[Serusers] "Best practice" document, Business system open source

Hans Eriksson hans at hecc.se
Mon Mar 7 23:56:51 CET 2005 

Guys,

this discussion faded away. Is it still hot but carried out somewhere 
else?

Anyway, I am committed to put my business support system in the open 
source. We use it both in projects at Royal Institue of Technology 
(KTH), Stockholm, as well as commercially (www.xtrafone.com). The BSS 
handles order, customers, accounts, rating, billing (pre-paid), 
customer My Pages, etc. The lot!

KTH use SER as its proxies wheras we use the Asterisk in 
www.xtrafone.com. As long as there are CDRs placed in a MySql tables, 
the BSS can pick that up and rate, charge.

I have also written a couple of How-To (install ser, mysql etc).

All this I'd like to add to the pot. I am all for to create a complete 
package for a commercial or non-commercial VoIP operator that includes 
a proxy, gateway and BSS. And also the docs describing best practices 
(ser.cfg, logging, NAT traversal, etc). Just add marketing and 
customers and you roll.

For the BSS I don't really know where to place the code. Beside the 
ser? sourceforge? It is written in /bin/sh, awk, SQL and php (no, 
nothing to compile!). Runs on any Linux, MacOSX and FreeBSD system.

Can we get this discussion thread going again and get started putting 
our stuff into a shared pool where we can get going to change the world 
(I just could not hold back :-).

/hans




2005-02-21 kl. 14.28 skrev Iqbal Gandham:

