[asterisk-users] OpenVPN/SNOM 820: a review.

[--[ UxBoD ]--]

----- "--[ UxBoD ]--" <uxbod at splatnix.net> wrote:

> ----- "Ken D'Ambrosio" <ken at jots.org> wrote:
> 
> > Hey, all.  Got an SNOM 820 in the other day to kick the tires.  As
> > with
> > many phones, provisioning it was a bit of a PITA.  The biggest
> > problem, as
> > far as I could tell, was that their firmware just doesn't seem that
> > stable, and is sometimes hard to get to.
> > - I managed to corrupt the firmware twice; fortunately, instead of
> > bricking the phone, there's a fairly easy-to-use "rescue mode."
> > - Google was *not* your friend to find the URL to current firmware
> >   (for non-beta, it's http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware ; for beta,
> it's
> >   http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware/V8/Beta )
> > - There's a (non-standard) VPN release of firmware that has to be
> > installed to get OpenVPN going.
> > - Also got WLAN going; note that, apparently (and to my surprise),
> it
> > appears that WPA keys are case-sensitive, and the phones default to
> > uppercase.  Beware.  Also, you have to buy a ~$40 USB stick to get
> it
> > going, but that sounds more awkward than it is: the phone has a
> > nicely-recessed cavity on the bottom where it plugs in.
> > 
> > Next, if you aren't familiar with OpenVPN, I *do not* recommend
> having
> > the
> > phone as your first client.  Set up a Linux or Windows client,
> first,
> > to
> > get the hang of it.  Then move on to the phone.  For example, one
> of
> > my
> > firmware corruptions occurred when I named a file "client.conf"
> > (.conf
> > being the usual Linux-based OpenVPN configuration file extension),
> > instead
> > of "client.cnf".  Had to reflash.
> > 
> > Bottom line: the phone actually works quite nicely.  Provisioning
> for
> > a
> > one-off is a pain, but SNOM seems to have the hooks in place to
> make
> > larger rollouts quite easy.  OpenVPN works like a champ, but should
> > be
> > handled with care for those who don't have experience with it.  The
> > speakerphone quality is quite nice, and there are lots of nifty
> > features
> > the SNOM offers that I haven't seen on other phones -- for example,
> > netcat
> > is used for debugging OpenVPN, and a SIP log is truly nifty.
> > 
> > One-line summary: recommended, but be prepared to spend some time
> > getting
> > the first one going if some of the more esoteric features (VPN,
> WLAN)
> > are
> > used.
> > 
> > -Ken
> > 
> > 
> 
> We are testing 370/870s at the moment as we have a strong requirement
> for OpenVPN support.  We are still trying to get them to work! It
> would appear on the face of it that the phones use OpenVPN V1 and not
> V2 which is not to good.  Secondly you have to create a tar ball with
> the configuration in side it which has to include the key.  Hmmm, how
> would you get that to remote clients ? Put on a public webserver; not
> so good me thinks.  Now I could be completely wrong on these things so
> would be very grateful for your input.
Actually I do not think the second comment would be a issue; as like anything it comes down to how you secure your delivery.
-- 
Thanks, Phil