asterisk users - Mar 2006 - OT: Polycom BootRom 3.1.3 and vsftpd 2.0.3 WARNING!!!

I spent a weekend battling similar issues with 501s, using FC4/ 
proftpd.  I finally switched from FTP to HTTP.


On Mar 7, 2006, at 9:53 AM, Kristian Kielhofner wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> 	Please forgive the exclamation points but I have been battling  
> this one off and on for about four days now.  Sorry for the cross  
> post.
>
> 	It all started with a box of IP 501s.  I contacted my reseller and  
> obtained the latest BootRom and SIP firmware.  Unzipped,  
> configured, copied over to my FTP server (running AstLinux, of  
> course).  The phone booted, so far so good.  Updated bootrom,  
> nice.  Rebooted again. Updated sip firmware.  Also nice.
>
> 	Upon the next reboot, the wheels started falling off.  The phones  
> would not get changes I made to any of the .cfg files.  Several  
> phones would take 20 minutes or more to boot, only to display a  
> "0x4000 config file error".  What happened?
>
> 	I have been using various Polycom's with AstLinux (and vsftpd  
> 2.0.3 that I include with it) for quite some time, with no problems  
> whatsoever.  Until now.
>
> 	I had been running bootrom 3.0.1 and various versions of the SIP  
> image at several other sites with no problem.  At this point I was  
> still unable to accept the fact that I might not be able to run  
> this latest bootrom.  After many trial and tribulations, I finally  
> rsync'ed (with -avr) the FTP directory from the AstLinux machine to  
> my laptop running CentOS 4.  I configured the vsftpd daemon  
> (version 2.0.1) IDENTICALLY (with the exception of PAM and TCP  
> wrappers) and crossed my fingers...
>
> 	After re-configuring the IP 501 to use my laptop, imagine my  
> surprise when the most problematic of them booted right away  
> without problems. Again and again, everything was fine.
>
> 	So now I just had to break out ethereal and see what was going on.  
> While I have not completely finished my analysis, it appears that  
> Polycom firmware 3.1.3 bombs out when transferring files with  
> vsftpd 2.0.3.  The symptom appears to be repeated TCP SYNs from the  
> Polycom to the ftp daemon on port 20.  The Polycom will keep  
> retrying and increment its source port number by one every few  
> minutes.  Like I said, I need to dig into this more, but I figured  
> I'd report what I know and see if anyone out there can fill in the  
> holes.
>
> 	Here's what I did.  It appears that BootRom 3.1.3 works with  
> vsftpd 2.0.1, so I placed bootrom 3.0.1 (which I know works with  
> vsftpd 2.0.3) on my CentOS server and downgraded the phone to  
> 3.0.1.  I then placed 3.0.1 and SIP app 1.6.5 (which I was using  
> the whole time, btw) on my AstLinux server running vsftpd 2.0.3.
>
> 	All was good.  So now I am successfully running with the following:
>
> Polycom IP 501
> Bootrom 3.0.1
> SIP 1.6.5
> AstLinux 0.3.7
> vsftpd 2.0.3
>
> 	I will also try to fix (or workaround) this by trying the following:
>
> upgrading AstLinux to include vsftpd 2.0.4
> trying an intermediate BootRom release between 3.0.1 and 3.1.3  
> (find out exactly where/when it broke)
> trying an even newer Polycom BootRom when it becomes available
> upgrading the kernel in AstLinux (I doubt that's it)
> fiddling with iptables rules in AstLinux (iptables was loaded, but  
> obviously 3.0.1 doesn't have a problem with it)
>
> 	This also might be related to the problems described here:
>
> http://forums.digium.com/viewtopic.php? 
> p=14847&sid=6e70577c37bd345cfc164a01e64e113a
>
>
> 	Any thoughts?  Comments?  Suggestions?
>
> P.S. - I will be updating the Polycom config files at http:// 
> www.krisk.org/asterisk/pcom/ to reflect some new changes in this  
> firmware release.  I just need to get my phones working first :)!
>
> --
> Kristian Kielhofner
> _______________________________________________
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Bill

