People always tell you that writing is a finan­cially fraught life, but folks rarely explain the down-in-the-weeds details of how they sur­vive. I guess this is the blog post I would have liked to have read a few years back, when I was plan­ning out how I’d make a go of it if I ever got a book deal.

via How I make it work . . . | Myke Cole.

Since I’m interested in writing (maybe not for a living anytime soon, but eventually, closer to retirement), stories like this one (where Myke Cole talks about how he’s budgeting to follow his dream of writing) are very helpful. By comparison you get some self-pubbed authors (who I will no longer link to) who talk on-and-on about the joy of Amazon self-publishing strategies. While that may work for those people, when they have a publishing history that goes back twenty-six years (and starts in traditionally published books), it’s very hard to attribute their success solely to the self-pub revolution they’re going on about. And for that reason, I really appreciate these more realistic presentations of what it takes to make a living as a writer.

Jeff C. Hines also posted enlightening numbers recently, showing that over his nine year career in writing, he’s made less than $20,000 for six out of the last nine years. He opines “I’m at the point in my writing career where, based on the past four years, I’d give serious consideration to quitting the day job … if I had a reasonable source of health insurance for my family. Since I don’t, I’m still not in a position where I can write full time.” The point about life insurance is a reasonable one. For myself, living in the San Francisco Bay Area where the average Silicon Valley salary tops $100,000 means I have a number of expenses that aren’t present in other parts of the country, or rather, I have the same expenses, but at much higher rates. (For instance, I pay close to $30K per year in rent, the average is around $27K per year. There’s just no way I could live off Jeff Hine’s writing income without giving up all sorts of luxuries, like food.) Focus put together a fantastic infographic that shows how a fictional employee’s $92K salary in Silicon Valley had the same buying power as a $59K salary in San Diego.

I expect to have retirement income later in life, so I expect to be more in Myke Cole’s position than Mr Hine’s. (And that’s another scary point, if you’re making less than $30,000 on average, what do you do for retirement?)

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If you need additional lumbar support (and can justify the cost for the ergonomics), or if you’re like me and spend a lot of time in a chair and need that chair to be comfortable, I’d suggest you look in to this chair. With a twelve year warranty and boasting that it is made of 50% (or more) recycled material, this chair beats all competitors. The fabric-mesh design means the chair never gets hot under me, the flexibility means I never get uncomfortable, and the adjustment options means it can be easily tailored to my current wants or needs.

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Pairing the Jawbone Prime or Jawbone 2 Bluetooth Headset to Your Cell Phone

Put your phone into pairing mode

This can usually be accomplished by going under settings in your menu and selecting Bluetooth. Follow the prompts to “find a new device.” If you are having problems, refer to your phone’s user guide.

Put your Jawbone 2 Bluetooth headset into pairing mode

The first time you turn your Jawbone on it will immediately go into pairing mode. If you need to manually put the Jawbone into pairing mode, start with headset off. Hold down the NoiseAssasin button and power on. Continue to hold down button for 2 seconds. Headset will flash red and white when it is in paring mode.

If you are having trouble with this step, try pushing in the NoiseAssassin button just a half a second before you push in the talk button.

Select device and enter in universal keyYour phone may or may not ask you to enter in a key code. If it does, the code is always four zeros: 0000

You are paired up!

via Jawbone Bluetooth Headset Pairing Guide | Headsets.com – America’s Headset Specialists.

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Mon Jan 23 at 4:00 UTC (or Sun Jan 22 at 8 PM Pacific), there was a pretty spectacular solar flare. For the next several days we’re going to see an upswing in support tickets at work. In the last 48 hours we’ve had a few systems go down, power & environmental problems, UPSs burn out. This evening I worked on a site where a VPN router went down for no apparent reason. (All signs point to the network, but everything else on the network was working and the VPN router is directly connected to the internet… It was very perplexing.)

Whenever I hear about a solar flare, I’m sure there’s going to be more tickets in the work queue. If you read the FCC guidelines carefully (read the label on the box of every piece of electronics sold in the US), it says that all electronic devices must accept interference (even if it may cause undesired operation).

