1. Domain Module

Juha Heinanen

Revision History
Revision $Revision$ $Date$

1.1. Overview
1.1.1. Virtual Domains
1.1.2. Domain-level Configuration Attributes
1.1.3. Caching
1.2. Dependencies
1.3. Known Limitations
1.4. Parameters
1.4.1. db_url (string)
1.4.2. db_mode (integer)
1.4.3. domain_table (string)
1.4.4. did_col (string)
1.4.5. domain_col (string)
1.4.6. flags_col (string)
1.4.7. domattr_table (string)
1.4.8. domattr_did (string)
1.4.9. domattr_name (string)
1.4.10. domattr_type (string)
1.4.11. domattr_value (string)
1.4.12. domattr_flags (string)
1.4.13. load_domain_attrs (integer)
1.5. Functions
1.5.1. is_local(domain)
1.5.2. lookup_domain(attr_group, domain)
1.6. FIFO Interface
1.6.1. domain.reload
1.6.2. domain.dump
1.7. Internal API

1.1. Overview

Domain modules, as the name suggests, implements support for multiple independent virtual domains hosted on one SIP server. This is often useful if you have multiple domain names and you want to make them all work and appear as one. Alternatively you might find the module useful if you want to run a shared SIP service for multiple independent customers. The module stores all supported domains and associated configuration in a database table. Most of the information can be cached in memory for performance reasons.

1.1.1. Virtual Domains

The domain module adds support for so-called virtual domains. A virtual domain is just a collection of domain names and associated configuration information identified by a unique identifier. We refer to the domain identifier as DID elsewhere in the documentation. DID stands for "Domain IDentifier". In traditional POST world the term DID has a different meaning though. Please be aware that this is just pure coincidence.

All domain names that belong to one virtual domain are interchangeable. From SIP server's perspective there is no difference between them. They can be used in SIP URIs interchangeably and the behavior of the SIP server will not be affected. This is called "domain name normalization" and it is one of the steps performed early during SIP message processing.

The DID identifier can be anything. To the SIP server DIDs are just opaque strings and what format you choose depends on your requirements and the type of the setup. You can use numbers in smaller setups if the size of the data is a concern. You can set the DID to the canonical domain name of the domain. You can use RFC 4122 style UUIDs if your setup is large and distributed. You can use anything as long as it can be represented as string. The only requirement is that the identifier of each virtual domain must be unique.

The following example illustrates how one virtual domain can be represented. The iptel.org domain runs a public SIP service. The users of the service can use SIP URIs of form sip:username@iptel.org. The SIP service is distributed, there is a number of SIP servers. The SIP servers are also available through a number of other domain names, such as sip.iptel.org, proxy.iptel.org and so on. We created one virtual domain in the domain module and added all such domain names to the virtual domain:

Example 1. Virtual Domain iptel.org

iptel
  |
  +---iptel.org
  +---sip.iptel.org
  +---proxy.iptel.org
  +---213.192.59.75

In the example above, we chose "iptel" as the unique identifier for the virtual domain. This identifier is permanent. It never changes. Over time we may change domain names assigned to this virtual domain, but this identifier never changes. The main reason why virtual domain identifiers must never change is that because they are referenced from other tables, for example the accounting table. The data in the accounting table is long-lived, usually archived, and this ensures that the data will still reference correct virtual domain, no matter what domain names are assigned to it.

The virtual domain described above will be stored in the domain table in the database:

Example 2. Database Representation of Virtual Domain

+-------+-----------------+-------+
| did   | domain          | flags |
+-------+-----------------+-------+
| iptel | iptel.org       |    33 | 
| iptel | sip.iptel.org   |    33 | 
| iptel | proxy.iptel.org |    33 | 
| iptel | 213.192.59.75   |    33 | 
+-------+-----------------+-------+

Because all domain names that belong to one particular virtual domain are equal, it does not matter which domain name is used in the host part of the SIP URI. Thus an imaginary user joe with SIP URI sip:joe@iptel.org will also be reachable as sip:joe@sip.iptel.org, sip:joe@proxy.iptel.org, and sip:joe@213.192.59.75. If we add a new domain name to this virtual domain then joe will also be able to use the new domain name in his SIP URI, without the need to change anything.

