• Since we would like the non-experienced users to give their input too, we moved the discussion on the mailing list.

• Experienced users do not find this very useful. They would rather start from a tutorial or a full config file and manually build and setup the extra components.
• Since we would like the non-experienced users to give their input too, we moved the discussion on the mailing list.

IRC Logs

16:59 <     razvanc>| hello all
17:00 <     razvanc>| in a few seconds we'll be starting the Public Meeting
17:00            --- | bogdan_vs has changed the topic to: OpenSIPS Public Meeting
17:00 <     razvanc>| http://www.opensips.org/Community/IRCmeeting20150429
17:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| Hi everyone
17:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| ...and welcome
17:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| This months we have a real meeting, not a "April fools" one ;)
17:02 <@  bogdan_vs>| everybody ready ?
17:02 <     razvanc>| I am :D
17:02 <   alias_neo>| Sure :D
17:02 <@  bogdan_vs>| OK, for today we have a really important topic...
17:03 <@  bogdan_vs>| important for the OpenSIPS users
17:03 <@  bogdan_vs>| is about OpenSIPS integration with other softwares
17:03 <@  bogdan_vs>| IMHO this is a big stopper for users, when trying to put together OpenSIPS with something else
17:04 <@  bogdan_vs>| like Contro Panel, RTPproxy, Homer, billing, etc
17:04 <@  bogdan_vs>| as they have to have knowledge in both softwares....to understand the integration details
17:05 <@  bogdan_vs>| like if the integration must be done via DB, via MI, etc...
17:05 <@  bogdan_vs>| now, the key question is if indeed, this is a real problem or not ....
17:06 <@  bogdan_vs>| as we are looking for ways to simplify the deployments of other softwares in conjunction with OpenSIPS
17:07 <@  bogdan_vs>| so, anyone can confirm or infirm this "integration problem" ?
17:08 <   alias_neo>| I can admit it's not been easy for me as a newcomer to opensips
17:08 <@  bogdan_vs>| alias_neo: what have you tried to integrate OpenSIPS with ?
17:09 <   alias_neo>| So far, RTPProxy, SNMP, and an in-house REST API. The latter was the easiest.
17:10 <   alias_neo>| Some of my colleagues have been integrating with Asterisk as a gateway, "trial and error" I believe was the phrase used.
17:11 <     razvanc>| what were the problems you were facing while integrating with RTPProxy?
17:11 <     razvanc>| besides the bug you found :)
17:12 <   alias_neo>| Mainly that the documentation was inconsistent. I found various recommendations on how to implement the configuration. I understand that the is usually more than one way to skin a cat, but, when having problems, it's good to have a solid, minimal, "this is what you need to make this work"
17:13 <      liviuc>| so step-by-step stock configuration tutorials
17:13 <   alias_neo>| Yes, and for the sake of education, that is preferrable to an autoconfig
17:13 <      liviuc>| but we're trying to figure out if there is demand for us to automate these as well
17:15 <     razvanc>| alias_neo: you'd prefer more info about the internal mechanisms and how things work, rather than using something that "magically" works?
17:15 <   alias_neo>| (as above), but, in my case, I'm likely to have operations automate server deployments with ansible/puppet/something once I have a known good configuration that I undestand.
17:15 <  alias_neo>| razvanc: Absolutely. If I need to maintain, or develop modified behaviour, I absolutely must know how it works.
17:16 <     razvanc>| I totally agree that the documentation should be there, consistent and easy to find
17:16 <      liviuc>| one thing is for sure: good platform engineers aren't affected too much if tutorials/stock configs are available or not
17:16 <      liviuc>| however, lack some of these and you will lose the initial, unexperienced ones
17:18 <     razvanc>| alias_neo: there has to be something to begin with
17:18 <   alias_neo>| I'm talking as a complete newcomer to OpenSIPS (and SIP to a lesser extent) with deadlines and 100 other things to do. If my focus was purely setting up and maintaing the SIP infrastructure, I could do without, and figure it out myself.
17:18 <     razvanc>| I mean whenever you want to integrate something with OpenSIPS
17:19 <     razvanc>| I'd first make a dummy config, that it's easy to test
17:19 <     razvanc>| and then "hack" it and add as many features as possible
17:19 <   alias_neo>| So I think, a baseline configuration with the bare minimum explaining what is there and why would be a good start.
17:22 <@  bogdan_vs>| to be honest, not always....
17:22 <     razvanc>| the thing is that not all users are that experienced and easily understand the technical "dependencies"
17:22 <@  bogdan_vs>| as I see it, more people want to see some working results ....and fast
17:22 <@  bogdan_vs>| otherwise they give up
17:23 <@  bogdan_vs>| if you have the option to have something working in a fast and reliable way, just go for it..
