sipXecs 14.04 Release Notes

Overview

This Release Note describes the sipXecs 14.04 software release, including:

• Software Enhancements
• Application, Hardware, and Documentation Requirements
• Installation & Upgrade Instructions
• Fixes for issues

Starting with April release, sipXecs will have a regular release cycle for new features and a new versioning Schema which incorporates the Year and Month of release.

• April release for 2014 is 14.04
• October release for 2014 is 14.10
• April release for 2015 is 15.04

Release Level History

• 14.04 - April 30 2014
• 14.04.1 - May 31 2014
• 14.04.2 - July 8, 2014

New Features

Release 14.04.3

MongoDB Enhancements

• XX-11389 - Two new check boxes have been added under System>Database Settings in openUC to allow administrators to set logging details for the Mongo C++ driver:
  
  • The Enable mongo driver logging check box determines whether the Mongo C++ driver is logged to the system logs.
  • The Mongo driver log level check box determines the log level used by the Mongo driver logger.
• XX-11390 - A new option named Mongo query timeout has been added under System>Database to allow administrators to specify the query timeout used by SIP components mongo C++ driver. The default value is 500 milliseconds.
• XX-11378 - The system has been enhanced to allow sipXecs components to merge contact results for new registrations and read data from the local MongoDB node. Also, the clusterId parameter is now included in the read preferences.
• XX-11382 - The SEC functionality has significantly increased performance when administrators query the logs for alarms. This has been achieved because the system now writes all alarms related logs in a separate directory instead of writing them in the /var/log/sipxpbx directory. Note that SEC still uses a lot of CPU when sipxconfig.log is on DEBUG.

Release 14.04.2

There are no new features delivered in 14.04.2

Release 14.04.1

There are no new features delivered in 14.04.1

Release 14.04

• User Portal Rewrite
  
  • This is essentially the new Web version of Unite in 'Lite' form (no XMPP capabilities).
  • The user will be able to manage their communications settings, listen to voicemail, see call logs, change their call forwarding, etc. Essentially what they can do in the User portal today in a nice new interface.
  • The old user portal is still available (System -> Admin Settings).
• Auto Attendant Improvements - A number of improvements to our Auto Attendant
  
  • Live Attendant
    
    • A user or hunt group can be specified in AA configuration to ring during certain hours of the day.
  • Restricted Dialing
    
    • Allow only certain extensions to be dialed from an Auto Attendant.
  • Make Please Hold Optional
    
    • After a menu selection is made there is an audio prompt that says 'Please hold while I transfer your call'.This prompt is now optional.
  • Auto Attendant Night Mode
    
    • The ability to manually put an AA in or out of night mode.
  • Specify a Locale per AA
    
    • Be able to specify a locale (language) on an AA by AA basis.
  • Holiday Attendant Improvements
    
    • Be able to define holiday attendant day AND hours of operation.
• Change Logging Levels on the fly
  
  • In previous version of openUC customers have been forced to change logging levels after hours because it required services to restart to pick up the changes.
• Login by email address
  
  • The ability for the system administrator to allow users to login with their email address (or email alias) and their system password / LDAP password / RADIUS password.

New openUC Commercial Release only New Features:

• Unite Web - Web version of Unite makes its debut.
  
  • A zero install client that offers instant messaging and access to all user settings from a single place
  • HTML5 based, Unite now can operate on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS Devices and Android Devices.
• Unite for Zimbra
  
  • The new Unite within the Zimbra web portal. In addition -- presence enable the Zimbra web interface.
• Session State Services (Phase 1)
  
  • A total re-write of system resource list services capabilities.
  • Now scalable and more reliable than the legacy RLS services.
  • Phase 2 due in October will add shared line appearance services, high availability and API support for presence enabling more applications.
• Admin GUI Refresh
  
  • New color scheme to dress up openUC Admin interface.
• Reach Move off Configuration Server
  
  • Reach can now be moved off of the configuration server onto its own server. Reporting server can also be separate from Reach Server.
• e911 API's required for Conveyant Compatibility
  
  • We've worked with Conveyant to get API's that they need and also build some new SNMP Traps for 911 events
  • Conveyant brings the ability to automatically locate phones on the network and update their locations for e911 dialing.
• Multi-User Chat Room Management
  • While openUC's Instant Messaging services have had the ability to have multi-user chat (MUC) rooms, they needed to be managed as just other users on the system
  • With the new Multi-User Chat Room management it is now easier to configure these MUC's
  • Additionally MUCs can now be limited to a group of users and message logging can be enabled/disabled on a MUC by MUC basis.

Commercial Support:

Commercial support is available for eZuce openUC installations from eZuce Inc.

