H.323 Trunking Broken in 4.0

[JohnsonOps]

We have H.323 Trunking setup to an Asterisk endpoint providing VoIP into our IP Office 406v2 and it is working fine. After upgrading to 4.0 (5) the following problems started to occur:

[ul]
[li]When a call comes in over an analog line and is forwarded out via forwarding on the extension to the VoIP line, the call doesn't go thru and in the traces a [blue]Cause Code = 21[/blue] is shown. This same issue occurs if the call comes in over the H.323 VoIP Line as well.[/li]

[li]If a call from an extension to an extension with call forwarding on to a number that goes over the VoIP line rings the remote number but when picked up it drops the call with [blue]Cause Code = 16[/blue] (this is normal call clearing code)[/li]
[/ul]

We were able to make a receive calls over the H.323 trunk with an IP phone or DS phone, just when transfering are the problems coming up.

Has anyone out there using H.323 Trunking setup and tested their trunks under 4.0 yet?

I would like to use SIP trunking but it sounds like it could consume significant resources, if it needs a VCM for each SIP connection and then another to the IP phone. Would be good if the SIP call could go direct to the SIP phone or H.323 phone.

 

[IThack]

Correct. H323 trunks have been crippled in 4.0

What version were you using previously, as I can't get dialling to work on 3.1.65 or 3.2. And now H323 is completely broken with 4.0

There's mention in the helpfile (firewall), that H323 isn't an option you can configure.

I can ping the IPO, but I can't connect via H323. The question is, did Avaya deliberately do this, or is it yet another horrible bug.

BTW, H323 isn't fantastic at any time. It works...but it can't cope with ANY latency. And even then, you have to reboot it once a day on average.

If anyone is thinking about buying IPO, then DON'T. Unless you're using PRI, which seems to be the ONLY trunks they test code with.

I'd like to try SIP too, but again they extort license fees for that. There's nothing IP about IPO.

 

[JohnsonOps]

I would have to agree with your assessment that the H.323 trunks are crippled, I downgraded to 3.2(55) to test and see if I was nuts or if they didn't work under 3.2 and I didn't test. They work fine under 3.2(55) and the version prior to that.

As for reliability, I haven't had much experience with the H.323 trunk yet but so far they seem pretty good. Now I do notice a bit more jitter and lost packet noise with the connection but I have them set for G711 Mu so it is pushing a lot of data over the link vs a more compressed codec.

I can't believe that Avaya is charging for SIP licenses for the Trunk, plus that fact that they wind up using the VCM channels as well. Figure out the total cost to support SIP for a small office and it is pretty expensive. Now maybe if they support SIP on the 4600 phones it could route directly to the phone with SIP instead of consuming 2 VCM channels for 1 call.

I talked with our Reseller and wanted to get pricing on the SIP Trunks and he said that they didn't have a license for the 406 v2 only the IP 500. He is continuing to look into it but everything I have read or heard is that SIP trunks will be supported.

 

[Telecomboy]

SIP Trunking is available on the 406V2 as long as you upgrade the unit to a Release 4.

 

[JohnsonOps]

So has anyone heard anything else about support for H.323 in 4.0?

Is it just buggy in the release so far or is this Avaya's official position on the functionality of H.323 trunks. Just recently testing the H.323 trunk with the IP Office directly connected to the Internet with Public IP addresses and 4.0 loaded. I was unable to get a stable VoIP connection for straight incoming and outgoing calls. Switched back to 3.2 behind firewall and everything is good as it was before.

Very disappointing that these issues are there. [Blue]Apparently Avaya doesn't regression test their software...[/Blue]

 

[assist24]

Hello,

I've just upgraded (SOE) from 3.2.55 to 4.0.5 and having problems with IP Trunks. We've got an IP Trunk set up with Avaya Communication Manager, and it all worked a treat prior to upgrading to 4.0.5. Now calls are only successful if calling from IPO to ACM, but not the other way around.

When calling from ACM to IPO, call is set up, but on call answer at IPO extension, call drops. Settings have not been altered during upgrade (compared pre-upgrade config file with post-config file), so not sure what's going on. Tried playing around with settings at both ends, but getting nowhere.

 

[JohnsonOps]

So I finally had time to take my 406 offline and see if I could get the 4.0 release to work. Here is what I found out.

The first thing I did was to default my config and start with a basic system, this worked fine with my H.323 line setup and my 4621 and needed routes in the system. So I figured maybe something. was up with the internet the last time I tested, which brings me to step # 2. Reload my 4.0 config I backed up. This resulted in a broken system again. Calls not forwarding, not coming in or out, etc.

So step # 30: after a lot of trial and error... loaded old config that was saved to disk with routes and IP lines removed over defaulted system. Then added back in the IP lines and routes. So far tested ok, I'll do further testing tomorrow and see how it goes.

[blue]So looks like IP trunking is ok just something with upgrade of 3.2 to 4.0 config was screwy.[/blue] I'll post more if further problems.

 

[Drew2400]

I would tend to agree. I had pretty much the same issues. Just not in that order. I pulled the line configs (for a reason I can't remember).

I then upgrade to 4.0 and rebuilt the H.323 IP Trunk between my 406 v4 and a friends 403 v3. Keep in mind, I did NOT enable SCN. His IPO is in a business and mine is in my home. I don't think it would be very professional looking to have titles like Kitchen come up on his display when he's trying to demonstrate the system to a client.

I can dial extensions on his switch and he can dial them in mine without issue (I have a shortcode called 123 which tells the time).

However, here's the rub, he called me on a SIP trunk and I tried conferencing him in over H.323 to his switch and it broke pretty drastically. After reboot things seemed to straighten out. I think it was just a registration issue, however, I'm still checking.