1.1.2. Domain-level Configuration Attributes

In addition to a number of domain names, each virtual domain can also have extra configuration information associated with it. The possibility to configure the SIP server sightly differently in each virtual domain is, in fact, the main reason why we introduced the concept of virtual domains. We wanted to have one SIP server which will provide SIP service to multiple different customers and each of the customers may have slightly different configuration requirements. That's how domain-level configuration attributes were born.

Because the administrator of the SIP server seldom knows configuration requirements in advance, we decided to implement a generic solution and store all configuration options in named attributes. Named attributes are just like variables, they have a name and they have a value. Attributes are accessible from the configuration script of the SIP server. Domain-level attributes are attributes that are associated with a particular virtual domain. They can be used to store additional configuration for the entire virtual domain, that is all users that belong (or have SIP URI) in that particular virtual domain. Domain-level attributes can be overridden be user-level attributes with the same name configured for a particular user. In other words a domain level attribute will only be effective if no user-level attribute with the same name exists.

Domain-level attributes are stored in a separate table. The name of the table is domain_attrs and it is defined as follows:

Example 3. Table domain_attrs

+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type             | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| did   | varchar(64)      | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       | 
| name  | varchar(32)      | NO   |     | NULL    |       | 
| type  | int(11)          | NO   |     | 0       |       | 
| value | varchar(255)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       | 
| flags | int(10) unsigned | NO   |     | 0       |       | 
+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

Each attribute has name, type and value. A single attribute can have multiple values and in that case it will occupy more rows in the table. Each attribute is associated with a particular virtual domain using the DID identifier. Domain-level attributes can contain just about anything. It is a generic configuration mechanism and it is up to you to define a list of attribute that are meaningful in your setup and use those attributes in the routing part of the configuration file.

Attributes for a particular virtual-domain are made available to script function by the lookup_domain function. This is the function that is used to map domain names to DIDs. One of the side-effects of the function is that it makes domain-level attributes available to script function if a matching virtual domain is found.

When caching is enabled, all attributes from domain_attrs table are cached in memory, just like virtual domain themselves. If you disable caching then the domain module will attempt to load attributes from the database each time you call lookup_domain. Attributes cached in memory can be realoaded with the domain.reload management function.

1.1.3. Caching

Domain module operates in caching or non-caching mode depending on value of module parameter db_mode. In caching mode domain module reads the contents of domain table into cache memory when the module is loaded. After that domain table is re-read only when module is given domain_reload fifo command. Any changes in domain table must thus be followed by domain_reload command in order to reflect them in module behavior. In non-caching mode domain module always queries domain table in the database.

Caching is implemented using a hash table. The size of the hash table is given by HASH_SIZE constant defined in domain_mod.h. Its "factory default" value is 128. Caching mode is highly recommended if you want to use domain-level attributes.

1.2. Dependencies

The module depends on the following modules (in the other words the listed modules must be loaded before this module):

  • database - Any database module

1.3. Known Limitations

There is an unlikely race condition on domain list update. If a process uses a table, which is reloaded at the same time twice through FIFO, the second reload will delete the original table still in use by the process.

1.4. Parameters

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1.4.1. db_url (string)

This is URL of the database to be used.

Default value is "mysql://serro:47serro11@localhost/ser"

Example 4. Setting db_url parameter

modparam("domain", "db_url", "mysql://ser:pass@db_host/ser")

1.4.2. db_mode (integer)

Database mode. 0 means non-caching, 1 means caching is enabled. It is highly recommended to enable caching if you want to use domain-level attributes.

Default value is 1 (non-caching).

Example 5. nonce_expire example

				modparam("domain", "db_mode", 1)   # Use caching

1.4.3. domain_table (string)

Name of table containing names of local domains that the proxy is responsible for. Local users must have in their SIP URI a host part that is equal to one of the domains stored in this table.

