IP address; you will need it whenever accessing the server’s OS administrative interface and the Paging Gateway application’s interface.

No other configuration of the server is necessary; however, there are some optional settings (such as configuring a static IP address in “Assign a Static IP Address/Gateway/Route” on page 31) and administrative tasks that can be configured depending on your environment. See “Appendix. Optional Paging Gateway Server Configurations” on page 31 for more information on these settings and tasks.


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Install the Paging Gateway as a Physical Machine

Use the following steps if you’ve chosen to install the Paging Gateway server as a physical machine.

Step 1 Use a Category 5 cable to connect the physical Paging Gateway server to your network.

Step 2 Plug one end of the Paging Gateway server’s power adapter into the server and the other into the wall.

Note There is no on/off switch on the physical Paging Gateway server; it will boot as soon as power is provided.

The physical Paging Gateway server will take a few minutes to boot; after which, all installed software should be running and available.

Step 3 Make a note of the Paging Gateway server’s IP address, which you’ll need whenever accessing the server’s OS administrative interface and the Paging Gateway application’s interface.

Out of the box, the Paging Gateway server uses DHCP to acquire an IP address. You can determine its IP address in two different ways:

• Access your DHCP server and look up the Paging Gateway server’s IP address by searching for its default name, which contains “Singlewire” (if you don’t know your DHCP server’s address, contact your network administrator)

• Connect a monitor to the VGA output; after booting, the Paging Gateway server’s IP address will be displayed

The Paging Gateway server will run immediately upon properly installing it. No other configuration of the server is necessary; however, there are some optional settings (such as configuring a static IP address in “Assign a Static IP Address/Gateway/Route” on page 31) and administrative tasks that can be configured depending on your environment. See “Appendix. Optional Paging Gateway Server Configurations” on page 31 for more information on these settings and tasks.


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Configure the Paging Gateway ApplicationOnce you have properly installed the Paging Gateway server, you can configure the Paging Gateway application running on it.

Step 1 Open your Paging Gateway’s administrative interface by opening a web browser and going to http://<Paging Gateway IP Address>:8080/PagingGateway where <Paging Gateway IP Address> is the IP address of your Paging Gateway server. The Login page appears.

Step 2 Enter your username and password in the Username and Password fields, respectively. The default username is admin and password is changeMe. The Paging Gateway’s homepage appears.


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Note For greater security, you should change your default login credentials. Click the Change Login link, enter a new username in the Username field, enter your current password in the Password field, enter a new password in the New Password and Confirm Password fields, and click the Change Login button.

Step 3 Click the Configuration link. The Configuration page appears.

Step 4 Enter a name for your Paging Gateway in the Paging Gateway Name field. This name will appear in InformaCast. When choosing a name, you should try to pick one that will be descriptive and unique across your InformaCast installation (e.g. Riverside Elementary School or Madison-West Office).

Step 5 Enter the IP address of your InformaCast server followed by the port number on which the Paging Gateway plugin will be listening in the Registration URL field (e.g. http://172.30.307.11:9876). If your InformaCast administrator has not changed the default value, the port will be 9876.

Step 6 Enter a value in the Heartbeat Interval field. The default value is 300 seconds. This value indicates how frequently the Paging Gateway will send a heartbeat to the plugin indicating that it is still active.

Note This heartbeat is used by the Paging Gateway Plugin to determine if there might be a connectivity issue between InformaCast and the Paging Gateway. For most installations, you do not need to adjust the default value. If you have network outages often, you may want to make the value smaller (the acceptable range is 2 to 1800 seconds) so InformaCast will know sooner that you have a connectivity problem.

Step 7 Enter a range of port numbers in the Min and Max Audio Port fields. These fields tell the Paging Gateway on which UDP ports to receive audio messages. The range you provide in these fields indicates the maximum number of concurrent, unique audio messages that you want to be able to send to this location. For most installations, you’ll want a minimum port range of 2 (a larger range has no impact on the Paging Gateway's performance). Make certain that your firewall (if one exists) allows UDP traffic to these ports on the Paging Gateway.


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Note If you change the values for the Min or Max Audio Port fields after you have previously configured the Paging Gateway, you will have to restart the Paging Gateway in order for your changes to take affect.

Step 8 Click the Save Changes button. The homepage reappears with a note that your configuration changes have been saved.

