Topic 'Re: CC Disaster' in forum 'VOIP Tech Chat' - dslreports.com

Re: [CallCentric] Registers on another ISP line, not mine?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:37:28 EDT

DBOD posted : If his IP was blocked during the DDOS attack maybe he is unwittingly part of the DDOS and we should not encourage him to boot up! Now that would be ironic or karma or both LOL.

Re: [CallCentric] Registers on another ISP line, not mine?

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:56:23 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by VVSneakEh:

Hey OP, i wonder if your public ip was blocked, during the attack? Is there a way to change the ip, or is it a static type of deal...

It's a long shot, yeah, but what is there to lose, at this point ? :huh:

(That was crawling around in the back of MY mind too, but then I fergut.)

Re: [CallCentric] Registers on another ISP line, not mine?

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:14:02 EDT

VVSneakEh posted : Hey OP, i wonder if your public ip was blocked, during the attack? Is there a way to change the ip, or is it a static type of deal...

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:15:16 EDT

OmagicQ posted :

said by Iscream:

... The farm may have servers co-located within same room or groups of servers spread geographically (provided all distributed servers have equal resources Internet-wise - same sufficient bandwidth, same speed and same access to originating and terminating carriers which is not the easiest and rather literally and largely impossible part for most today's providers - this is why I'm so against geo-redundancy, but I'll stop on that again later).

Really...How very interesting....
--
...Who, What, When, Where, How... Why? Why Not?

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:52:19 EDT

DBOD posted : One more crazy idea. The account is already registered by someone who has your credentials. Log on to the website to see if you are registered before you turn on the ATA.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:42:35 EDT

nonymous posted :

said by IPfaxer:

literally brought my computer and my ATAs over to my neighbors (offices - not residences) - all with their own ISP accounts

Maybe your modem has a setting changed? Maybe something to do with all the changes CC made for the DDOS attack did something?

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:20:16 EDT

Iscream posted : Free NY DIDs are operational as of now.

I'm saying "as of now" because there are still construction and repair works all around NYC therefore due to some construction worker mistake (throwing a shovel into a wire-hub :-)) or another flooding (still possible) or anything like that - the telephone service based on copper wires may go down again.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:16:30 EDT

Iscream posted : I've PM'ed to you - please try to check again. I think - it works now.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:30:34 EDT

IPfaxer posted : literally brought my computer and my ATAs over to my neighbors (offices - not residences) - all with their own ISP accounts

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:21:03 EDT

Iscream posted : I'd say - it reminds a game/screen-saver/trojan-virus where an entire screen surface quickly populates with cockroaches getting from anywhere where you're required to knock them down by either mouse or fingernail, but they keep coming in, more and more... until you use something like DDT or just remove the software that irritates your mind :-))

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:18:17 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by Iscream:

....No need to use any specific DN servers anymore - anything goes - any DNS settings, any "A" or "SRV" settings, any devices may go back to older setting or keep whatever worked in past or works now.

I may only still recommend to use SRV settings or at least try to configure them because of above, earlier listed reasons related to specific "features" which may be used (and already used by our implementation) by providers for great increase in reliability, resiliency thus catering to better security and [what else?] - geographical and local redundancy.

Plus Fort (Louder) - Bold Text....

Yes, the shorter DNS records seem like a better way - at least for now. :)

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:16:43 EDT

DBOD posted : Ok, this one is a head scratcher. Let me throw a wild thought out. Assuming when you move the hardware over you are also taking your ATA and laptop power supplies? Or are you on your laptop battery in one situation and not the other? And the last thought is are you plugging into a UPS at your office. Could it have been damaged/degraded in the power outage? Try plugging your ATA and laptop into the same power outputs like you probably do at the neighbors. Goodluck.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:15:55 EDT

Iscream posted : That's right - during last couple days we have done some major and dramatic changes to our network's perimeter, processing power and "garbage" utilization while allowing our SBCs' CPU power to do the job they were designed to do).

