How do you read ... ??

Bismillah,

Me: "Nis, how do you read ... ??"
Arnis: "I'm reading you loud and clear, this works!"

That is part of our conversation using VoIP softphone at my testbed. Well, yesterday me and Arnis Lesmana, ST went to the Masjid Darul Ulum located not far from our house to discuss the RW-Net we have already planned before, long before but the deployment has just started .... alas! But it's better late than never, right?

Okay, RW-Net is not exactly a new concept ... Actually the idea is how to cover an RW so that the designated RW could obtain internet access. Furthermore, the RW community could also share files, communicate via intranet portal, make multimedia calls, and possibly advertise their goods or just about anything.

The research question is --when I took my master degree, my thesis advisors; Mr. Yusep Rosmansyah, Ph.D and Mr. Dr.Ir. Armein ZR Langi inquiried my work ... you have stepped so far for your thesis so what is the main purpose of your work, if your work is already done by certain parties so what's the point, what if your assessment is far from expectation?-- how to provide a simple yet effective community based network around our RW. Of course, this is partially a research because we bring engineering for social purposes. Obviously research is inevitable because proper planning, optimum performance scaling, and most of all added values for the community must be mapped into a blueprint. As an addition, we must apply what we have studied so far; a mutual combination of social aims and engineering.

For the first step, I established VoIP service with a testbed located in my own house to test whether general functionalities work. Yes it did eventually after and exhausting and tiring effort ... fiuuuh, Alhamdulillah it works just fine.

Here are the tools I use for VoIP service:

Server

• Intel P4 1.7GHz,
• 256MB RAM,
  
• Red Hat Linux 9.0 with 2.4.20-8 kernel,
• 80GB HDD PATA
• additional s/w: Asterisk PBX 1.0.0

Client #1 (Desktop)

• Dual Core E2140 1.6GHz,
• 512MB RAM,
• Windows XP
• 160GB HDD --partitioned--
• additional s/w: X-lite rel. 1103
  

Client #2 (Notebook)

• Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 1.6GHz,
• 1.5GB RAM,
• Windows XP
• 160GB HDD --partitioned--
• additional s/w: X-lite rel. 1103

The general topology of my testbed --Insya Allah, if possible will be a mockup model for further deployment-- is depicted below:

fig.1 Testbed topology

The most important task for VoIP using Asterisk to run is to set up the parameters --sip.conf, extension.conf--. Well for the first step let's take a slight seek on the asterisk console:

Fig.2 Asterisk CLI

If you see the console over there you'll see a notification of success that means our SIP client(s) and server are now connected so VoIP calls are possible ever since.

As for the settings of sip.conf --I put an example of sip for a client--:

...

[dimas]

allow=all
auth=md5
type=friend
context=ourhouse
username=dimas
secret=dimas
host=dynamic
defaultip=192.168.2.101
callerid="Thunderchief" <12345678>
fromuser=Thunderchief
fromdomain=thunderchief
regexten=12345678
permit=192.168.2.0/28
port=5060
language=en
qualify=2000

...

And an extension.conf setting:

...

[ourhouse]

include => demo
include => default
include => local

exten => 10298024,1,Wait(10)
exten => 10298024,2,Dial(SIP/thunderbird|40)
exten => 10298024,3,Hangup()

exten => 12345678,1,Wait(10)
exten => 12345678,2,Dial(SIP/dimas|40)
exten => 12345678,3,Hangup()

...

Alhamdulillah, all of the works are now in progress so there would be another challenge to meet. It will definetely not going to be easy but hey, that's what one of our brain functions is for; we think hard on how to solve problems although Allah SWT decides the rest but at least we must ikhtiar in His name, if we fail --and that's common-- Insya Allah there will be a better solution(s).

Ya Allah, in the coming of new Hijriyah year please give us strength to stay in Your path ...

Ya Allah, please forgive us for what we had done last year for a better future ...

Ya Allah, please give me KNOWLEDGE & WISDOM so I could always be close to You ...

Ya Allah, tomorrow is her happiest day in her life; Although You match her with someone else ya Rabb, please bless them and make their family happy ever after ...

--Dimas