What exactly is the current status of CallCentric on an Obi device?

[CoalMinerRetired]

There are so many permutations of combinations of configurations, software versions and devices that it’s a complicated question, with a moving target as an answer.

Tonight I was experimenting with the ObiTalk Portal and a new Obi110, and I noted that the CC wizard in the portal does not implement CC’s configuration per instructions on CC’s website, …. the difference is in multiple fields. I was hoping the cloud based approach would always implement the latest and greatest configuration tweaks, and would seamlessly keep things up to date. 

Even more variation is out there from various combinations discussed here, discussed on DSLR, and on CC’s website, which previously (and ambiguously) said ‘if your current configuration works, don’t change it…’

To summarize the major categories of differences:

Software versions: Released, pre-release beta, and special request via Obi Support. Footnote: pre-release beta is for Obi202 only.

Configurations: From ObiTalk Portal wizard, CC’s webpage, discussions on DSLR, and various (multiple) discussions on here. That's five or six or more different variations by my count.

Until recently the DSLR discussions seemed to be the most current, while you could also argue they were a moving target.  There’s a helpful CC guy on there, but he appears to be a non-official CC support person.

I wasn’t completely following the whole back and forth on using DnsSrvAutoPrefix. At first it did not stop the random reboots, then it did, now it’s no longer needed. I think.

This wasn’t intended to be a rant, unfortunately it’s almost coming off as one. And insightful comments or advice is appreciated.

[VOIPisGreat]

Here is my experience:

When the DDoS first happened I changed to the SRV setting that callcentric suggested. It worked for roughly 20 days without issue. Then the storm knocked the service out completely, when the service came back, my obi started rebooting every few minutes with the exact same setting as I used before the outage. So I asked Obi support for the new firmware. With the new firmware, the obi would not reboot as frequently, but it still kept re-registering to callcentric every few minutes (to a different server ip address every time) The reboot cycle changed from every few minutes to roughly 48 hours.

Then callcentric seemed to have "fixed" their SRV record, and so far my obi has still rebooted once since that happened. This time it lasted a few more days.

I am still in search of a setting in which my obi would not reboot on its own. 

[CoalMinerRetired]

I saw that earlier.

Anyone that is successfully using CC currently please post your configuration.

In response to Jimates post from another thread, I've got a CC free DID number running on a new Obi110. It's not my primary device, so I can afford to experiment. 

It's loaded with sw version is 1.3.0 (Build: 2744). I used the Obitalk Portal to configure it, initially used the CC Wizard on the portal. At first registration was dropping frequently, several times over a ten minute period.  I then looked at CC's configuration for an Obi202, and followed it exactly (no srv.callcentroic nor X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix). Had to get into expert mode to do this. I also have a GV service configured on SP2. So far the device has been up for 24 hours, and I received a few calls on it during the day today. 

Twenty-four hours uptime is the best I've seen since the attacks, but I'm in 'I'll believe it when I see it mode' with this, so I'll reserve judgement until I see it up for a week or ten days.

Footnote: CC has configuration instructions for a 100 and a 202, but not a 110. Their configuration differs between a 100 and a 202 (four more fields changed in a 202 than in a 100). I chose to try the 202.

[ProfTech]

I can't comment on the 202 but as far as the 100/110 go, the answer to your question may hinge on what DNS servers you are trying to use. Not sure. I use ATT dsl and I am using their standard system dns servers. My 110 also began rebooting after CC came back on line after Sandy. As VoipIsGreat reported, upgrading to 2755 helped the crashing & rebooting but it had serious problems staying registered. However, a week or so later CC made some major changes in their dns setup and now my 110 is working fine. I also administer a 100 that still has standard build 2744 and it also is working Ok. My final setup is only slightly different than pre-October settings. As long as ProxyServerRedundancy is checked, the Obi automatically uses the _sip._udp prefix and DnsSrvAutoPrefix does not need to be checked. Using ProxyServer srv.callcentric.com now produces different results than callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com seems to work better. Use callcentric.com for UserAgentDomain. OutboundProxy and Registrar can be left blank as the Obi uses what ever is in the Proxy field. One more thing - set RegistrationPeriod to nothing less than 116. It can be greater but setting it greater will provide no benefit.

*edited* Make sure X_SecondaryRegistration is checked as well as ProxyServerRedundancy. My 110 no longer reboots unless I reboot it and registers exactly every 58 seconds [ 1/2 of 116 seconds] as Obi designed it.

[jimates]

I saw the configuration settings at CC earlier today but wasn't sure how recent it was. I just configured CC using the 202  settings. Will see what happens.

