Failed to start gateway service

[CharlesC]

Hello,

I work for a 3CX partner and I've been trying to get the 3CX skype gateway working in a lab environment. Fresh installtion of Server 2003, 3CX, & Skype. I've created the skype gateway in 3CX and installed both skype and the 3CX skype gateway. The gateway will allow me to create my port, authenticate with skype, and I can allow it access. Everything seems to be working great until I attempt to start the gateway service. It responds immediately with "Failed to start gateway service"

I checked for the user account and it was created fine.
I checked the event viewer and I can see that the gateway service starts fine but then the very next entry is the service stopping. No errors... it just stops the service. I can't for life of me figure out why. Attempting to start the service from windows returns "The 3CX Gateway for Skype service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they have no work to do......ect"
The gateway says the PBX is reachable and Skype is reachable.
Something that might shed some light on this issue is that if I close the gateway monitor after the service fails to start and reopen it, the port I configured now says "skype port disabled under the skype account column. If I try configuring the port agian it says "Computer account for this Skype port need to be recreated. Do you want to recreate it now?" Clicking yes and reconfiguring it still gets me no where. It will ask me to recreate the account everytime I reopen the gateway monitor.

It seems to me there might be a problem with the accounts that are created. Permissions issues, restrictions, ... something. Has anyone experienced and fixed this problem? I hope I'm not overlooking something stupid.

 

[CharlesC]

Oh forgot to mention I have tried this on both a Fresh XP machine and Server 2003. Same result both ways.

 

[[email protected]]

Hello there Mr. Charles I saw your post and thought the issue might be resolved by using this info.

http://www.3cx.com/voip-gateways/skype.html

More specifically : Step 3. In order to work properly, 3CX Gateway for Skype™ requires each port to have an Skype™ account configured with the “Sign me in when Skype starts” option. Every time you create a new account by pressing the “Skype™” button, the following “splash” dialog will be displayed:

If this is not done it, to my knowledge, will not work correctly. I had the same issue.

1). Bring up the 3cx Gateway for Skype Monitor
2). Select Skype in the Monitor under Skype Ports
3). Choose the skype account you want to use and make sure you select the "SIGN ME IN WHEN SKYPE STARTS" It runs as a service when you login from here on.
.... The Skype application has to be loaded on this machine... just a note..

This version is much better than the previous by miles and miles and miles.. If it helps let me know..


RemotePCDiagnostics.com Let us do the Fingerwork for you... Coming soon.

 

[Vali_3CX]

Hi Charles, deppped

Thank you for your your feedback.

Charles, in the case you describe, the service is started but it "decides" to stop itself when discovers there is no gateway port it can start. Generally, that means either no Skype installed, no such ports defined, no default Skype account set or not being able to login into its specified computer account.

It seems that in your case it's the login into computer account issue (strongest hint - the message-box prompting you that account needs to be recreated). Please check following things (if possible, on XP, because it's the machine I have at my disposal right now):
- in the windows Start/Run, type lusrmgr.msc - it will open local users and groups console.
- on the left pane, click Users, then look on the right one to check if the computer accounts you created are there. Do not change anything!
- again on the left pane, click Groups, then look on the right one to check if 3CXSkypeGatewayAccounts group is there. Do not change anything!
close the console and now check for profiles:
- on a Windows explorer, open the C:\Documents and Settings folder, and check if there are created local profiles for accounts you know. That means, if you have set account prefix 3cxacc, you should see here folders like 3cxacc01, 3cxacc02 and so on. Do not change anything.

Tell me if you don't find any of these. You may check also File/Tracelog (monitor's logfile) Gateway/Tracelog (service's logfile) and any of gateway's ports right-click/Tracelog and look mainly for "Error"s and "Warning"s.

Regards
vali

P.S deppped, thanks for appreciating our new gateway. It's still a Beta, we are working to fix issues appearing during this stage 8)

 

[CharlesC]

Thanks for the quick replies!

deppppped - I have been checking the sign-in when skype starts option when authenticating on skype. 3CX, skype, and the skype gateway are all installed on the local machine. Thanks for your input though

Vali - I checked to make sure the accounts were created and they do belong to the 3CXSkypeGatewayAccounts group. I also check the documents/settings folder and there are profiles created. Interesting note, there is a skype and a skypePM folder inside the application data folder of the 3CX created account. Also, Local Settings\Application data\_3CXSkypeGateway\3CXSkypeGateway.log of the 3CX created account contained some interesting logging:

