Trace Server - A Better Way to Debug PortSIP PBX
PortSIP has been building its SIP Trace Server based on the open-source project HOMER, which provides key information in troubleshooting SIP Trunks, SIP endpoints, and other SIP related issues. It provides a place to:
- Access singularly to retrieve SIP captures via Web UI
- Centrally store SIP capture data across many hosts
- More intuitively filter SIP capture data and correlate the data to the dialog/transactions each request/response is part of (this is immensely useful!)
- Gracefully age dated capture data you don’t want to persist for very long (though persisting longer term can be configured very easily)
- Charts! glorious charts!
- CentOS: 7.9
- Ubuntu: 18.04, 20.04, 22.04
- Debian: 10, 11, 12
- Only supports 64bit OS
Since the Trace server usually takes large CPU and memory resources, we recommend below hardware specifications for the SIP Trace Server:
- CPU: 2-4 cores
- Memory: 2G - 4G
- CPU: 4 cores
- Memory: 4G
- CPU: 8 - 10 cores
- Memory: 8G
- CPU: 16 - 20 cores
- Memory: 16G
Important: Please note that the PortSIP Trace Server and PortSIP PBX should not be installed on the same server. Doing so may lead to undefined issues.
The firewall and cloud platform security group must allow the ports listed below.
- Port 9061 on TCP
- Port 9080 on TCP
- Ensure server date-time is synced correctly
- Must perform all Linux commands by the root user, please su root first
Perform the following commands to download the installation scripts.
mkdir -p /opt/portsip-trace && cd /opt/portsip-trace
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/portsip/portsip-pbx-sh/master/v16.x/new/install_docker.sh -o install_docker.sh
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/portsip/portsip-pbx-sh/master/v16.x/new/trace_ctl.sh -o trace_ctl.sh
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh install_docker.sh
The command for running the PortSIP Trace Server with default settings is below:
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh run
We can specify the following parameters for specific usage.
- -p: Specify the folder path where the data will be stored, for example,
/opt/portsip/trace. Please ensure that the path does not contain any spaces. The default path is /var/lib/portsip. - -k: This option allows you to specify the number of days that the SIP message data will be stored. Any stored SIP message data will be automatically deleted if it exceeds the specified number of days. The default storage duration is 5 days.
- -l: Specify the listening port for the trace server on the web portal. The default port is set to 9080.
- -z: Specify the port for receiving the SIP messages sent from the PortSIP PBX. The default port is set to 9061.
The following example demonstrates how to run the PortSIP Trace Server.
In this example, the data is stored in the
/opt/portsip/trace directory, the data is retained for 30 days, the web portal listens on port 12345, and the server listens on port 23456 for receiving SIP messages.cd /opt/portsip-trace && \
/bin/sh trace_ctl.sh run \
-p /opt/portsip/trace \
-k 30 \
-l 12345 \
-z 23456
After the PortSIP Trace Server is successfully installed, you can access the trace server Web Portal by the below URL:
http://trace-server-ip:12345If you didn't use the -l parameter to specify the web portal port, then the URL should be:
http://trace-server-ip:9080The default username is
admin, the password is admin.Please change the default password for the admin after you sign in to the web portal.
Sign in to the PortSIP PBX Web Portal, click Advanced > Settings, on the General page, and fill out the trace server information as shown in the below screenshot:
Important: Enter with your actually trace server IP. If you used the -z parameter to specify a port other than the default 9061, you will also need to enter the actual port in the Trace Server Port field.
After successfully setting up the SIP trace server information and clicking the OK button, the PBX will send all SIP messages to the trace server.
Sign in to the PortSIP PBX Web Portal, click Advanced > Settings, on the General page, remove the information from the trace server fields, and click the OK button, the PortSIP PBX will stop to send the SIP message to the trace server.
Important: SIP Trace should be off most of the time and only enabled when troubleshooting is required since it will consume the hardware resource and reduce the PBX performance.
On the SIP Trace Server Web Portal, you have the option to display either the registration messages or the call SIP messages. As shown in the screenshot below, select Home to view call messages and REGISTRATION to view REGISTER messages.
You can view the details of a message by clicking on the method name, as shown in the screenshot below.
There is the way for checking the call-id, X-Session-Id, and X-CID of the SIP message is as follows:
The call-id, X-Session-Id, and X-CID can now be utilized to search for SIP messages. This feature enhances the ability to track and manage specific SIP messages effectively.
From the messages list, we can see the call flow by clicking the Session ID.
You can use the following commands to manage the PortSIP Trace Server.
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh start
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh status
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh restart
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh stop
cd /opt/portsip-trace && /bin/sh trace_ctl.sh rm