New SMG Release and Configuration Change Proposal

There will be a new SMG release today or tomorrow. The follow entry from the release notes summarize what to expect:

Patch 32 (2009-01-28 We)
* call processing, ISUP Transmission Medium Requirement pass to/from
Asterisk CALLTYPE channel variable via the sigboost callstart message
in the bearer.capability field found in sigboost.h
* Sangoma driver 3.3.15.6 required
* CMM, bug fixed, a span was being reported as clear and ready when the logs
indicated the ckt reset requests were being ignored by the telco; fix made
sure the ckt report showed the ckts in reset under this condition
* smgcfg.py, bug fix, numeration of formated wanpipe xmtp2 interface names
corrected
* transparent IAM, new feature work in progress, code added that does not
affect operations yet

As mentioned in a recent post here, the current method of configuring the association of span/chan to CIC and trunk group is too restricted. A new method is needed that allows configuring CIC and trunk group for each individual span/chan. But this approach might mean having to fill out a table for 16 E1s for a total of 496 entries. Since it is rare that individual control of all 496 span/chans is needed, then supporting configuration language that allows table minimization will be useful.

An example of explicit per channel configuration would be as follows:

Span	Chan	CIC	Trunk Group
0	0	1024	0
0	1	1025	0
0	2	1026	0
0	5	1027	0
0	6	1028	0
0	7	1029	0

Here is an example of minimizing language that accomplishes the same thing:

Span	Chan	CIC	Trunk Group
0	0-2.5-7	1024	0

Here's a slightly different example done explicitly:

Span	Chan	CIC	Trunk Group
0	0	1024	0
0	1	1025	0
0	2	1026	0
0	5	1029	0
0	6	1030	0
0	7	1031	0

And the same configuration using minimizing language:

Span	Chan	CIC	Trunk Group
0	0-2	1024	0
0	5-7	1029	0

There will also need to be a similar configuration technique to assign specific span/chans SS7 linkset, link, and SLC (noting that in ss7box, the link is always equal to the SLC value). Any span/chan in the CIC/trunk group table must not appear in the SS7 linkset/link table, and vice-versa.

Span	Chan	linkset	link and SLC
0	15	0	0
2	15	1	0

There will be no table minimization language used with the linkset/link table at this time.

CMM Bug Fixed Tonight

Found that a span was being reported as clear and ready when the logs indicated the reset requests were being ignored by the telco. Problem found and fixed in the Circuit Maintenance Manager. Confirming tests should be completed tomorrow.

Sangoma SMG Cluster Working

Multiple Asterisk/SMG using a single ss7box access point is delivered and working. Field trials are now underway.

Working on Transparent IAM for ported number handling in several countries. This feature pushes a copy of an inbound IAM into the dialplan. If the dialplan decides that the next leg of the call is an SS7 outbound call and IAM transparency is needed, then the copy of the inbound IAM is passed down to ss7boost where it will be used to construct an outbound IAM that is very similar to the inbound IAM. This is done to preserve information in the IAM when a call is forwarded, redirected, or ported.

Working on Transmission Media Requirement being mapped to and from the dialplan CALLTYPE per call variable.

ISUP T9 is implemented in ss7boost now. It was being handled with the Dial function timeout but this solution failed to pass several conformance tests where the release cause was expected to be 19. The Dial timeout was consistently delivering 16 as the release cause.

A major rework of the span/chan assignment of CIC and trunk group is planned. Currently simplifying assumptions are made about these assignments in a effort to reduce work done during configuration. The loss of flexibility from the current system is no longer tolerable, so a new system where each span/chan is explicited assigned a CIC and trunk group will be implemented.

A new configuration system is being rolled out where all SMG configuration parameters for wanpipes, MTP2, MTP3, and ISUP are entered into a single spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is then converted into a .csv file and fed into a new tool called smgcfg.py. This tool converts the information in the .csv file into the .conf files expected by the various component programs in SMG. The longer vision is to manage system configuration at a level above the spreadsheet so that engineers are specifying configurations using standard terms and language labels instead of using tables and indexes and coordinating information. Eventually, the tools will decompose humanly understandable configuration terms into the .conf file terms expected by the programs.

Product plans for 2009 for the SS7 part of Sangoma SMG include redundant ss7box, continuous operation upgrades, and SIGTRAN support.