All those measures together allowed us to reduce number of SRV records per returned result thus going back into "unbuggy" (if I can say it this way - like "undead" :-)) area of all those UAs which stopped performing when caused to use TCP for larger buffers which in turn caused many devices to reboot.

No need to use any specific DN servers anymore - anything goes - any DNS settings, any "A" or "SRV" settings, any devices may go back to older setting or keep whatever worked in past or works now.

I may only still recommend to use SRV settings or at least try to configure them because of above, earlier listed reasons related to specific "features" which may be used (and already used by our implementation) by providers for great increase in reliability, resiliency thus catering to better security and [what else?] - geographical and local redundancy.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:12:38 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by Iscream:

....The result is an ability to protect from DoS and DDOS attacks by creating a huge capacity of fast moving targets, changing their parameters quickly in "invisibly" for attackers by replacing actual serving, but currently [over]loaded computers, in real time, within milliseconds, with fresh and not loaded ones while allowing the former keep processing earlier started requests and dialogs....

I see.

This reminds me of that old arcade game at county fairs where you shoot at the ducks and knock them down.

However, there always seem to be more ducks to replace them - maybe even the SAME ducks - but we cannot see what happens below the deck, and it really does not matter, as long as more ducks come into the sight of the rifle. :)

EDIT : Please note that in this example, WE play the part of the attackers, and no matter how many ducks we knock down, there always seem to be more.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:06:57 EDT

Iscream posted : Dave - "A" records don't have "weights", they have only IP addresses; that's a whole "problem" with them. On another hand - "SRV" records don't have IP addresses, but they resolve to different names (where each name may have multiple IP addresses), different priorities and different weights. This [SRV] mechanism allows for redundancy (including so beloved here - geo-redundancy) on multiple levels, it allows a granular prioritization of serving components (servers) including further prioritization within a group of equal servers - this is controlled by weights.

The result is an ability to protect from DoS and DDOS attacks by creating a huge capacity of fast moving targets changing their parameters quickly in "invisibly" for attackers by replacing actual serving, but currently [over]loaded computers, in real time, within milliseconds, with fresh and not loaded ones while allowing the former keep processing earlier started requests and dialogs.

Also the result is an ability to have a self-healing farm of servers where any server may go south (die) at any moment without affecting any devices working with that farm. The farm may have servers co-located within same room or groups of servers spread geographically (provided all distributed servers have equal resources Internet-wise - same sufficient bandwidth, same speed and same access to originating and terminating carriers which is not the easiest and rather literally and largely impossible part for most today's providers - this is why I'm so against geo-redundancy, but I'll stop on that again later).

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:04:39 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by gweidenh:

Callcentric have (wisely) changed their DNS reply to be 425 bytes thus it will fit within a single UDP packet response.

Using specific DNS servers should no longer be required (at least with their current SRV records)

This needed emphasis and repeating, IMNSHO. :)

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:03:59 EDT

DBOD posted : Are you saying you take your computer to your neighbors and it works? Or your neighbor has the same softphone software and you can register your account there? Or you neighbor has the same softphone and they can register with their CC account?

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:00:35 EDT

DBOD posted : Have you sent the contents of those four packets to CC. You know you have an authentication failure. The first two SIP transactions look standard. The problem probably probably lies in third packet. You need to examine it to see what was being sent back to CC to cause it to fail. It would also be interesting to examine the packets when it is successful at your neighbors.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:46:14 EDT

garys_2k posted :

said by DBOD:

This happened sometime in the last 10 hours. Both the callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com are returning shortened records. They probably did this because too many user agents were not processing it correctly. It appears that they also added non zero weights to the srv.callcentric.com answers. This does not work with my 3CX system so I use the callcentric.com port 0 and it seems to be working okay this morning.

