router

[haz]

Hello all!

Can someone help me with the choice of a router that will support SIP best and allow for QOS and so on to give best performance and band width utilization?
A model name or even what features to look for will do. We are expecting max 15 users.

Regards



System information:
Vicibox 4.0.3 from ViciBox.x86_64-4.0.3.preload.iso | VERSION: 2.6-394a, BUILD: 130130-1207 | Asterisk 1.4.44-vici | Single Server | RAID Adaptec 2405| No Digium/Sangoma Hardware | No Extra Software After Installation | Intel Xeon | E3-1220 3.1Ghz 4 cores (HP ML310e Gen8)

[williamconley]

We don't use routers. Each server gets its own external/public IP and IPtables is used as a whitelist firewall to protect it. Since each server has its own firewall, a router would only get in the way. This also allows external access for agents without "double natting" to avoid the necessity for special software in their home routers to allow SIP to work.

That being said, any router will do in most cases Except the ones that often come with ISP service. Pretty much any consumer level router is good enough to work in our experience (with clients, many of whom use routers). The ISP Provided routers often prove troublesome under heavy load. Also many consumer level routers will exhibit issues with their power supply, which causes failure even though the router would work fine if it had power. Highly recommended to buy TWO and save settings to the desktop of an administration machine. Then if the power supply dies, you have an identical swap-out spare for instant repair (and then the dead one can be taken back for warranty replacement without your shop being down!). If the router itself dies, the same situation applies, but you do have to restore the settings first. A little slower, but reasonable.

FYI: QoS is only somewhat helpful. As agent sessions are on port 80 and required (they cannot drop packets), your QoS settings could interfere with Vicidial operations if the Vicidial system is not local. Best to simply disallow any non-vicidial traffic or get a completely separate "non-vicidial" or "non-voice" router (perhaps even with its own internet connection segregated from the Vicidial circuit). When in doubt, shut off all internet except Vicidial to see if that resolves any sound quality or connectivity issues. Having multiple IPs on your connection and allotting one to Vicidial and one to the "Web surfing router" is helpful if Vicidial is local. Then the router can be shut off during network disruption to see if "surfing" is the culprit ... without interfering with Vicidial which has its own public IP.

[haz]

Thanks for a detailed answer.
My ISP does not supply fixed public ip addresses. So my Cable router modem is set to obtain public IP address by DHCP. Can this work?
secondly i can bridge the ISP modem router and then add a "comercial router" but i did not really follow your suggestion as to disable the NAT and allow only NAT in the server? i have the agent PCs that need to connect to the internet too through the same connection. How to go around this situation?
Can the vicidial server act as a DHCP server?

Regards

[williamconley]

Thanks for a detailed answer.
My ISP does not supply fixed public ip addresses. So my Cable router modem is set to obtain public IP address by DHCP. Can this work?

Yes. No problems there at all. But this method will not work if you attempt a bridge, in most cases. Do feel free to try, though, if they allow it. But it can be complex. LOL

secondly i can bridge the ISP modem router and then add a "comercial router" but i did not really follow your suggestion as to disable the NAT and allow only NAT in the server? i have the agent PCs that need to connect to the internet too through the same connection. How to go around this situation?

Unfortunately, if you have only a single connection you have limited options. We HAVE had call centers use their Vicidial server on an external IP and use that as a web proxy. Then disable the web proxy to see if that improves call quality during "bad moments" (or use proxy controls to choke them entirely), but this is a fairly complex situation.

Generally much easier to disable the proxy entirely during this situation.

The trick then is to turn the Vicidial server into the gateway for the entire network, but this will add load to the Vicidial server. Depending on your system load, however, this has been done. Our first major client had only a single IP and used his Vicidial server on the External IP to act as gateway for the office and a SugarCRM server and a Zimbra server. And had no problems with load because he only had 10 agents and did not "powerdial".

Can the vicidial server act as a DHCP server?

Regards

Yep, not really recommended, but can be done. What you really mean is that the Vicidial server would become the Router/Firewall and provide a private network for the office. So Vicidial would have both an internal and external IP (on two network cards, not possible with a single card) and then all network traffic would pass through the Vicidial server.

Vicidial would provide DHCP and Gateway to the office. Linux does this all the time, but it does add load. It also means that the Vicidial server will become an integral part of your local network. Serious problem if it goes down. Be sure you have an extra Power Supply, CPU Fan, and HD (with a full copy of the present system configuration, ready to put online, possibly "spun down" to avoid any damage during whatever event may bring down the server).