After a successful installation, there is really no more user interaction with the Paging Gateway application. It is designed to automatically register itself with the Paging Gateway plugin installed on InformaCast (see “Managing the Paging Gateway Plugin” on page 14 for more on the plugin) and listen for broadcast requests.


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Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideManaging the Paging Gateway Plugin

Managing the Paging Gateway Plugin

Note All of the plugins are visible on the Manage Plugins page (Plugins | Manage Plugins), but only those that are free or included in your license will be available for your use. If you see a new plugin that you’d like, contact Singlewire for a new license and follow the steps in “Upgrading Plugins” on page 19.

Before you can use the Paging Gateway plugin to send InformaCast broadcasts to recipient groups, you must configure the plugin.

Manage Paging Gateways

Note You must have a valid license for this plugin and the InformaCast user role of appAdmin to access plugin functionality. If you do not have a license, contact [email protected] to gain access to one and follow the steps in “Upgrading Plugins” on page 19.

Broadcasts cannot be sent to recipients at remote sites until at least one Paging Gateway server/application has been installed and registered with InformaCast.

Step 1 Click the Paging Gateways link. The Paging Gateway page appears, displaying the list of Paging Gateways registered with InformaCast.

Note Following the steps in “Managing the Paging Gateway Server/Application” on page 4 should result in all of the Paging Gateway servers you installed registering with InformaCast.


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Tip Use the arrow icons to scroll through your list of Paging Gateways. The dropdown menu next to the arrow icons controls how many Paging Gateways will display per page. Use the fields above the Gateway Name and Status columns as filters to narrow down your Paging Gateway results. Click the Filter icon to display your new results. The Clear icon will remove any filters you’ve set.

On the Paging Gateways page, the Gateway Name is the name assigned to the Paging Gateway when it was installed and configured at the remote site (see Step 4 on page 12). Your Paging Gateway can have three possible statuses, which indicate the current state of your Paging Gateway:

• Ready. Paging Gateway registration is up to date and should be available for use.

• Off-line. The Paging Gateway had registered, but its last communication with InformaCast was further in the past than expected; the Paging Gateway is likely not ready for use.

• Defunct. The Paging Gateway was once registered and enabled, but has not registered since InformaCast was started.

Step 2 Click the Enabled checkbox to make a Paging Gateway available for inclusion in an InformaCast recipient group.

Step 3 Click the Compress Audio checkbox to enable compressed audio for a Paging Gateway.

Step 4 Click a Paging Gateway’s name to be brought to that Paging Gateway application’s homepage.


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Send an InformaCast Broadcast via a Paging GatewayNow that you have set up your Paging Gateway plugin, you can use it just like any other InformaCast recipient.

Step 1 Go to Recipients | Edit Recipient Groups. The Edit Recipient Groups page appears.

Step 2 Edit an existing recipient group or create a new recipient group. For more information on creating and editing recipient groups, see the “InformaCast Installation and User Guide” for InformaCast 8.2 or later.

Step 3 Determine how you will select your recipients, individually, by selecting existing recipient groups, or through assigned rules:

• If you choose to select recipients individually, your Paging Gateway’s name will appear as Paging Gateway with your Paging Gateway’s name following a colon in the Select Individual Recipients pop-up window.

• If you choose to select existing recipient groups, make sure to select a recipient group that already has your Paging Gateway(s) included in it.

• If you choose to make rules, you could select InformaCast Device Type from the first dropdown menu, Does and Equal from the following dropdown menus, and Paging Gateway from the last dropdown menu on the Add/Edit Recipient Group page. You can click the View button to see a list of matching recipients and ensure your Paging Gateway is included. See the problem about remote sites not playing an InformaCast broadcast on page 29 for more ways to create rules.

Step 4 Click the Update button to save your changes.


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Step 5 Go to Messages | Send or Edit Messages. The Send or Edit Messages page appears.


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Step 6 Click the Send button for the message that you want to send as a broadcast. The Send Message page appears.

Step 7 Select the recipient group(s) that contain your Paging Gateway.

Step 8 Click the Send button. For more information on sending broadcasts, see the “InformaCast Installation and User Guide” for InformaCast 8.2 or later.


