Some lessons we learned in the setup process.

• The diagrams for the ports on the back of the repeater are on top of the module and thus, when stacked, are not visible so you have no idea which ports are which.  You should label the ports or photocopy the diagrams and keep them handy.
• The rack run very hot. The vents are on the bottom which often are useless since they are sandwiched one on top of another.  You should try to plan for at least 1U spacing and also stagger the units horizontally (like stair steps) in the rack.
• Users will be completely baffled by the setup since it's much more complex than just dialing up a repeater and pressing the PTT.  A quick start guide is essential.
• Using circulators is a good idea.
• There is no need for amplifiers on the repeater or for mobile units.
• Always use the same gateway indicators as the rest of the world so folks don't have to remember exceptions to programming.  i.e.  A = 1.2g, B = 440, C = 2m
• Comet's 2-piece 1.2g antenna does not work but the one piece does. Ok to use for home but not for a repeater.
• We had to configure /dstar/tools/dplus.conf after dplus was installed
• We had to edit /opt/products/dstar/apache/conf/httpd.conf to add in the administrator's email address.
• dstar_db-backup.sh, located on the D-STAR CD, backups the database to /home/postgres as .csv files.  You should sync these offsite to maintain a good database backup.
• You'll want to configure the licensing text located in /opt/products/dstar/tomcat/webapps/D-STAR/WEB-INF/messages/agreement.txt with some nice bit about using D-STAR for non-commercial use.
• Don't forget to reconfigure dstarmon with the lat, long, and frequencies of your repeater once it's setup.
• Once your repeater's callsign is set in the gateway software and your gateway talks to the trustroot server, it is impossible to change it since it's recorded in the distributed registry of every D-STAR gateway.
• The trustroot is set in the dsipsvd.conf file.  The correct entry is TRUST_SERVER = USRoot.DStarUsers.Org
• In order to get the dstar_gwinstall script to run we had to export PATH=/usr/sbin:/sbin:$PATH
• If you use sudo to install the software, make sure you copy over .bashrc from your home directory to /root
• To login to the user registration panel as the repeater administrator, you first have to set up access.  Run /opt/products/dstar/dstar_gw/dsipsvd/add_user_mng.sh
• When you add the tomcat mail information from dstar.ca, there should be no leading spaces or tabs in the "<%" section otherwise you will get a JSP compile error.
• Once the repeater is ready, update both D-StarUsers.org as well as D-STAR Info with the repeater's information.
• When you add the terminal information for the gateway, do NOT add the S terminal but instead make it a blank. Also, ensure that you add a D terminal for the data. These two items are not listed in any documentation that we could find.
• We had to add "APRSServer=127.0.0.1:24579" to /opt/dstarmon/dstarmon.properties to get APRS to work.