The courtesy tones are played locally over the node radio and are not rebroadcasted over the internet. Disabling Courtesy Tones:- Although not recommended for a simplex node, can be disabled by changing  the line nounkeyct=0 to nounkeyct=

The tones are set in the [telementry section]
The numbers between the ( ) represent frequency1,frequency2,duration,amplitude and must be a number between 0 and 3000 in Hz.

Duration is the tone on time in milliseconds and Amplitude is the relative volume level of the tone or tones. This can be from 0 to 8192

[telemetrynode_number] 
ct1 = |t(350,0,100,2048)
ct2 = |t(660,880,150,2048) 
ct3 = |t(440,0,150,4096)
ct8 = |t(550,0,150,2048)

On my node, I changed the CourtesyTones ct2 and ct8 to the following.
ct2=|iG0HLJ   ; Send Callsign in Morse when you key up and no one is using node
ct8=|iK            ; Send K in Morse when a person on the node Unkeys. (only sends locally)

Using these Courtesy Tones can be quite complex, you can even define them to a group of nodes.
To learn more about them, checkout the HamVoip CT PDF document.

Macros can be quite useful as they act like a fast dial using the DTMF key tones. To send a macro, you start by sending the DTMF tone *5 followed by the macro number, 1,2,3 etc. *5 is the default command but this can be set to anything you like and is defined under the functions section.

[functions]
5=macro,1         ; execute macro = *5 change it to what ever you like

Here are some examples of macros I have configured.
EG: *54 allows me to quickly connect to node 42202 which is easier than the usual *3<node> command *342202
[macro66554]
1=*81#               ; Play 12h time and voice ID
2=*A3#               ; Play Public ip address
3=*A1#               ; Play local ip address
4=*342202#      ; Connect to node 42202 G8CZE Manchester
5=*70#               ; Play who the node is connected to

These are three of the timings which I have changed from the default settings. The numeric values indicate milliseconds

hangtime=5               ; Squelch tail hang time
tx_timeout=600000  ; 10 Minute TX Timeout
idtime=9000000.       ; ID's every 15 Minutes

Backing up the Node appears to be a controversy topic from what I have read across the internet.

Some people like to backup the entire microSD card on a regular basis, others don't backup anything.

My Node is located in a project box and removing the microSD card is not an easy task so the method I use to backup is to only backup the user files on a regular basis.

If you are interested in reading more about the method I have settled on, I have a section on the website where I touch briefly on the system I use to backup my Allstar Node.