VOIP Call Metric Monitoring and MOS ( Mean Opinion Score)


Metrics for monitoring a VOIP call can be obtained from any node in media path of the call flow . Essentially used for analysis via calculation and aggregation , and sometimes used for realtime performance tracking and rectification too.

VoIP call quality metrics

RTP provides real time media stream, payload type identification, packet sequencing and timestamping headers.

sequence num : tracks incremental succession of incoming packets by sendor and tracls out of order delivery.

timestamp : used by the receiver to play back the received samples at appropriate time and interval. 

source : wikipedia RTP

Note that all Synchronization source (SSRC) identifiers fields denote the synchronization source within the RTP session such as both legs of a call session

  • leg A between Caller and RTP proxy,
  • leg B between RTPproxy and Callee

RTCP provides detailed monitoring of stream to participants in an ongoing session with statistical data and enhanced metrices for QoS ( quality of service ) and synchronisation using it SR ( senders Report ) and RR ( Receivers report) segments .

  • Packet loss rate
  • Packet discard rate
  • round trip delay
  • R factor which is voice quality carried over RTP ssession
  • mos lq for listening quality and mos cq for conversation qualityy
  • jitter buffer current delay , maximum delay
RTCP – SR
RTCP – RR

Certain aspects of RTP media and its RTCP metrics were discussed before you can read more about RTCP and RTCP / AVPF here RealTime Transport protocol (RTP) and RTP control protocol (RTCP )

Other call realted factors which are not specifically part of RTCP but provide information about call quality are

  • signal level
  • noise level
  • gap density, gap threshold
  • Burst density
  • residual echo return loss

Delays like following also play a signaificant influence in VoIP Quality

  • end system delay
  • Paketzation Delay
  • Setup delay ( auth, TLS handshake, accessing mic/camera stream ..)
  • Queing Delay
  • Serialization dleay
  • Network latency
  • End device processing delay such as CPU of the end device

It should be noted that in addition to these values which can be caluvulated algorithimically and with high precsiion , there are more subjective quality parameters which can be only evaluted manually ( ie witha person listening on both ends ) such as

  • Robot voice
  • Perceptible sound but annoying speech quality

Rating Factor (R-Factor) and Mean Opinion Score (MOS)

Rating Factor (R-Factor) and Mean Opinion Score (MOS) are two commonly-used measurements of overall VoIP call quality.

What is R-Factor ?

This is a value derived from metrics such as latency, jitter, and packet loss per ITU‑T Recommendation G.107. It assess the quality-of-experience for VoIP calls on your network. Typical scores range from 50 (bad) to 90 (excellent).

  • R factor of 90 , Mos is 4.3 ( Excellent )
  • R factor 50 , Mos is 2.6 ( Bad)

What is MOS?

MOS is derived from the R-Factor per ITU‑T Recommendation G.10 which measures VoIP call quality. PacketShaper measures MOS using a scale of 10-50. To convert to a standard MOS score (which uses a scale of 1-5), divide the PacketShaper MOS value by 10.

MOS ( Mean Opinion Score )

MOS is terminology for audio, video and audiovisual quality expressions as per ITU-T P.800.1. It refers to listening, talking or conversational quality, whether they originate from subjective or objective models.

  • Very Good: 4.3-5.0
  • Bad: 3.1-3.6
  • Not Recommenced : 2.6-3.1
  • Very Bad: 1.0-2.6

It provides provisions for identifiers regarding the audio bandwidth, the type of interface (electrical or acoustical) and the video resolution too, such as

  • MOS-AVQE for audiovisual quality
  • MOS-CQE is for estimated conversational quality
  • MOS-LQE for listening quality
  • MOS-TQE is used for talking quality
  • MOS-VQE depicts video quality

For Audio Signal Speech Quality/ AV
– N denotes audio signals upto narrow-band (300-3400 Hz)
– W is for audio signals upto wideband (50-7000 Hz)
– S for upto super-wideband (20-14000 Hz)
– F is obtained for fullband (10-20000 Hz)

For Listening quality LQO

  • electrical measurement : done at electrical interfaces only. In order to predict the listening quality as perceived by the user, assumptions for the terminals are made in terms of intermediate reference system (IRS) or corrected IRS frequency response. A sealed condition between the handset receiver and the user’s ear is assumed.
  • acoustical measurement : done at acoustical interfaces. In order to predict the listening quality as perceived by the user, this measurement includes the actual telephone set products provided by the manufacturer or vendor. In combination with the choice of the acoustical receiver in the laboratory test , there will be a more or less leaky condition between the handset’s receiver and the artificial ear.

Conversational Quality / CQ

Arithmetic mean value of subjective judgments on a 5-point ACR quality scale, is calculated.

Talking Quality / TQ

This describes the quality of a telephone call as it is perceived by the talking party only. Factors affecting TQ include echo signal , background noise , double talk etc. It is calculated based on the arithmetic mean value of judgments on a 5-point ACR quality scale.

Video Quality / VQ

To account for differentiation in perceived quality for mobile and fixed devices and to allow for proper handling of different use-cases as
– M for mobile screen such as a smartphone or tablet (approximately 25 cm or less)
– T for PC/TV monitors
It is calculated based on the arithmetic mean value of subjective judgments, typically on a 5-point quality scale

Audio Visual Quality / AVQ

Refers to quality of audio visual stream under corresponding networking conditions. It is also calculated based on the arithmetic mean value of judgments on a 5-point ACR quality scale.

Other parameters also contributing to VoIP metric Analysis

Latency

Latency is primarily is the time required for packets to travel from one end to another, in milliseconds. For example, if the sum of measured latency is 800 ms and the number of latency samples is 20, then the average latency is 40 ms. The header of the RTP packets carry timestamps which later can also be used to calculate round-trip time.

Medium of propagation

  • The Terrestrial coaxial cable or radio-relay system over FDM and digital transmission submarine coaxial cables add up to 4- 6 microseconds of delay per km.
  • Similarly even the optical fibre cable using digital transmission added around 5 microseconds per km delay which also accounts for the delay in repeaters and regenerators
  • On the other hand satellite, communication system varies the delay based on altitude ( propagation delay through space and between earth stations)
    • 400 km above earth surface adds 12 ms delay,
    • 14000 km above earth adds 110 ms
    • much higher 36000 km of altitude adds 260 ms

Devices

  • FDM modem adds upto 0.75 ms delay
  • Transmultiplexer – 1.5 ms delay
  • Exchanges ( analog , digital , transit ..) add 0.45 – 0.825 ms delay
  • Echo cancellers 0.5 ms
  • DCME (Circuit manipulation, signal compression ) – 30 ms to 200 ms

RTT (Round Trip Time )

RTT is the time in milliseconds (ms) taken for data to travel to the target destination and back. In terms of SIP calls it is the time for a transaction to complete between caller/client and callee/server. It is calculated as when the packet was sent and when the acknowledgement for it was received.

