Response Point Team Blog : tips

2 Free VOIP Training Webcasts for Partners from TechEd's Top Speaker!

sprague — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark (Part 1 of 2)
October 6th, 2009, 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP01PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552695

This online seminar provides the foundation for troubleshooting Response Point communications with Wireshark, the open source analyzer, or other analyzer products. Beginning with the troubleshooting methodology and the tips/tricks to locating the cause of network problems related to VoIP communications, Laura demonstrates the visible evidence of the most common network infrastructure problems. If the infrastructure isn't performing properly - no network-based applications will perform properly. That includes Response Point.

Response Point Analysis and Troubleshooting (Part 2 of 2)
October 28th, 2009 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP02PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552698

This online seminar follows the Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark event with a focus on issues that affect Response Point communications. Beginning with the overview of telephony protocols and typical communication processes, Laura delves into the numerous issues that affect the visibility and performance of Response Point systems, walks through a series of Response Point trace files and demonstrates how to use Wireshark's telephony-specific troubleshooting features. Finishing up this event is a summary of problems that may be caused by firewall issues and add-on service problems.

Answers on Telephonation.com

sprague — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:59:20 GMT

Response Point is designed to be easy to use and manage, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have any questions. We try to cover as many of the basics as we can on our web site (and our blogs), but often it’s easier to ask those questions from people in the community, other users like yourself who may be able to offer an in-the-trenches perspective.

That’s what you’ll find at Telephonation.com, an independent web site devoted to all things RP, and if you’re not already a member, you’ll definitely want to check it out. They have nearly 700 active users, who in just a few months have posted 1500 messages on more than 600 subjects. At any given time, there are often dozens of live users active on the site, and most questions get responses pretty quickly, often within hours. You’ll also see members of the RP team there too – we like to answer questions!

Of course, you are also encouraged to contact us directly, and we try to give responses as quickly as we can. But sometimes it’s nice to hear from other users and resellers too, so please take a look at Telephonation.

Books We Are Reading … :)

RexBackman — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:55:07 GMT

Well sort of… Actually we are working on some small projects here in Redmond with Ray Horak. Ray’s a very savvy technologist with a focus on the telecom space. He is the author of some popular and well respected telecom books – a dictionary and a handbook on telecom and data communications. If you want to refresh your technical skills check out Ray’s books at your favorite book-buying location.

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

sprague — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:04:39 GMT

Does your router work with Response Point? Almost always the answer is yes – RP isn’t a terribly complicated addition to your network – but sometimes you’ll find older or poorly-made routers that can cause problems. Fortunately Microsoft offers a simple online tool to help evaluate the functionality of routers. Although it’s designed for home testing, many small offices use routers similar to those you have at home, so it’s worth taking a look:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd/default.mspx

Technical Resources for Response Point

sprague — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:35:37 GMT

People ask us for more technical information about Response Point, so we want to remind you about series of documents we think will help:

Deploying Windows SBS with RP

Small Business Server configuration instructions for an optimized Response Point user experience. This technical document is written for the phone system administrator (VAR, SBO, or other employee in charge of the network).

Troubleshooting Guide

Reference this guide for the seven simple system checks before launching troubleshooting technical resources. Use this high-level overview for common issues, causes, and solutions. This technical document is written for the phone system administrator (VAR, SBO, or other employee in charge of the network).

Maintaining RP

Reference for pre-deployment administrator issues, considerations and advice on maintaining Response Point at optimum performance and quality. This technical document is written for the phone system administrator (VAR, SBO, or other employee in charge of the network).

Also please see our documents on Networking Considerations and Networking Requirements.

Response Point XML API dev kit

sprague — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:06:58 GMT

Are you a developer who wants to make your own custom solutions on Response Point? Microsoft doesn't offer an SDK yet, but now Aastra has a free development kit that just might satisfy some of your need to build your own projects on top of Aastra's Response Point phones.

What can you do with the kit? Since the kit lets you write to the large Aastra phone display, one simple possibility is a dashboard that lets you show real-time items of interest to your user: weather reports, today's sales figures, alternate time zone, etc. Okay, those are some very simple examples, but if you're itching to provide something special to your customers, you'll want to look at this more closely.

Check out the Aastra Response Point XML API guide, available from the Aastralink RP web site at www.aastralinkrp.com.

Wireless RP phones

sprague — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:33:57 GMT

Connecting an IP Phone to the Wireless Network? Yes, it is possible.

Marta Barillas is a test engineer on the Response Point team, and she wrote these notes explaining how she was able to connect a normal Response Point phone to a base unit -- wirelessly -- using some low cost (about $40) add-on hardware.

We were able to connect an IP phone to a wireless router using a wireless bridge. The bridge has an Ethernet cable that gets connected to the phone, providing the IP address for it. Really nice, all we need now is a power outlet for both, the phone and the adapter, without having to run Ethernet cables across the offices.
The devices we used are:

D-Link IP phone: DPH-125MS

Linksys Wireless-G Bridge: WBP54G

Linksys Wireless-G Router: WRT54GS

Notice that in this case, the bridge and the phone share the same power adapter, so people have to be careful that both devices require the same voltage, and that the power adapter can provide enough power for both devices running at the same time. In this case, it was a good match for us!!!

That's Marta talking on one of our newly wireless Response Point phones. Note the only cable is a power cable for the adapter.

You may know other equipment from other vendors that will work. If so, please share your experiences in the comments to this post or send us your feedback directly.

Gadgets for your RP toolkit

sprague — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:01:22 GMT

Allen Miller, who's been doing RP demos in front of many audiences lately, recommends a $25 Radio Shack gadget to help with your presentations. Great minds must think alike, because by coincidence I recently bought the same thing for my presentations. I also discovered through trial and error that you can do the same thing a little cheaper with an $18 Mini Recorder Control:

I disconnect the handset cable on my Response Point phone and plug it into this gadget instead. Now the audio output of your Response Point phone calls will go into whatever PA system is available where you're doing your demo. Everything works just like you're used to, except now the phone audio will also go out through the house speaker system.

For extra credit, try this additional trick, which works when you're demoing speech recognition in a noisy room (like a show floor). Use the above gadget, and connect it instead into a speaker system. If you use a normal computer speaker, you will need an additional amplifier like the Boosteroo, available from Radio Shack for about $30:

This works great for demos inside conference rooms or other places where noise doesn't get out of hand. If you're in a busy showroom, where you find yourself having to shout to be heard even at close distances, you'll need a bigger amplifier. One of the guys in the office bought me a Xenyx502 from http://www.behringer.com for something like $80, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.