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Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideUpgrading Plugins

Upgrading PluginsAll of the plugins are visible on the Manage Plugins page (Plugins | Manage Plugins), but only those that are free or included in your license will be available for your use. If you see a new plugin that you’d like, contact Singlewire for a new license and follow the steps in the following sections.

Install a Software PackageBefore you can configure the Paging Gateway plugin, you must upgrade your Virtual Appliance and replace your license from Singlewire Software. Once you have these items, continue with the following steps.

Step 1 Make a backup of your current InformaCast installation (see “Manage InformaCast Backups” in your InformaCast Installation and User Guide).

Step 2 Open a web browser and go to https://<Virtual Appliance IP Address>:10000, where <Virtual Appliance IP Address> is InformaCast’s statically configured IP address. The Login to Webmin page appears.

Step 3 Enter your login credentials. By default, your username is admin and your password is changeMe. The Virtual Appliance server’s homepage appears.


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Step 4 Go to System | Software Packages. The Software Packages page appears.

Step 5 Select the From uploaded file radio button in the Install a New Package area and click its Browse button. The Choose File to Upload dialog box appears.

Step 6 Navigate to where you saved the software package you acquired earlier, select it, and click the Open button.


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Step 7 Click the Install button in the Install a New Package area. A pop-up window will appear showing you the transferring of the file.

After transferring the file, the Install Package page appears.

Step 8 Leave the default selections as they are and click the Install button. Your software package is installed.

Note The Install Package page should display a long list of files that were correctly installed. If you see something different, please make a note of what you see and contact Singlewire Support.


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Step 9 Go to System | Bootup and Shutdown. The Bootup and Shutdown page appears.

Step 10 Click the Reboot System button at the bottom of the page. The Reboot page appears.

Step 11 Click the Reboot System button. The Reboot page refreshes and the Virtual Appliance reboots. This may take a few moments.


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Note Leave this window open. You will come back to it in the next section.

Step 12 Clear your web browser’s cache.

Manage your New LicenseBefore you can perform these steps, you must have a license that includes the Paging Gateway plugin. If your salesperson has not already provided one to you, contact Singlewire and request that a license be emailed to you.

Step 1 Go to https://<Virtual Appliance IP Address>:8463/LicenseManager, where <Virtual Appliance IP Address> is InformaCast’s statically configured IP address. The License Manager window appears.


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Step 2 Enter your username and password in the Login Name and Password fields, respectively. By default, your username is admin and your password is changeMe. Click the Login button. The License Status page appears.

The License Manager holds all of your Singlewire licenses. Depending on the software applications you are using, you will see different licenses housed on this page.


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Step 3 Click the Browse button. The Choose File to Upload window appears.

Step 4 Navigate to where you saved your new license file, select it, and click the Open button.


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Step 5 Click the Upload button on the License Status page. Your page refreshes with a confirmation that the license has been uploaded.

Note If your new license key contains less functionality than your previous key, you will be presented with a warning to that effect, a comparison of your two licenses, and the request to click the Apply button to confirm the change.


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Step 6 Return to your Virtual Appliance server’s window and click the Bootup and Shutdown link. The Bootup and Shutdown page appears.

Step 7 Select all of your Singlewire applications that were affected by your new license and click the Restart button. The Restarting Actions page appears.

Once all of your applications have restarted, you can continue with the configuration of your plugin (see “Manage Paging Gateways” on page 14).


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Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideTroubleshooting

TroubleshootingThis section is intended to help track down and resolve the common problems people face when installing and working with the InformaCast Paging Gateway plugin. Please look it over and see if your issues are addressed. You can also create a support request for additional help.

Server/ApplicationThese problems and their solutions pertain to the Paging Gateway server/application.

Problem My Paging Gateway is not showing up on the plugin’s Paging Gateways page.

Solution Verify that the Paging Gateway in question is running. Go to http://<Paging Gateway IP Address>:8080/PagingGateway, where <Paging Gateway IP Address> is the IP address of your Paging Gateway application. The Paging Gateway homepage should appear. If it does not, log into the Paging Gateway server’s OS (typically, this is https://<Paging Gateway Server IP Address>:10000) and ensure Tomcat is running. If it’s not, restart it.

Solution Verify that the network is configured to allow TCP traffic for Paging Gateway application registration. From a browser on the same LAN as the Paging Gateway, try to open the following URL: http://<InformaCast IP Address>:9876/PagingGateway/test, where <InformaCast IP Address> is the IP address of your InformaCast server. If you see a page that begins with the message, “InformaCast Server is Running,” the plugin's server is running and receiving messages.