High RTT : The media stream especially audio must not suffer a delay higher than 150 ms including all the processing delays at intermediate nodes and network latency. Any value above it is of poor quality. High RTT indicates a poor network quality and would result in the audio lag issue.

RTT vs Network ping calculation: RTT can represent full path network latency experienced by the packets and can do away with frequent ICMP ping/echo requests/probes to check network health. Although it should be noted that while pings happen in lower transport layers protocol, RTT happens at the high up application layer.

RTT is used to calculate RTO ( Request transmission timeouts )in TCP transmission ie how much time the sender should wait before retrying to send an unacknowledged packet.

Factors affecting RTT can include delays in propagation delay, processing delay, queuing delay and encoding delay. Porpogation delay can correlate to the

  • physical distance ( inter country/continents or intra ) ,
  • mediaum of tramsission ( copper cables , fiber , wireless)
  • bandwidth available

Simillarly propagation delay can occur due to large num of network hops like routers / servers . It should be noted that server respose time also plays a critical role in RTT as it depends on server’s processing caapcity and nature of request.

Star based network topology like MCU , SFU or TURN servers can introduce processing delays too for activities such as mixing, encdoing , NATing etc .

Network congestion can amplify the RTT the most.Traffic level must be monitored when RTT spikes such as during DDos attacks

Overcoming large RTT can be achieved by

  • identifying the choke points of network
  • ditributing the load evenly
  • ensuring scalaibility of the server side resources
  • ensuring points of presence(PoP) into geographic regions where caller/ callee is present and routing through it rather than unreliable open public network

Note : avg RTT of the session is misleading denotaion of latency as there maybe be assymetrically RTT between the two legs of the call

Calculation of RTT

EffectiveLatency = ( AverageLatency + Jitter * 2 + 10 )

In RTPengine
int eff_rtt = ssb->rtt / 1000 + ssb->jitter * 2 + 10;

Thus for RTT = 11338 and jitter =0
eff_RTT = 11338/1000 + 0*2 +10
= 11.651 + 10 = 21.651 , which is a good score as it is way below 150ms of latency

But for RTT = 129209 and jitter =7
eff_RTT = 129209/1000 + 7*2 +10
= 153.209 , which is a bad score > 150 ms

Packet Loss

When packet does not successfully make it to the destination , it is a lost packet.

It could happen due to multiple reasons such as

  • network bandwidth unavailable or network congestion
  • overloading of the buffer such that they do not have enough space to queue the packets or high priority preferences
  • intentionally configuring ACL or firewalls to drop the packets or discarding packets above rate limit by internet service provider
  • CPU unable to cope up with high security networks encryption and decryption speed requirements
  • Low battery on device may cause cause underworking of devices and hence lead to packet loss
  • limitation on physical device like softphone , hardphone or bluetooth headsets or if the hardware is broken at router , switch or cabling
  • for bluetooth headsets distance range could also be problem for weak signals and consequently packets drops
  • network errors as shown under Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) issues like FCS Errors, Alignment Errors, Frame Too Longs, MAC Receive Errors, Symbol Errors, Collisions, Carrier Sense Errors, Outbound Errors, Outbound Discards, Inbound Discards, Inbound Errors, and Unknown Protocol errors.
  • radio frequency interference from high voltage systems or microwaves can also cause packet drop in wireless networks

such that the packet can either not arrive or arrive late and be dropped out by the codec . To the listener it would appear like chopped voice or complete dropout for moments .

Obtaining packet loss details

  • Packet loss percentage is performed as per RFC 3550 using RTP header sequence numbers. If packets are missing sequence the media stream monitors flags that as lost packet.
  • It can also be concluded from the difference between total packets and received packets from CDR
  • RTP-XR (RFC-3611) records report real-time drops

Jitter

The variation in the delay of received packets in a flow, measured by comparing the interval when RTP packets were sent to the interval at which they were received.
For instance, if packet #1 and packet #2 leave 30 milliseconds apart and arrive 50 milliseconds apart, then the jitter is 20 milliseconds or if packets transmitted every 15ms and reach destination at every 15ms then there is no variability and the jitter is 0.

Causes of jitter

  • Frame bigger than jitter buffer size
  • algorithms to back-of collision by introducing delays in packet transmission in half duplex interfaces
  • even small jitter can get exponentially worse on slow or congestion links
  • jitter can be introduced due to bottlenecks near router buffer, rerouting / parallel routes to the same destination, load-sharing, or route tables changing the path

Handling jitter :

Jitter below 30ms is manageable with the help of jitter buffers in codecs however above that the codec starts to drop the late arrived packets and cannot reassemble / splice up the packets for a smooth media stream effectively, hence causing media quality issues like clipped audio

Detecting jitter:

  • looking at inter packet gap in the direction of RTP stream in wireshark
  • RTP-XR (RFC-3611 & RFC-7005) for real-time jitter buffer usage and drops.
  • software based detection : Network sniffers wireshark , path analyser, Application Performance Monitoring (APM) Tools , CDR analyser , Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Collector
MetricGoodAverageBad
Jitter<= 10ms10ms – 30ms>=30ms
Packet Loss< 0.5%0.5% – 0.9%>= 0.9%
Audio Level>-40dB-80dB to -40dB< -80dB
RTT< 200ms200ms – 300ms> 300ms
Range for good bad attributes for calculating mos score

Ref : ITU P.800.1 : Mean opinion score (MOS) terminology 

Methods for objective and subjective assessment of speech and video quality.

Scheduling for low bandwidth networks

The ability of the end application or the RTP proxy to deal with packet loss or delays depends on its processing techniques , particularly with encoding and buffering techniquee to deal with high pac ket loss rate.

Mapping R-value to calculate MOS

To map MOS from R value using above defined metrics , a standard formula is used. First the latency and jitter are added and defined value for computation time is also added , resulting in effective latency

effectiveLatency = latency + jitter * latencyImpact + compTime

Subtracting effective latency from defined R

R = 93 – (effectiveLatency / factorLatencyBased)

Calculate percentage of packet loss

 R = R – (lostPackets * impact)
 MOS = ( (R - 60) * (100 – R) * 0.000007R) + 0.035R + 1)

Media Stats and MOS on RTP engine Kamailio

Minimum edge Values

mos_min_pv
minimum encountered MOS value for the call.
range – 1.0 to 5.0.

mos_min_at_pv
timestamp of when the minimum MOS value was encountered during the call

mos_min_packetloss_pv
amount of packetloss in percent at the time the minimum MOS value was encountered

mos_min_roundtrip_pv
packet round-trip time in milliseconds at the time the minimum MOS value was encountered

mos_min_jitter_pv
amount of jitter in milliseconds at the time the minimum MOS value was encountered

Maximum edge Values

mos_max_pv
maximum encountered MOS value for the call.

mos_max_at_pv
timestamp of when the maximum MOS value was encountered during the cal

mos_max_packetloss_pv
amount of packetloss in percent at maximum MOS moment

mos_max_roundtrip_pv
packet round-trip time in milliseconds at maximum MOS moment

mos_max_jitter_pv
amount of jitter in milliseconds at maximum moment

Average Values

mos_average_pv : average (median) MOS value for the call. Range – 1.0 through 5.0.

mos_average_packetloss_pv : average (median) amount of packetloss in percent present throughout the call.

mos_average_jitter_pv : average (median) amount of jitter in milliseconds present throughout the call.

mos_average_roundtrip_pv

mos_average_samples_pv : number of samples used to determine the other “average” MOS data points.

