I'm looking for some help from any Asterisk "heavy" who might be doing something similar to what I'm trying to do... Background: I work for a research lab, testing telephony products and tools. Historically, we used Ameritec Crescendos and Fortissimos to act as load generators and call "sinks" when testing equipment. However, the equipment we are testing gets more and more complex, and the scripted scenarios the Ameritecs give have become a limiting factor for testing. Therefore, Asterisk was chosen as a possible solution (we're a cheap lab). I've been learning Asterisk as I go, but I've learned a lot. Here's the basic scenario: We are using an Asterisk (AAH 2.8, specifically) to sink calls. I do this by taking the ${EXTEN} and breaking it down by sections until I get to the last 4 digits (i.e., 2105551212). Once I get to the 4-digit extension, I am trying to set a flag, or semaphore, to do Busy/Idle testing. Here is my extensions_custom.conf fragment: [SATX_555_Extensions] exten => 1212,1,System(cat /tmp/{orig_num}) ; ${orig_num} is set at the beginning of [from-trunk-custom] to the full dialed digits in ${EXTEN}, before I break it down. exten => 1212,n,Busy(); if the file exists, someone else has already called this number, return busy exten => 1212,102,System(echo ${UNIQUEID} > /tmp/${orig_num}) ; basically, create a file in /tmp whose name is the full number from the beginning. In this case, the full ; filename would be /tmp/2105551212. I don't really care about the contents, though. exten => 1212,103, Goto(Idle,1) ; from here, we jump to a new extension called Idle, where we do a Random to decide whether to simulate no one home (ring no answer) or ; we send ring for about 10 seconds, then Answer() and play some .wav files, then hangup. The last thing we do in either case is to delete ; the /tmp/${orig_num} file. The above code works very well at low call volumes. However, I'm running into race conditions at high call volumes where several calls are getting through the test in priority 1 before the file is created in priority 102 (n+101). I've tried to implement semaphores by using both local and global variables, but it doesn't seem to work. My ultimate question: Is anyone doing something similar, and what did you do to implement the busy/idle. I appreciate any help anyone can offer. Mitch Thompson
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE> <P><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">From: <I>Mitch Thompson <mitchthompson@satx.rr.com></I><BR>>I'm looking for some help from any Asterisk "heavy" who might be <BR>>doing something similar to what I'm trying to do...<BR>><BR>>Background:<BR>><BR>>I work for a research lab, testing telephony products and tools. <BR>>Historically, we used Ameritec Crescendos and Fortissimos to act as <BR>>load generators and call "sinks" when testing equipment. However, <BR>>the equipment we are testing gets more and more complex, and the <BR>>scripted scenarios the Ameritecs give have become a limiting factor <BR>>for testing. Therefore, Asterisk was chosen as a possible solution <BR>>(we're a cheap lab).<BR></FONT></P> <P><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">Mitch,</P></FONT> <P><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">I had exposure to both Ameritec and Hammer, and see how Ameritec could be limiting. But using a PBX as a test tool doesn't sound very sound even for a cheap lab, especially for load test. Race condition is just one side of the problem. You also have to spend a lot of time programming the PBX to do what test tools are designed to do. Have you looked into Sprient? They boast the highest density per $ in PSTN land but I don't know the scripting capability.</FONT></P> <P><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">Back to your condition. You can replace cat with test in priority 1 to reduce time consumed by the first system call by half, thus theoretically speed up branching to priority 102. But the bottleneck is likely in Asterisk's branch codes. Hence even if the system call takes no time, even if you store stuff in memory, you are still going to run into race conditions.</FONT></P> <P>Yuan Liu</P> <P><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">>I've been learning Asterisk as I go, but I've learned a lot. Here's <BR>>the basic scenario:<BR>><BR>>We are using an Asterisk (AAH 2.8, specifically) to sink calls. I <BR>>do this by taking the ${EXTEN} and breaking it down by sections <BR>>until I get to the last 4 digits (i.e., 2105551212). Once I get to <BR>>the 4-digit extension, I am trying to set a flag, or semaphore, to <BR>>do Busy/Idle testing. Here is my extensions_custom.conf fragment:<BR>><BR>><BR>>[SATX_555_Extensions]<BR>><BR>>exten => 1212,1,System(cat /tmp/{orig_num}) ; ${orig_num} is set at <BR>>the beginning of [from-trunk-custom] to the full dialed digits in <BR>>${EXTEN}, before I break it down.