ConfBridge How To?

[golfnut]

I've been using PIAF internally for a conferencing system for several years and have always struggled with jitter, stutter, and dropped calls. I've tried different hardware, a POTS card, and a Sangoma timing device with no improved results. I see that certain versions of asterisk have ConfBridge available and it does not require a timing source. My needs are simple. We have three phones that need to conference together.

I've look all over and can't find a straight forward how to for ConfBridge. Does anyone have experience with it?

 

[completetech]

when you say internally that makes me wonder what could be going on, on your network that would cause some much jitter and loss of packets that on your own network.

I would do some searching for what could be going on on your network to casue internal issues such as this.

I would also setup some good traffic shaping rules and/or QOS settings in your router.

 

[golfnut]

Spent days and days looking for problems

I've spent many hours trying to isolate the problem. For the purpose of this thread I want ConfBridge instructions.

 

[MGD4me]

Re: For the purpose of this thread I want ConfBridge instructions.

Since the problem you are experiencing is internal, it sounds like there may be congestion on your LAN from other data traffic. It may have more to do with your network topology, than strictly the configuration of the conference bridge.

 

[randy7376]

If it were me, the first thing I'd check for is duplex mismatch between the server/endpoints and your network switch.

Is your switch managed or unmanaged?

The documentation is rather sparse on the ConfBridge application. Have you looked at Digium's wiki, yet? I don't know of any step-by-step how-tos, unfortunately.

 

[golfnut]

Randy,

I never thought about checking this. We are running Dell Gigabit switches at our locations in unmanaged mode. What would I go about checking?

 

[randy7376]

Unfortunately I've never touched a Dell switch, so I really can't give you a specific step-by-step "how-to" on that.

If you have the ability to SSH/telnet into your switch, you should be able to check this from the switches command-line interface.

As an example, I can SSH into our HP ProCurve switch and issue a command like 'show interfaces brief'. This will give me an output that looks something like:

Status and Counters - Port Status

                    | Intrusion                           MDI   Flow  Bcast 
  Port    Type      | Alert     Enabled Status Mode       Mode  Ctrl  Limit 
  ------- --------- + --------- ------- ------ ---------- ----- ----- ------
  1       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  2       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  3       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  4       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  5       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  6       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDI   off   0     
  7       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  8       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Down   100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  9       10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  10      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDI   off   0     
  11      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  12      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  13      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  14      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0     
  15      10/100TX  | No        Yes     Up     100FDx     MDIX  off   0

In the Mode column, you can see 100FDx is displayed. This tells me that the port is running 100Mbps and set for full-duplex.

You didn't mention what kind of endpoints you're using. As another example, on the Aastra 57i, you can check these settings from the phone's interface by pressing Options -> 3.Phone Status -> 2.LAN port. This shows me the link state, speed, duplex, and whether the link was autonegotiated or statically set.

This is at least something to check and eliminate as a potential problem. My biggest problem with duplex mismatch has always been with 3Com. The switch port typically auto-negotiates a half-duplex connection while the device believes it to be full-duplex. You'll have all kinds of wonderful errors on the port - something else your switch should show you.

What is the model number for your Dell switch? If I can find a manual, I might be able to guide you further.

 

[randy7376]

Some further digging turned up more details on ConfBridge. Have you seen this over at FreePBX? Read the thread very carefully. Elsewhere, I've read doing this may break other things like paging. Ward/Darmock have mentioned in numerous threads why PBXIAF still uses FreePBX 2.8. You've been warned.

Basically, it states that if you're already on FreePBX 2.9, you can move /usr/lib/asterisk/modules/app_meetme.so out of the way and ConfBridge will automatically be used. You have to go in and re-submit your conferences (one extension was mentioned, too) so the configuration(s) will get updated.

With that said, I've justed tested this on a virtual machine I'm running and it appears to work.

 

[golfnut]

I had tried that but noticed that I am not on 2.9....I'll upgrade and test again.