Labels

mos_A_label_pv : custom label used in rtpengine signalling.
If set, all the statistics pseudovariables with the A suffix will be filled in with statistics only from the call legs that match the label given in this variable.

A label’s min
mos_min_A_pv
mos_min_at_A_pv
mos_min_packetloss_A_pv
mos_min_jitter_A_pv
mos_min_roundtrip_A_pv

A label’s max
mos_max_A_pv
mos_max_at_A_pv
mos_max_packetloss_A_pv
mos_max_jitter_A_pv
mos_max_roundtrip_A_pv

A label’s average
mos_average_A_pv
mos_average_packetloss_A_pv
mos_average_jitter_A_pv
mos_average_roundtrip_A_pv
mos_average_samples_A_pv

B labels’s min
mos_B_label_pv
mos_min_B_pv
mos_min_at_B_pv
mos_min_packetloss_B_pv
mos_min_jitter_B_pv
mos_min_roundtrip_B_pv

B label’s max
mos_max_B_pv
mos_max_at_B_pv
mos_max_packetloss_B_pv
mos_max_jitter_B_pv
mos_max_roundtrip_B_pv

B label’s average
mos_average_B_pv
mos_average_packetloss_B_pv
mos_average_jitter_B_pv
mos_average_roundtrip_B_pv
mos_average_samples_B_pv

Setting MOS collection on kamailio

set the kamailio config rtpengine params for names the variable the hold specific mos values

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_pv", "$avp(mos_max)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_pv", "$avp(mos_average)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_pv", "$avp(mos_min)")

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_packetloss_pv", "$avp(mos_average_packetloss)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_jitter_pv", "$avp(mos_average_jitter)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_roundtrip_pv", "$avp(mos_average_roundtrip)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_samples_pv", "$avp(mos_average_samples)")

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_pv", "$avp(mos_min)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_at_pv", "$avp(mos_min_at)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_packetloss_pv", "$avp(mos_min_packetloss)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_jitter_pv", "$avp(mos_min_jitter)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_min_roundtrip_pv", "$avp(mos_min_roundtrip)")

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_pv", "$avp(mos_max)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_at_pv", "$avp(mos_max_at)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_packetloss_pv", "$avp(mos_max_packetloss)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_jitter_pv", "$avp(mos_max_jitter)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_max_roundtrip_pv", "$avp(mos_max_roundtrip)")

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_A_label_pv", "$avp(mos_A_label)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_packetloss_A_pv", "$avp(mos_average_packetloss_A)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_jitter_A_pv", "$avp(mos_average_jitter_A)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_roundtrip_A_pv", "$avp(mos_average_roundtrip_A)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_A_pv", "$avp(mos_average_A)")

modparam("rtpengine", "mos_B_label_pv", "$avp(mos_B_label)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_packetloss_B_pv", "$avp(mos_average_packetloss_B)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_jitter_B_pv", "$avp(mos_average_jitter_B)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_roundtrip_B_pv", "$avp(mos_average_roundtrip_B)")
modparam("rtpengine", "mos_average_B_pv", "$avp(mos_average_B)")

For individual leg labbeling fill up the lables

KSR.pv.sets("$avp(mos_A_label)","Aleg_label")
KSR.pv.sets("$avp(mos_B_label)","Bleg_label")

Gather the mos stats from the code . Given exmaple is in Lua.
The values are filled in after invoking“rtpengine_delete”, “rtpengine_query”, or “rtpengine_manage” if the command resulted in a deletion of the call (or call branch).

KSR.log("info", " mos avg " .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average)"))
KSR.log("info", " mos max " .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max)"))
KSR.log("info", " mos min " .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min)"))

KSR.log("info", "mos_average_packetloss_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_packetloss)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_average_jitter_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_jitter)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_average_roundtrip_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_roundtrip)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_average_samples_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_samples)"))

KSR.log("info", "mos_min_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_min_at_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min_at)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_min_packetloss_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min_packetloss)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_min_jitter_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min_jitter)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_min_roundtrip_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_min_roundtrip)"))

KSR.log("info", "mos_max_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_max_at_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max_at)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_max_packetloss_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max_packetloss)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_max_jitter_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max_jitter)"))
KSR.log("info", "mos_max_roundtrip_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_max_roundtrip)"))

local mos_A_label = KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_A_label)")
if not (mos_A_label == nil) then
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_packetloss_A_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_packetloss_A)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_jitter_A_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_jitter_A)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_roundtrip_A_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_roundtrip_A)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_A_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_A)"))
end

local mos_B_label = KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_B_label)")
if not (mos_B_label == nil) then
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_packetloss_B_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_packetloss_B)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_jitter_B_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_jitter_B)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_roundtrip_B_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_roundtrip_B)"))
    KSR.log("info", "mos_average_B_pv" .. KSR.pv.get("$avp(mos_average_B)"))
end

Sample obtained result for one leg

      "average MOS": {
        "MOS": 43,
        "round-trip time": 13430,
        "jitter": 0,
        "packet loss": 0,
        "samples": 4
      },
      "lowest MOS": {
        "MOS": 43,
        "round-trip time": 24184,
        "jitter": 0,
        "packet loss": 0,
        "reported at": 1590498085
      },
      "highest MOS": {
        "MOS": 44,
        "round-trip time": 8218,
        "jitter": 0,
        "packet loss": 0,
        "reported at": 1590498089
      },

CDR with MOS on Freeswitch

<?xmlversion="1.0"?>
					
<cdr core-uuid="[UUID]" switchname="freeswitch">
<channel_data>
	<state>
	<direction>
	<state_number>
	<flags>	
	<caps>
</channel_data>
					
<call-stats>			
//Audio Compoennts 		
// Video Component
</call-stats>

// Variables 			

<app_log>			
	<application app_name="..."app_data="...">
	<application app_name="..."app_data="...">
</app_log>
				