<BR>>exten => 1212,n,Busy(); if the file exists, someone else has already <BR>>called this number, return busy<BR>><BR>>exten => 1212,102,System(echo ${UNIQUEID} > /tmp/${orig_num}) ; <BR>>basically, create a file in /tmp whose name is the full number from <BR>>the beginning. In this case, the full<BR>> <BR>> ; filename would be <BR>>/tmp/2105551212. I don't really care about the contents, though.<BR>>exten => 1212,103, Goto(Idle,1) ; from here, we jump to a new <BR>>extension called Idle, where we do a Random to decide whether to <BR>>simulate no one home (ring no answer) or<BR>> ; we send ring <BR>>for about 10 seconds, then Answer() and play some .wav files, then <BR>>hangup. The last thing we do in either case is to delete<BR>> ; the <BR>>/tmp/${orig_num} file.<BR>><BR>>The above code works very well at low call volumes. However, I'm <BR>>running into race conditions at high call volumes where several <BR>>calls are getting through the test in priority 1 before the file is <BR>>created in priority 102 (n+101).<BR>><BR>>I've tried to implement semaphores by using both local and global <BR>>variables, but it doesn't seem to work.<BR>><BR>>My ultimate question: Is anyone doing something similar, and what <BR>>did you do to implement the busy/idle.<BR>><BR>>I appreciate any help anyone can offer.<BR>><BR>>Mitch Thompson<BR></P></DIV></FONT></div></html>
Mitch Thompson wrote:> I'm looking for some help from any Asterisk "heavy" who might be doing > something similar to what I'm trying to do... > > Background: > > I work for a research lab, testing telephony products and tools. > Historically, we used Ameritec Crescendos and Fortissimos to act as load > generators and call "sinks" when testing equipment. However, the > equipment we are testing gets more and more complex, and the scripted > scenarios the Ameritecs give have become a limiting factor for testing. > Therefore, Asterisk was chosen as a possible solution (we're a cheap lab). > > I've been learning Asterisk as I go, but I've learned a lot. Here's the > basic scenario: > > We are using an Asterisk (AAH 2.8, specifically) to sink calls. I do > this by taking the ${EXTEN} and breaking it down by sections until I get > to the last 4 digits (i.e., 2105551212). Once I get to the 4-digit > extension, I am trying to set a flag, or semaphore, to do Busy/Idle > testing. Here is my extensions_custom.conf fragment: > > > [SATX_555_Extensions] > > exten => 1212,1,System(cat /tmp/{orig_num}) ; ${orig_num} is set at the > beginning of [from-trunk-custom] to the full dialed digits in ${EXTEN}, > before I break it down. > exten => 1212,n,Busy(); if the file exists, someone else has already > called this number, return busy > > exten => 1212,102,System(echo ${UNIQUEID} > /tmp/${orig_num}) ; > basically, create a file in /tmp whose name is the full number from the > beginning. In this case, the full > > ; filename would be /tmp/2105551212. I don't really care about the > contents, though. > exten => 1212,103, Goto(Idle,1) ; from here, we jump to a new extension > called Idle, where we do a Random to decide whether to simulate no one > home (ring no answer) or > ; we send ring for > about 10 seconds, then Answer() and play some .wav files, then hangup. > The last thing we do in either case is to delete > ; the > /tmp/${orig_num} file. > > The above code works very well at low call volumes. However, I'm > running into race conditions at high call volumes where several calls > are getting through the test in priority 1 before the file is created in > priority 102 (n+101). > > I've tried to implement semaphores by using both local and global > variables, but it doesn't seem to work. > > My ultimate question: Is anyone doing something similar, and what did > you do to implement the busy/idle. > > I appreciate any help anyone can offer. > > Mitch ThompsonHi, dont know if this is what you looking for but, there is something called macroexclusive, new in 1.4, written by Steve Davies. Read the file in asterisk-1.4.0/docs. HTH -- thanks, Yusuf
