Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys,

the new testing pre-release of the best SIP proxy server ever, SERi [1], is out!

About the release

This major pre-release, codenamed Ottendorf, includes fundamental improvements to the software. The improvements allow SER users to achieve significantly higher managability and reliability by better data mode, interop features, security, etc.
They recollect voluminous feedback we have received from iptel  customers and open source users. In particular, the new features include but are not limited to:

• improved data model which eliminates any possible ambiguities.
• key under-the-hood changes with impact on performance: timer subsystem overhaul (now fast, with fine resolution, high accuracy and variability),  TCP processing  overhaul (higher scalability)
• key reliability changes: DNS cache and IP blacklisting
• key interop changes: support for STUN-bis, presence server aligned to latest IETFi [2] development, sanity module for early detection of invalid messages
• more management: management features are now available via XML-RPC remotely, as well as via an alternative binary protocol
• more security: ratelimit module, more check types in permissions module
• scripting features: select operator in combination with revised AVPs, named flags and routes, more types of routes (onsend, timer, branchi [3])
• applications: presence has been greatly updated to keep pace with development in the IETF/SIMPLEi [4] (includes asynchronous subscription authorization, extended PIDF); web interface includes many new managibility features (multidomain, templates and multilanguage to name some).
• New scripting flexibility allows safely for features like individual ringing timers and direct access to SIP message elements.
• new tools: Nils's script execution tree tool http://lists.iptel.org/pipermail/serdev/2006-October/008124.html [5] and refurbished seri [6]_ctl
  see the following links for some additional details:
  http://www.iptel.org/ser/doc/010whatsnew [7] 
  http://cvs.berlios.de/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ser/sip_router/NEWS?rev=HEAD [8]

Accompanying software, SEMSi [9] and SERWEBi [10] have been greatly overhauled as well. SEMS now features improved performance (single-threaded model now), service composition via python-IVRi [11]-scripting and B2BUAi [12], adaptive playout buffer for better voice quality, and more. SERWEB features new multilevel administrative access system, multidomain support, per-domain customization, remote xml-rpc
access, multilanguage support, and more. The new command-line utility, SER_CTL, provides also many great improvements over the previous tool.

Interop

Shortly, we have been keeping the bar high through our participation in the IETF and SIPITs. SER implements latest interop changes from the IETF (STUN-bis, presence + XCAP, to name the most important ones) and both new features and legacy features were extensively and successfully tested middle of October in SIPit.

Next Steps

Keep in mind, this is a pre-release for testing purposes. It is now call on users to test the software hard and provide feedback. In the meantime, the codebase remains frozen and we only commit patches fixing various bugs. Once we get good confidence that Ottendorf has stabilized and is being adequately documented, we will declare the final release. No date has been determined yet.
Also, we consider changing CVSi [13] to SVN.

Again, and this is very important: the final release will be as good as the feedback we obtain for this pre-release. Please do spend your time sending solid feedback back to [serusers].

Roadmap

We keep rolling. We are still debating with our generous contributors what is the next possible good things to work on, the topics include but are not limited to as of now:

• documentation.
• databases are important. LDAPi [14] and BDB, DB-API revision.
• interop: identity, TLS revision
• advanced scripting (scripting engine, vars returns, AVPs)
• uncountable improvements (futex, dev/rtc, tm/refcnts, tcp fd cache, .....)

Trivia

The release name Ottendorf is coming from a place in Saxonian Switzerland, where many iptel fellows and their friends spent a weekend during this Indian summer.
http://www.iptel.org/jan/gallery/saxonian_switzerland_2006/ [15]
http://www.iptel.org/~andi/2006-09-22-Ottendorf/ [16]
http://www.iptel.org/~vlada/saxon_switzerland/index.html [17]
http://www.ohlmeier.de/albums/ottendorf_2006/index.html [18]

Acknowledgments

---------------
This grand achievement is result of extremely many folks who did lot of hard work. Out of folks affiliated with iptel, Andrei and Jan spent
immense effort on moving SER forward, with great support from Hallik (command-line tool), Michal, Miklos, Nils, Tomas, Vaclav (presence), Vlada (new STUN). In this context, I would like to thank to our company for the great support. Recently, Bogdan Pintea greatly helped to make the upcoming release better and more stable under sponsorship of his company, iptego. transnexus provided osp support.

SEMS has been greatly improved thanks to Stefan and Raphael.
Credits for serwebi [19] go to Karel.

Same importantly, SER has been immensely benefitting of contributors, to name in alphabetic order at least the 'top-of-the-iceberg' fellows:Bogdan Pintea, Cesc Santa, Greg Fausak, Greger Teigre, Hendrik Scholz, <http://tutpro.com/>Juha [20] Heinänen, Klaus Darilion, Maxim Sobolev, Peter Nixon, Uli Abend.

Great support on the mailing list has been provided by Greger V. Teigre,Java Rockx, Klaus Darilion, Zeus Ng, and more.

Simply, this list is too short and incomplete to capture all the generous contributions that came in -- my appologies for everyone
else I have missed.

Warnings and Disclaimers

This is a TESTING version. We are encouraging people to give it intense testing and provide us with feedback, so that we can properly assess what it takes to declare it final. The volume and number of changes is big, caution is advised.

All GPL warnings and disclaimers apply.

This is SER, which is not the derivate software known as openser. We have no ideas of in what extent and timeline derivate projects follow
(or not) SER.

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To Give it a Try

warning: this is just a 'jump-start' for black-belt users. It is not
a replacement for documentation or a detailed step-by-step installation
guide. It assumes knowledge of operating system, SIP, and SER.

PREPARATION

• make sure mysql is running. In the default configuration, SER assumes it to be running on localhost, if this does not hold, you need to change ser.cfg.
• make sure python is installed (needed for new command-line utilities)

SER INSTALLATION FROM CVS

• Download from CVS/HEAD using instructions at  http://www.iptel.org/downloads [21]
• Compile it: make include_modules="mysql xmlrpc" all
• Install it the default way of your administrative privileges allow to:
    make include_modules="mysql xmlrpc" install
• Download command-line tool (see more documentation under
    http://cvs.berlios.de/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/ser/serctl/README?rev=HEAD [22])
• cvs co serctli [23]
• Initiate database:
    ./scripts/mysql/ser_mysql.sh create
  START
• Start it. Call: ser
• Begin provisioning users with the new serctl (the capital word are just place holders)
    #  ser_ctl domain add DOMAINNAME
    #  ser_ctl user add USERNAME@DOMAINNAME [24] -p PASSWORD
    #  If you want to have Asserted Identity header for your user
    #  - ser_attr add uid=UID asserted_id="PID"
    # If you want to have gateway support
    # - ser_db add attr_types name=gw_ip rich_type=string raw_type=2  \
        description="The gateway IP for the default ser.cfg" default_flags=33
    # - ser_attr add global gw_ip=GATEWAY-IP

more things you may wish to do:

• familiarize yourself with current ser.cfg
• send us feedback.