For information about upgrading to openUC to utilize its powerful enterprise features contact:

Phone: (978) 296-1005 option 1
Email: sales@ezuce.com

System requirements:

For a reasonably performing system we recommend the following configuration:

Minimum hardware requirements

• Pentium 4 or Xeon processor @ 2.0 GHz Core 64-bit or higher
• Minimum 4 GB of RAM with sufficient swap space
• 80 GB disk (75 users depending on usage patterns)
  
  • Note: sipXecs supports an unlimited number of voice-mail boxes,the total number of hours of recorded messages is determined by the size of the hard-disk.
  • As a rule, for every minute of recorded messages you will need 1 MB of disk space (About 3 hours per 10 GB of disk space).

Operating System

• CentOS/RHEL 6 x86_64 with latest updates is required.
• i386 version is also provided as is (this will be depreciated within the next couple of releases).

Devices

• Polycom VVX Devices with firmware 4.1.6 or later are recommended for new installations
• AudioCodes Gateways are recommended for PSTN connectivity
• Sangoma, AudioCodes, Acme Packet and Ingate SBC's are recommended for SIP Trunking and Remote Worker connectivity. Use of internal Trunking or Remote Worker capabilities should be only for lab purposes.

Special MongoDB Note

Please be aware of these MongoDB requirements: http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/ulimit/

Every deployment may have unique requirements and settings; however, the following thresholds and settings are particularly important for mongod and mongos deployments:

$ ulimit -a
-f (file size): unlimited
-t (cpu time): unlimited
-v (virtual memory): unlimited
-n (open files): 64000
-m (memory size): unlimited
-u (processes/threads): 32000

• Always remember to restart your mongod and mongos instances after changing the ulimit settings to make sure that the settings change takes effect.
• If you limit virtual or resident memory size on a system running MongoDB the operating system will refuse to honor additional allocation requests.
• For more information please access Review and Set Resource Limits of MongoDB link.

Installing from ISO image

Download sipXecs ISO

Download the iso corresponding to your hardware and write the image to a dvd.

• The ISO files are available here: http://download.sipfoundry.org/pub/sipXecs/ISO/
• We recommend the 64 bit installation. This ISO file name ends is x86_64.iso.
• ISO will be released shortly after annoucement.

Install sipXecs

• Boot from the dvd created with the sipXecs iso.
• Press Enter at the boot screen below to begin the sipXecs installation.
• Select Manual Configuration under Enable IPv4 support and select OK.
• Set a static IPv4 address with the corresponding networking information and click OK.
• In certain situations an warning of the use of indicated storage devices will be displayed.
• Select the language to be used during the installation.
• Select the keyboard layout to be used.
• Select the timezone to be used.
• Set a root password.
• Login to the system as root with the password you provided earlier and continue on to the Configure of sipXecs.

Installing from Repository

sipXecs can be installed using the below procedure:

• Download and install CentOS 6.X minimal ISO
• Run yum update && reboot
• Create /etc/yum.repos.d/openuc.repo file with your favorite text editor and add the below syntax

[sipXecs]
name=sipXecs software for CentOS $releasever - $basearch
baseurl=http://download.sipfoundry.org/pub/sipXecs/14.04/CentOS_$releasever/$basearch
gpgcheck=0

• Run yum install sipxecs

Upgrade from sipXecs 4.4

Upgrade from sipXecs 4.4 is based on the below backup/restore procedure: 

1. Create a backup of the current sipXecs 4.4 system
2. Install a fresh sipXecs 14.04 on a new machine. Finish the installation and configuration by running sipxecs-setup to obtain access to WebUI
3. Restore 4.4 configuration on the new sipXecs 14.04 system.

Upgrade from sipXecs 4.6

Upgrade from sipXecs 4.6 is based on the next procedure:

• Edit /etc/yum.repos.d/sipxecs.repo with your favorite text editor pointing to the correct download location of the new 14.04 version:

[sipxecs]
............
baseurl=http://download.sipfoundry.org/pub/sipXecs/14.04/CentOS_$releasever/$basearch 
............

• Perform a backup of the entire system
• Download backup from the server
• SSH to the server and login as root (if you don't have root access to the server, login with your non-root account and enter sudo -s)
• Run the command yum clean all. When that completes, run the command yum update. As long as your sipXecs instance has access to the Internet, your system should download and upgrade all necessary updates.