[lacibaci]

This is the configuration I've been using for a couple of weeks (OBi100)

ProxyServer      callcentric.com
RegistrarServer   callcentric.com
UserAgentDomain   callcentric.com
OutboundProxy      callcentric.com

X_ProxyServerRedundancy   yes
X_SecondaryRegistration   yes
X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix      yes

X_KeepAliveEnable   yes
X_KeepAliveExpires   120

[VOIPisGreat]

I can't comment on the 202 but as far as the 100/110 go, the answer to your question may hinge on what DNS servers you are trying to use. Not sure. I use ATT dsl and I am using their standard system dns servers. My 110 also began rebooting after CC came back on line after Sandy. As VoipIsGreat reported, upgrading to 2755 helped the crashing & rebooting but it had serious problems staying registered. However, a week or so later CC made some major changes in their dns setup and now my 110 is working fine. I also administer a 100 that still has standard build 2744 and it also is working Ok. My final setup is only slightly different than pre-October settings. As long as ProxyServerRedundancy is checked, the Obi automatically uses the _sip._udp prefix and DnsSrvAutoPrefix does not need to be checked. Using ProxyServer srv.callcentric.com now produces different results than callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com seems to work better. Use callcentric.com for UserAgentDomain. OutboundProxy and Registrar can be left blank as the Obi uses what ever is in the Proxy field. One more thing - set RegistrationPeriod to nothing less than 116. It can be greater but setting it greater will provide no benefit.

*edited* Make sure X_SecondaryRegistration is checked as well as ProxyServerRedundancy. My 110 no longer reboots unless I reboot it and registers exactly every 58 seconds [ 1/2 of 116 seconds] as Obi designed it.

Thank you! I have tried many different settings and I still haven't quite get it to my satisfaction. I'll try your setting. If you have any further changes or fine tuning please let us know.

[ProfTech]

Please note. If you are using DHCP to get an IP address from your router and the IP address for the Obi changes [which it can do], the Obi is designed to reboot. This is one reason to use a static IP address in the OBi. I think these types of devices are supposed to perform more reliably with a static IP anyway. Unfortunately, the procedure for setting a static IP varies from router to router.

[CoalMinerRetired]

Please note. If you are using DHCP to get an IP address from your router and the IP address for the Obi changes [which it can do], the Obi is designed to reboot. This is one reason to use a static IP address in the OBi. I think these types of devices are supposed to perform more reliably with a static IP anyway. Unfortunately, the procedure for setting a static IP varies from router to router.

I'm curious about that bolded statement. For the record, that is not anywhere in the device admin guide, so I'm wondering why you say it is designed to behave this way? It is regularly mentioned in the admin guide that using a dynamic IP address is routine -- for example the first if the four LED lights flashes green when it is searching for an IP address from a DHCP source.  So I would have expected they'd warn you about this.

On another topic, with the config I mentioned above my Obi110 has now been up for three full days with a CC configuration.

[ProfTech]

This has been mentioned "off the cuff" in the forum. I'm sure the default is DHCP because that is simplest for most people. Just plug it in. I'm not sure why Obi would have designed it to reboot if the IP changes unless it has something to do with routing. Anyway, check reboot reason codes 12 and 13 in the admin guide. 12 is "Reboot after DHCP server offers IP, GW-IP and/or Netmask different from what the OBi device is currently using" and 13 [related] "Reboot on Data Networking Link Re-establishment". I have tested and if you unplug the ethernet cable from the Obi and plug it back in the Obi reboots also. This seems to be why some people with certain routers have had issues. The Obi comes from the factory set for 10 mb / half duplex and some routers don't like it so their ethernet port goes crazy and the Obi reboots or in some cases the router seems to go nuts. Changing the port setting on the Obi to 100 / full duplex usually corrects that issue. 100 / full is the "modern" standard.

[VOIPisGreat]

I can't comment on the 202 but as far as the 100/110 go, the answer to your question may hinge on what DNS servers you are trying to use. Not sure. I use ATT dsl and I am using their standard system dns servers. My 110 also began rebooting after CC came back on line after Sandy. As VoipIsGreat reported, upgrading to 2755 helped the crashing & rebooting but it had serious problems staying registered. However, a week or so later CC made some major changes in their dns setup and now my 110 is working fine. I also administer a 100 that still has standard build 2744 and it also is working Ok. My final setup is only slightly different than pre-October settings. As long as ProxyServerRedundancy is checked, the Obi automatically uses the _sip._udp prefix and DnsSrvAutoPrefix does not need to be checked. Using ProxyServer srv.callcentric.com now produces different results than callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com seems to work better. Use callcentric.com for UserAgentDomain. OutboundProxy and Registrar can be left blank as the Obi uses what ever is in the Proxy field. One more thing - set RegistrationPeriod to nothing less than 116. It can be greater but setting it greater will provide no benefit.