> Great idea, can I also suggest, and I can help out if needs (simply 
> because I am one of them struggling users :-)) is a debug guide, all 
> devices seem to have a few quirks to the setup, and they all seem to 
> have different setting, eg some support only STUN, some use the 
> proxying, others you can dela with at the server end etc etc, what I 
> think owuld be useful is a guide to what its supposed to look like, 
> i.e the debug log.
>
> I have been through the entire sip syntax , to figure out where the 
> messages go/come from, but with the contact headers, From, and c= I 
> can see how it can get a little confusing
>
> Iqbal
>
> PS 0.10 works quite nicely
>
> Java Rockx wrote:
>> Steve,
>> I fully agree - and this is the exact reason that this cannot be a
>> single person endeavor.
>> Regards,
>> Paul
>> On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:28:02 -0500, Steve Blair 
>> <blairs at isc.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>> Greger V. Teigre wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Paul, I fully support the approach: Make one reference design with a
>>>> complete ser.cfg.  This will give us a Getting Started.  We can 
>>>> later
>>>> add sections on the more advanced stuff like redundancy, radius, 
>>>> etc.
>>>> Thanks for your review of the components in such a reference design
>>>> (I'll relate to those further below).
>>>>
>>>>   I believe there are two hurdles to get on top of ser: Get a first
>>>> working config up and running and then understanding the concepts 
>>>> good
>>>> enough to start tweaking.  Many will not have all the components of
>>>> the full reference system you describe, Paul, so a starting point 
>>>> with
>>>> a minimum system is probably needed.  I.e. Get a UA registered 
>>>> without
>>>> auth, etc (I see some questions on this too)
>>>>
>>>
>>> I'd like to add a third hurdle, keeping this or any documentation
>>> up-to-date. One of the biggest issues
>>> I've faced is keeping a working, production supporting, configuration
>>> "correct" across release changes.
>>> The situation doesn't get better if there is alot of out dated
>>> documentation.
>>>
>>> In addition to a few core examples I'd suggest a clearly worded
>>> changelog. The changelog needs to
>>> be clearly show what has changed and what is impacted by the change 
>>> on a
>>> release by release basis.
>>>
>>> $0.02
>>>
>>>
>>>>   I thus see the following things that must be addressed:
>>>> - How to read the basic ser.cfg
>>>> - The basic ser.cfg, what does it do, what is the reference design 
>>>> (is
>>>> the ser.cfg in cvs appropriate?)
>>>> - A description of the reference design with a "component list"
>>>> - The complete ser.cfg
>>>> - Conceptual explanations of each logical part of the ser.cfg
>>>> - External systems (Asterisk, mediaproxy/nathelper), configs, etc
>>>>
>>>> See my inline comments with regards to a reference design.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> My setup uses SER v0.9 and Asterisk-1.0.2. The Asterisk server is 
>>>>> used
>>>>> __ONLY__ for voicemail because - well lets face it, Asterisk sucks 
>>>>> as
>>>>> a SIP router because it just isn't designed to be one.
>>>>>
>>>>> So all users are managed by SER and Asterisk only comes into play 
>>>>> for
>>>>> voicemail and for playing recordings such as "the party you are
>>>>> calling has blocked your call" when a call block is enabled.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We also use 0.9, but does not yet support voicemail.  I think we
>>>> should concentrate on 0.9 capabilities and forget about 0.8.14.  
>>>> Most
>>>> people starting up now will probably use 0.9, at least shortly when 
>>>> it
>>>> is released as stable.
>>>>
>>>>   Voicemail adds a layer of complexity in terms of scalability and
>>>> redundancy.  IMHO we should leave out voicemail from the reference
>>>> design, not because it is something most people would not want, but
>>>> because it introduces an external component and complexity that is
>>>> better added later in the document (like redundancy). That being 
>>>> said,
>>>> I think we should include voicemail and voiceprompts as part of the
>>>> initial work on this document, just not leave it as the main 
>>>> reference
>>>> design.
>>>>   Sems is a bit less complex than Asterisk and uses the same style
>>>> config, could it be an alternativ in the reference design?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> We should leave redundancy out of the picture for now because fault
>>>>> tolerant SER is still something many users don't use and it's
>>>>> something that is still maturing in SER. Besides, my opinion on 
>>>>> this
>>>>> matter is that a "ser clustering" should be a product of the Linux 
>>>>> HA
>>>>> technologies (expect for registration functionality).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I agree that we should leave redundancy out. Using Linux HA 
>>>> does
>>>> not necessary make it simpler...  Also, in order to get network
>>>> redundancy when you have distributed users, you need geographic
>>>> distribution of ser servers. But, again, the complex stuff should be
>>>> left until later.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> The ser.cfg we present should also show how to use MySQL for
>>>>> accounting, usrloc, etc.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Agree. We use RADIUS-based authentication and authorization with
>>>> distributed RADIUS servers. Only usrloc is stored in mysql (we use
>>>> avp_radius_load), but we do accounting to mysql.  I can maybe
>>>> volunteer to do a RADIUS-section later, covering auth, uri, avps 
>>>> etc,
>>>> but we should concentre on the basics first.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> serweb should be avoided altogether because this is nothing more 