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference that may cause undesired operation.

via http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet61/oet61.pdf

And that’s what a solar flare puts out (large bursts of energy that can caused undesired operations.) In Sweden there were reports of the power grid being affected by the solar flare.

The picture is pretty, but it also means work.

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When the phone is powered up, the following happens:

1. NVRAM (non-volatile RA) is loaded, including the local configuration information. Any configuration options set to manual on the phone will overwrite automatic configuration information received.
   

   NOTE	If you experience any problems with any part of the process, use the IP Phone Factory Default reset procedure to clear all local configuration settings.

    

2. Phone then boots and determines if data switch provides LLDP or ADAC. This setting can be disabled manually, via DHCP or via manual provisioning. Unless this is disabled manually, the phone will always check LLDP/ADAC when it first boots.
   

   NOTE

   Leaving LLDP/ADAC enabled when it is not supported by the Layer 2 switching equipment installed at the site can extend boot times for IP Phone devices. While LLDP/ADAC is enabled in a factory default configuration, it is recommended that this be disabled unless it is specifically supported by the networking environment.

    

3. The phone then requests DHCP. If DHCP is available it processes the DHCP information.
4. If a provisioning server is provided via DHCP Option 66, DHCP or manually configured on the IP Phone, then the the IP Phone requests the system.prv and <TYPE>.cfg from the HTTP or TFTP servers. While there is a lot more available under manual provisioning than just firmware upgrades (and while I will be writing an article to cover those topics later), I have only written the manual firmware upgrade article.
5. Then the phone attempts to contact the S1 and S2 (primary signaling server and failover signaling server). If the phone cannot make a connection to the signaling server (or that information isn’t provided via any of the configuration methods available: manual, DHCP or provisioning server) then the Phone reboots and tries again.
6. If a connection is made to either the primary or failover signaling server, then the phone will register and proceed with attempting to connect to External Application Servers (XAS) such as the Application Server 1000. A lot of the functionality that was originally relegated to an External Server (screen savers, backgrounds, some directory functions) have been incorporated in to the base firmware/functionality of the IP Phones. Others still require an XAS. For more information on this, contact an authorized Avaya distributor.

The only information that is critical to an IP phone for the boot process is:

1. Set IP address, subnet mask and gateway
2. Primary signaling server (S1) IP address, Port, Action and Retry values
3. Node and TN

When troubleshooting, eliminate variables by resetting the unit back to factory default and then configure only the minimum number of settings needed to establish connectivity (start with manually configuring the phone, then migrate components of the configuration back to auto to determine where the process fails.)

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LogMeIn Rescue services in Computer Management

Solution

https://logmeinsupport.com/kblive/crm/selfservice/displaywh.jsp?DocId=2210&print=1

Microsoft Technet: SC DELETE command.

clean_up_lmi.cmd
—————————————-cut here—————————————-
@:: by John Williams
@:: Jan 4, 2011
@:: Removal of extra LMI services from server, to be used only when all LMI sessions are stopped
@echo Deleting registry keys related to LMI sessions…
@SC DELETE LMIRESCUE
@:: Removal of LMI*.TMP folders from C:\WINDOWS
@echo Deleting LMI temporary files; you may be prompted to confirm file deletion…
@cd:\windows
@del LMI*.TMP
@:: Removal of Local AppData – only applicable to Windows 7 and Windows Vista
@:: Uncomment (replace @:: with @) to enable
@:: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Temp
@:: del LMI*.TMP
@echo All files deleted, you must now reboot your computer
@echo before beginning any new LMI sessions to complete this procedure.
—————————————-cut here—————————————-

Standard disclaimer for anything posted here: If you use it, and it blows up your computer, cuts power, ends your marriage, summons the ghost of Christmas future, shaves your cat, neuters your dog, burns your taxes unfiled, or even if the stars align it works perfectly– it’s not my fault. You take all responsibility and agree to hold me harmless.