// Callflow 
				
</cdr>		

Audio

<audio>	
	<inbound>
		<raw_bytes>	
		<media_bytes>
		<packet_count>
		<media_packet_count>		
		<skip_packet_count>
		<jitter_packet_count>
		<dtmf_packet_count>	
		<cng_packet_count>		
		<flush_packet_count>
		<largest_jb_size>
		<jitter_min_variance>
		<jitter_max_variance>
		<jitter_loss_rate>
		<jitter_burst_rate>
		<mean_interval>
		<flaw_total>
		<quality_percentage>
		<mos>
	</inbound>				
	<outbound>
		<raw_bytes>
		<media_bytes>
		<packet_count>
		<media_packet_count>
		<skip_packet_count>
		<dtmf_packet_count>
		<cng_packet_count>
		<rtcp_packet_count>
		<rtcp_octet_count>
	</outbound>	
</audio>

Video

<video>	
	<inbound>
		<raw_bytes>
		<media_bytes>
		<packet_count>
		<media_packet_count>
		<skip_packet_count>
		<jitter_packet_count>
		<dtmf_packet_count>
		<cng_packet_count>
		<flush_packet_count>
		<largest_jb_size>
		<jitter_min_variance>
		<jitter_max_variance>
		<jitter_loss_rate>
		<jitter_burst_rate>
		<mean_interval>
		<flaw_total>
		<quality_percentage>
		<mos>
	</inbound>	
	<outbound>
		<raw_bytes>
		<media_bytes>
		<packet_count>
		<media_packet_count>
		<skip_packet_count>
		<dtmf_packet_count>
		<cng_packet_count>
		<rtcp_packet_count>
		<rtcp_octet_count>	
	</outbound>
</video>

The variables

<variables>		
<is_outbound>
<uuid><session_id><text_media_flow>
<direction>
<ep_codec_string>
<channel_name>
<secondary_recovery_module>
<verto_dvar_email><verto_dvar_avatar><jsock_uuid_str>
<verto_user><presence_id>
<verto_client_address><chat_proto>
<verto_host><event_channel_cookie>
<verto_profile_name>
<record_stereo><default_areacode><transfer_fallback_extension>
<toll_allow><accountcode><user_context><effective_caller_id_name><effective_caller_id_number>
<outbound_caller_id_name><outbound_caller_id_number><callgroup><user_name><domain_name>
<Event-Name>
<Core-UUID>
<FreeSWITCH-Hostname><FreeSWITCH-Switchname><FreeSWITCH-IPv4><FreeSWITCH-IPv6><Event-Date-Local><Event-Date-GMT><Event-Date-Timestamp>
<Event-Calling-File>
<Event-Calling-Function>
<Event-Calling-Line-Number>
<Event-Sequence>
<verto_remote_caller_id_name><verto_remote_caller_id_number>
<switch_r_sdp>

<call_uuid><open>
<rtp_secure_media>
<export_vars><conference_enter_sound>
<conference_exit_sound><video_banner_text>
<rtp_use_codec_string><remote_audio_media_flow>
<audio_media_flow>
<rtp_audio_recv_pt>
<rtp_use_codec_name> 
<rtp_use_codec_fmtp>
<rtp_use_codec_rate>
<rtp_use_codec_ptime>
<rtp_use_codec_channels>
<rtp_last_audio_codec_string>
<original_read_codec>
<original_read_rate>
<write_codec><write_rate>
<remote_audio_ip>
<remote_audio_port>
<remote_audio_rtcp_ip>
<remote_audio_rtcp_port>
<dtmf_type>
<remote_video_media_flow>
<video_media_flow>
<video_possible>
<rtp_video_pt>
<rtp_video_recv_pt>
<video_read_codec>
<video_read_rate><video_write_codec><video_write_rate><rtp_last_video_codec_string>
<rtp_use_video_codec_name>
<rtp_use_video_codec_rate>
<rtp_use_video_codec_ptime>
<remote_video_ip><remote_video_port>
<remote_video_rtcp_ip><remote_video_rtcp_port>
<local_media_ip><local_media_port>
<advertised_media_ip>
<rtp_use_timer_name><rtp_use_pt>
<rtp_use_ssrc><rtp_2833_send_payload>
<rtp_2833_recv_payload><remote_media_ip>
<remote_media_port><local_video_ip>
<local_video_port><rtp_use_video_pt><rtp_use_video_ssrc><rtp_local_sdp_str><current_application_data><current_application><send_silence_when_idle><rtp_has_crypto><endpoint_disposition><conference_name><conference_member_id><conference_moderator><conference_ghost><conference_uuid><video_width><video_height><video_fps><verto_hangup_disposition><read_codec><read_rate><hangup_cause><hangup_cause_q850>
<digits_dialed>
<start_stamp><profile_start_stamp><answer_stamp><progress_media_stamp><end_stamp>
<start_epoch><start_uepoch>
<profile_start_epoch><profile_start_uepoch>
<answer_epoch><answer_uepoch>
<bridge_epoch><bridge_uepoch>
<last_hold_epoch><last_hold_uepoch>
<hold_accum_seconds><hold_accum_usec><hold_accum_ms><resurrect_epoch><resurrect_uepoch>
<progress_epoch><progress_uepoch><progress_media_epoch><progress_media_uepoch>
<end_epoch><end_uepoch>
<last_app><last_arg><caller_id><duration><billsec><progresssec><answersec><waitsec><progress_mediasec>

<flow_billsec>
   <mduration><billmsec><progressmsec><answermsec><waitmsec><progress_mediamsec><flow_billmsec><uduration>  <billusec><progressusec><answerusec><waitusec><progress_mediausec>
<flow_billusec>

<rtp_audio_in_raw_bytes>
<rtp_audio_in_media_bytes>
<rtp_audio_in_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_in_media_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_in_skip_packet_count><rtp_audio_in_jitter_packet_count><rtp_audio_in_dtmf_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_in_cng_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_in_flush_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_in_largest_jb_size>
<rtp_audio_in_jitter_min_variance><rtp_audio_in_jitter_max_variance>
<rtp_audio_in_jitter_loss_rate>
<rtp_audio_in_jitter_burst_rate>
<rtp_audio_in_mean_interval>
<rtp_audio_in_flaw_total>
<rtp_audio_in_quality_percentage>
<rtp_audio_in_mos>
<rtp_audio_out_raw_bytes>
<rtp_audio_out_media_bytes>
<rtp_audio_out_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_out_media_packet_count><rtp_audio_out_skip_packet_count><rtp_audio_out_dtmf_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_out_cng_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_rtcp_packet_count>
<rtp_audio_rtcp_octet_count>
<rtp_video_in_raw_bytes>
<rtp_video_in_media_bytes>
<rtp_video_in_packet_count>
<rtp_video_in_media_packet_count>
<rtp_video_in_skip_packet_count><rtp_video_in_jitter_packet_count><rtp_video_in_dtmf_packet_count>
<rtp_video_in_cng_packet_count>
<rtp_video_in_flush_packet_count>
<rtp_video_in_largest_jb_size>
<rtp_video_in_jitter_min_variance><rtp_video_in_jitter_max_variance>
<rtp_video_in_jitter_loss_rate>
<rtp_video_in_jitter_burst_rate>
<rtp_video_in_mean_interval
><rtp_video_in_flaw_total>
<rtp_video_in_quality_percentage>
<rtp_video_in_mos>
<rtp_video_out_raw_bytes>
<rtp_video_out_media_bytes>
<rtp_video_out_packet_count>
<rtp_video_out_media_packet_count><rtp_video_out_skip_packet_count><rtp_video_out_dtmf_packet_count>
<rtp_video_out_cng_packet_count>
<rtp_video_rtcp_packet_count>
<rtp_video_rtcp_octet_count>