Solution Verify that the IP address and port number for the Registration URL (shown on the Paging Gateway application’s homepage) is correct for your site’s configuration. The value listed as the Registration URL should be the IP address of your InformaCast server with a default port number of 9876.

Solution Your Paging Gateway application has not sent a registration heartbeat since your InformaCast server has been started. If you just restarted your InformaCast server, it may take up to several minutes for the Paging Gateway to re-register. The amount of time it takes will vary depending on the value you have entered in the Heartbeat Interval field in the Paging Gateway application.

Solution Your Paging Gateway plugin may have reached its licensing limit. To verify this, go to the Paging Gateway application’s homepage. If you see, “FAILED_LICENSE_EXCEEDED,” following Last Heartbeat Response Status, contact your Singlewire salesperson to revise your license.

Problem The values for Attempted Heartbeats and Successful Heartbeats do not match.

Solution If the value for Last Heartbeat Response Status is SUCCESS, this isn't a problem. The mismatch could be due to the fact that InformaCast was restarted at some point in the past while the Paging Gateway was still running. Another possibility could be that there was a temporary network outage.

Problem The Paging Gateway server is generating the error, “Verify that your network cable is connected and that you have a DHCP server running.”

Solution Make sure that your server is properly connected to its power adaptor and ensure that your DHCP server is running.


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Problem I’ve read over these troubleshooting questions and none of them seem to apply to the issue I’m having with my server. What else can I do?

Solution Contact Singlewire Support by filling out a support request. Be prepared to grant Singlewire Support with remote access to your server.

Note Remote access only facilitates Singlewire Support's access to resolving your problem—you still control your server—and remote access accounts will be automatically terminated within 30 days or upon your request.

PluginThese problems and their solutions pertain to the Paging Gateway plugin.

Problem I don’t see the Plugins icon in InformaCast. Shouldn’t I be able to see a menu option for plugins?

Solution You must have the InformaCast user role of appAdmin to access plugin functionality.

Problem I accidentally removed the Paging Gateway plugin. How do I get it back?

Solution Have you restarted InformaCast yet? If not, you can click the Undo Change button and undo the plugin’s removal. When you click the Undo Change button, the Cancel Plugin Action page appears and you’ll have to click the Undo Change button again to confirm you want to undo the pending change. Click the Cancel button to leave the plugin as “ending.” If you have already restarted InformaCast, you will need to contact Singlewire Support to regain your plugin.

Problem I can only see the initial plugin page and the License page. All the other links are grayed out.

Solution You don’t have a license for this plugin. Contact [email protected] to request a new license and gain access to this plugin’s functionality.

Problem I want to send a broadcast to a Paging Gateway, but it’s not available as a recipient.

Solution Make sure you checked the Enabled checkbox for that specific Paging Gateway on the plugin’s Paging Gateways page.

Problem I sent an InformaCast broadcast, but the recipients at my remote sites didn’t play it.

Solution Have you added your Paging Gateway to a recipient group? Recipients at a remote site will not receive audio from a broadcast if the Paging Gateway at the remote site is not included in the recipient group. Remembering to manually add Paging Gateways to recipient groups may be error-prone or easily forgotten. If you create recipient groups using rules instead of by selecting recipients, new Paging Gateways will be added to existing recipient groups as long as they match the rules you’ve set:

• Select InformaCast Device Type from the first dropdown menu, Does and Equal from the following dropdown menus, and Paging Gateway from the last dropdown menu on the Add/Edit Recipient Group page


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• Select IP Address from the first dropdown menu, Does and Belong to Subnet from the following dropdown menus, and enter your remote site’s subnet address in the last dropdown menu on the Add/Edit Recipient Group page

• Name your phones/speakers and Paging Gateways in such a way that they contain common text, then select Name from the first dropdown menu, Does and Contain from the following dropdown menus, and enter the common text shared by the recipients in the last dropdown menu on the Add/Edit Recipient Group page

See the “InformaCast Installation and User Guide v8.1” or later for information on creating recipient groups using rules.

Problem How do I change the port at which the Paging Gateway plugin listens for Paging Gateway application registrations?

