[Serusers] ser features

[peter.3.edwards at bt.com]

Ah.

Thanks very much for the replies Dragos and Jan - I'll take a closer
look at the developer documentation (I can't believe I missed it!).

Hmm .. I think I have got the wrong end of the stick somewhere, though -
I thought ser was a variant of a SIP Application Server.  If it is just
a SIP proxy that probably doesn't fit the purpose we're looking at (not
that it'll stop me installing it anyway .. ;).

Is there anything in the open source world in the SIP Application Server
space, or is ser as close as it gets?

Many thanks for the very fast responses!!

Peter.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jan Janak [mailto:jan at iptel.org] 
> Sent: 07 February 2005 11:37
> To: Edwards,PR,Peter,XKD44 R
> Cc: serusers at lists.iptel.org
> Subject: Re: [Serusers] ser features
> 
> On 07-02 00:09, peter.3.edwards at bt.com wrote:
> > Hi,
> >  
> > Being one of those who tend towards open source, I'm trying 
> to put forward ser for use within my current project as, from 
> my reading, it seems to have most of the features I think 
> we're going to need.  Problem is, before I've had a chance to 
> get it in and play with it, there's a paper sift going on 
> which may see it being shelved before I get a chance to even 
> propose it.  :(
> >  
> > I realise it's entirely unforgivable, netiquette-wise, but 
> I was hoping if I posted the list of criteria I was looking 
> at whether someone could help confirm or deny what I've 
> cobbled together wrt ser.  Any links to more information on 
> the web would be ideal.
> >  
> > Any help at all would be gratefully received!
> >  
> > Many thanks,
> >  
> > Peter.
> >  
> > 1) Support for SIP - (preferably 3GPP ISC interface)
> >     - Obviously SIP is supported but I can't see any 
> explicit mention in the docs wrt to 3GPP ISC .. ?  Has ser 
> been developed with this in mind?
>  
>    SIP yes, 3GPP ISC no.
> 
> > 2) Provide flexible application run time support in terms 
> of standard / well-defined API sets such as SIP servlets
> >     - As ser is written in C, it's obviously not exposing 
> SIP servlets internally, but I can't seem to find a specific 
> API specificiation.  I think it sounds like applications are 
> created as C modules which plug into ser.  Is that right (I'm 
> not a C developer, so any clarification appreciated)?  Is it 
> a ser-properietary interface or something that follows a 
> particular standard?
> 
>   There is nothing comparable to SIP Servlets, SER is not a servlet
>   container, but a SIP message mangler with the possibility to keep
>   transaction state.
> 
>   SER modules are written in C and can access SER internals directly.
>   Each module can export function that the administrator can then call
>   in the configuration file.
> 
>   There is no particular standard for this, it is very 
> similar to the Apache
>   module API.
>   
> > 3) support carrier grade non functional requirements e.g. 
> %age availability, multi-site installation, latency, throughputs etc.
> >    - I can't see any specific claims for reliability, or 
> any info on how to deal with redundancy etc.  Has this been 
> looked at before?
> 
>   Yes, high availability extensions are available under comercial
>   license from iptel.org.
> 
> > 4) Any interfaces that can be exposed to application logic 
> hosted on a remote platform in an untrusted environment - 
> e.g. a Java RMI, Web Services etc.
> 
>    No.
> 
> >    - Does ser expose anything else, other than SIP?  How 
> would a third party application running on, let's say for 
> argument's sake, a J2EE application running on a separate 
> JBoss server?  Would a C module need to be written and 
> plugged into ser to expose, say web services?  Has anything 
> like that been done already?
> 
>   No, that is not possible. SER is not an application server, it is a
>   sip proxy.
> 
> > 5) Application Developer support / tools
> >    - Is there anything like a forum or tools to aid a 
> module developer?
> 
>   The C sources and SER developers guide describing the API.
> 
>   http://iptel.org/ser/devel.html
> 
> >  
> > 6) OSS integration
> >    - Is there any?
> 
>   No.
> 
>     Jan.
>