Mitch Thompson wrote:> [SATX_555_Extensions] > > exten => 1212,1,System(cat /tmp/{orig_num}) ; ${orig_num} is set at > the beginning of [from-trunk-custom] to the full dialed digits in > ${EXTEN}, before I break it down. > exten => 1212,n,Busy(); if the file exists, someone else has already > called this number, return busy > > exten => 1212,102,System(echo ${UNIQUEID} > /tmp/${orig_num}) ; > basically, create a file in /tmp whose name is the full number from > the beginning. In this case, the full > > ; filename would be /tmp/2105551212. I don't really care about the > contents, though. > exten => 1212,103, Goto(Idle,1) ; from here, we jump to a new > extension called Idle, where we do a Random to decide whether to > simulate no one home (ring no answer) or > ; we send ring for > about 10 seconds, then Answer() and play some .wav files, then > hangup. The last thing we do in either case is to delete > ; the > /tmp/${orig_num} file. > > The above code works very well at low call volumes. However, I'm > running into race conditions at high call volumes where several calls > are getting through the test in priority 1 before the file is created > in priority 102 (n+101). >Here's what I would do... First, no System calls. Stay within asterisk. I doubt this will get rid of all race conditions, but I imagine it would at least reduce them. exten => 1212,1,GotoIf($["${DB(/tmp/${orig_num})}" != "${UNIQUEID}"]?abort) exten => 1212,1,Set(${DB(/tmp/${orig_num})}=${UNIQUEID}) exten => 1212,n,GotoIf($["${DB(/tmp/${orig_num})}" != "${UNIQUEID}"]?abort) exten => 1212,n, Goto(Idle,1) exten => 1212,n(abort),Busy() Regards, Trevor
Mitch Thompson wrote:> I'm looking for some help from any Asterisk "heavy" who might be doing > something similar to what I'm trying to do... > > Background: > > I work for a research lab, testing telephony products and tools. > Historically, we used Ameritec Crescendos and Fortissimos to act as > load generators and call "sinks" when testing equipment. However, the > equipment we are testing gets more and more complex, and the scripted > scenarios the Ameritecs give have become a limiting factor for > testing. Therefore, Asterisk was chosen as a possible solution (we're > a cheap lab). > > I've been learning Asterisk as I go, but I've learned a lot. Here's > the basic scenario: > > We are using an Asterisk (AAH 2.8, specifically) to sink calls. I do > this by taking the ${EXTEN} and breaking it down by sections until I > get to the last 4 digits (i.e., 2105551212). Once I get to the > 4-digit extension, I am trying to set a flag, or semaphore, to do > Busy/Idle testing. Here is my extensions_custom.conf fragment: > > > [SATX_555_Extensions] > > exten => 1212,1,System(cat /tmp/{orig_num}) ; ${orig_num} is set at > the beginning of [from-trunk-custom] to the full dialed digits in > ${EXTEN}, before I break it down. > exten => 1212,n,Busy(); if the file exists, someone else has already > called this number, return busy > > exten => 1212,102,System(echo ${UNIQUEID} > /tmp/${orig_num}) ; > basically, create a file in /tmp whose name is the full number from > the beginning. In this case, the full > > ; filename would be /tmp/2105551212. I don't really care about the > contents, though. > exten => 1212,103, Goto(Idle,1) ; from here, we jump to a new > extension called Idle, where we do a Random to decide whether to > simulate no one home (ring no answer) or > ; we send ring for > about 10 seconds, then Answer() and play some .wav files, then > hangup. The last thing we do in either case is to delete > ; the > /tmp/${orig_num} file. > > The above code works very well at low call volumes. However, I'm > running into race conditions at high call volumes where several calls > are getting through the test in priority 1 before the file is created > in priority 102 (n+101). > > I've tried to implement semaphores by using both local and global > variables, but it doesn't seem to work. > > My ultimate question: Is anyone doing something similar, and what did > you do to implement the busy/idle. > > I appreciate any help anyone can offer. > > Mitch ThompsonI wanted to follow-up with the solution I came up with, thanks to excellent feedback from this group, and Trevor Peirce in particular. Our fix action was a blending of my solution (above) and Trevor's suggestion to stop using System() calls and use the DB directive. We ended up with something like this: exten => 1212,1,GotoIf(${DB_EXISTS(busy/${orig_num})}?busy:idle) exten => 1212,n(busy),Busy() exten => 1212,n(idle),Set(DB(busy/${orig_num})=${CALLERID(num)}) exten => 1212,n,Macro(disposition,$(orig_num}) ; Call a macro, pass along the original CdPN, and do something. In the disposition macro, we have this: [macro-disposition] exten => s,1,Set(orig_num=${arg1}) exten => s,n,Random(25:s-rna,1) exten => s,n,Ringing() exten => s,n,Wait(6) exten => s,n,Answer() exten => s,n,Wait(1) exten => s,n,Playback(lots-o-monkeys) exten => s,n,Hangup() exten => s-rna,1,Ringing() exten => s-rna,n,Wait() exten => s-rna,n,Hangup exten => h,1,DBDel(busy/${orig_num}) The above gives us a very simplistic "coin-toss" as to whether to answer the phone or not. With the above dialplan, we have successfully dialed one number with eight (8) T-1 PRIs worth of calls simultaneously and only have 1 answer (the remaining 183 calls were shown as Busy on the Fortissimo). This was repeatable over a 2 hour period. I'm sure we will have calls slip through, but for now we are satisfied. Trevor, thanks again. I learned about the DB application that day.