</variables>

The Callflow components

<callflow dialplan="XML" unique-id="[UUID]" profile_index="1">
	
	<extension name="myconference" number="3500">		
		<application app_name="..." app_data="...">
	</extension>	
	<caller_profile>
		<username>
		<dialplan>
		<caller_id_name>
		<caller_id_number>
		<callee_id_name>
		<callee_id_number>
		<ani>
		<aniii>
		<network_addr>
		<rdnis>
		<destination_number>
		<uuid>
		<source>
		<context>
		<chan_name>
	</caller_profile>
				
			
	<times>
		<created_time>
		<profile_created_time>
		<progress_time>	
		<progress_media_time>
		<answered_time>
		<bridged_time>
		<last_hold_time>	
		<hold_accum_time>
		<hangup_time>
		<resurrect_time>	
		<transfer_time>	
	</times>
</callflow>

Standardising bodies :-

  • ITU (The International Telecommunication Union) is the United Nations specialised agency in the field of telecommunications, information and communication technologies (ICTs).
  • ITU-T ( ITU Telecommunication Standardisation Sector) is responsible for studying technical, operating and tariff questions and issuing Recommendations on them with a view to standardising tele-communications on a worldwide basis.

As the technology for packet switching matured, the voice quality between circuit-switched and packet-switched networks is mostly indistinguishable. However, the flaws in the VoIP communication system reappear under low network conditions and bad architecture design. Especially with applications that are greedy for network bandwidth such as large scale conferencing or HD streaming, the need for monitoring and quality control is very high, which can be only met by above described QoS parameters.

References

  • CDR on freeswitch
  • ITU-T G.114 TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION SECTOR OF ITU (05/2003) SERIES G: TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS AND MEDIA, DIGITAL SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS , International telephone connections and circuits – General Recommendations on the transmission qua
  • Kamailio RTP engine https://www.kamailio.org/docs/modules/devel/modules/rtpengine.html

RTPengine on kamailio SIP server


RTPengine is a proxy for RTP traffic and other UDP based media traffic over either IPv4 or IPv6. It can even bridge between diff IP networks and interfaces. It can do TOS/QoS field setting. It is Multi-threaded, can advertise different addresses for operation behind NAT.

This article focuses on setting up sipwise rtpegine to proxy RTP traffic from the Kamailio app server. This is an updated version of the old article on RTPEngine, since then there have many many updates on the software. I also wrote an article covering all relevant and important Kamailio modules earlier including RTPProxy and RTP engine https://telecom.altanai.com/2014/11/18/kamailio-modules/

It bears in-kernel packet forwarding for low-latency and low-CPU performance. When used with the Kamailio, the RTP engine module adds more features to media stream routing and management, especially around RTP proxy and Mos scores.

Features

  • Full SDP parsing and rewriting
  • Supports non-standard RTCP ports (RFC 3605)
  • ICE (RFC 5245):
    • Bridging between ICE-enabled and ICE-unaware user agents
    • Optionally acting only as additional ICE relay/candidate
    • Optionally forcing relay of media streams by removing other ICE candidates
  • SRTP (RFC 3711):
    • Support for SDES (RFC 4568) and DTLS-SRTP (RFC 5764)
    • AES-CM and AES-F8 ciphers, both in userspace and in kernel
    • HMAC-SHA1 packet authentication
    • Bridging between RTP and SRTP user agents
  • RTCP profile with feedback extensions (RTP/AVPF, RFC 4585 and 5124)
  • Arbitrary bridging between any of the supported RTP profiles (RTP/AVP, RTP/AVPF, RTP/SAVP, RTP/SAVPF)
  • RTP/RTCP multiplexing (RFC 5761) and demultiplexing
  • Breaking of BUNDLE’d media streams (draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-bundle-negotiation)
  • Recording of media streams, decrypted if possible
  • Transcoding and repacketization
  • Playback of pre-recorded streams/announcements

Sipwise NGCP RTP Engine Source Code

There are 3 parts of the source structure in sipwise NGCP ( Next Generation communication Platform) rtpengine :

1.daemon

The userspace daemon and workhorse, minimum requirement for anything to work. Running make will compile the binary, which will be called rtpengine.

Required packages including their development headers are required to compile the daemon:

  • pkg-config
  • GLib including GThread and GLib-JSON version 2.x
  • zlib
  • OpenSSL
  • PCRE library
  • XMLRPC-C version 1.16.08 or higher
  • hiredis library
  • gperf
  • libcurl version 3.x or 4.x
  • libevent version 2.x
  • libpcap
  • libsystemd
  • MySQL or MariaDB client library (optional for media playback and call recording daemon)
  • libiptc library for iptables management (optional)
  • ffmpeg codec libraries for transcoding (optional) such as libavcodec, libavfilter, libswresample
  • bcg729 for full G.729 transcoding support (optional)

options for make – with_iptables_option , with_transcoding

 with_transcoding=no make 

2.iptables-extension

Required for in-kernel packet forwarding. With the iptables development headers installed, issuing make will compile the plugin for iptables and ip6tables. The file will be called libxt_RTPENGINE.so and needs to be copied into the xtables module directory. The location of this directory can be determined through pkg-config xtables –variable=xtlibdir on newer systems, and/or is usually either /lib/xtables/ or /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xtables/.

3.kernel-module

Required for in-kernel packet forwarding. Compilation of the kernel module requires the kernel development headers to be installed in/lib/modules/$VERSION/build/, where $VERSION is the output of the command uname -r.

Successful compilation of the module will produce the file xt_RTPENGINE.ko. The module can be inserted into the running kernel manually through insmod xt_RTPENGINE.ko

It is recommended to copy the module into /lib/modules/$VERSION/updates/, followed by running depmod -a.

After this, the module can be loaded by issuing modprobe xt_RTPENGINE.

