[asterisk-users] IAX2 Load test

[Jon Schøpzinsky]

Hello everybody.

I have been running some load tests on IAX2, as we are finding out our future hardware investments.

Here is the setup:

We have three virtual machines.

A: running SIPP and Asterisk 1.6.2.7
B: running Asterisk 1.6.2.7
C: running Asterisk 1.6.2.7.

All of the Asterisks have been compiled with as little modules and channel drivers as possible, etc. only SIP, Local and IAX2, and about 4 dialplan functions.

They are connected as this.

A -> IAX2 -> B -> SIP -> C

On the A machine, SIPP makes SIP calls to the asterisk, which then dials server B through IAX, which then in turn dials server C through SIP.
The scenario is to have machine B as a IAX2 <-> SIP converter.

Asterisk on machine A and B dies around 185 simultaneous  channels, consuming all CPU on the machines, until they eventually crash.
Machine C, which is only running SIP, consumes around 30% CPU at the 185 channel mark.

This result gutted me somewhat, as 185 channel is a really low figure. And 185 channels is where it crashed, so 160 channels would probably be a safer estimate per machine.
When using only SIP we have been able to run over 860 calls on a single Asterisk 1.6, and the factor that stopped using more channels, was our Cisco PIX506 firewall crashing.

Ive read several places, that IAX2 scales really horribly, and having confirmed that, I am wondering if anybody has a solution for this.

My own idea was to develop a IAX2 -> SIP procotol converter. Ive worked somewhat with the IAX2 protocol in code, and it should absolutely be possible, but unfortunately, i do not have the time for such a project.

Any other ideas?


Med venlig hilsen/Kind Regards

Jon Leren Schøpzinsky
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