Solution Go to https://<InformaCast IP Address>/WEB-INF/plugins/com.singlewire. informacast.plugins.PagingGateway/plugin/classes/plugin.properties, where <InformaCast IP Address> is the address of your InformaCast server. Open the plugin.properties file in a text editor, change the second instance of 9876 (i.e. port=9876) to your desired port number. You must restart InformaCast for the change to take effect.

Problem I have limited bandwidth available to me and I’d like to use as little bandwidth as possible when sending InformaCast broadcasts.

Solution The default encoding for audio sent from InformaCast to a Paging Gateway is G.711 µLaw, which consumes approximately 80Kb/s of bandwidth. If you’re sensitive to the amount of traffic that traverses your WAN, the audio sent to a Paging Gateway can optionally be compressed, using the Speex CODEC. Compressed audio will consume approximately 20Kb/s of bandwidth. However, there are drawbacks to using compressed audio:

• Compression of the audio consumes significant CPU resources on the InformaCast server, which will reduce the number of concurrent broadcasts sent to Paging Gateways.

• Compression of audio takes time to process on both InformaCast and the Paging Gateway, which will increase the delay of audio received at the phone. Generally speaking, the delay for G.711 µLaw will be less than one second, while the delay for compressed audio will be two or three seconds.

• Compressed audio is more sensitive to lost or re-ordered audio packets. If a G.711 µLaw audio packet is dropped, a minor disturbance in the audio will be heard at the phone. If a Speex audio packet is dropped, the audio will likely cease at that point.

• Compressed audio containing music and/or tones may sound robotic or have a static quality. Human speech usually comes across fine, however.

For these reasons, we suggest compressed audio not be used in many cases.


Version 1.0.2

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideAppendix. Optional Paging Gateway Server Configurations

Appendix. Optional Paging Gateway Server ConfigurationsThe Paging Gateway server will run immediately upon properly installing it. No other configuration of the server is necessary; however, there are some optional settings and administrative tasks that can be configured depending on your environment and the tasks you need to perform.

The Paging Gateway server has an administrative web interface, which can be found at: https://<Paging Gateway Server IP Address>:10000, where <Paging Gateway Server IP Address> is the IP address you found in “Install the Paging Gateway as a Virtual Machine” or “Install the Paging Gateway as a Physical Machine” on page 10, depending on your environment. Its initial login credentials are admin and changeMe, respectively.

Change the Server’s Password

Note This section is optional and not required for the basic use of the Paging Gateway.

For tighter security, you may want to change the Paging Gateway server’s default password.

Step 1 Log into the server via the console or an SSH client. Your initial login credentials are admin and changeMe, respectively.

Step 2 Enter sudo changePassword at the command prompt.

Step 3 Enter your new password at the Enter new UNIX password prompt.

Step 4 Confirm your new password by entering it again at the Retype new UNIX password prompt. Your password is changed and you will see, “passwd: password updated successfully”.

Note Your new password needs to be used for both the administrative web and command interfaces.

Assign a Static IP Address/Gateway/Route


Static IP addresses and routes can be configured as an alternative to using network parameters from your DHCP server. If a static IP address is used, at least one route (the default route) must also be configured. For specifics on IP addresses and packet routing, please see your network administrator.


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Step 1 Go to https://<Paging Gateway Server IP Address>:10000, where <Paging Gateway Server IP Address> is the IP address you found in “Install the Paging Gateway as a Virtual Machine” or “Install the Paging Gateway as a Physical Machine” on page 10, depending on your environment. The Login to Webmin page appears.

Step 2 Enter your login credentials. By default, your username is admin and your password is changeMe. The Paging Gateway server’s homepage appears.

Step 3 Go to Networking | Network Configuration. The Network Configuration page appears.


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Step 4 Click the Network Interfaces icon. The Network Interfaces page appears.

Step 5 Click Activated at Boot tab. The Network Interfaces page refreshes.

Step 6 Click the eth0 link. The Edit Bootup Interface page appears.

Step 7 Select the Static Configuration radio button.

Step 8 Enter your static IP address and netmask in the IP Address and Netmask fields, respectively.

Step 9 Enter an IP address in the Broadcast field if your current one is not what would be expected for the given IP Address and Netmask fields.

Note Contact your network administrator if you have questions about what to enter in the IP Address, Netmask, and/or Broadcast fields.