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The 2033 Conference phone firmware versions are approximations. I’m recreating this table from documentation, since Avaya doesn’t seem to care to keep such a thing current. I do have some old UNIStim 3.0 documentation. I’m debating whether or not to include the now-manufacture-discontinued IP phones (i.e., i2001, i2002, i2004). I’m very tempted to do so, since I still see a lot of 4.5 and earlier systems (which still support the older IP Phones.)

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1. Writer’s Acronyms: i.e. and e.g.
2. How to reset a Nortel IP phones to factory default

The Nortel Factory Default reset article was written to help me remember the code. Between my previous job and my current job, I found myself needing to reset phones to factory default irregularly, but often. In fairness to Nortel/Avaya, it’s not always the phone’s fault, but especially when you’re providing remote support and you’re uncertain what the field guy is doing or seeing (because, well, you’re not physically there to look over his/her shoulder), I found it useful to instruct people to factory default the phones as part of a troubleshooting process.

The following month, I posted the article on Latin acronyms. In retrospect, it’s not as much a surprise to me now that I’d already been concerned with how to write well. I am, after all, embarking on my own journey as an author of fiction. When I wrote that article, I was working for my current employer and I’d been writing more and more documentation. In documentation, proper use of acronyms greatly enhances readability. e.g., the latin acronym for exempli gratia is useful when you want to give an example, and much easier to use than throwing around the clunky “for example” or colloquial “forex”. When you want to add clarity to a sentence, the acronym for the latin phrase id est is useful. That is to say i.e. is a lot easier to use than saying that is.

In previous posts, I’ve covered someone else’s great list of building a platform and followed up with an explanation of why I critiquing other people’s work (and post it to my blog). I’m not sure how, going forward, I can capitalize on the popularity of the acronym post. I’m going to have to put some thought in to it. For the IP Phone procedure, there’s a lot of documentation that I can turn in to articles, so I’m going to be doing that at least once a week. I already started with reviewing QOS Notification Levels and Manually Upgrading Firmware on Avaya IP Phones.

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1. Branch office scenarios, where you want to reduce bandwidth requirements for provisioning or firmware distribution.
2. Large site scenarios, where you want to offload provisioning from the DHCP server or offload firmware distribution from the signaling server.
3. Secure environment scenarios, where phone security is paramount and phones should not allow themselves to be reconfigured.
4. Any scenario where a signaling server is not available, such as a home office scenario or staging warehouse scenario. This includes scenarios where you want to load VPN client licensing on to the IP phone to allow it to be deployed remotely (e.g., a home office.)

The provisioning phase of the boot process can use DHCP or HTTP. To use HTTP, you must configure DHCP Option 66 in the IP Phone VLAN to point to the HTTP server name and prefix the server name with “http://”. For example DHCP Option 66 “http://httpserver/”. Whether you select TFTP or HTTP, the provisioning phase process checks the system.prv file and if it exists, may load one of the other provisioning files. If multiple provisioning files are loaded, the configuration parameters take effect in the following priority:

1. DEVICE (e.g., <MAC>.prv, or, 001365FEF4D4.prv)
2. TYPE (e.g., <TYPE>.prv, or, 1140E.prv)
3. ZONE (e.g., headqrtr.prv)
4. SYSTEM (e.g., system.prv)

The provisioning files provide the Info Block, which contains all the information you might normally stick in DHCP (or manually configure on the phone if  you’re especially sadistic towards your telecom analysts). The Info Block can also contain information that is not normally provided in the DHCP string (e.g., Node and TN.) After the provisioning block is loaded, the IP phone will load the configuration file to determine how it should obtain firmware and font file updates. At some future point, I might come back and write another article to cover provisioning via HTTP or TFTP, but for now, we’re going to focus on the configuration file and manually upgrading the firmware on an IP phone.

