Well it's about time!!! ;)
Seriously though, thanks for all the hard work you've all put in on this
release. I'm looking forward to getting the chance to install and play with
it, and (most importantly for me) documenting as much as I can about how to
migrate from a production 0.9.X solution to the new code -- something I
imagine is going to be tricky as much of our actual web/management code will
need to be rewritten.
I can't express really how much SER and the Iptel team have changed my life
for the better. Thanks again for everything.
N.
On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:02:24 +0100, Jiri Kuthan wrote
Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys,
the new testing pre-release of the best SIP proxy server ever, SER,
is out!
This major pre-release, codenamed Ottendorf, includes fundamental
improvements to the software. The improvements allow SER users to
achieve significantly higher managability and reliability by better
data mode, interop features, security, etc. They recollect
voluminous feedback we have received from iptel customers and open
source users. In particular, the new features include but are not
limited to: - improved data model which eliminates any possible ambiguities.
- key under-the-hood changes with impact on performance: timer subsystem
overhaul (now fast, with fine resolution, high accuracy and
variability), TCP processing overhaul (higher scalability) - key
reliability changes: DNS cache and IP blacklisting - key interop
changes: support for STUN-bis, presence server aligned to latest
IETF development, sanity module for early detection of invalid messages
- more management: management features are now available via XML-RPC
remotely, as well as via an alternative binary protocol - more
security: ratelimit module, more check types in permissions module -
scripting features: select operator in combination with revised AVPs,
named flags and routes, more types of routes (onsend, timer,
branch) - applications: presence has been greatly updated to keep
pace with development in the IETF/SIMPLE (includes asynchronous subscription
authorization, extended PIDF); web interface includes many new managibility
features (multidomain, templates and multilanguage to name some). New
scripting flexibility allows safely for features like individual ringing
timers and direct access to SIP message elements.
- new tools: Nils's script execution tree tool
http://lists.iptel.org/pipermail/serdev/2006-October/008124.html
and refurbished ser_ctl
see the following links for some additional details:
-
http://www.iptel.org/ser/doc/010whatsnew
-
http://cvs.berlios.de/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ser/sip_router/NEWS?rev=HEAD
Accompanying software, SEMS and SERWEB have been greatly overhauled
as well. SEMS now features improved performance (single-threaded
model now), service composition via python-IVR-scripting and B2BUA,
adaptive playout buffer for better voice quality, and more. SERWEB
features new multilevel administrative access system, multidomain
support, per-domain customization, remote xml-rpc access,
multilanguage support, and more. The new command-line utility,
SER_CTL, provides also many great improvements over the previous tool.
Interop
-------
Shortly, we have been keeping the bar high through our participation
in the IETF and SIPITs. SER implements latest interop changes from
the IETF (STUN-bis, presence + XCAP, to name the most important ones)
and both new features and legacy features were extensively and
successfully tested middle of October in SIPit.
Next Steps
-----------
Keep in mind, this is a pre-release for testing purposes. It is now
call on users to test the software hard and provide feedback. In the
meantime, the codebase remains frozen and we only commit patches
fixing various bugs. Once we get good confidence that Ottendorf has
stabilized and is being adequately documented, we will declare the
final release. No date has been determined yet. Also, we consider
changing CVS to SVN.
Again, and this is very important: the final release will be as good
as the feedback we obtain for this pre-release. Please do spend your
time sending solid feedback back to [serusers].
Roadmap
-------
We keep rolling. We are still debating with our generous
contributors what is the next possible good things to work on, the
topics include but are not limited to as of now: - documentation. -
databases are important. LDAP and BDB, DB-API revision. - interop:
identity, TLS revision - advanced scripting (scripting engine, vars
returns, AVPs) - uncountable improvements (futex, dev/rtc,
tm/refcnts, tcp fd cache, .....)
Trivia
--------
The release name Ottendorf is coming from a place in Saxonian
Switzerland, where many iptel fellows and their friends spent a
weekend during this Indian summer.
http://www.iptel.org/jan/gallery/saxonian_switzerland_2006/
http://www.iptel.org/~andi/2006-09-22-Ottendorf/
http://www.iptel.org/~vlada/saxon_switzerland/index.html
http://www.ohlmeier.de/albums/ottendorf_2006/index.html
Acknowledgments
---------------
This grand achievement is result of extremely many folks who did lot
of hard work. Out of folks affiliated with iptel, Andrei and Jan
spent immense effort on moving SER forward, with great support from Hallik
(command-line tool), Michal, Miklos, Nils, Tomas, Vaclav (presence),
Vlada (new STUN). In this context, I would like to thank to our
company for the great support. Recently, Bogdan Pintea greatly
helped to make the upcoming release better and more stable under
sponsorship of his company, iptego. transnexus provided osp support.
SEMS has been greatly improved thanks to Stefan and Raphael.
Credits for serweb go to Karel.
Same importantly, SER has been immensely benefitting of contributors,
to name in alphabetic order at least the 'top-of-the-iceberg'
fellows: Bogdan Pintea, Cesc Santa, Greg Fausak, Greger Teigre,
Hendrik Scholz, <http://tutpro.com/>Juha Heinänen, Klaus Darilion,
Maxim Sobolev, Peter Nixon, Uli Abend.
Great support on the mailing list has been provided by Greger V.
Teigre, Java Rockx, Klaus Darilion, Zeus Ng, and more.
Simply, this list is too short and incomplete to capture all the
generous contributions that came in -- my appologies for everyone
else I have missed.
Warnings and Disclaimers
------------------------
This is a TESTING version. We are encouraging people to give it intense
testing and provide us with feedback, so that we can properly assess
what it takes to declare it final. The volume and number of changes
is big, caution is advised.
All GPL warnings and disclaimers apply.
This is SER, which is not the derivate software known as openser. We
have no ideas of in what extent and timeline derivate projects follow
(or not) SER.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Give it a Try
-----------------
warning: this is just a 'jump-start' for black-belt users. It is not
a replacement for documentation or a detailed step-by-step installation
guide. It assumes knowledge of operating system, SIP, and SER.
PREPARATION
- make sure mysql is running. In the default configuration, SER
assumes it to be running on localhost, if this does not hold, you
need to change ser.cfg. - make sure python is installed (needed for
new command-line utilities) SER INSTALLATION FROM CVS - Download
from CVS/HEAD using instructions at
http://www.iptel.org/downloads -
Compile it: make include_modules="mysql xmlrpc" all - Install it
the default way of your administrative privileges allow to: make
include_modules="mysql xmlrpc" install - Download command-line tool
(see more documentation under
http://cvs.berlios.de/cgi-
bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/ser/serctl/README?rev=HEAD) - cvs co serctl
- Initiate database:
./scripts/mysql/ser_mysql.sh create
START
- Start it. Call: ser
- Begin provisioning users with the new serctl (the capital word are
just place holders) # ser_ctl domain add DOMAINNAME # ser_ctl
user add USERNAME@DOMAINNAME -p PASSWORD # If you want to have
Asserted Identity header for your user # - ser_attr add uid=UID
asserted_id="PID"
# If you want to have gateway support
# - ser_db add attr_types name=gw_ip rich_type=string raw_type=2 \
description="The gateway IP for the default ser.cfg" default_flags=33
# - ser_attr add global gw_ip=GATEWAY-IP
- more things you may wish to do:
- familiarize yourself with current ser.cfg
- send us feedback.
--
Jiri Kuthan
http://iptel.org/~jiri/
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