Default value is "domain".

Example 6. Setting domain_table parameter

modparam("domain", "domain_table", "new_name")

1.4.4. did_col (string)

This is the name of the column in domain table that contains the unique identifiers of virtual domains. Domains names found in this table are arranged into virtual domains. Each virtual domain must have a unique identifier and it can contain one or more domain names.

Default value is "did".

Example 7. Setting did_col parameter

modparam("domain", "did_col", "did")

1.4.5. domain_col (string)

Name of column containing domain names in the domain table.

Default value is "domain".

Example 8. Setting domain_col parameter

modparam("domain", "domain_col", "domain")

1.4.6. flags_col (string)

This is the name of the column in domain table which stores various flags. Each row in the table has a bunch of generic flags that can be used mark the row disabled, deleted, etc. The flags allow for more flexible administration of the data in the database and they are present in several other tables too.

Default value is "flags".

Example 9. Setting flags_col parameter

modparam("domain", "flags_col", "domain")

1.4.7. domattr_table (string)

This parameter can be used to configure the name of the table that is used to store domain-level attributes. Domain level attributes are attributes that are associated with a particular virtual domain. They are typically used to store additional domain-wide settings that should apply to all users who belong to the domain.

Default value is "domain_attrs".

Example 10. Setting domattrs_table parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_table", "domain_attrs")

1.4.8. domattr_did (string)

Use this parameter to configure the name of the column in domain_attrs table that is used to store the did of the virtual domain the attribute belongs to. Normally there is no need to configure this parameter, unless you want adapt to module to a different database schema.

Default value is "did".

Example 11. Setting domattrs_did parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_did", "did")

1.4.9. domattr_name (string)

Use this parameter to configure the name of the column in domain_attrs table that is used to store the name of the attribute. Normally there is no need to configure this parameter, unless you want adapt to module to a different database schema.

Default value is "name".

Example 12. Setting domattrs_name parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_name", "name")

1.4.10. domattr_type (string)

Use this parameter to configure the name of the column in domain_attrs table that is used to store the type of the attribute. Normally there is no need to configure this parameter, unless you want adapt to module to a different database schema.

Default value is "type".

Example 13. Setting domattrs_type parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_type", "type")

1.4.11. domattr_value (string)

Use this parameter to configure the name of the column in domain_attrs table that is used to store the value of the attribute. Normally there is no need to configure this parameter, unless you want adapt to module to a different database schema.

Default value is "value".

Example 14. Setting domattrs_value parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_value", "value")

1.4.12. domattr_flags (string)

This is the name of the column in domain_attrs table which stores various flags. Each row in the table has a bunch of generic flags that can be used mark the row disabled, deleted, etc. The flags allow for more flexible administration of the data in the database and they are present in several other tables too. You do not have to touch this parameter under normal circumstances.

Default value is "flags".

Example 15. Setting domattrs_flags parameter

modparam("domain", "domattr_flags", "flags")

1.4.13. load_domain_attrs (integer)

This parameter can be used to enable/disable user of domain-level attributes. Domain-level attributes are variables that can be used to store additional configuration that applies to the whole virtual domain and all users within the virtual domain. Domain-level attributes are stored in domain_attrs. If you set this parameter to a non-zero value then the server will make domain-level attributes available to the script every time you call function lookup_domain. If you set the parameter to 0 then domain-level attributes will be ignored, the domain module will not load them from the database and the lookup function will not make them available to the script.

Default value is 0.

Example 16. Setting load_domain_attrs parameter

modparam("domain", "load_domain_attrs", 1)

1.5. Functions

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1.5.1. is_local(domain)

This function can be used to test whether a given domain name in parameter belongs to one of the virtual domains defined in the domain table. Such domain name is said to be local. The function returns 1 if the domain name is found in the domain table and -1 otherwise.

The first parameter of the function can be anything that returns a string with domain name. In its simplest form it can be a string with domain name: is_local("iptel.org"). You can also test a domain name stored in an attribute: is_local("$my_domain"). And finally you can test a domain name present in the SIP message with selects: is_local("@ruri.host").