Thanks, I'll re-try my ATA registration with them to see if I stell get automatic reboots. I'd REALLY like to stick with the SRV SBCs in order to be more insulated from the DDoS issue.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:44:50 EDT

IPfaxer posted : one last thing
router in question has always been

SecureComputing SG300

they started as Snapgear and then were ultimately purchased by McAfee and absorbed into their security device product line

No changes made on the router in 2+ years and has very basic settings anyways. Nothing special turned on. Nothing being blocked. As I said, a test registration to voip.ms was no problem. Just not to Callcentric which is what I need!

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:36:04 EDT

IPfaxer posted : I ran a packet sniffer on my computer and tried to use my soft phone on my own computer. Saw registration attempt. I'll attach it as an image here I guess.

The 192. address is the computer with softphone.

Now, please note this is not using DNS SRV. But, on my neighbors' ISP connections it DOES register and work normally. My ATAs are set for DNS SRV and they only are working when I bring them to my neighbors' ISP connections.

registration···tric.pdf
softphone registration failure

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:31:15 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Forgot to mention, I also did the same thing with a neighboring office that has Time Warner Business Class internet. My stuff registered fine, worked well.

Went back to my office, no go. No registrations!

I have no idea what is causing this. Same router as always. No new settings, nothing. Power cycled everything just in case. My IP never changed in 2 years. No problems until end of last week. Vexxing...

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:31:14 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by IPfaxer:

Sort of...

I literally took my ATAs to their line (office next to my office)....

Thanks, OK, and was slick and easy to do.

Will think about it and post back.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:28:26 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Sort of...

I literally took my ATAs to their line (office next to my office) and took my laptop with my softphone to their office too. No problems. Registration, whole 9 yards. We both have separate Verizon FIOS lines. Speed of both is 25 up and 25 down symmetric so bandwidth no issue.

Walked back to my office...no go. No registration. Tried a free voip.ms account, worked fine. Callcentric...no go. Registration fails. Nothing changed on my network at all. Everything was great until their storm outage and since then, no registration (at first, some up and down registrations, and then none).

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:26:11 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by gweidenh:

I do not know exactly when. I checked this morning based on Iscream's response about changing their DNS SRV weighting.

I am talking specifically about the srv.callcentric.com records.

Yes, I too noticed that change at that same period, and was meaning to ask wassup - now has less servers in the response for srv.callcentric.com - though I had not suffered registration problems yesTURDay.

Also, all of the weights on that are set to 30 now.

At that time, the 'A' record (callcentric.com) reply was still longer and all weights still at ZERO.

EDIT : Actually, it was shorter than it USED to be, but longer than the reply for SRV.

SRV now shows 9 servers, and 'A' shows a total of 11 today.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:21:19 EDT

Davesnothere posted :

said by IPfaxer:

Anyone else having a problem registering with Callcentric since the storm (even if you are somewhere not affected by the storm)? I just can't get anything to register on my ISP line but I borrowed someone else's ISP line and was able to get successful registration. Both are....

Please clarify something.

When you said "I borrowed someone else's ISP line", do you mean that you took your ATA to THEIR home and added it to their router, etc., or did you just borrow their login credentials and use them at YOUR place with all of your hardware ?

Both are possible on DSL, so would be important to know which you did, if FIOS behaves like DSL.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:19:38 EDT

DBOD posted : This happened sometime in the last 10 hours. Both the callcentric.com and srv.callcentric.com are returning shortened records. They probably did this because too many user agents were not processing it correctly. It appears that they also added non zero weights to the srv.callcentric.com answers. This does not work with my 3CX system so I use the callcentric.com port 0 and it seems to be working okay this morning.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:16:57 EDT

Arne Bolen posted :

said by gweidenh:

I am talking specifically about the srv.callcentric.com records.

It's the same with the callcentric.com records. :)
--
My VoIP News

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:15:26 EDT

gweidenh posted : I do not know exactly when. I checked this morning based on Iscream's response about changing their DNS SRV weighting.