1. TYPE (e.g., <TYPE>.cfg, or, 1140E.cfg)

The Configuration file can contain a lot of information:

1. [FW] Set Firmware
2. [GEM FW] Expansion Module Firmware
3. [USER_KEYS] User keys
4. [DEVICE_CONFIG] Device configuration
5. [IMAGES] Backgrounds and screensavers
6. [FONTxx] Custom fonts
7. [LANGUAGE] Language (associated with customized fonts)
8. [LICENSING] Feature licensing
9. [DIALING_PLAN] Dialing plan (SIP only?)

We’re going to focus only on the [FW] values in this article.

Example 1140E.cfg file:

[FW]
DOWNLOAD_MODE AUTO
VERSION 0625C8J
FILENAME 0625C8J.bin
PROTOCOL TFTP
SERVER_IP 192.168.0.101
SECURITY_MODE 0

After placing both the configuration file (e.g., 1140E) and the FILENAME (firmware image) in the root of the TFTP server at SERVER_IP, the next step is to choose the method of configuring the IP Phone to know about the external provisioning server (if you haven’t already done this). The options available are:

1. DHCP Option 66 – TFTP/HTTP Server Name
2. DHCP Option Nortel-i2004-B specification
3. Manually configuring the Provisioning Server on the IP phone.

Select a method and implement it. To keep this article short and focused, we’re going to assume you know how to do this.

Plug in your phone and power it up. Assuming that (your DHCP configuration or manually configured provisioning server is correct and) it is able to reach the provisioning server, it will download the <TYPE>.cfg file from the TFTP/HTTP server, then using the instructions contained within, determine if a firmware download is required and perform that download if necessary.

If you use DOWNLOAD_MODE FORCED, the IP phone will force a download of the firmware each time the phone boots. This will increase the boot time for all IP phones configured to use that <TYPE>.cfg file.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you did, please share it.

Addendum:

Note regarding i2007.cfg file

Early versions of the IP Phone 2007 FW will fail to download newer versions of FW if the [FW] line is present before the FW download information in the .cfg file.

If the FW version currently on the IP Phone 2007 is prior to any version of 0621C4x, then delete the [FW] line. Once the phone has FW version 0621C4x or greater, the [FW] line must be present. Example: Phone has 0621C3A – comment out or delete the [FW] line in the i2007.cfg file Phone has 0621C4J – keep the [FW] line in the i2007.cfg file

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LD 117

CHG ZQNL <zone> <notification_level>

Level = 0-(2)-4, where:

Level 0 = All voice quality alarms are suppressed.

Level 1 = All zone based Unacceptable alarms.

% QOS019 QoS unacceptable packet loss: [42.3] % in zone [1]

Level 2 = Allow all level 1 alarms PLUS zone based Warning alarms.

% QOS013 QoS warning jitter:[30.6] % in zone [1]

% QOS015 QoS warning R factor:[43.0] % in zone [1]

Level 3 = Allow all level 1 and 2 alarms PLUS per call Unacceptable alarms.

% QOS007 Unac pkt loss:[PL:8.2 LT:0 JIT:0 R:75]
%   Near [192.168.16.23:5000],TN[067 16],NZ[0:1]
%   Far [10.1.152.121:5200] TN[063 23], VPNI:Zone[0:1]

Level 4 = Allow all level 1, 2, and 3 alarms PLUS per call Warning alarms

% QOS001 Warning packet loss:[4.3 %]
%   Near [192.168.16.23:5000] TN[067 16],NZ[0:1]
%   Far [10.1.152.121:5200] TN[063 23], VPNI:Zone[0:1]

% QOS002 Warning latency :[50 ms]
%   Near [10.1.152.121:5000] TN[063 23],NZ[0:1]
%   Far [192.168.16.23:5200] TN[067 16], VPNI:Zone[0:1]

% QOS003 Warning jitter :[20 ms]
%   Near [10.1.152.25:5000],TN[064 22],NZ[0:1]
%   Far [10.1.112.28:5200] TN[067 18], VPNI:Zone[0:1]

% QOS005 Warning R factor:[75]
%   Near [192.168.16.23:5000],TN[067 16],NZ[0:1]
%   Far [10.1.152.121:5200] TN[063 23], VPNI:Zone[0:1]

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