*edited* Make sure X_SecondaryRegistration is checked as well as ProxyServerRedundancy. My 110 no longer reboots unless I reboot it and registers exactly every 58 seconds [ 1/2 of 116 seconds] as Obi designed it.

Thank you! I have tried many different settings and I still haven't quite get it to my satisfaction. I'll try your setting. If you have any further changes or fine tuning please let us know.

My Obi finally has been running for over 7 days for the first time since the CC outage. Thanks for all your help!

[CoalMinerRetired]

.....
My final setup is only slightly different than pre-October settings. As long as ProxyServerRedundancy is checked, the Obi automatically uses the _sip._udp prefix and DnsSrvAutoPrefix does not need to be checked. Using ProxyServer srv.callcentric.com now produces different results than callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com seems to work better. Use callcentric.com for UserAgentDomain. OutboundProxy and Registrar can be left blank as the Obi uses what ever is in the Proxy field. One more thing - set RegistrationPeriod to nothing less than 116. It can be greater but setting it greater will provide no benefit.

*edited* Make sure X_SecondaryRegistration is checked as well as ProxyServerRedundancy. My 110 no longer reboots unless I reboot it and registers exactly every 58 seconds [ 1/2 of 116 seconds] as Obi designed it.

I'm guessing you are seeing the effect of this rule/algorithm, from pps. 87 & 88 of the DeviceAdmin manual:

DNS Lookup of SIP Servers
When sending out SIP requests to the server, the device looks up the IP address of the server using standard DNS query if the server is specified as a domain name instead of an IP address. If Outbound Proxy Server is configured, it is used instead of the SIP Proxy Server or SIP Registration Server. The resolution of the server domain name into IP address is performed in the following manner:
- Try looking up the name as DNS A Record. If not found.
- Try looking up the name as DNS SRV Record. If not found.
- Try looking up the name as DNS SRV Record with "_sip._udp." prepended to the hostname. If not found, fail the request.
If the result from the DNS query is a SRV record, the server port is taken from that record also (the server port value configured on the device is ignored). Otherwise, the server port is taken from the configured value or use 5060 if none specified.

A verification would be to change your local configured value for server port and see if the rule in the second to last sentence is being invoked. Or watch things in ethereal/wireshark.

[VOIPisGreat]

I can't comment on the 202 but as far as the 100/110 go, the answer to your question may hinge on what DNS servers you are trying to use. Not sure. I use ATT dsl and I am using their standard system dns servers. My 110 also began rebooting after CC came back on line after Sandy. As VoipIsGreat reported, upgrading to 2755 helped the crashing & rebooting but it had serious problems staying registered. However, a week or so later CC made some major changes in their dns setup and now my 110 is working fine. I also administer a 100 that still has standard build 2744 and it also is working Ok. My final setup is only slightly different than pre-October settings. As long as ProxyServerRedundancy is checked, the Obi automatically uses the _sip._udp prefix and DnsSrvAutoPrefix does not need to be checked. Using ProxyServer srv.callcentric.com now produces different results than callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com seems to work better. Use callcentric.com for UserAgentDomain. OutboundProxy and Registrar can be left blank as the Obi uses what ever is in the Proxy field. One more thing - set RegistrationPeriod to nothing less than 116. It can be greater but setting it greater will provide no benefit.

*edited* Make sure X_SecondaryRegistration is checked as well as ProxyServerRedundancy. My 110 no longer reboots unless I reboot it and registers exactly every 58 seconds [ 1/2 of 116 seconds] as Obi designed it.

Thank you! I have tried many different settings and I still haven't quite get it to my satisfaction. I'll try your setting. If you have any further changes or fine tuning please let us know.

My Obi finally has been running for over 7 days for the first time since the CC outage. Thanks for all your help!

My Obi finally rebooted itself last night after a call made from a voice gateway. Not sure if it's related to that gateway or it's just a coincidence. Does anyone have a theory about why it could have happened? Could it be a compatibility issue between the sp (callcentric) and the gateway (voip.ms)? The call was made successfully tho.

[MikeHObi]

My obi 202 has been up for 19 days which is when the CallCentric Free NY DID's came back on line and I re-enabled CallCentric.

The only non Default setting I currently have configured for Call Centric is x_DnsSrvAutoPrefix which is checked on.

I stopped touching stuff when it started working.  I assume at some point the Obi Defaults will get reset to what will work reliably with Call Centric and I'll revert to the defaults again.

My obi is hardware version 1.3 and software version 3.0.0 (Build 3460)