17:23 <   alias_neo>| Well, I'm not-not saying that. I'm still talking on a per-feature integration basis. So config that will give me RTPProxy, or at least the parts I need to add, and EXACTLY where (line numbers?) into the default configuration
17:24 <@  bogdan_vs>| after you have it working, you can start dissecting it to see how it works and to understand all the details (if interesting into :) )
17:24 <      liviuc>| I'm sure lots of people would enjoy the idea of an "opensips-1.11-trunk.rpm" - just an example
17:24 <      liviuc>| something that you plug in, and just gets the job done
17:26 <   alias_neo>| I'd be quite happy to not have to build opensips and configure it myself, if I could rely on that being the case, answer some yes/no questions during deployment, enter some hostnames, ip addresses and ports and be done with it. This hasn't been my experience so far though, and I've had to work deeply into the config
17:26 <   alias_neo>| Then anything advanced could be documented elsewhere
17:29 <@  bogdan_vs>| I was thinking (and what to explore the idea) of having a new tool to allow you to install (on top of an existing OpenSIPS installation) a third-party software that integrates with OpenSIPS
17:29 <@  bogdan_vs>| like you do "opensipsctl extension add rtpproxy"
17:30 <@  bogdan_vs>| this will grab and install rtpp for you, set the integration via unix socks, make some modification into your cfg, etc
17:30 <@  bogdan_vs>| the idea is - after running that script, you will get rtpproxy running and integrated with OpenSIPS
17:30 <   alias_neo>| I certainly wouldn't say no to a feature like that :D
17:31 <@  bogdan_vs>| other "extensions" can be Control Panel, SNMP, Homer, RTPEngine, OpenXCAP, etc
17:31 <@  bogdan_vs>| or a billing engine ;)
17:32 <@  bogdan_vs>| I was talking to DanB on that
17:32 <@  bogdan_vs>| for the CGRates integration
17:33 <        DanB>| bogdan_vs, just say my name and I am there ;)
17:33 <@  bogdan_vs>| DanB: yes, I have that on my todo list ;)
17:35 <        DanB>| me too, btw, do u have already packages for jessie?
17:35 <        DanB>| I mean for 2.1
17:35 <        DanB>| want to start testing 2.1 tomorrow
17:36 <@  bogdan_vs>| DanB: I need to check as some guys in US do take care of our deb repo
17:36 <        DanB>| ok, no worries otherwise , I can always build my own ones
17:36 <   alias_neo>| Speaking of debs, is it possible to get a deb build option in menconfig?
17:37 <        DanB>| btw, our LCR (monetary) is ready now and will try to integrate it on top of DR
17:37 <     razvanc>| alias_neo: sure, just add a feature request on the issues site
17:37 <        DanB>| we got quite some features there including QOS thresholds for suppliers and or pure QOS LCR
17:37 <  alias_neo>| razvanc: Thanks.
17:39 <        DanB>| (by QOS thresholds I understand also cost related ones, eg: AverageCallCost, TotalCallCost)
17:41 <@  bogdan_vs>| Nice - DanB will you be talking about all these at the OpenSIPS Summit ?
17:41 <        DanB>| yes sure, will keep it as the most guarded secret till then ;)
17:42 <        DanB>| maybe at some point I can raise enough interest that we get own cgrates module within opensips :)
17:43 <@  bogdan_vs>| that will be awesome
17:44 <@  bogdan_vs>| now back to the actual topic :)
17:44 <        DanB>| sure :)
17:44 <@  bogdan_vs>| does it make sense to explore and invest into a system to automatically do OpenSIPS integration for various other softwares ?
17:46 <   alias_neo>| Well, one consideration, if you do that, it to make sure the system can accept pre-existing third party softwares and configure to them, as well as setting them up from scratch. I.e. db, I have a DB cluster already running, I don't want OpenSIPS to set it up, but integrate with mine.
17:47 <     lirakis>| sorry ive not been fighting fires
17:51 <     razvanc>| hi lirakis 
17:51 <     razvanc>| what do you think?
17:52 <     razvanc>| are you fiding troubles while integrating OpenSIPS with a diffrerent subsystem?
17:52 <     lirakis>| im sorry .. im still working through some issues with AMQP stuff crashing this morning
17:52 <     razvanc>| oh, ok, good luck with that!
17:52 <     lirakis>| in general though ... no i find it easy to integrate opensips
17:53 <     lirakis>| its the most compliant server that we use - it always behaves as expected
17:53 <     lirakis>| :)
17:53 <      jarrod>| lirakis i love amqp!
17:53 <     razvanc>| :D
17:53 <   Hydrosine>| I would like to see some more about the cachedb's. been testing Couchbase, but i can't really seem to find a use for it except for opensips itself
17:55 <     razvanc>| Hydrosine: I don't see couchbase as an extension
17:55 <     razvanc>| or mysql
17:55 <      jarrod>| it would seem to be the best use of time would not be building automatic integration with 3rd party software
17:56 <      jarrod>| they would probably change constantly and create a lot of problems/changes with the integration tools
17:56 <      jarrod>| id rather see the core keep developing features, modules, etc
17:57 <@  bogdan_vs>| jarrod: the question is : what is faster and simpler to do :