Step 10 Click the Save button.


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Step 11 Click the Return to network interfaces link on the Edit Bootup Interfaces page.

Step 12 Click the Return to network configuration link on the Network Interfaces page.

Step 13 Click the Routing and Gateways icon on the Network Configuration page. The Routing and Gateways page appears.

Step 14 Click the Gateway radio button for the default router on the Boot Time Configuration tab, and enter the IP address of the gateway in its corresponding field.

Note Optionally, additional routes can be specified on this page, but should not be necessary in most situations.


Step 16 Reboot the Paging Gateway server. Follow the steps in “Reboot the Paging Gateway Server and its Applications” on page 39.

Set the Time/Time Zone/Time Synchronization


The Paging Gateway server has two clocks: a battery-backed one that is always running (i.e. the hardware clock), and another that is maintained by the operating system running on the server (i.e. the system clock). The hardware clock is generally only used to set the system clock when your operating system boots, and then from that point until you reboot or turn off your system, the system clock is the one used to keep track of time.

Out of the box, the Paging Gateway server will synchronize its hardware and OS clocks using Network Time Protocol (NTP). If the Paging Gateway server does not have access to the Internet, the time can be set manually, or a local NTP server can be specified.


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Set the Time Zone

Use the following steps to set the Paging Gateway server OS’s time zone.



Step 3 Go to Hardware | System Time. The System Time page appears.


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Step 4 Click the Time Zone tab. The System Time page refreshes.

Step 5 Select your time zone from the Change Time Zone to dropdown menu.


Set the NTP Server

Use the following steps to sync your Paging Gateway server’s time to your NTP server.




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Step 4 Click the Time Server Sync tab. The System Time page refreshes.

Step 5 Enter your NTP server’s hostname in the Time Server Hostnames or Addresses field.

Note By default, these steps will set both the server and its OS to the same time, if you want the server to maintain its own time, deselect the Set Hardware Time Too checkbox.

Step 6 Click the Sync and Apply button.


Version 1.0.2


Set the System Time

By default, both the server and its OS are set to the same time. If you want the OS to maintain its own time, use the following steps.





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Step 4 Click the Set Time tab. The System Time page refreshes.

Step 5 Specify your desired time using the dropdown menus in the System Time area.

Step 6 Click the System Time area’s Apply button.

Note Click the Set system time to hardware time button to sync the two times.

Reboot the Paging Gateway Server and its ApplicationsThe Paging Gateway server may appear as the kind of device that supports having its power removed suddenly, like a wireless router or similar device, but this is not the case. It uses live file systems, which must be shut down properly to prevent corruption. If at all possible, use the administrative interface to shut down the server before removing power.

Reboot the Server

Use the following steps to reboot the Paging Gateway server.



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Step 4 Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Reboot System button. The Reboot page appears.

Step 5 Click the Reboot System button. The server will shutdown, then restart.

Shut Down the Server

Use the following steps to shut down the Paging Gateway server.




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Step 4 Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Shutdown System button. The Shutdown page appears.

Step 5 Click the Shutdown System button. The server will shut down. Please wait a few minutes before removing power.

Stop an Application on the Server

Use the following steps to stop applications running on the Paging Gateway server.

Note The following section uses the Paging Gateway application as an example, but the steps will work for any software being run on the server.


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Step 4 Stop the Paging Gateway application by scrolling down the list of applications and clicking the singlewirePagingGateway link. The Edit Action page appears.

Step 5 Click the Stop Now button. The Paging Gateway application is stopped.


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Start an Application on the Server

Use the following steps to start applications running on the Paging Gateway server.

Note The following section uses the Paging Gateway application as an example, but the steps will work for any software being run on the server.




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Step 4 Start the Paging Gateway application by scrolling down the list of applications and clicking the singlewirePagingGateway link. The Edit Action page appears.

Step 5 Click the Start Now button. The Paging Gateway application is started.


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Upgrade Software on the ServerApplications are installed/upgraded as “packages.” Please contact your Singlewire salesperson for instructions on downloading the most recent version of an application.




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Step 3 Go to System | Software Packages. The Software Packages page appears.

Step 4 Select the From uploaded file radio button in the Install a New Package area and click the Browse button. The Choose File to Upload dialog box appears.

Step 5 Navigate to where you have saved the application you want to upload, select it, and click the Open button.


