Direct SIP - Remote STUN provisioning process

[George Ts]

Hi everyone,

I have been watching this video about provisioning remote extensions:

Here is my understanding about provisioning using STUN:
-3cx admin assigns the MAC address of the remote IP phone to an extension and selects "Direct SIP - Remote STUN". At this point the IP phone's manufacturer's RPS is contacted by the IP PBX and a binding between the phone's MAC and the provisioning URL is created on the RPS.
- Remote user gets the IP phone at the remote site. They also receive the welcome email
- Remote user must configure the necessary NAT/Firewall rules on the remote site
- They connect the IP Phone, let's assume that the IP phone is factory reset.
- The IP phone contacts the RPS as a part of its boot sequence. The RPS "informs" the IP phone about the provisioning URL

At this point, the video mentions that the remote user must log in to the phone and provide the extension number as a username and the voicemail pin as password.

And here are my questions:
- What happens at this point? Does the IP phone contact the 3cx server at the provisioning URL and get the whole provisioning data? Or does it only get extension number and voicemail pin, so that the remote user can log in to the phone and complete the provisioning process? This is not quite clear on the video above.
- At which point of the provisioning process does the remote user have to log in to the Phone's interface and add the username (ext. number) and password (voicemail pin)?
- What happens if the user does not log in to the IP phone? Will the provisioning process stop?
- And one more question please: What if I am a reseller, get a factory reset IP phone, test it for remote STUN provisioning on my internal test/lab 3cx, and want to ship it to a customer within less than 2 weeks after I have tested it? Will the phone's RPS disallow the customer from provisioning the IP phone with their 3cx server's URL? Just asking because the video mentions that the RPS holds the binding of the Phone mAC - provisioning URL for 2 weeks after the phone is configured, and within those two weeks the phone cannot be used on another 3cx server.

I know it's a lot, but I really could use some answers here.

Thank you,
George

 

[Alphabetic]

- What happens at this point? Does the IP phone contact the 3cx server at the provisioning URL and get the whole provisioning data? Or does it only get extension number and voicemail pin, so that the remote user can log in to the phone and complete the provisioning process? This is not quite clear on the video above.

3CX sends URL to RPS Server

Manufacturer's RPS tells the phone the provisioning URL (3CX), Phone requests credentials (PIN & VM PIN) and sends off to 3CX PBX, 3CX sends config



- At which point of the provisioning process does the remote user have to log in to the Phone's interface and add the username (ext. number) and password (voicemail pin)?
When the phone boots up and detects provisioning server
- What happens if the user does not log in to the IP phone? Will the provisioning process stop?
Yes, will not continue and will not pull configuration
- And one more question please: What if I am a reseller, get a factory reset IP phone, test it for remote STUN provisioning on my internal test/lab 3cx, and want to ship it to a customer within less than 2 weeks after I have tested it? Will the phone's RPS disallow the customer from provisioning the IP phone with their 3cx server's URL? Just asking because the video mentions that the RPS holds the binding of the Phone mAC - provisioning URL for 2 weeks after the phone is configured, and within those two weeks the phone cannot be used on another 3cx server.
I've never had this problem when doing this myself. One you configure the STUN phone on customer phone the RPS request will be pushed up to RPS server.

When Im distributing a couple of phones I like to check they're on the latest 3CX Supported FW (https://www.3cx.com/support/phone-firmwares/)

For more phones I'll use an SBC.

 

[George Ts]

Excellent, thanks so much @kieferschild

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi George,

Just to add that the RPS entry will eventually expire so phone will just boot up and do nothing.

However, if you edit the extension and just press OK, you should see the Event log sending a new RPS request.


Then reboot the phone and it will find the RPS entry and ask for user/pass in order to provision

 

[George Ts]

I guess this concerns use cases where we create an extension in 3cx as a Direct SIP - STUN remote.
Then the server will trigger a RPS request towards the phone manufacturer's RPS server, which will stay alive for two weeks.
That said, if we connect the phone to the remote network after more than two weeks, the RPS binding (MAC-provisioning URL) will have expired in the RPS server and thus the phone will receive no provisioning URL, unless we go again in 3cx management console and edit the extension, so that a new entry is created in the RPS server. Is my understanding correct @JohnS_3CX ?

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Correct. And in addition, once the phone provisions at least once, it will remember your URL forever and no longer requires to lookup RPS (unless you reset the phone in the future)