17:57 <@  bogdan_vs>| 1) an automatic way of deployment
17:57 <@  bogdan_vs>| 2) tutorials and examples
17:57 <@  bogdan_vs>| :)
17:57 <      jarrod>| oh
17:58 <      jarrod>| i still think tutorials and examples because they dont have to be 'perfect'
17:58 <      jarrod>| it seems automatic ways of deployment would raise constant issues
17:58 <      jarrod>| but i just got here, so i may have missed earlier discussion
18:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| that is true
18:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| but automatic ways eliminates the human error ;)
18:01 <@  bogdan_vs>| do not get me wrong, I do not want to put more work on me :P
18:02 <   Hydrosine>| i would say 2 as well
18:02 <     razvanc>| what we were thinking was to build something that "automagically" works
18:03 <     razvanc>| next, using 2) enhance with more fancy features
18:03 <     razvanc>| if 1) works, but after step 2) it doesn't, it's pretty clear where something is wrong
18:04 <   alias_neo>| the problem with the auto method is that if the user needs something not covered, the tuts and docs might not be around to help figure out how to delve in and enhance it themselves
18:04 <     razvanc>| integration or configuration
18:04 <      jarrod>| ok what type of 3rd party software are we talking about integrating with
18:04 <     razvanc>| bogdan_vs>| other "extensions" can be Control Panel, SNMP, Homer, RTPEngine, OpenXCAP,
18:05 <      jarrod>| the beauty of opensips is you can customize it to do whatever oyu want, so your automagic seems it would really be trying to cater to a specific subset of most common use cases
18:05 <      jarrod>| i prefer tutorials that give snippets of how to integrate those packages into my existing config
18:05 <      jarrod>| not trying to take something automagic and then conform it
18:08 <@  bogdan_vs>| indeed, that;s a beauty, but also a weakness
18:08 <@  bogdan_vs>| weakness for the new comers ....
18:08 <@  bogdan_vs>| as they have to have knowledge in both softwares....to understand the integration details
18:14 <      jarrod>| i guess you could just build a config that literally attempts to incorporate every package with an appropriate diff, and then if you 'unselect' that package (like menuconfig) it just removes that portion of logic
18:15 <       sekil>| hello
18:16 <   alias_neo>| I think the idea was for full-auto bogdan suggested it installs the packages and configures them too
18:16 <     razvanc>| alias_neo: yes, that was the initial idea
18:17 <     razvanc>| but  bottom line, it seems that you don't find this very useful
18:17 <     razvanc>| at least at an experienced user
18:17 <     razvanc>| we should probably escale this on the mailing list
18:17 <     razvanc>| where there are more newbies :)
18:18 <      jarrod>| i dont see a problem with having full configs that will work as examples and well commented
18:18 <      jarrod>| but not something that touts just run this and you will be good to go?
18:20 <     razvanc>| we do have full configs
18:21 <     razvanc>| we should probably extend them 
18:21 <     razvanc>| ok, guys, it seems the meeting is off
18:21 <     razvanc>| thank you all for attending 
18:21 <     razvanc>| we'll discuss more about this on the mailing list
18:21 <      jarrod>| i guess irc doesnt attract many of the newcomers to the project?
18:22 <      jarrod>| yea that seems like the best place
18:22 <     razvanc>| jarrod: yeah, I think so
18:22 <     razvanc>| or they are just shy :)
18:22 <      jarrod>| any newcomer will obviously say "oh yea i want something that will just work"
18:22 <      jarrod>| my contention is that just making it "work" for them will be close to impossible
18:23 <      jarrod>| but maybe im not giving you guys enough credit :)
18:23 <     razvanc>| :D
18:24 <      liviuc>| how about making it 90% "work" for them? Most basic forms of SIP, RTP relaying, NAT handling, and so on
18:24 <      jarrod>| well thats where i think the full config examples are good
18:25 <      jarrod>| as opposed to the tool?
18:26 <      jarrod>| there are definitely some configs i think that need to be reworked
18:26 <      jarrod>| for example, lirakis was trying to get tls working and having a bear of a time using the example on the website
18:26 <      jarrod>| and he is probably one of the more advanced users
18:26 <      jarrod>| making sure those were "up to date" would seem a worthwhile effort in my opinion
18:28 <      jarrod>| or even taking each of those examples and making scripts that replace the environment specifics like https://github.com/etamme/federated-sip does
18:34 <@  bogdan_vs>| jarrod: updating and creating more tutorials should be the first step
18:34 <@  bogdan_vs>| and let's see what the feedback from users...
18:34 <@  bogdan_vs>| ...if something more is needed it
18:35 <      jarrod>| just offering my thoughts, btu that sounds good :)
18:37 <@  bogdan_vs>| it will be interesting to also see the feedback on this on the mailing list - as I guess there are more "newbies" there