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Step 6 Click the Install button in the Install a New Package area. The Uploading File window appears.

When the application is finished uploading, the Install Package page appears.

Step 7 Click the Install button. Your application is installed.


Version 1.0.2

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideRelease Notes

Release NotesThe following sections contain the release notes for the Paging Gateway from version 1.0.1 through the current version.

Server/Application Version 1.0.1Resolved Compression Issues. The Paging Gateway virtual appliance (i.e. OVA file) is no longer compressed, addressing compatibility issues with vSphere v5.

Plugin Version 1.0.2 • New InformaCast EX. InformaCast EX is a new offering from Singlewire Software that bundles

InformaCast, CallAware, the LPI, and all of InformaCast’s plugins into one OVA, available for download for InformaCast Virtual Appliance users.

• New License Manager for InformaCast EX. The Singlewire Toolbox houses the License Manager for InformaCast EX. This new management system allows you to manage all of your Singlewire Virtual Appliance licenses from one interface.

Plugin Version 1.0.1Upgraded to Tomcat v7. The Paging Gateway upgraded to Tomcat 7 in order to use features available in specifications Servlet 3.0, JSP 2.2, and EL 2.2. This should not have an effect on customers’ experience.


Version 1.0.2

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideAcknowledgements

AcknowledgementsWithout the following products and software, the Singlewire Paging Gateway wouldn’t be able to make InformaCast the revolutionary broadcast system that it is.

The following packages, their version number, and license were used in the Paging Gateway:

• Voyage Linux distribution, GPL

• log4j v1.2.12, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-lang v2.5, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-httpcomponents v4.0.3, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-el v1.0, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-codec v1.4, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-beanutils v1.8.3, Apache Software License 2.0

• commons-collections v3.2.1, Apache Software License 2.0

• jersey v1.4, GPL v2

• jetty v7.2, Apache Software License 2.0

• stripes v1.5.2, Apache Software License 2.0

• slf4j v1.6.1

• jmesa v3.0.3

• jspeex v0.9.7, Xiph.org variant of the BSD license

Voyage/Linux

This product from Singlewire Software runs on a Linux kernel and the Voyage Linux distribution.

The Linux kernel and Voyage Linux are distributed under the following license:

• This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.

• This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

• To see a copy of the GNU public license, see this URL: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html.

• You may also write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

• Modifications Singlewire Software has made to the Voyage Linux distribution can be found here: http://www.singlewire.com/pgl.

LOG4J V1.2.12, COMMONS-LANG V2.5, COMMONS-HTTPCOMPONENTS V4.0.3, COMMONS-EL V1.0, COMMONS-CODEC V1.4, COMMONS-BEANUTILS V1.8.3, COMMONS-COLLECTIONS V3.2.1, JETTY V7.2, AND STRIPES V1.5.2

These software offerings are licensed under the Apache Software License 2.0. Accordingly, the following notice is required for each software:

“Copyright 2004, Apache Software Foundation.


Version 1.0.2

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

http://www.singlewire.com/pgl

Paging Gateway Installation and User GuideAcknowledgements

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.”

JERSEY V1.4

No notice is required in the acknowledgments section, but there are some requirements in distributing the source file. The requirements are described at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html#SEC4.

SLF4J V1.6.1

This software appears to be licensed under the MIT license, but the acknowledgments section does not mention the license. While no notice is required in the acknowledgments section under a MIT license, a copyright notice and permission notice are to be included in all copies or substantial portions of the software. The required notices are available at http://www.slf4j.org/license.html.

JMESA V3.0.3

This software appears to be licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, but the acknowledgments section does not mention the license. The Apache License requires a notice as described above in section 1 of this memorandum.

JSPEEX V0.9.7

The following notice is required in the acknowledgments section according to http://www.xiph.org/licenses/bsd/.

“© 2002 - 2007, Jean-Marc Valin/Xiph.Org Foundation

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

• Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

This software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors “as is” and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the foundation or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.”


Version 1.0.2

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html#SEC4

http://www.slf4j.org/license.html

http://www.xiph.org/licenses/bsd/

Documents

Paging Gateway 1.0 Install and User Guide - Virtual Appliance · PDF file• A successful installation of InformaCast 8.2 or later ... Paging Gateway Server Configurations” on page