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SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

  • 1.  SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-04-2020 11:29
    • PureConnect version: 2018 R1 Patch 4
    • Active Server Name: PRDV-CIC01
    • Backup Server Name: PRDV-CIC02
    For SIP Soft Phones in Managed IP Phones, the computername.fqdn of the computer is pre-set in the "Full Computer Name" field.  SIP Soft Phone users are all on VPN, and there is no DHCP Option 160 being provided for these users   First time provisioning is done by manually entering the server name of PRDV-CIC01 and then the phone completes provisioning (no need to do provisiong as user/admin via phone call due to pre-setting computer name).

    Things have run like this without any need to re-provision if the user restarts their computer. 

    I have performed a manual switchover and now PRDV-CIC02 is active.  PRDV-CIC01 is also rebooted and running as backup server.  In this configuration, I am finding that most SIP Soft Phone stations fail at launch, saying they need to be provisioned.  When running provisiong the original server name of PRDV-CIC01 (which is now the backuo) is listed and provisioning now fails to complete. Changing server name to PRDV-CIC02 allows provisioning to complete as expected.

    I was expecting that the soft phone provisioning process would be able to be pointed to the server in backup mode and still provision (get redirected to the active server), but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Is this normal behavior for SIP Soft Phone when your active server changes?  Is there some other way I should be handling the provisioning so there is no re-provisioning needs when the active server changes?
    #SystemAdministration

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    Evan
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  • 2.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-04-2020 14:29
    Evan,

    Try creating two more DNS entries with the same name (e.g. PRDV-CIC) with one for each server's IP. Then use that as the server name in clients / Softphones etc.

    This should mean that the various devices and applications will just connect to whichever server is currently primary.

    You should also make sure your have a pair of DNS SRV records set up for your domain (again, one for each server for the SIP protocol you are using) and reference this in your Registration group(s).

    HTH


  • 3.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-04-2020 14:55
    Edited by Evan Mann 05-04-2020 14:55
    @Paul Simpson

    I actually have existing 'icprovision" records, one for each server which I use in DHCP Option 160 for my hard phones that are in the office.  So you're saying I should just use these for SIP Soft Phone provisioning as well.  Makes sense to do that, but there is the possibility of getting back the "backup" server when the DNS lookup is made.  Won't the soft phone provision process fail if it's getting back the name/IP of the server that is backup?  DNS round robin doesn't have anything to tell it which server is primary.

    I do have the DNS SRV _tcp record for  "_sip" and "_sips" pointed to both servers and use this in the registration group.  Have been using this long term for registration on hard phones and same registration group is used for soft phones.


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    Evan
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-04-2020 15:22
    Evan,

    What should happen is that the end entity doing the lookup (in this case the SoftPhone) actually gets both records (IP Addresses) returned and it should then attempt to contact each of them. I've never investigated to see if it tries both simultaneously, or tries them in turn, but the end result is it contacts the one that is up and running...

    When you enter the server name directly into the SIP SoftPhone, you are actually only replacing the Option 160 process (since your client isn't getting an Option 160)

    HTH


  • 5.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-04-2020 15:37

    Paul,

    That makes more sense than it just relying on it trying only one IP (ie. the first one in the response).  We will switch to using our "icprovision" record and hope that solves the problem related to provisioning.

    Something else I noticed and am curious on that is related to this.  In the KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Interactive Intelligence\SIP Soft Phone\<device> ey, entries are added for "4.0 ConfigUrl" and "4.0 Host".   The "4.0 ConfigUrl" uses whatever is entered during provisioning (int his case I use "icprovision", but the "4.0 Host" entry specifies only a single one of the CIC servers.  In my current test, it's PRDV-CIC02.   

    In looking at other computers, I've noticed the "4.0 Host" keyw as PRDV-CIC02 even when I provisioned that device when PRDV-CIC01 was primary.  What exactly does that entry get used for, and how does switching primary/backup come into play?  Likewise, what happens if I have the backup server entirely offline (turned off) and that entry is pointed to the offline server?



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    Evan
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-05-2020 17:18

    Hi Paul,

    We are using this DNS A record with both CICs IPs and it is working fine for us.

    However, I noticed that in the latest Installation Guide, they have added a couple of statements (in at least 3 different locations in the doc) to stop using this DNS entry... Do you know why by any chance?  We are using this entry in basically all User Apps without any issues (switchover test cases included)...

    For example: https://help.genesys.com/cic/mergedProjects/wh_tr/desktop/pdfs/installation_configuration_guide.pdf  bottom of page 228:

    Note:
    If you have a CIC Switchover architecture and you created a pair of commonly named DNS A records pointing to each
    server as part of the IP phone network configuration for managed phones, do not use that common name value here.
    Instead, use one of the actual CIC server names. We recommend using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), not a short
    name.  

    Thank you

    Marc-André



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    Marc-Andre
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 05-05-2020 18:02
    I will investigate.

    In theory, if both servers are up and running, then if you contact the "wrong" one, you get redirected. But that's no help if the one you are trying to reach is down.


  • 8.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 06-18-2020 13:47

    Hi Evan,

    I am wondering If you have figured out a solution for this issue.  We have the same exact issue. We have DHCP Option 160 offered in the office but not when user is connected to VPN.  They will need to enter the back up CIC for Sip Soft Phone provisioning when the backup CIC is active.  I have been working with our network engineer to get DHCP option 160 offered in the VPN appliance but no luck so far.

    Is your solution to use "icprovision" record to replace one server name in "phone provisioning server" so it will give the ability to reach both CIC servers?

    If it is, where do you make that changes in user workstation.

    Thanks,

    -Sanjaya



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    Sanjaya
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 06-18-2020 13:56

    Sanjaya,

    We switched to using icprovision record for provisioning SIP Soft Phones.  I haven't done any targeted testing myself to see if this solves the issue during a switchover, but I did do a switchover after this change and help desk team wasn't reporting some of the prior issues we had when using an actual server name, so I guess it worked.

    Outside of this, we have constant issues with needing to re-provision in general for SIP Soft Phone users on VPN and I don't have a good explanation for why.  Maybe it's due to bugs on the version we are on 2018 R1 or maybe it's because SIP Soft Phone really needs DHCP Option 160 to be reliable in general.  We also have issues with the audio settings changing as well.

    For now, we just deal with all of this as it's only about 20 users on SIP Soft Phone so it's not a huge deal.  We created a self-help guide that explains how to re-provision (which is just a couple clicks) and to also check your audio sources in SIP Soft Phone options.



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    Evan
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 06-18-2020 14:05
    Thanks for the quick response.

    Does your users have to manually enter icprovision record or you change it permanently in their workstation?  
    In our setup, if DHCP option 160 is not offerred, you will be prompted with "phone provisioning server= CIC1 Server name" and it works all the time only if CIC1 is the active server

    I am guessing we can change "phone provisioning server = CIC1 Server name" to "phone provisioning server = icprovision record" in registry somewhere.


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    Sanjaya
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: SIP Soft Phone provisioning with switchover pair

    Posted 06-18-2020 15:41
    I instruct the help desk staff, and it's on our help desk document, to use icprovision.ourADdomain.com in the provisioning server record, and this has been wroking fine for is.

    There are 2 "icprovision" A records in DNS, one for each IP address of the CIC servers.

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    Evan
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    Original Message


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