Special Note for sipXecs 4.6 versions older than Update 9

The pymongo package in our sipXecs repository is outdated and should be replaced with the differently named but newer version python-pymongo package from the EPEL repository. This allows pymongo to upgrade along with other OS packages from the upstream provider (EPEL) rather than sipXecs repository.
Not all Updates previous to Update 8 have pymongo installed. If upon running yum update you encounter a message similar to:

Error: Package: pymongo-2.4.2-1.el6.x86_64 (@openuc)
Requires: python-bson = 2.4.2-1.el6
Removing: python-bson-2.4.2-1.el6.x86_64 (@openuc)
python-bson = 2.4.2-1.el6
Updated By: python-bson-2.5.2-3.el6.x86_64 (epel)
python-bson = 2.5.2-3.el6
Available: python-bson-2.1.1-1.el6.x86_64 (epel)
python-bson = 2.1.1-1.el6
You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem

As mentioned, the pymongo package in our openUC repository is outdated and should be replaced with the differently named but newer version python-pymongo package from the EPEL repository. This allows pymongo to upgrade along with other OS packages from the upstream provider (EPEL) rather than eZuce openUC repository.To do so, run the following commands:

rpm -e --nodeps pymongo

yum install python-pymongo

yum clean all
yum update -y
reboot

• Run service sipxecs status to check if all services started correctly after upgrade
• Login to Admin GUI, click on System -> Servers, Select all servers and click 'Send Profiles' button

Known Issues

See http://track.sipfoundry.org

Resolved Issues

Release 14.04.3

XX-11381- Fixed an issue with the C++ driver that caused the MongoDB to stop working for approximately 15 minutes when using the default TCP timeout. Now, a query with a limited timeout can be specified by the administrator and the executions are correctly performed, thus allowing users to place calls continuously.

XX-11398-Fixed several issues that caused the system to incorrectly manage memory allocations. This issue occurred because the sipXtackLibnetwork stacks leaked memory of the SdpBody and NameValuePairs types and the SipClientSendMsg destructor was not virtual. Now, sipXtackLibbehaves correctly and the SipClientSendMsg has been made virtual.

UC-3252- Fixed an issue that caused the OpenFire plugin to incorrectly manage memory allocations and generate out of memory java exceptions. This issue occured when a non-IM user was modified in the Administration Portal and when groups with thousands of users were updated.

XX-10950- Fixed an issue that caused slow performances when using the proxy and registrar plug-ins. This issue occurred because the proxy and registrar plug-ins were making separate queries to the MongoDB to retrieve required information. Now, queries are made only once for each call and the results are sent to all plug-ins.

XX-11399- FreeSwitch processes are now running with a normal priority. Previously, the FreeSwitch process was assigned a higher priority than the proxy and occasionally caused the proxy to have insufficient resources to process calls.

XX-11384- Fixed an issue that caused the garbage collector to stop working when processing a large number of transactions. This issue occurred because the garbage collector was only scheduled to function when the user-agent queue was empty. Now, the functionality continues to collect stale transactions even in a constant heavy traffic scenario.

Release 14.04.2

XX-11138 Sometimes when using @call, unite web's callcontroller leaves call hanging
XX-11139 Sometimes when using @call from old user portal's phonesbook callcontroller leaves call hanging
XX-11194 Polycom phones might flood tcp connections trying to upload logs
XX-11201 Deleting user via SOAP API fails with org.springframework.dao.DuplicateKeyException
XX-11209 Polycom: firmware 4.1.1 is not available in the device files upload
XX-11211 Phones subscribe to MWI, MOH and presence even if these services are unavailable
XX-11214 Special auto-provision line\s AOR (~id~~sipXprovision) should be unique per phone
UW-91 Adding a new Schedule doesn’t work
UW-130 UW voicemail history not found in Safari webbrowser
UW-132 Conference dashboard not showing correctly all active users
UW-136 Unite feature bug -- missing participant
UW-137 Dialpad errors
UW-138 Click on a searched contact needs implementing
UW-139 Move voice message to all should not be available
UW-140 Unite Web dialpad green dial button not refreshed
UC-2223 Investigate if we could support "Save and update phone" on speed dials when hoteling user is logged in
UC-2853 zen 2614 : proxy core dump caused by siprouter destructor
UC-3019 Speed dials with subscribe to presence won't be added to phones

Release 14.04.1

XX-11136 User Portal - Inviting a new user will gray-out the others
XX-11135 User Portal - User multiplied in the conference room
XX-11134 User Portal - Scroll bar is missing in the conference room window
XX-11132 "message filter proxy plugin" needs call controller ports to be excepted from filtering in domain
XX-11121 zen 2615 : /usr/bin/sipx-ssl-symlink.sh
XX-11120 Sometimes proxy uses random value for Max-Forwards
XX-11119 File uploads on Polycom 5.0.2
XX-11108 add MySQL.log to snapshot
XX-11107 Logs to add to snapshot
XX-11106 Httpd and tomcat logs should be included in snapshot
XX-11091 Add region pops-out of format
XX-11073 183/180 responses are not properly tagged by sipXbridge when hairpinning calls back to the same ITSP
XX-11063 E-mail address and other user's fields are not restored
XX-11042 Proxy must relay ACK statelessly even if it doesn't have the INVITE transaction for it
XX-11037 REST API do not send the user permissions
XX-10791 Prevent DNS Amplification Attack
XX-10790 NAT traversal keepalive causes DNS lookups to host "willgetpatched:5060"
XX-10660 SDP in UPDATE message contains incorrect IP address when using NAT
UW-92 User Portal - Conference: Refresh issue
UC-2850 Change openUC update version to 1
UC-2823 14.04 Holiday Attendant failed on upgrade from 4.6 to 14.04
UC-2734 Voicemail restore is not working anymore
UC-655 Issue playing .wav files when Voicemail Encoding Format set to mp3

