Common VoIP problems,
How to detect, correct and
avoid them.
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Who am I ?
David Attias
Installing VoIP systems for over 7
years
Mikrotik user for 5 years
Mikrotik certifications
MTCNA, MTCRE & MTCWE
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Purpose of this lecture
To inform Mikrotik users on how to
identify and resolve voip problems
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Agenda
1) Identify factors which will affect VoIP call quality
2) Correct call quality issues with RouterOS QoS
Marking packets with Mangle
Shaping VoIP traffic with Queues
3) Detecting VoIP call quality problems
Check for dropped packets
Using RouterOS packet sniffer & wireshark
4) Avoid call quality issues
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What is VoIP?
Several protocols used together to send and
receive REAL TIME voice calls through an
IP network(s).
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Identify factors that affect
call quality
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Considerations about VoIP call quality
VoIP calls are REAL TIME!!
Connection between phones and voip servers
must have low delay and very low Jitter.
Must have enough available symmetrical
bandwidth.
g711 uLaw codec = 87.2k per channel
[20ms voice payload per packet]
Sip = 65k (max sip message size)
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The Problems
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What can affect call quality?
*Not considering hardware problems
High jitter levels
– What is Jitter? Packet Delay Variation / The time lapse
between each packet for a given data stream
Packet Loss
Delay
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In the real world.
Jitter, packet loss and delay can happen
anywhere between the phone and (hosted)
server.
However, 90% of call quality issues happen at
the customer location.
Why? Because customer networks are rarely
configured properly – if configured at all for VoIP
QoS.
USE MIKROTIK!!!
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Correcting issues with
RouterOS QoS
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Quality Of Service (QoS)
Techniques that categorize and prioritize
packets
Ensures sufficient bandwidth, controls latency,
jitter, and reduces data loss.
Regulate data flows by classifying, scheduling,
and marking packets based on priority and by
shaping traffic
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MikroTik Mangle
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Mikrotik Mangle
Mangle is a Mikrotik routerOS facility that
marks packets for future processing.
The mangle marks exist only within the router.
Also used to modify some fields in the IP
header, like DSCP and TTL fields
Only 1 packet mark per packet
Only 1 connection mark per packet
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To conserve processor resources:
First mark the connection
Once the session is in “connection tracker” all
packets for that session are marked.
This is more efficient because Mangle doesn't
need to scrutinize every packet. It just needs to
know if the packet is in “that” connection.
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Qualify Traffic
SiP server = [Link]
SiP port = 5060 tcp
RTP port range = 10000 ~ 20000 udp
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Mark the SiP connection
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Mark the SiP connection
/ip firewall mangle
add chain=forward dst-address=[Link]
protocol=tcp dst-port=5060 action=mark-
connection new-connection-mark=sip-
connection
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Mark the SiP connection
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Mark the SiP packets
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Mark the SiP packets
/ip firewall mangle
add chain=forward
connection-mark=sip-connection
add action=mark-packet
new-packet-mark=SIP
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Mark the SiP packets
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Mark the RTP connection
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Mark the RTP connection
/ip firewall mangle
add action=mark-connection chain=forward dst-
address=[Link] new-connection-mark=rtp-
connection port=10000-20000 protocol=udp
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Mark the RTP connection
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Mark the RTP packets
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Mark the RTP connection
/ip firewall mangle
add action=mark-packet chain=forward
connection-mark=rtp-connection new-packet-
mark=RTP
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Mark the RTP Packet
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How do we know its working?
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How do we know it's working?
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Change DSCP
Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) is a
field in an IP packet that enables different levels
of service to be assigned to network traffic.
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Change DSCP
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Mikrotik Queues
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Mikrotik Queues
limit data rate for certain IP addresses,
subnets, protocols, ports, and other parameters
limit peer-to-peer traffic
prioritize some packet flows over others
configure traffic bursts for faster web
browsing
apply different limits based on time
share available traffic among users equally,
or depending on the load of the channel
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Mikrotik Queues
Parent Queues (inner queues) – distribute bandwidth
Child Queues (leaf queues) – consume bandwidth
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Mikrotik Queues
Parent Queue
u es
Q ue
hild
C
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Mikrotik Parent Queues
Parent Queues only responsibility is to
distribute traffic to child queues.
Parent queue will first satisfy the child queue's
“limit-at” traffic then try and reach child “max-
limit”.
Priorities are ignored on Parent Queues.
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Mikrotik Queue priorities
8 is the lowest priority, 1 is the highest.
Queue with higher priority will have a chance to
satisfy its max-limit value before lower priority
queues.
Actual traffic prioritization will work only if limits
are specified.
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Create A Queue Tree
Scenario:
My home office
5 phones
internet bandwidth = 35Mb download
4Mb upload
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Create A Queue Tree
First create a queue
/queue tree
add limit-at=4M max-limit=4M
name=upload
parent=ether1-gateway
priority=8 queue=default
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Create A Child Queue
Create an RTP queue and select it's “parent”
as “upload”
add limit-at=440k
max-limit=440k
name=upload_pri_1
packet-mark=RTP
parent=upload
priority=1
queue=default
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Create A Child Queue
Create a SIP queue and select it's “parent” as
“upload”
add limit-at=325k
max-limit=325k
name=upload_pri_2
packet-mark=SIP
parent=upload
priority=2
queue=default
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Create A Child Queue
What about packets without any marks?
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Create A Child Queue
Create a “no mark” queue and select it's
“parent” as “upload”
add limit-at=3M
max-limit=3M
name=upload_pri_2
packet-mark=SIP
parent=upload
priority=2
queue=default
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Queue Tree GUI view
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Queue Tree GUI view
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Detecting Problems
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Detecting problems
Check for “dropped packets” in queue tree
Enable the “dropped packets” view
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Detecting problems
Check for “dropped packets” in queue tree
Enable the “dropped packets” view
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Detecting problems
Check for “dropped packets” in queue tree
Enable the “dropped packets” view
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Detecting problems
Mikrotik packet capture
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Detecting problems
Mikrotik packet capture
From GUI:
Tools – Packet sniffer
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Detecting problems
Mikrotik packet capture
From GUI:
Tools – Packet sniffer
Filter
IP
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Detecting problems
Cap file [Link] will be created in “Files”
Download it
Then open [Link] in wireshark
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Detecting problems
Filer = rtp
Then select one RTP packet
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Detecting problems
Select “Telephony” - “RTP” - “Stream Analysis”
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Detecting problems
The output will show RTP Stream statistics.
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Detecting problems
Click “Player” - “Decode” - “Play”
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Avoid Problems
Before on-boarding a customer:
Make sure their internet connection is adequate!
Monitor their WAN
Review the monitoring data!
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Avoid Problems
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Avoid Problems
- Packet capture every call! [Link]
- Also be aware of internet carrier problems
[Link]
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Avoid Problems
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Summary
1- Learned about some factors that affect VoIP
call quality
2- Learned how to reduce or eliminate call quality
issues
3- Leaned how to find issues and diagnose issues
4- Learned how to avoid issues
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