Installation

Follow instructions on https://gist.github.com/altanai/0d8cadbe6876d545fd63d6b3e79dcf73

Requirements

sudo su apt-get install debhelper iptables-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libglib2.0-dev  libjson-glib-dev libxmlrpc-core-c3-dev libhiredis-dev build-essential:native

For Pcap

apt install ibpcap-dev

Also instal ffmpeg pakages

apt install libavcodec-dev libavfilter-dev libavformat-dev libavresample-dev  libavutil-dev

Use dpkg

libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl libdigest-crc-perl libio-multiplex-perl libnet-interface-perl libsystemd-dev markdown

For debhelper>10

vi /etc/apt/sources.list

add line

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
sudo apt update

check version

apt-cache policy debhelper dh-autoreconf
debhelper:
Installed: 9.20160115ubuntu3
Candidate: 9.20160115ubuntu3
Version table:
10.2.2ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.1 100
100 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
*** 9.20160115ubuntu3 500
500 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
dh-autoreconf:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 11
Version table:
12~ubuntu16.04.1 100
100 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
11 500
500 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

Force installing the version from backports repo as it have low priority.

sudo apt install dh-autoreconf=12~ubuntu16.04.1 debhelper=10.2.2ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.1

so now new priority will be

debhelper:

  Installed: 10.2.2ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.1
  Candidate: 10.2.2ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 10.2.2ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.1 100
        100 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     9.20160115ubuntu3 500
        500 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
dh-autoreconf:
  Installed: 12~ubuntu16.04.1
  Candidate: 12~ubuntu16.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 12~ubuntu16.04.1 100
        100 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     11 500
        500 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

ref :https://askubuntu.com/questions/863221/need-help-building-debhelper-10-2-2-bpo8-from-source

Get sourcecode

cd /usr/local/src
git clone https://github.com/sipwise/rtpengine.git
cd rtpengine
 ./debian/flavors/no_ngcp

use dpkg-checkbuilddeps to find any missing dependices

For missing dependencies

dpkg-checkbuilddeps: error: Unmet build dependencies: libbcg729-dev
remove the encoder for G.729 which is not supported by ffmoeg by exporting varible

export DEB_BUILD_PROFILES="pkg.ngcp-rtpengine.nobcg729"

Ref : https://github.com/sipwise/rtpengine#g729-support

for defaultlibmysqlclient-dev and libiptc-dev

vi debian/control
change from default-libmysqlclient-dev to libmysqlclient-dev, change from libiptcdata-dev to libiptc-dev and install the alternatives such as

apt install libmysqlclient-dev libiptcdata-dev 

Generated deb files should be outside the rtpegine home folder

generated ngcp-rtpegine deb files
cd ..
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-daemon_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_amd64.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-iptables_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_amd64.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-kernel-dkms_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_all.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-kernel-source_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_all.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-recording-daemon_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_amd64.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine-utils_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_all.deb
dpkg -i ngcp-rtpengine_7.3.0.0+0~mr7.3.0.0_all.deb
After depackaging

Manual installation and running all test cases

cd rtpengine
make check

If you dont find a package you are looking for , some alternatives are to do apt-cache search like

apt-cache search libavfilter
libavfilter-dev - FFmpeg library containing media filters - development files
libavfilter-ffmpeg5 - FFmpeg library containing media filters - runtime files

or to search in ubuntu packages web https://packages.ubuntu.com/

Running RTPEngine

rtpegine application options

  • -v, –version Print build time and exit
  • –config-file=FILE Load config from this file
  • –config-section=STRING Config file section to use
  • –log-facility=daemon|local0|…|local7 Syslog facility to use for logging
  • -L, –log-level=INT Mask log priorities above this level
  • -E, –log-stderr Log on stderr instead of syslog
  • –no-log-timestamps Drop timestamps from log lines to stderr
  • –log-mark-prefix Prefix for sensitive log info
  • –log-mark-suffix Suffix for sensitive log info
  • -p, –pidfile=FILE Write PID to file
  • -f, –foreground Don’t fork to background
  • -t, –table=INT Kernel table to use
  • -F, –no-fallback Only start when kernel module is available
  • -i, –interface=[NAME/]IP[!IP] Local interface for RTP
  • -k, –subscribe-keyspace=INT INT … Subscription keyspace list
  • -l, –listen-tcp=[IP:]PORT TCP port to listen on
  • -u, –listen-udp=[IP46|HOSTNAME:]PORT UDP port to listen on
  • -n, –listen-ng=[IP46|HOSTNAME:]PORT UDP port to listen on, NG protocol
  • -c, –listen-cli=[IP46|HOSTNAME:]PORT UDP port to listen on, CLI
  • -g, –graphite=IP46|HOSTNAME:PORT Address of the graphite server
  • -G, –graphite-interval=INT Graphite send interval in seconds
  • –graphite-prefix=STRING Prefix for graphite line
  • -T, –tos=INT Default TOS value to set on streams
  • –control-tos=INT Default TOS value to set on control-ng
  • -o, –timeout=SECS RTP timeout
  • -s, –silent-timeout=SECS RTP timeout for muted
  • -a, –final-timeout=SECS Call timeout
  • –offer-timeout=SECS Timeout for incomplete one-sided calls
  • -m, –port-min=INT Lowest port to use for RTP
  • -M, –port-max=INT Highest port to use for RTP
  • -r, –redis=[PW@]IP:PORT/INT Connect to Redis database
  • -w, –redis-write=[PW@]IP:PORT/INT Connect to Redis write database
  • –redis-num-threads=INT Number of Redis restore threads
  • –redis-expires=INT Expire time in seconds for redis keys
  • -q, –no-redis-required Start no matter of redis connection state
  • –redis-allowed-errors=INT Number of allowed errors before redis is temporarily disabled
  • –redis-disable-time=INT Number of seconds redis communication is disabled because of errors
  • –redis-cmd-timeout=INT Sets a timeout in milliseconds for redis commands
  • –redis-connect-timeout=INT Sets a timeout in milliseconds for redis connections
  • -b, –b2b-url=STRING XMLRPC URL of B2B UA
  • –log-facility-cdr=daemon|local0|…|local7 Syslog facility to use for logging CDRs
  • –log-facility-rtcp=daemon|local0|…|local7 Syslog facility to use for logging RTCP
  • –log-facility-dtmf=daemon|local0|…|local7 Syslog facility to use for logging DTMF
  • –log-format=default|parsable Log prefix format
  • -x, –xmlrpc-format=INT XMLRPC timeout request format to use. 0: SEMS DI, 1: call-id only, 2: Kamailio
  • –num-threads=INT Number of worker threads to create
  • –media-num-threads=INT Number of worker threads for media playback
  • -d, –delete-delay=INT Delay for deleting a session from memory.
  • –sip-source Use SIP source address by default
  • –dtls-passive Always prefer DTLS passive role
  • –max-sessions=INT Limit of maximum number of sessions
  • –max-load=FLOAT Reject new sessions if load averages exceeds this value
  • –max-cpu=FLOAT Reject new sessions if CPU usage (in percent) exceeds this value
  • –max-bandwidth=INT Reject new sessions if bandwidth usage (in bytes per second) exceeds this value
  • –homer=IP46|HOSTNAME:PORT Address of Homer server for RTCP stats
  • –homer-protocol=udp|tcp Transport protocol for Homer (default udp)
  • –homer-id=INT ‘Capture ID’ to use within the HEP protocol
  • –recording-dir=FILE Directory for storing pcap and metadata files
  • –recording-method=pcap|proc Strategy for call recording
  • –recording-format=raw|eth File format for stored pcap files
  • –iptables-chain=STRING Add explicit firewall rules to this iptables chain
  • –codecs Print a list of supported codecs and exit
  • –scheduling=default|none|fifo|rr|other|batch|idle Thread scheduling policy
  • –priority=INT Thread scheduling priority
  • –idle-scheduling=default|none|fifo|rr|other|batch|idle Idle thread scheduling policy
  • –idle-priority=INT Idle thread scheduling priority
  • –log-srtp-keys Log SRTP keys to error log
  • –mysql-host=HOST|IP MySQL host for stored media files
  • –mysql-port=INT MySQL port
  • –mysql-user=USERNAME MySQL connection credentials
  • –mysql-pass=PASSWORD MySQL connection credentials
  • –mysql-query=STRING MySQL select query