1. What's the easiest way to enhance an OpenSIPS based platform with new extensions? Should we use a set of scripts to automatically detect your OpenSIPS installation and to download, install and integrate a new extension such as OpenSIPS CP, OpenXCAP or Homer?

IRC Logs

1. How can we deliver a fresh OpenSIPS install in a nice, flexible and easy manner? What do you think it's the best way to deploy it? On a virtual machine or a docker container? Should we use automated tools like vagrant or ansible?

Community -> PublicMeetings -> 29th of April 2015

When

• Wednesday, 29th of April 2015, at 17:00 EEST (link here)
• IRC, #opensips channel on Freenode

Topics

OpenSIPS Easy Deployment

Do you often need to deploy a fresh install of OpenSIPS in a new environment, whether to test a particular feature or isolate a certain pattern of traffic? Are you often experiencing difficulties during setup? If the answer is YES, then we should meet in the next public meeting to discuss the following questions:

1. How can we deliver a fresh OpenSIPS install in a nice, flexible and easy manner? What do you think it's the best way to deploy it? On a virtual machine, a docker container? Should we use automated tools like vagrant or ansible?
2. What's the easiest way to enhance an OpenSIPS based platform with new extensions, such as OpenSIPS CP or OpenXCAP?

Your experience is really valuable in this context, so we are looking forward to seeing all of you on 29th of April, 2015, at 17:00 EEST (link here)

Conclusions

IRC Logs