If you are a MeshPhone administrator, it is important to completely read the following. I know it is long but understanding all the background information will explain the the current state and the future of the MeshPhone network.
Over the past several months MeshPhone has grown significantly and the network has been becoming more distributed with trunks being built between MeshPhone nodes. This makes the network more complicated and adds a lot of complexity to building and maintaining dialplans. A single dialplan does not work and can not scale as necessary to support the network.
A few months ago I started a project to fix a number of issues that I was experiencing with the meshphone.conf file. There were two main issues I found with the existing meshphone.conf file. First was that one needed to routinely download the latest version of the meshphone.conf to receive the latest updates on the network. This typically would be new PBXes that have joined the network.
The second issue and much more significant is that the meshphone.conf file would need to be modified to create the correct dialplan for each MeshPhone installation. This introduces the possibility of errors being inserted into the meshphone.conf file and rendering an invalid dialplan on the PBX. This is easy to do and I have done it myself several times. In addition, there is many more changes that need to be made if one has more than a single trunk which compounds the number of errors that could be introduced.
The only real solution was to automatically generate the meshphone.conf file to remove the human element and keep the file up to date for the current state of the network. The meshphone-generators project was the result and it is located at https://gitlab.com/aredn-apps/meshphone-generators. I have been using it for a couple of months and have been suggesting to others to maintain their meshphone.conf files with it. It also will generate the callsign.conf file for you and the Polycom dialing directory using the WhitePages database.
In developing the meshphone-generators project I discovered that the existing MeshPhone database had a number of errors and inconsistencies in it. This is not surprising knowing that the MeshPhone database organically grew over time. The other issue that popped up is that the existing database is maintained by one person, Mark (N2MH), and there are increasing time constraints that make database updates sometimes slow or, unfortunately, have gotten lost.
I have been working with N2MH to address the errors that have been discovered in the existing database. Through our discussions it was realized that maintaining the database was more than he was able to handle given the time constraints and other focuses in his life.
So starting today we have a new MeshPhone database that has been reworked and updated with as much information as could be gathered. I have tried to make each record as accurate as possible, but I know that there are still some incorrect data (thank you to all the administrators that published their information in the MeshPhone WhitePages and/or their PBX information in AREDN). This is one of the tasks for PBX administrators. Please go to http://wt0f-meshphone.local.mesh/ and search for your PBX record to validate that the information is correct and accurate. The ability for you to update the information is not available today so you will need to reach out to me to get any information corrected. Everything in the record needs to be checked; contact information, location, office codes, dialplan pattern and what trunks you have to other office codes.
Going forward and looking at the future of the MeshPhone network, this is all necessary to build a complete map of the network so that calls can be routed efficiently. Eventually incomplete records and records of PBXes that have not been responsive for an extended period of time will be dropped to keep the database in a healthy and consistent state.
There are two other changes that is coming to the MeshPhone network. One is continuing to establish regional switching exchanges. N2MH has done some initial work in Oregon and Tennessee. Instead of each PBX having a trunk out of the area to New Jersey, there is a single trunk servicing the area and the PBXes then build trunks among themselves in that service area. This reduces the single point of failure of the PBX in New Jersey and enables more autonomy in the service region. Going forward there will be more switching exchanges established and trunks built between the switching exchanges.
The second change is to encourage each PBX administrator to automate the dialplan maintenance with the generation scripts. This will keep the local PBX updated with the latest changes on the network as they are published in the database and reduce the administrative burden to nearly zero. This will yield better call routing and increase call quality.
So in summary,
Questions, comments or updates can be sent to me at MeshPhone 386-8611, hickey@kinetic-compute.com or by replying to this posting where ever you found it.
73
Over the past several months MeshPhone has grown significantly and the network has been becoming more distributed with trunks being built between MeshPhone nodes. This makes the network more complicated and adds a lot of complexity to building and maintaining dialplans. A single dialplan does not work and can not scale as necessary to support the network.
A few months ago I started a project to fix a number of issues that I was experiencing with the meshphone.conf file. There were two main issues I found with the existing meshphone.conf file. First was that one needed to routinely download the latest version of the meshphone.conf to receive the latest updates on the network. This typically would be new PBXes that have joined the network.
The second issue and much more significant is that the meshphone.conf file would need to be modified to create the correct dialplan for each MeshPhone installation. This introduces the possibility of errors being inserted into the meshphone.conf file and rendering an invalid dialplan on the PBX. This is easy to do and I have done it myself several times. In addition, there is many more changes that need to be made if one has more than a single trunk which compounds the number of errors that could be introduced.
The only real solution was to automatically generate the meshphone.conf file to remove the human element and keep the file up to date for the current state of the network. The meshphone-generators project was the result and it is located at https://gitlab.com/aredn-apps/meshphone-generators. I have been using it for a couple of months and have been suggesting to others to maintain their meshphone.conf files with it. It also will generate the callsign.conf file for you and the Polycom dialing directory using the WhitePages database.
In developing the meshphone-generators project I discovered that the existing MeshPhone database had a number of errors and inconsistencies in it. This is not surprising knowing that the MeshPhone database organically grew over time. The other issue that popped up is that the existing database is maintained by one person, Mark (N2MH), and there are increasing time constraints that make database updates sometimes slow or, unfortunately, have gotten lost.
I have been working with N2MH to address the errors that have been discovered in the existing database. Through our discussions it was realized that maintaining the database was more than he was able to handle given the time constraints and other focuses in his life.
So starting today we have a new MeshPhone database that has been reworked and updated with as much information as could be gathered. I have tried to make each record as accurate as possible, but I know that there are still some incorrect data (thank you to all the administrators that published their information in the MeshPhone WhitePages and/or their PBX information in AREDN). This is one of the tasks for PBX administrators. Please go to http://wt0f-meshphone.local.mesh/ and search for your PBX record to validate that the information is correct and accurate. The ability for you to update the information is not available today so you will need to reach out to me to get any information corrected. Everything in the record needs to be checked; contact information, location, office codes, dialplan pattern and what trunks you have to other office codes.
Going forward and looking at the future of the MeshPhone network, this is all necessary to build a complete map of the network so that calls can be routed efficiently. Eventually incomplete records and records of PBXes that have not been responsive for an extended period of time will be dropped to keep the database in a healthy and consistent state.
There are two other changes that is coming to the MeshPhone network. One is continuing to establish regional switching exchanges. N2MH has done some initial work in Oregon and Tennessee. Instead of each PBX having a trunk out of the area to New Jersey, there is a single trunk servicing the area and the PBXes then build trunks among themselves in that service area. This reduces the single point of failure of the PBX in New Jersey and enables more autonomy in the service region. Going forward there will be more switching exchanges established and trunks built between the switching exchanges.
The second change is to encourage each PBX administrator to automate the dialplan maintenance with the generation scripts. This will keep the local PBX updated with the latest changes on the network as they are published in the database and reduce the administrative burden to nearly zero. This will yield better call routing and increase call quality.
So in summary,
- Take a few moments to review your PBX record at http://wt0f-meshphone.local.mesh/. Forward any updates you have to me for the time being.
- If you think you would qualify as a switching exchange, please reach out and lets have the discussion.
- Consider starting to implement the dialplan generation scripts (i.e. https://gitlab.com/aredn-apps/meshphone-generators/). A new version will be generated for the new database, but the change over will be very easy and take less than 5 mins
Questions, comments or updates can be sent to me at MeshPhone 386-8611, hickey@kinetic-compute.com or by replying to this posting where ever you found it.
73