Release 14.04

XX-11073 183/180 responses are not properly tagged by sipXbridge when hairpinning calls back to the same ITSP
XX-11069 Call queue feature not gettting automatically installed with Update 10
XX-11064 Polycom 4.1.6 support
XX-11060 Polycom 5.0.2 support
XX-11059 Restore fails when device_version_id is NULL
XX-11058 Cannot download backups from restore page
XX-11057 sipXtackLib does not drop garbage/rogue packets. It instead tries to respond to it with an equally malformed response
XX-11055 sipxcallqueue extension should be enclosed by ^ $
XX-11049 OsServerTaskWaitable::sFdLimit must be reset when OsResourceLimit increases the maximum file handle limit
XX-11048 Create SSL keys for TLS calls
XX-11024 TLS calls fail with Polycom phones
XX-11022 Change package names for 14.04
XX-11016 Huntgroup- Call does not navigate to Voicemail of Fall back destination user
XX-11015 Hunt Group should have an "accommodate call forwarding timers" option
XX-11011 Snmptrap configuration is wrong
XX-11009 Not all users should be allowed to subscribe to presence
XX-11008 Permission to subscribe to presence not added to speed dial REST API
XX-11000 REST service for session keepalive
XX-10999 Warning message on login page - IE11 not supported
XX-10985 DNS(named) service wont start when setup with SIP domain = FQDN
XX-10983 Sending BYE to sipXecs from callee fails
XX-10982 Registrar responds to UNREGISTER with "500 Unable To Retrieve Contacts From RegDB"
XX-10974 Some phone settings won't get updated until manually restarted
XX-10972 Redirect REST API fails with internal error
XX-10967 REST service(s) for fax settings
XX-10966 Cannot choose a different LDAP import option if "Every Week" was selected
XX-10960 REST service for adding user's pin to login details
XX-10959 new authorization by email option must be optional
XX-10958 REST service(s) for user IM bot settings
XX-10953 Backup/Restore polish
XX-10947 Change admin portal graphics, according to new design
XX-10946 DNS config problem: if I check to exclude NS records , they are not excluded
XX-10943 REST service(s) for user passwords
XX-10942 REST service(s) for user conferences
XX-10941 REST service(s) for user call forwarding
XX-10940 REST service(s) for user IM settings
XX-10939 REST service(s) for user speed dial
XX-10938 REST service(s) for user phone book
XX-10937 REST service(s) for user autoattendant
XX-10936 REST service(s) for user voicemail
XX-10930 SipXCallController should use same transport protocol as INVITE's 200 OK when sending BYE
XX-10928 Set phone checkbox ID and Name for Phones
XX-10927 Set user checkbox ID and Name in Users/Groups
XX-10907 TLS connection does not work with clients behind NAT
XX-10898 Copyright 2014 for sipXecs
XX-10897 Registrar used old URL
XX-10872 Improve reliability of backup system
XX-10842 Make log level change dynamic for Java services
XX-10838 Create User / User Group Permission for database authentication only
XX-10829 Auto Attendants Live Attendant
XX-10828 Holiday Attendant Improvements
XX-10827 Auto Attendant Night Mode
XX-10819 Openfire OF-454: Send presence updates to all resources
XX-10806 Per project Resource Limits are rewritten when applying Admin Settings
XX-10785 Enable IM for superadmin by default
XX-10731 Set service checkbox ID and Name in Servers and Roles
XX-10727 For some configuration changes services should reload configuration instead of restart
XX-10674 CDR restore failure
XX-10673 unable to restore ntp settings
XX-10672 Restore doesn't restore secondary cf keys
XX-10387 Include backup file checkbox should be independent in both backup and backup to FTP option
XX-10361 Make "Please hold while I transfer your call" prompt optional
XX-10251 16kHz MoH setting
XX-10246 16 kHz Conference Bridge and Moderator Waiting Notice
XX-9896 In contact center the default demo client should not contain space by default
XX-9700 Support multiple LDAP / AD Domains
XX-9691 Nested Hunt Group gets a default of 20 seconds due to absence of an explicit expires header from the registrar redirect response
XX-9449 Allow locale specification on a per auto-attendant basis
XX-8299 Make log level change dynamic