>>>>> than
>>>>> a reference implementation that I believe not a primetime offering,
>>>>> again, just my humble opinion.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Agree. But, maybe somebody will volunteer to add an add-on section 
>>>> on
>>>> serweb?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Failover PSTN gateways must be covered as well as NAT traversal. 
>>>>> The
>>>>> NAT traversal I use is mediaproxy because it seems to just work
>>>>> better, especially in distributed deployments.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> NAT Traversal, I agree. Failover PSTN GW is a more advanced option.
>>>> Especially if that means introducing the new lcr module from cvs 
>>>> head.
>>>> :-)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On this NAT note, my ser.cfg only proxies RTP streams when one or 
>>>>> more
>>>>> SIP clients is behind a NAT firewall. The exception to this is 
>>>>> when a
>>>>> SIP client needs to hit the Asterisk server. The reason for this is
>>>>> that the Asterisk server is physically a differenet machine that 
>>>>> does
>>>>> not have direct access to the internet. Instead I use the SER 
>>>>> server
>>>>> with two (2) ethernet interfaces, whereby eth0 is the public 
>>>>> interface
>>>>> and eth1 is a 10.0.0.0 private network and I use a crossover cable 
>>>>> to
>>>>> the Asterisk server, which has only one private 10.0.0.0 interface.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We use rtpproxy where ser is located on one server and the rtpproxy 
>>>> on
>>>> another.  They communicate across udp (inside an ipsec tunnel). I.e.
>>>> they are geographically distributed to keep the rtpproxy server as
>>>> close as possible to the subscribers.
>>>>   Our UAs are configured with STUN and the RTP streams are only run
>>>> through our proxy server if an UA is behind a symmetric NAT and gets
>>>> an incoming conversation (or both are behind symmetric NAT).
>>>>   Calls where both UAs are behind the same NAT will always be forced
>>>> through the rtpproxy (to avoid hairpin problem).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Since almost all serusers seem to be interested in voicemail I'd
>>>>> suggest detail instructions on the Asterisk integration. I use the
>>>>> ast_data patch, which is kindly provided by bwsys because this 
>>>>> makes
>>>>> managing Asterisk mailboxes a function of the MySQL database. And 
>>>>> the
>>>>> only other real hard part to Asterisk integration is the Message
>>>>> Waiting Indicator, which I have modifed the app_voicemail.c file in
>>>>> Asterisk to handing SUBSCRIBE messages a bit differently and I use
>>>>> sipsak to send NOTIFY messages back to SER, which then proxies the
>>>>> NOTIFY message to registered SIP clients to turn their MWI on or 
>>>>> off.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> IMHO, this is not a basic reference design, but rather advanced...
>>>> ;-)  Of course, there are many people who would love to see this
>>>> design described.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Call features should also be covered in the ser.cfg. Things like 
>>>>> call
>>>>> blocking, speed dialing, click2dial, etc. Things like 3-way 
>>>>> calling,
>>>>> call waiting, etc should not be covered because they are functions
>>>>> usually implemented as IAD features.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Agree.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Our company has a full tcp/ip networking patch that we plan to 
>>>>> release
>>>>> to the ser project. This tcp/ip patch gives us full FIFO 
>>>>> functionality
>>>>> as a TCP socket, and this is something we hope would be commited to
>>>>> CVS and maintained in the core. As far as we can tell the 
>>>>> networking
>>>>> patch is stable, but we need to prove this further.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Good news! You have probably seen Andreas' effort in this same
>>>> direction using XMLRPC. I guess you have patched the core like Juha
>>>> suggested in the XMLRPC dialogue? This is an area where a lot of
>>>> parallel work can be avoided.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> So in closing, if anyone things we're better off coming up with a
>>>>> ser.cfg in private, then let me know. If everyone things that the
>>>>> serusers list is the place to do this then lets start for the 
>>>>> benefit
>>>>> of everyone!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you start out by making an initial draft by dumping in you config
>>>> and making some headers, you can send it to us for adding content.  
>>>> If
>>>> you submit it on the list with a call to submit suggestions and
>>>> wishes, we can either rotate the document edit privilege or work on
>>>> different parts of it?!
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> g-) aka
>>>> Greger V. Teigre
>>>> AxxessAnywhere, Oslo, Norway
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Serusers mailing list
>>>> serusers at lists.iptel.org
>>>> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> ISC Network Engineering
>>> The University of Pennsylvania
>>> 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 221A
>>> Philadelphia, PA 19104
>>>
>>> voice: 215-573-8396
>>>
>>>       215-746-8001
>>>
>>> fax: 215-898-9348
>>>
>>> sip:blairs at upenn.edu
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Serusers mailing list
>>> serusers at lists.iptel.org
>>> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Serusers mailing list
>> serusers at lists.iptel.org
>> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>> .
>
> _______________________________________________
> Serusers mailing list
> serusers at lists.iptel.org
> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>

More information about the sr-users mailing list