Run command

rtpengine --interface="10.10.10.10" --listen-ng=25061 --listen-cli=25062 --foreground --log-stderr --listen-udp=25060 --listen-tcp=25060

In-Kernal Packet Forwarding

To avoid the overhead involved in processing each individual RTP packet in userspace-only operation, especially as RTP traffic consists of many small packets at high rates, rtpengine provides a kernel module to offload the bulk of the packet forwarding duties from user space to kernel space. This also results in increasing the number of concurrent calls as CPU usage decreases.In-kernel packet forwarding is implemented as an iptables module (x_tables) and has 2 parts – xt_RTPENGINE and plugin to the iptables and ip6tables command-line utilities

Sequence of events for a newly established media stream is then:

  1. Kamailio as SIP proxy controls rtpengine and signals it about a newly established call.
  2. Rtpengine daemon allocates local UDP ports and sets up preliminary forward rules based on the info received from the SIP proxy.
  3. An RTP packet is received on the local port.
  4. It traverses the iptables chains and gets passed to the xt_RTPENGINE module.
  5. The module doesn’t recognize it as belonging to an established stream and thus ignores it.
  6. The packet continues normal processing and eventually ends up in the daemon’s receive queue.
  7. The daemon reads it, processes it and forwards it. It also updates some internal data.
  8. This userspace-only processing and forwarding continues for a little while, during which time information about additional streams and/or endpoints may be obtained from the SIP proxy.
  9. After a few seconds, when the daemon is satisfied with what it has learned about the media endpoints, it pushes the forwarding rules to the kernel.
  10. From this moment on, the kernel module will recognize incoming packets belonging to those streams and will forward them on its own. It will stop those packets from traversing the network stacks any further, so the daemon will not see them any more on its receive queues.
  11. In-kernel forwarding is allowed to cease to work at any given time, either accidentally (e.g. by removal of the iptablesrule) or deliberatly (the daemon will do so in case of a re-invite), in which case forwarding falls back to userspace-only operation.

Kernel Module

The kernel module supports multiple forwarding tables, identified through their ID number, bydefault 0 to 63. Each running instance of the rtpengine daemon controls one such table.

To load use modprobe xt_RTPENGINE and to unload rmmod xt_RTPENGINE. With the module loaded, a new directory will appear in /proc/, namely /proc/rtpengine/, containing pseudo-files, control ( to create and delete forwarding tables) and list ( list of currently active forwarding tables)

To manually create a forwarding table with ID 33, the following command can be used:

echo 'add 43' > /proc/rtpengine/control

iptables module

In order for the kernel module to be able to actually forward packets, an iptables rule must be set up to send packets into the module. Each such rule is associated with one forwarding table. In the simplest case, for forwarding table 33, this can be done through:

iptables -I INPUT -p udp -j RTPENGINE --id 33

To restrict the rules to the UDP port range used by rtpengine, e.g. by supplying a parameter like –dport 30000:40000. If the kernel module receives a packet that it doesn’t recognize as belonging to an active media stream, it will simply ignore it and hand it back to the network stack for normal processing.

A typical start-up sequence including in-kernel forwarding might look like this:

modprobe xt_RTPENGINE
iptables -I INPUT -p udp -j RTPENGINE --id 0
ip6tables -I INPUT -p udp -j RTPENGINE --id 0

ensure that the table we want to use doesn’t exist – usually needed after a daemon restart, otherwise will error

echo 'del 0' > /proc/rtpengine/control

start daemon

/usr/sbin/rtpengine --table=0 --interface=10.64.73.31 --interface=2001:db8::4f3:3d \
--listen-ng=127.0.0.1:2223 --tos=184 --pidfile=/run/rtpengine.pid --no-fallback

Running Multiple Instances

To run multiple instances of rtpengine on the same machine run multiple instances of the daemon using different command-line options ( local addresses and listening ports), together with multiple different kernel forwarding tables.

For example, if one local network interface has address 10.64.73.31 and another has address 192.168.65.73, then the start-up sequence might look like this:

modprobe xt_RTPENGINE

iptables -I INPUT -p udp -d y.y.y.y -j RTPENGINE --id 0
iptables -I INPUT -p udp -d x.x.x.x -j RTPENGINE --id 1
echo 'del 0' > /proc/rtpengine/control
echo 'del 1' > /proc/rtpengine/control
/usr/sbin/rtpengine --table=0 --interface=<ip> \
--listen-ng=127.0.0.1:2223 --tos=184 --pidfile=/run/rtpengine-10.pid --no-fallback
/usr/sbin/rtpengine --table=1 --interface=<ip_pvy>\
--listen-ng=127.0.0.1:2224 --tos=184 --pidfile=/run/rtpengine-192.pid --no-fallback

With this setup, the SIP proxy can choose which instance of rtpengine to talk to and thus which local interface to use by sending its control messages to either port 2223 or port 2224.

Transcoding

Currently transcoding is supported for audio streams. Can be turned off with with_transcoding=no option in makeFile.

Normally rtpengine leaves codec negotiation up to the clients involved in the call and does not interfere. In this case, if the clients fail to agree on a codec, the call will fail.

Transcoding options in the ng control protocol,  transcode or ptime. If a codec is requested via the transcode option that was not originally offered, transcoding will be engaged for that call. With transcoding active for a call, all unsupported codecs will be removed from the SDP.

Transcoding happens in userspace only, so in-kernel packet forwarding will not be available for transcoded codecs. Codecs that are supported by both sides will simply be passed through transparently (unless repacketization is active). In-kernel packet forwarding will still be available for these codecs.