I am talking specifically about the srv.callcentric.com records.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:13:27 EDT

garys_2k posted :

said by gweidenh:

When did they do this? I ask because possibly the longer records were the shource of my PAP2's reboot issue.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:07:56 EDT

gweidenh posted : Callcentric have (wisely) changed their DNS reply to be 425 bytes thus it will fit within a single UDP packet response.

Using specific DNS servers should no longer be required (at least with their current SRV records)

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:55:24 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Yes tried using those DNS settings directly. No change. No registration. My ATAs and soft phone gets to Callcentric but then response is authentication failed. So, yes, tried those DNS servers and also my typical ones which are Google and Verizon's DNS. No change. For example, tracerouting using Google DNS for Callcentric brings up IP address 204.11.192.39 (and says they have multiple addresses - which is normal). Really puzzling

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:47:56 EDT

Arne Bolen posted :

said by IPfaxer:

Yes, my status on their portal is not registered and my ATAs and softphone confirm unregistered. Switch to someone else's internet connection and they work. Really puzzling. Nothing changed on my network or internet connection.

Maybe it could help changing the DNS to 216.254.95.2 and 216.231.41.2.
--
My VoIP News

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:41:23 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Yes, my status on their portal is not registered and my ATAs and softphone confirm unregistered. Switch to someone else's internet connection and they work. Really puzzling. Nothing changed on my network or internet connection.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:39:21 EDT

Arne Bolen posted :

said by IPfaxer:

I'm jealous. I can't get anything to register with CallCentric since their storm outage. Don't know what to do. No changes on my end

I just checked and my status on Callcentric portal is registered. My PBXes also confirms I'm registered.

I also made another test call to TellMe 17771234567. No problems at all, very good audio quality and TellMe understood my commands. :)
--
My VoIP News

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:39:15 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Yes, successful registration (A or DNS SRV method) on someone else's internet connection - with my same software on a computer and with my own ATAs. But on my internet connection, no registrations. Registration fails for ATAs and softphones too. Really vexxing. All since the storm outage suffered by Callcentric. Nothing changed on my internet connection and not in any area affected by that storm, etc. And I tried to register to a VOIP.MS account and it worked immediately. But I have never used VOIP.MS and not really interested in switching to them. I would just like to keep using Callcentric. This is a real puzzle to me and maybe something is different on CC's end since the storm. After the storm, registrations were up and down but then just off since the end of last week. So basically a week post-storm with no registration to Callcentic. I really want to stay with them but this is becoming prolonged!!

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:32:41 EDT

nonymous posted :

said by IPfaxer:

I'm jealous. I can't get anything to register with CallCentric since their storm outage. Don't know what to do. No changes on my end

You said you could get successful registration on someone elses line? Did you try a call when registered on the other ISP line? Does a softphone work?

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:30:07 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Wanted to add that I tried using both A and DNS SRV methods. Neither worked. No registration. Can't figure out what changed (nothing on my end that I know of) and can't get registration again. Truly an enigma and I can't go too much longer like this although I have really enjoyed Callcentric service for a long time.

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:17:43 EDT

IPfaxer posted : I'm jealous. I can't get anything to register with CallCentric since their storm outage. Don't know what to do. No changes on my end

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:14:21 EDT

Arne Bolen posted :

said by IPfaxer:

Can anyone hear me now? Answer is no!

I just called TellMe (17771234567) and it worked excellent. Audio quality very good and TellMe could hear and understand me without any problems.
--
My VoIP News

Re: CC Disaster

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:47:33 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Can anyone hear me now? Answer is no!

[CallCentric] Registers on another ISP line, not mine?

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:46:43 EDT

IPfaxer posted : Anyone else having a problem registering with Callcentric since the storm (even if you are somewhere not affected by the storm)? I just can't get anything to register on my ISP line but I borrowed someone else's ISP line and was able to get successful registration. Both are Verizon FIOS and used same router and all same equipment and all same settings otherwise. Just no registration at all. I believe last week, Wed and Thur, registration started going up and down and then just...off. Anyone? Bueller?