Paging Fails After ~130 Extensions

SPR8h
Posts: 4
Member Since:
2009-10-30

We are currently running Trixbox CE v2.6.2.3 using Asterisk 1.4.22-4 on a Dell Poweredge SC1435. The phones we use are a mix of Polycom Soundpoint IP 320's and 650's, for a total of 188 internal extensions.

To give a quick history, we have multiple paging groups setup, the majority consisting of specific departments which contained no more than 60 extensions for each group. The one exception to this was a single paging group which consisted of all internal extensions for emergency purposes. At the time that this massive group was setup all of the internal extensions were confirmed as being paged.

Now, 2 months later, what happens is that when this paging group is used, the Trixbox will attempt to add all of the extensions to a conference as normal, but will fail to add additional extensions after about 130 to 140 extensions have succeeded. This number at which it begins to fail varies each time we test this paging group. The error message received is "WARNING[XXXX] app_page.c: Incomplete destination '' supplied.". The first 130-140 extensions will join the conference and hear the page as intended while the rest will hear nothing.

At the time of first setup the Trixbox was completely configured, the only changes to it since then have been the addition and removal of extensions as employees have been hired or leave us. As the default paging group, the paging group in question has been updated with these changes as well.

The settings on the paging group are as follows:

  1. Consists of 188 extensions.
  2. Force if busy: On
  3. Duplex Paging: Off
  4. Default Page Group: On

A log of the initial page can be found at http://pastebin.com/m61703a31

Does anyone know if there is there a limit to how many extensions you can have in a paging group? If so, is there an alternative other than paging each department one at a time?

Otherwise, does anyone have any ideas what might be causing it?

-----

Summary:

  1. Paging Group consisting of 188 extensions
  2. Worked 2 months prior, no changes were made to the group itself other than adding and removing extensions
  3. Only 130-140 extensions successfully paged
  4. The rest hear nothing after the error: "Incomplete destination '' supplied."


stechnique
Posts: 733
Member Since:
2008-02-21
I looked around the source

I looked around the source code for the paging module and the database, can't find a reason for this. The page extensions are each added as an entry in the DB, and not in one big VARCHAR like in the Queues module. It should be scalable and I can't find a bottleneck that would impose a limit there.
If you turn on verbose all the way up and dial the page group, you don't have anything else above that warning?



SPR8h
Posts: 4
Member Since:
2009-10-30
When I turn verbose up to

When I turn verbose up to 99, I see no other warnings than the one below. There are also no errors generated at all during the page.

[Nov  4 12:42:44] WARNING[29834] app_page.c: Incomplete destination '' supplied.
 ---
[Nov  4 12:42:49] WARNING[29958] dsp.c: Inband DTMF is not supported on codec g729. Use RFC2833

A log of the last 60 lines both before and after the "Incomplete destination '' supplied" can be found at: http://pastebin.com/m621f596a

I did try creating a new paging group, this time adding extensions starting around 300. The same issue occurred where the page would die off after 130 extensions were added to the conference, no matter which extension was next on the list.

The paging module I am using is titled "Paging and Intercom", version 2.5.0.7, and is enabled and up to date.



antidelldude
Posts: 287
Member Since:
2009-05-18
That UP-TO-DATE defense may

That UP-TO-DATE defense may be the issue here. Has the server been updated at all? This wouldn't be the first time an update introduced a bug.

--

Regards,
Jon
Please respond if your problem was ever solved, and how you solved it. It'll help the next guy.



SPR8h
Posts: 4
Member Since:
2009-10-30
When the trixbox was first

When the trixbox was first installed about two months ago, all updates were run via yum at that time to their latest version. After that all of the extensions and other data were added to the trixbox. Since then, there have been no updates done that I am aware of. Though on that note I am not the only person in this department, and its possible some updates may have been done without my knowledge. I will try backdating the paging module and see if the issue still occurs.



jdwebcc
Posts: 149
Member Since:
2006-09-27
Similiar problem not enough horsepower

Could it be there isn't enough CPU ? I had a far smaller PC doing paging on 20 phones and it would do the same thing as far as the result..

I moved it to another far faster box and it ran perfectly.

Paging requires far more CPU -- and getting those notifications out to those phones in a timely matter is important to happen fast.

Just my two cents.

JD

--

Jason S Derr, JDWEB.cc LLC
Creator of ASR Manager



b14ck
Posts: 773
Member Since:
2009-03-03
The error in your logs

The error in your logs doesn't point to this being a CPU or performance related issue. It definitely looks like a bug in the paging module. I'm tracing through the code now... I'll post an update shortly. Thanks.

--

Randall Degges
Lead Developer, RCI Telecommunications
projectb14ck - http://projectb14ck.org/ - Weblog



kerryg
Posts: 6790
Member Since:
2006-05-31
For emergency paging you

For emergency paging you might want to look at overhead paging solutions. You will need far fewer devices to cover a larger area and they will work regardless of the someone being on the phone or not. I personally like the Valcom products because of their configuration tool and multicast ability.

--

Kerry Garrison
http://www.VoipStore.com - http://3cxbook.com
(888) VOIPSTORE - (888) 864-7786



MetalSmith
Posts: 110
Member Since:
2007-10-16
I have the same problem. I

I have the same problem. I posted on another post and did not find much info on this subject. Being that we have the same problem but with different numbers being affecting you think that maybe the server runs out of memory/resources and just craps out?



MetalSmith
Posts: 110
Member Since:
2007-10-16
I was wrong mine crashes at

I was wrong mine crashes at 130 extensions as well. So we have the same problem. Does anyone have some insight on this?



theusabear
Posts: 1
Member Since:
2007-02-21
Bump... Similar problem with

Bump... Similar problem with about 150 Phones, I have dredged through the verbose output with no noticeable error found.



Atcom Alberta
Posts: 219
Member Since:
2008-07-14
Has anyone else experienced

Has anyone else experienced Group Page failures due to under-powered hardware? What are the "limits" of some given processors?



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