Note: Unlike function lookup_domain, this function does not make domain attributes of the virtual domain available to the script. Domain attributes are simply ignored by this function.

Example 17. is_uri_host_local_local usage

...
if (is_local("@ruri.host")) {
    /* Domain part of Request-URI is local */
}
...

1.5.2. lookup_domain(attr_group, domain)

This is the main function of the domain module. It can be used to implement support for virtual domains in the SIP server. Each virtual domain is identified by a unique identifier (opaque string) and it can have one or more associated domain names. Given a domain name in the second parameter, this function finds the associated virtual domain identifier (known as DID) and stores it in an attribute for later user. In addition to that the function also loads all domain-level attributes for the virtual domain and makes them available to the configuration script.

The first parameter of the function identifies the group of attributes where the DID and domain-level attributes shall be stored. The value of the first parameter can be either "$fd" for the domain-level attribute group that belongs to the calling party (From), or "$td" for the domain-level attribute group that belongs to the called party (Request-URI).

The value of the second parameter can be a simple string, an attribute name, or a select. See the documentation of function is_local for more details.

If a match is found then the DID of the virtual domain will be stored either in $fd.did or in $td.did, depending on the value of the first parameter. In addition to that domain-level attributes, if any, will be available as either $fd.<name> or $td.</name>.

The function returns 1 when a matching virtual domain for the given domain name was found and -1 otherwise.

The following example shows a typical use of the function. In a multi domain setup, one has to typically figure out where the both the calling and the called domains are local (i.e. configured on the server as the domains the server is responsible for). This is typically done by calling function lookup_domain twice, once with the hostname part of the From header as parameter and secondly with the hostname part of the Request-URI as parameter.

The type of the situation can be then determined from the value of corresponding attributes ($t.did and $f.did). A non-existing attribute value indicates that the domain name is not local (it does not belong to any virtual domain configured in the domain table).

Example 18. lookup_domain usage

lookup_domain("$fd", "@from.uri.host");
lookup_domain("$td", "@ruri.host");

if (strempty($f.did) && strempty($t.did)) {
    # Neither the calling nor the called domain is local
    # This is a relaying attempt which should be forbidden
    sl_reply("403", "Relaying Forbidden");
    drop;
}
if (strempty($f.did) && $t.did) {
    # The calling domain is not local and the called domain
    # is local, this is an inbound call from a 3rd party
    # user to one of local users
}
if ($f.did && strempty($t.did)) {
    # The calling domain is local and the called domain
    # is not local, this is an outbound call from one of
    # our users to a 3rd party user
}
if ($f.did && $t.did) {
    # Both the calling and the called domains are local,
    # one of our local users calls another local user,
    # either in the same virtual domain or in another
    # virtual domain hosted on the same server
}

1.6. FIFO Interface

Revision History
Revision $Revision$ $Date$

1.6.1. domain.reload

Causes domain module to re-read the contents of domain table into cache memory. If domain-level attributes are used then it will also re-load the contents of the domain_attrs table in the memory cache.

1.6.2. domain.dump

Causes domain module to dump hash indexes and domain names in its cache memory.

1.7. Internal API

The domain module has an internal API which can be used to access additional functions of the module (i.e. functions that are normally not available from the routing script). Currently the API exports only the function is_domain_local. That function can be used to determine whether a given domain name is on the list of locally configured domain names.

If you want to use the internal API of domain module from your module then you need to include the header file domain_api.h and call load_domain_api first.

Example 19. Calling load_domain_api

#include "../domain/domain_api.h"

domain_api_t dom_api;

if (load_domain_api(&dom_api) != 0) {
    /* error */
}

After that you can call function is_domain_local whose pointer is stored in the initialized data structure:

str tmp = STR_STATIC_INIT("mydomain.com");

if (dom_api.is_domain_local(&tmp) == 1) {
    /* Domain is local */
} else {
    /* Domain is not local or an error was encountered */
}