World IPv6 Launch Day: Interoperability Lab

Virtual lab

hvainterop — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:11:03 +0000

At the moment we are creating a virtual lab. Our Game Design and Game Technology team is working very hard to realize this virtual lab.

This virtual lab will be shown during the IPv6 launch day on a 60″ touch screen.

Testing the VoIP phones

hvainterop — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:03:31 +0000

The phones from Yealink and Tandberg where able to call each other on a network which included the phones themselves and a switch from Juniper/Cisco.

Telephones tested

1x Yealtek T20P
1x Yealtek T22P
1x Yealtek T24P
1x Yealtek T28P
2x Tandberg E20
In combination with:

1x Juniper EX3200 Switch
1x Cisco Catalyst 3562 V2 switch
Tandberg Phones
At the beginning we started with the Tandberg Phones. Tandberg has been bought by Cisco whom customized the original firmware which was able to function on IPv6 protocol to a version of their own. This new version didn’t support the IPv6 protocol.
The first thing we did to get the phones working op IPv6 was replace the (newer) firmware with the (older) Tandberg firmware that does support IPv6 and IPv4 technology. After the installation of the original Tandberg firmware the phones were working pretty well. We connected the phones to the switch and started to configure the accounts we made on the SIP server for VoIP communication. The phones where not to difficult to configure with the firmware of Tandberg and after configuration the phones had been registered on the server and where standing by for their first phone call in our Interoperability lab. We picked up the phone and called the other phone. The phone instantly started to ring. We had a success; the phones work on IPv6.

Yealink Phones
The Yealink phones which where provided by Tiptel came in by mail. We unpacked them and started to connect them to the switch, thus connecting them the IPv6 network of the Interoperability Lab. The phones worked like a charm, even though the configuration of the phones didn’t go that easily. The phones had to be configured through the “advanced settings” menu. The configuration progress was literally going from static IPv6 address definition to the account number and password. After completing this phones were fully operational and they where able to call the Tandberg phones as well.

Load Balancer progress 1

hvainterop — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 08:47:10 +0000

Our load balancer is up and running, it successfully balances FTP and HTTP traffic with an IPv6 configuration.
The web servers that are connected to the load balancer are synchronized so no conflicted copies can occur.
There is one problem at this point, which concerns our monitoring server. We have concluded that Cacti and Zimbax aren’t really compatible with IPv6 addresses, we are busy looking for alternatives and solutions but with no results so far.

Core Network 1

hvainterop — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:59:08 +0000

At the moment the team is in the progress of connecting a couple of tests on the core routers. The team is also busy with testing connectivity between the core routers and the tests, and making sure the tests are working on a core router, instead of as a standalone test. In this regard, we also want to make sure inter-testing between multiple core routers is possible. What left to be done is the connectivity of the BYOD and Firewalls test, core network VLAN testing and configuration, labeling and documenting each cable that is in use, and creating the uplink between the UvA network at the Science Park and the core network.

VoIP progress 2

hvainterop — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:57:27 +0000

We are configuring VoIP phones in order to make them work with SIP over an IPv6 network. All the phones we received from the different vendors worked like a charm in the first test. At this point there was one central network where the SIP server and the VoIP phones were connected to. In the second test we used different switches and routers. All routers which are also used in the core network test are compatible with the VoIP phones and we didn’t experience any problems. During our third test we found a bug with a specific VoIP phone vendor. At this moment the vendor is aware of the bug and the test team is in close contact with the vendor in order to resolve this bug. At this moment we can’t give any details about the problems end-users may experience when using this phone over IPv6. In the third test we have two different networks (different types of routers and switches which are connected to each other). The SIP server is located in one network and the VoIP telephone in another network. This is a simulation of two offices that will contact each other using one SIP server.

VoIP progress 1

hvainterop — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:09:49 +0000

The VoIP servers are running and the Yealtek phones ringing. The Tandberg phones are installed and with the right firmware. The communication is now at its best. The next step is to use the core network so the VoIp test can run alongside the other tests.