Codecs supported by rtpengine can be shown with –codecs options

  • rtpengine –codecs
  • PCMA: fully supported
  • PCMU: fully supported
  • G723: fully supported
  • G722: fully supported
  • QCELP: supported for decoding only
  • G729: supported for decoding only
  • speex: fully supported
  • GSM: fully supported
  • iLBC: not supported
  • opus: fully supported
  • vorbis: codec supported but lacks RTP definition
  • ac3: codec supported but lacks RTP definition
  • eac3: codec supported but lacks RTP definition
  • ATRAC3: supported for decoding only
  • ATRAC-X: supported for decoding only
  • AMR: supported for decoding only
  • AMR-WB: supported for decoding only
  • PCM-S16LE: codec supported but lacks RTP definition
  • PCM-U8: codec supported but lacks RTP definition
  • MP3: codec supported but lacks RTP definition

ng Control Protocol

Advanced control protocol to pass SDP body from the SIP proxy to the rtpengine daemon, has the body rewritten in the daemon, and then pas back to the SIP proxy to embed into the SIP message. It is  based on the bencode standard and runs over UDP transport.

Each message passed between the SIP proxy and the media proxy contains of two parts:

  1. message cookie ( to match requests to responses, and retransmission detection) and
  2. bencoded dictionary

The dictionary of each request must contain at least one key called command and corresponding value must be a string and determines the type of message. Currently the following commands are defined:

  • ping
  • offer
  • answer
  • delete
  • query
  • start recording
  • stop recording
  • block DTMF
  • unblock DTMF
  • block media
  • unblock media
  • start forwarding
  • stop forwarding
  • play media
  • stop media

The response dictionary must contain at least one key called result. The value can be either ok (optional key warning) or error( to be accompanied by error-reason). For the ping command, the additional value pong is allowed.

rtpengine.sample.conf

[rtpengine]

table = 0
no-fallback = false
for userspace forwarding only:
table = -1

// separate multiple interfaces with semicolons:
interface = internal/12.23.34.45;external/23.34.45.54

listen-ng = 127.0.0.1:2223
listen-tcp = 25060
listen-udp = 12222

timeout = 60
silent-timeout = 3600
tos = 184
control-tos = 184
delete-delay = 30
final-timeout = 10800

foreground = false
pidfile = /run/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.pid
num-threads = 16

port-min = 30000
port-max = 40000
max-sessions = 5000

recording-dir = /var/spool/rtpengine
recording-method = proc
recording-format = raw

redis = 127.0.0.1:6379/5
redis-write = password@x.x.x.x:6379/42
redis-num-threads = 8
no-redis-required = false
redis-expires = 86400
redis-allowed-errors = -1
redis-disable-time = 10
redis-cmd-timeout = 0
redis-connect-timeout = 1000

b2b-url = http://127.0.0.1:8090/
xmlrpc-format = 0

log-level = 6
log-stderr = false
log-facility = daemon
log-facility-cdr = local0
log-facility-rtcp = local1

graphite = 127.0.0.1:9006
graphite-interval = 60
graphite-prefix = foobar.

homer = 123.234.345.456:65432
homer-protocol = udp
homer-id = 2001

sip-source = false
dtls-passive = false

ngcp-rtpengine-daemon Service

To start the ngcp-rtpengine-daemon service

/etc/init.d/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon start
[ ok ] Starting ngcp-rtpengine-daemon (via systemctl): ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service.

Checking status ngcp-rtpengine-daemonservice

# systemctl status ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service

● ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service - NGCP RTP/media Proxy Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2019-04-11 10:16:20 UTC; 24s ago
  Process: 13751 ExecStopPost=/usr/sbin/ngcp-rtpengine-iptables-setup stop (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 13797 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/ngcp-rtpengine-iptables-setup start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 13814 (rtpengine)
    Tasks: 19
   Memory: 10.5M
      CPU: 102ms
   CGroup: /system.slice/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service
           └─13814 /usr/sbin/rtpengine -f -E --no-log-timestamps --pidfile /run/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.pid --config-file /etc/rtpengine/rtpengine.conf --table 0

To start recording service

/etc/init.d/ngcp-rtpengine-recording-daemon start

RTP engine receives command offer

Received command 'offer' from :53888
Dump for 'offer' from :53888: {  
"sdp":"v=0 
 o=- 1554978148897419 1 IN IP4 pvt_ip 
 s=Bria 3 release 3.5.5 stamp 71243 
 c=IN IP4 192.168.1.23 
 t=0 0 
 m=audio 50754 RTP/AVP 0 98 101 
 a=rtpmap:98 ILBC/8000 
 a=rtpmap:101 telephone-event/8000 
 a=fmtp:101 0-15 
 a=sendrecv 
 ",
    "ICE":"remove",
    "record-call":"yes",
    "direction":[  
       "internal",
       "internal"
    ],
    "flags":[  
       "no-rtcp-attribute"
    ],
    "replace":[  
       "origin",
       "session-connection"
    ],
    "transport-protocol":"RTP/AVP",
    "call-id":"732597d6-6d96-485b-b6dc-7d93703c1405",
    "received-from":[  
       "IP4",
       ""
Creating new call
Turning on call recording.
Wrote metadata file to temporary path: /var/spool/rtpengine/tmp/
...

RTP engine receives command delete

Received command 'delete' from :57304
Dump for 'delete' from :57304: { "call-id": "732597d6-6d96-485b-b6dc-7d93703c1405", "received-from": [ "IP4", "" ], "from-tag": "cb8a1e30", "command": "delete" }
Deleting call branch 'cb8a1e30' (via-branch '')
Call branch 'cb8a1e30' (via-branch '') deleted, no more branches remaining
  Deleting entire call
 INFO: [ID="732597d6-6d96-485b-b6dc-7d93703c1405"]: Final packet stats:
 --- Tag 'cb8a1e30', created 0:05 ago for branch '', in dialogue with ''
 ------ Media #1 (audio over RTP/AVP) using unknown codec
 --------- Port   :10044 <>    :50754, SSRC 0, 0 p, 0 b, 0 e, 5 ts
 freeing send_timer
 --------- Port   :10045 <>    :50755 (RTCP), SSRC 0, 0 p, 0 b, 0 e, 5 ts
 freeing send_timer
 --- Tag '', created 0:05 ago for branch '', in dialogue with 'cb8a1e30'
 ------ Media #1 (audio over RTP/AVP) using unknown codec
--------- Port   :10032 <>          (null):0    , SSRC 0, 0 p, 0 b, 0 e, 5 ts
freeing send_timer
--------- Port   :10033 <>          (null):0     (RTCP), SSRC 0, 0 p, 0 b, 0 e, 5 ts
freeing send_timer
 rtpengine: ci=732597d6-6d96-485b-b6dc-7d93703c1405, created_from=:53888, 
 last_signal=1554978149, 
 tos=0, 
 ml0_start_time=1554978149.645290, 
 ml0_end_time=1554978154.822680, 
 ml0_duration=5.177390, 
 ml0_termination=REGULAR, 
 ml0_local_tag=cb8a1e30, 
 ml0_local_tag_type=FROM_TAG, 
...