Some networking equipment vendors have embraced the voice of data networks technology and have increased support for their product lines to accommodate it by building in the tools to make the technology work. Others have introduced product lines and offer special support including remote support to help the end-users or VARS deliver the best quality of voice.
One of the vendors which I just had the pleasure of troubleshooting network voip issues on was Sonicwall. The model the customer is using is the TZ170.
They have the enhanced firmware (operating system) installed version 3.2 which supposedly has QoS features and VoIP features in built into the system. They do indeed have some VoIP features, functionality, and configurable items built in but they are mostly designed for SIP and H.323. These are standard protocols that are commonly used in voice over data systems. One of the problems I found with the built-in features was theat mostly were designed to assist in voice data packets getting through the firewall and NAT routing features. But what if the voip solution is designed to work through a VPN? They completely missed that part. These features were useless in the site to site VPN such as the one I was working with.
This customer has multiple tunnels from their main location which has a PBX switch to several of their remote offices that also have PBX switches. They can transfer calls between the phone system and also of course be able to call each other saving money on toll calls. One of the most annoying things I found with these the TZ170 firewalls is while configuring the unit through the web GUI or even just viewing, any page refresh causes the current voice streams to choke. The quality of the sound deteriorates while working on the system itself. I already mentioned that their features for voice over data are useless in a vpn to vpn environement and their bandwidth management is awkward and clumsy.
3 comments:
The tz170's are a great little firewall/router. A great buy for the price.
What do you recommend as an alternative to the Sonicwall? I'm specifically looking for a solution that can provide QoS for calls routed over a VPN.
This SonicWall model was a very popular one at its time. it did have some shortcomings in performance that we had found out the hard way. This model has the old user interface and we could not do much with the console port. I prefer firewalls and routers that give us the ability to remotely access them for remote support. Providing remote support of firewalls and routers is as critical as providing remote support to desktop computers and PC system. Also server remote support is critical but many forget about routers, gateways and firewalls. the ability to connect remotely through the Internet for remote support helps a great deal . It not only provides a means for remote assistance but also for configuration changes. There are some changes or modifications that cannot be done very easily online through the web but have a remote control access for remote support provides at a least a viable method for remote connectivity. Firewalls are often overlooks for remote support because normally when they are set up, there is not much done on them except for opening a port or setting up a VPN if the firewall has those capabilities. Most small businesses purchase, install or have installed their firewall then they don't touch it for years,. There are some inherent problems with this and remote access and remote support is invaluable when it it comes time for assisting the company remotely using remote control software. We use online remote support software that gives us the capability of providing technical remote assistance and support to users through the Internet. remote support software for connecting to computer desktop PC systems and servers over the Internet. we are able to have full screen-sharing and remote desktop control unlike RDP or Microsoft RPC, the end-user is able to see the session and desktop while it is being worked on an also interact with it. The remote support agent and the remote client users both have remote access and control of the desktop through the web online.
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