Re: Understanding voip and NAT
On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 22:23:37 +0000
Alan Chandler <alan@chandlerfamily.org.uk> wrote:
> I would like to set up a system to communicate via voice from my
> Debian Linux PC on my local lan - via a NAT D-link 604 broadband
> router to the net, to my daughter running Windows XP - behind a NAT
> wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) - which she shares with some friends
> at University.
>
> It would also be nice, but not as essential, to also add my wife's
> Win98SE computer (also on the same LAN as my PC) into this
> communication system, with one on one, or conference calling.
>
> I have a spare linux server on this network to run some form of server
> etc.
>
> My local D-Link router has uPnP capability, and I can freely adjust
> which ports are forwarded to which IP address inside my LAN. I
> "think" (but I am not 100% sure) that I get my daughter to adjust the
> routing of her NAT router if necessary.
>
> I have been trying to read how to do this, but everything seems to
> assume that you already know all about what they are talking about.
> Could someone who does understand it, give me some recommendations
> about what I should read about.
>
> I think that I probably need some form of SIP server (to enable both
> my sofe and myself to have independent addresses) which I can put on
> my debian server on the LAN side of my router. Debian seems to have
> two possibilities (siproxyd and asterisk) for this, but I can't find
> anywhere that makes this 100% clear, or tells me which one I really
> should use. (The biggest problem seems to be NAT traversal)
>
> In terms of a client, I was thinking of using KPhone (since I already
> run KDE) on my Linux PC, and am looking around for something for the
> Windows machines. Xten seems a possibility - but then I got confused
> since it seems to only have a number dial interface and I couldn't see
> how that fitted with the servers.
This isn't an answer because I don't know. But a suggestion/question
that might solve (nearly) everything.
Have you tried or considered Skype? It does all of what you say you're
trying to do. It runs on linux, Winders and Mac. It's free, though there
are paid options that allow you to dial outside the Skype network while
still retaining the free part for everybody connected to Skype. It does
conferencing, IM, file sharing (I've heard, not tried), connects to any
machine with a sound card and microphone, it supports some internet
phone equipment (but not SIP, I believe), it is portable in that you can
log on from anywhere in the world and use it, you can block or allow
specific users, you can search users, you can change available status
the way you can with IM, you can have multiple users running from the
same location (on different machines), you can have multiple identities
for each machine, etc.
I'm not trying to sell it, since it isn't for sale. It just seems like
the easiest way to go to get what say you want.
--
"I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply
suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need
an interpreter.
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