Product Description

Features

The following list identifies a few of the key features afforded by the SNAPsolution.

  • Virtual Office

  • Find-Me/Follow-Me, One Number Service

  • Solutions for CALEA & E911

  • Multi-tiered billing & Rating

  • Click-to-Call

  • Flexible Licensing

  • Programmable Voice Mail, IVR, & Auto Attendant

  • Integration & Education

  • Deployment Engineering

  • Presence

  • Audio Conferencing

  • Automatic Call Distribution

  • Hunt Group Functions

  • Call Queuing Functions

  • Flexible rate planning

  • Web portal Recharge

  • IVR Recharge

  • Batch provisioning and management

  • Callshop

  • Calling Card

  • Wholesale and Retail Partitioning

  • Real-time Balance Adjustments

  • Caller ID Authentication

  • Pinless Authentication Distribution

  • Time of Day Feature Control

  • Integration and Training

  • IM Server

  • Video Telephony Server

  • Web-based Agent Portal

  • Configurable Call Monitoring

  • Call Center Reporting

  • Geographically Distributed Agents

  • Call Recording

  • Brandable Web Portals at each level

  • SIP Client Integration

  • System Integration

  • Time of Day Feature Control

  • XML Interface

  • Firewall & NAT Traversal

  • Hosting

  • PSTN Connectivity

  • SIP Clients

SNAPsolution Components

The power behind every application of a NetSapiens SNAPsolution is created by the ideal customer specific mixture of SNAPiq, SNAPsoftware, and SNAPped In tools and services. Figure 1-1 shows how the SNAPsolution components fit together to deliver unparalleled capabilities. The following sections summarize the key components of the SNAPsolution.

SNAPsolution Components

SNAPapps

SNAPapps are NetSapiens offered or customer created applications that can be deployed using SNAPsolution. Examples of the applications available with the SNAPsolution include:

    • Hosted PBX/IP Centrex
    • Call Centers
  • PrePaid Calling
  • Unified Messaging
  • Conferencing
  • Click-2-Call
  • Custom applications

SNAPiq

SNAPiq is a deployment expertise offering that addresses customer-specific requirements. No matter what level of VoIP experience you bring to the table, NetSapiens will provide the necessary skills to bring your application to market quickly and efficiently.

  • Education
  • Integration
    • Deployment Engineering

SNAPsoftware

SNAPsoftware is a suite of highly available and distributable software components that allow for maximum scalability and include all of the necessary software functionality required for a complete service provider solution.

SNAPviews

SNAPviews are Web-based portals that simplify utility, configuration, and management. Each user level within the platform, from end-user to NOC Engineer, has a distinct brand-able web portal to address their particular use cases.

To access the individual portals, use the following URLs:

      • Admin, Reseller, Domain, and LEA Portals: use: https://<ip or dns of server>/adminlogin.ph
  • Operator Portal: https://<ip or dns of server>/SiPbx/operlogin.php
  • Call Center Agent Portal: https://<ip or dns of server>/netsapiens-opconsole/OpConsole.html
  • User Portal (old): https://<ip or dns of server>
  • NetSapiens User Portal: https://<ip or dns of server>/nup/login.html

Branding

Please follow this link to Brandin

SNAPoss

SNAPoss provides the business operations functionality such as fault management, configuration, accounting, performance management, and security management.
  • Billing and Rating
  • Device, User, and Service Provisioning
  • Element Monitoring
  • CALEA and Call Recording
  • Statistics, Diagnostics, and Reports

SNAPswitch

SNAPswitch provides the core application delivery capabilities required for a full-featured deployment.
  • SIP Proxy
  • Registrar
  • Feature Server
  • Media Server
  •  Softswitch

SNAPped In

SNAPped In is NetSapiens Partner Program, which constantly qualifies additional value-added tools and services that are needed to meet custom deployment requirements.
    • Hosting
    • Management and Monitoring
    • Bandwidth and Collocation
  • PSTN Connectivity
      • IP Trunks
      • VoIP Gateways
      • E911 Service
    •  SIP Clients
      • SIP Phones
      • ATAs
      • IADS

Sample Applications

The following figures show examples of possible applications with the SNAPsolution.

Example of a Hosted PBX/IP Centrex Application


Example of a Prepaid Calling Application


Example of a Call Center Application


SNAPsoftware Architecture

NetSapiens SNAPsoftware runs on optimized versions of industry-proven Linux-based Web Services infrastructure, and can run on one or multiple industry standard servers. The SNAPsolution software components are designed and built from the ground up by NetSapiens, which gives us the ultimate flexibility with your deployment.

Important Concepts and Terms

Users vs. Devices 

The distinction between users and devices is important. Devices are physical entities or connections, such as phones, that register to the system. Users are profiles that have associated sets of features, such as voice mail, call forwarding, and simultaneous ring. It is possible for a user profile to have more than one device associated with it.

Matching and Translation

Match rules are a core concept of the SiPbx. As a call setup (INVITE) traverses the system from one messaging module to another, the path that each “leg” takes is based on matching of either the SIP To-URI or the SIP From-URI. In most cases, the matching is performed on the To-URI, but there is one exception, as listed below.

Once the appropriate match rule is found based on the tightest possible match, the messaging is prepared, based on the particular rule, to move into the next messaging module. In essence, these rules translate the To-URI and/or the From-URI, which affect the way the message is input to the next module. Using this methodology, the system administrator has complete control over the call treatment.

The table below shows which URI is being matched as a call flows through the system.