William M. Conlon, P.E., Ph.D.
To the Point
345 California Avenue Suite 2
Palo Alto, CA 94306
    vox:  650.327.2175 (direct)
    fax:  650.329.8335
mobile:  650.906.9929
e-mail:  mailto:bill@tothept.com
    web:  http://www.tothept.com

Hello everyone,

	Please forgive the exclamation points but I have been battling this one 
off and on for about four days now.  Sorry for the cross post.

	It all started with a box of IP 501s.  I contacted my reseller and 
obtained the latest BootRom and SIP firmware.  Unzipped, configured, 
copied over to my FTP server (running AstLinux, of course).  The phone 
booted, so far so good.  Updated bootrom, nice.  Rebooted again. 
Updated sip firmware.  Also nice.

	Upon the next reboot, the wheels started falling off.  The phones would 
not get changes I made to any of the .cfg files.  Several phones would 
take 20 minutes or more to boot, only to display a "0x4000 config file 
error".  What happened?

	I have been using various Polycom's with AstLinux (and vsftpd 2.0.3 
that I include with it) for quite some time, with no problems 
whatsoever.  Until now.

	I had been running bootrom 3.0.1 and various versions of the SIP image 
at several other sites with no problem.  At this point I was still 
unable to accept the fact that I might not be able to run this latest 
bootrom.  After many trial and tribulations, I finally rsync'ed (with 
-avr) the FTP directory from the AstLinux machine to my laptop running 
CentOS 4.  I configured the vsftpd daemon (version 2.0.1) IDENTICALLY 
(with the exception of PAM and TCP wrappers) and crossed my fingers...

	After re-configuring the IP 501 to use my laptop, imagine my surprise 
when the most problematic of them booted right away without problems. 
Again and again, everything was fine.

	So now I just had to break out ethereal and see what was going on. 
While I have not completely finished my analysis, it appears that 
Polycom firmware 3.1.3 bombs out when transferring files with vsftpd 
2.0.3.  The symptom appears to be repeated TCP SYNs from the Polycom to 
the ftp daemon on port 20.  The Polycom will keep retrying and increment 
its source port number by one every few minutes.  Like I said, I need to 
dig into this more, but I figured I'd report what I know and see if 
anyone out there can fill in the holes.

	Here's what I did.  It appears that BootRom 3.1.3 works with vsftpd 
2.0.1, so I placed bootrom 3.0.1 (which I know works with vsftpd 2.0.3) 
on my CentOS server and downgraded the phone to 3.0.1.  I then placed 
3.0.1 and SIP app 1.6.5 (which I was using the whole time, btw) on my 
AstLinux server running vsftpd 2.0.3.

	All was good.  So now I am successfully running with the following:

Polycom IP 501
Bootrom 3.0.1
SIP 1.6.5
AstLinux 0.3.7
vsftpd 2.0.3

	I will also try to fix (or workaround) this by trying the following:

upgrading AstLinux to include vsftpd 2.0.4
trying an intermediate BootRom release between 3.0.1 and 3.1.3 (find out 
exactly where/when it broke)
trying an even newer Polycom BootRom when it becomes available
upgrading the kernel in AstLinux (I doubt that's it)
fiddling with iptables rules in AstLinux (iptables was loaded, but 
obviously 3.0.1 doesn't have a problem with it)

	This also might be related to the problems described here:

http://forums.digium.com/viewtopic.php?p=14847&sid=6e70577c37bd345cfc164a01e64e113a


	Any thoughts?  Comments?  Suggestions?

P.S. - I will be updating the Polycom config files at 
http://www.krisk.org/asterisk/pcom/ to reflect some new changes in this 
firmware release.  I just need to get my phones working first :)!

--
Kristian Kielhofner