UCA Softphone Red X - Repost with more details

[akuhn]

I’ve posted this before, but I’m giving it another shot to see if I can get some good feedback on this issue.
Our UCA Server is 99% great.  There’s just one feature left to get working the correct way, and that’s using the UCA Client Softphone outside of the office – without relying on a VPN.  The install engineer for Mitel swears this will work and teleworker is not needed as it’s a Mitel/Inter-Tel 5400 and not a 3300.

Right now, when I fire up the UCA Client outside of my office, I get a big red X on the softphone portion of the client.  Inside of my office, the softphone works correctly.  Outside of the office, the only way it works is if I establish a vpn connection and the quality is poor.

While you might think this is a firewall issue, it’s difficult to pin this down, since I have opened up just about every port I can to the world and it still doesn’t work. 

Here is the setting:

Mitel 5000 Series (5400)
InterTel Phones on Desktops (all digital)
5400 has two external IP addresses NATTED to two internal IP addresses in the DMZ.
For testing purposes, I have opened all ports to these two IP addresses (crazy, I know).
In the past, I could get the very old InterTel Softphone client to work outside of the office.  This technology appears to be very different from the UCA, since there was no MAS/UCA server at that time.  The connection was between the software and the PBX.

New MAS server running the UC services all in a VM Appliance in our VMWare environment.
New MAS server running AWC services in a physical appliance.
Both of these units are in the Workstation/Server subnet.
For testing purposes, I have opened all ports from the outside to these two IP addresses.
Additionally, I have opened all ports between the phone system in the DMZ to the UC server.

Furthermore, just yesterday, I enabled “SIP Transformations” on my SonicWall and I enabled the permission of “non-SIP packets on signaling port” in a grasping-at-straws move.

By the way, my testing method is to remote into my home pc and login to the UCA client there (making sure to log out of my client at work first).  An alternate method is to tether my phone to my work laptop, disable all local connections, and test the client that way.

Before I get questioned about the softphone license, it is distributed to my account and I successfully run it on my laptop when inside the office.  I can either use my phone, or a headset connected to my PC.

As far as I can tell, there are no ports closed between the outside world and my phone system.  So how can it be a firewall issue? 

The only thing left would be either some licensing issue or IP configuration issue in the PBX itself.  I’m no expert on the Mitel System Admin & Diagnositics console, but I’m thinking I should monitor what an inbound/outbound call looks like from the UCA with monitoring turned on.  Also, I noted that the UCA styled softphone in the console has far less config options than the old InterTel softphone.  I was hoping for a magic bullet there.

Finally, UCA does indeed come up outside of the office.  I can chat.  I can change status.  I can forward my phone to my cell.  I would just really like to use my PC as an office phone when I am working in my basement instead of my office.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Adam in DC

[akuhn]

It figures I'd fix this the same day as I put in this long post.  Maybe writing it all out helped me figure it out.  The incorrect IP address was listed in the PBX configuration of the UCA portion of the MAS server.

See the attached jpg.

I will say this:  Using the Mitel System Admin Tools for the PBX helped me get to that Eureka moment.  Once I realized that the softphone wasn't even registering with the PBX, I asked myself, well how does the Client know how to get to the phone system?  Answer:  The MAS UCA server tells the client where the PBX is.  It knows the internal address of the PBX, because that works.  But does it know the external address?  From there it was a 5 minute fix.

Thanks all!

[bluewhite4]

Glad you got it solved akuhn. This must be a field unique to a MAS/UCA with a 5000. I can tell you for sure that that field doesn't exist when I set MAS/UCA up for a 3300. Probably because my setup requires a TW. Thanks for the info!

[akuhn]

Right.  Mitel insisted the 5000 series did not require a teleworker setup.  Ultimately, they were correct...but setting it up correctly was also important.

But the challenge continues because currently, I have to open all ports to the 5000 to get this to work.  The stated ports in the Engineering guide are too restrictive and bring back the Red X.   I may post a new query to the 5000 board and cross post it here on, "what ports need to be open on a 5000 for the UCA softphone to work?"  I have documentation to show what's in the guidelines.  But it's not enough.