Messaging Module

Match

Incoming Connection (see the Note below)

From-URI

Dial Translation

To-URI

Dial Policy

To-URI

Call Routing

To-URI

Outgoing Connection*

To-URI

 

Connections in the SNAPswitch can be used as two-way connections. As such, the configuration allows a match to be selected for both origination (inbound match on From-URI) and termination (outbound match on To-URI).

Call Control Modules

Connection Modules

The connection is both the first and the last module hit for inbound and outbound calls, respectively. When an inbound call enters the SNAPswitch, the first test ascertains whether there is a connection rule that matches on the From-URI in the INVITE message. If there is, the associated connection rule is loaded and used to pass the message on to the Dial Translation module, which is configured for that connection. For an outbound call, the INVITE message is formed from the Call Routing Module (see below) and passed to the Connection Module. In this case, there will be an attempted match on the To-URI. If one is found, the INVITE is routed out.

Dial Translation

Dial Translations are applied on any incoming SIP INVITE and any USER profile-based call. This includes transfers, forwards, and simultaneous ring as well as initial inbound and on-net calls. Dial Translations are assigned to inbound connections and to system users. Within the Dial Translation rules, it is possible to translate the user and host parts of the To-URI (destination) as well as the user and host parts of the From-URI (source). It is also possible to translate the Source Name from within the administrator login.

The Dial Translation rules are also where the application module is selected.

Application Module

Dial Translation also allows the appropriate application to be configured. The Application Modules include such functionality as Auto-Attendant, Voice Mail, and inbound and outbound calls. The table below lists the most commonly used applications and corresponding functionality.

Application Module

Functionality

Auto Attendant

Enter the AA based on the To-URI host part (domain).

Invite Call – for SiPbx

Inbound/on-net call.

Operator Inbound

Inbound call to Operator user.

Operator Queue

Queue for Operator (reserved for future use).

Outbound

Send call to outbound.

Prepaid Balance

Check prepaid balance.

Prepaid Calling Card

Prepaid calling card application.

Prepaid CID

Prepaid based on Caller ID.

Prepaid Recharge

Recharge prepaid account.

Rated Outbound – Invite

Rated call with NAS.

Registered Account Login

Account login – enter PIN only.

Select Domain AA

Select the auto attendant for a particular domain.

Unregistered Account Login

Account login – enter account and PIN.

VCafe

Prepaid registered device.

Dial Policy Module

After the call setup messaging exits the Dial Translation Module, it enters the Dial Policy Module. Like dial translations, dial policies are configured based on the system user and connection rules. They are also similar in that they apply to the system user for an outbound call (including transfer, forward, etc.) and to the connection for an inbound call. Through the dial policy, the system administrator can permit or deny calls based on the To-URI.

Call Routing Module

From the Dial Policy Module, the call enters the Call Routing Module. From the Call Routing Module, the INVITE is formulated based on the To-URI. It is also possible to provide two alternate routes. If the initial INVITE is rejected, the second is tried, and so on.

The call routing module is ONLY accessed when the system is intending to send a call to a connection (user device, gateway, etc.). 

IVR

SNAPsolution IVRs are constructed using a series of wave (.wav) files for all of the IVR words and other recordings. Each system domain has its own IVR instance. The wave files are recorded in G.711 (64 Kbps), mono, 8-bit u-Law, 8 KHz sampling. These specifications are important if you have your IVR prompts professionally recorded. Any prompts that are recorded directly through the SNAPviews user interfaces automatically meet these specifications. Since G.711 is used for the IVR recordings, G.711 must be one of the configured options on all system connections, including devices.

NAT and Firewall Traversal 

NAT and firewall traversal are accomplished with a SNAPsolution feature called RTP Relay. This feature can be set on system connections to either none or automatic. When set to automatic, all RTP sessions are tunneled through the platform, allowing the correct UDP ports to be discovered.

High Availability

NetSapiens High Availability (HA) is based on heartbeat technology developed as OpenSource. This section provides a general description of the NetSapiens HA function. Maintenance for this is not necessary or will be performed by Net Sapiens Support.

The Heartbeat program is one of the core components of the HA. It performs death-of-node detection and communications, where the management of the processes (called resources) are done by LocalResourceManager (LRM) and ClusterResourceManager (CRM).

NetSapiens Configuration

The NetSapiens HA implementation consists of three groups of resources. Two of these groups are Monitoring Groups (Database, Mailserver, Webserver, TACServer), one running on each machine. This redundancy is for both support and data replication reasons. The two groups are monitored by LRM. If one process dies, heartbeat tries to restart the process until it is up and running again. If one process stops working, an email alert is sent to NetSapiens' Support.

The third and most important group is the NetSapiens Group. This group contains all of the core processes, such as virtual IP address (main public), NMS, NCS, and NAS (where deployed). This group is configured as an active and standby solution. If one of these processes stops working, heartbeat tries to restart the service. If the service does not start within a short time (~20 seconds), or if the service has crashed completely, heartbeat initiates a failover to the standby server.

 

NetSapiens HA Configuration

Data Redundancy

All relevant data, such as configuration, voicemail, and voice prompts, are stored in the database. All entries in the database are replicated to the backup server by its own internal process. This solution provides accurate data consistency on both servers.

Check HA

If you log into the UI as an administrator, you have access to a tab called HA. This tab provides an overview of the HA's health. The buttons at the bottom of the tab are commands where you can control heartbeat.

We HIGHLY recommend that you do NOT use these buttons unless you are well trained. An incorrect manipulation can cause a major loss of service.