Dual Cell System
This section describes how to setup a dual cell environment by connecting two Galaxy AP500D bases into one system.
Step 1
Connect the base stations to a private network via the standard Ethernet cable (CAT 5).
Step 2
Access the first base by determining the IP address and then logging into the user interface of the device.
Step 3
To ensure a stable synchronization between the bases in the system, you must configure the time zone. For this purpose, navigate to the Country page and configure the Country and Time server settings.
- Select the Country, then select the Region if applicable.
- Enter the Time Server address, e.g. 0.rhel.pool.ntp.org.
- Select the checkbox for Set timezone by country/region.
- Select the checkbox for Set DST by country/region.
- Click Save and Reboot.
Make sure that the Time server is set on the base, else the dual cell feature will not work. This can be done by verifying that the Time Server address is still present in the field, after the reboot.
Step 4
Navigate to the Servers page and click on Add Server to add the UCX server information. This is the server that contains the extensions. Fill in the following fields and click Save.
- Server Alias – Enter a descriptive name for the server. (Limited to 11 characters.)
- Registrar – Enter the hostname or IP address of UCX with the SIP port number.
For example: 192.168.1.200:5060
Step 5
Navigate to the Extensions page and click on Add Extension.
Fill in the following fields and click Save.
- Line Name – Enter a name for the line (This field is not shown on Galaxy AP500D)
- Extension – Extension number
- Authentication User Name – Extension number
- Authentication Password – Secret for the extension
- Display Name – Name to be shown on the phone
- Mailbox Name – Extension number
- Mailbox Number – *97
- Server – Select the server created in Step 4.
To configure a dual cell environment, it is important to create at least one extension on the base station to define the primary base. Thus, registering a handset at this point is not a requirement.
Step 6
The Galaxy AP500D bases follow the Plug-n-Play concept, meaning that the dual cell feature is enabled by default and allows the second base to connect without any extra manual configuration. To verify this, navigate to the Dual Cell page and ensure that the Dual Cell System parameter is Enabled.
To add the secondary base to the primary, simply connect the second base station to a private network via the standard Ethernet cable (CAT 5). After a while, it will automatically connect to the primary base.
Depending on the base’s role, the System information status will display Primary or Secondary on the front page of the UI, as soon as the dual cell system is ready.
It takes up to 5 minutes (synchronization time) to add a new base station to a dual cell system.
Step 7
Register your handsets.
Replacing Primary Base station
Here is a step-by-step description of how to replace the Primary Base Station in your dual cell system.
Step 1
Make sure to wait long enough for the Dual cell to reopen for registration.
Normally connection between bases is verified every 30 seconds. If verification fails, the status on the Dual cell tab on the web UI will show the message: “Connection lost!”.
When the connection has been down for a defined amount of time (The default is 15 minutes, but it can be configured.) the base will switch to Ready for replacement mode. Then the following message appears in the web UI of the functioning base, under System Information: “Replace the other base”. At this point the Dual cell is open for new registrations, and we can replace the missing base.
The replacement base needs to be in factory mode. If you are using a base that has been registered on another system before, make sure to factory reset it beforehand.
All handset registrations are locked to the data primary base, meaning that if we remove it, all handsets will need to be reregistered. If the primary base is the one failing to connect, after a predefined amount of time all registrations will be transferred to the secondary base and the system will reopen for the possibility of a new base joining.
In cases when specific parameters are different from the default ones, those have to be configured before adding the base to the chain. This might be network parameters, for example if static IP or VLAN is used. In case the peer-to-peer Data Sync feature is used, it is necessary to enable that on the replacement base beforehand and configure the IP of the remaining base.
Step 2
Connect the new base to the network and wait for it to join the chain.
The default behavior of bases in factory mode is to attempt to join any open system, therefore the new base should connect to the reopened for registrations Dual cell system automatically.
When the new base registers successfully to the system it should be visible in the Dual cell tab on the web UI. It is advisable to make sure the MAC address matches the new replacement base.
Once the base has been added to the chain, the user can choose which base to be assigned as primary and which as secondary. The primary base will take over all the handset registrations.
The system remembers the MAC address of the primary base. That is why it is very important when replacing a primary to replace it with a new base (with another mac address). If for some reason user tries to reset the primary base and add it again to the system as primary, it will create conflicts and cause issues with the system.
Timeout configuration
The time that the system waits before it reopens for registrations can be defined from the Dual cell tab in the web UI of the base.
Under the field Base registration timeout, you can type a value between 15 and 255 (in minutes). Click Save to save the changes.