15:32:46:286 - Info : Logger started
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
15:32:46:286 - Info : All channels synchronization initialized
15:32:46:286 - Info : This channel synchronization initialized
15:32:46:307 - Warning : Channel started in CONFIGURATION mode
15:32:46:737 - Info : Skype support started
15:32:46:737 - Info : Loading channel settings from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\_3CXSkypeGateway\3CXSkypeGateway.ini
15:32:46:737 - Info : Attempting to load settings for account 3CXSKYPE01
15:32:46:737 - Info : - network card: [localhost]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - PBX address: [localhost]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - PBX port: [5060]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - RTP range: [22500]-[23000]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - codecs: [PCMU;PCMA;GSM;]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - registration interval: [10] min
15:32:46:737 - Info : - registration retry: [10] min
15:32:46:737 - Info : - monitor port: [5544]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - service port: [5545]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - master port: [5546]
15:32:46:737 - Info : - master channel: [1]
15:32:46:737 - Info : Settings loaded OK
15:32:46:737 - Warning : ----------- Logging is now filtered according to option "info warning error time" -----------
15:32:46:877 - Info : Specified network card OK, set to 127.0.0.1
15:32:46:877 - Info : Port check - Port [127.0.0.1:6060] is free
15:32:46:877 - Warning : RTP last port should be odd, fixed to [23001]
15:32:46:877 - Info : RTP port range set to [22500-23001]
15:32:46:897 - Info : Port check - Port [127.0.0.1:22500] is free
15:32:46:967 - Info : RTP engine started OK
15:32:46:967 - Info : SIP: Channel has been asked if allow secure, returning [false]
15:32:46:977 - Info : SIP: Channel has been asked for transport type, returning []
15:32:46:987 - Info : SIP engine started OK
15:32:46:987 - Info : Starting channel:
15:32:46:987 - Info : - master channel: [yes]
15:32:46:987 - Info : - monitor port: [5544]
15:32:46:987 - Info : - service port: [5545]
15:32:46:987 - Info : - master port: [5546]
15:32:46:987 - Info : - expected Skype user: [xxxxxxxxxx]
15:32:46:987 - Info : Attempting to listen for Skype events
15:32:46:987 - Info : Synchronization thread is running
15:32:48:019 - Info : Skype client attached, now waiting for Skype events
15:32:48:460 - Info : Processing Skype attach request
15:32:49:381 - Info : Skype attach succeeded
15:32:49:411 - Info : Waiting for Skype authorization
15:33:00:467 - Info : Skype connection status is ONLINE
15:33:00:477 - Info : Expected Skype user logged in: [xxxxxxxxxx]
15:33:00:497 - Info : Skype user status is ONLINE
15:33:00:497 - Info : Skype authorization request succeeded
15:33:02:991 - Warning : Skyep connection status is UKNOWN
15:33:03:011 - Warning : Skype attachement no longer available
15:33:03:671 - Info : Channel is stopping due to a localized stop request
15:33:03:671 - Info : Shutting down gateway channel
15:33:03:671 - Info : Skype thread - waiting to close
15:33:03:671 - Info : Synchronization thread exited
15:33:03:671 - Info : Listening for Skype events ended
15:33:03:671 - Info : Skype thread - closed
15:33:03:671 - Info : Skype thread - waiting for unadvise
15:33:03:681 - Info : Skype thread - unadvise completed
15:33:03:681 - Info : Skype thread - closing Skype engine
15:33:03:681 - Info : Skype thread - closing monitor comm
15:33:03:681 - Info : Skype thread - closing service comm
15:33:03:681 - Info : Skype thread - closing master comm
15:33:03:681 - Info : Channel has been shut down
15:33:03:832 - Info : Shutting down gateway channel
15:33:03:832 - Info : Skype thread - closing Skype engine
15:33:03:832 - Info : Skype thread - closing monitor comm
15:33:03:832 - Info : Skype thread - closing service comm
15:33:03:832 - Info : Skype thread - closing master comm
15:33:03:832 - Info : Channel has been shut down
15:33:05:154 - Info : Logger closed





This log differs from the one I get through the gateway interface which is:

15:46:19:526 - Info : Logger started
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway started by user [SYSTEM], having administrative rights
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway computer domain for accounts is [3CXHOST]
15:46:19:526 - Info : Skype installed on C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway rights set01 updated
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway rights set02 updated
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway rights set03 updated
15:46:19:526 - Info : Gateway rights set04 updated
15:46:19:526 - Info : Loading gateway configuration from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\_3CXSkypeGateway\3CXSkypeGateway.ini
15:46:19:526 - Info : Configuration file is in proper Unicode format
15:46:19:526 - Info : Searching for existing Skype gateway computer accounts:
15:46:19:536 - Warning : ----------- Logging is now filtered according to option "info warning error time" -----------
15:46:19:536 - Error : Cannot take computer account [1] for channel [10000], channel will be disabled!
15:46:19:536 - Info : Found 1 channel(s) declared in the configuration file
15:46:19:536 - Info : Effectively loaded 1 channel(s)
15:46:19:536 - Info : Channel listener running on [127.0.0.1:5545]
15:46:19:536 - Info : Starting PBX server checker on [localhost], checking at every [2000] msec
15:46:19:536 - Info : Starting Skype server checker on [www.skype.com:80], checking at every [2000] msec
15:46:19:536 - Error : Gateway service cannot be started, no channels available
15:46:19:536 - Info : Gateway service is shutting down
15:46:19:826 - Info : Logger closed


Thats all the tracelogs I can find.

I just though of something that I might ty. I did change the prefix to the ckype accounts when I was setting up the gateway. I'm going to try it agian and just use the default prefix. I don't know if that will make a difference. Let you know.

Thanks agian for your help. I know this is beta software but it sure is interesting and seems to have some powerful capabilities Keep up the good work!

edited by vali skype user account to protect privacy

 

[CharlesC]

SOLVED!!!

Well it turned out to be something simple and I should have tried it before.....

Reinstalling and setting up the Gateway using the default prefix of "3cxskypeacc" worked! I had been changing the prefix to just "3CXSKYPE" because I'm a big fan of caps!!

I also reinstalled it agian and used the prefix of "abcdef" to see if it might have been related to the users being caps and it worked.

Another reinstall using "Abcdef" failed.

Yet another reinstalled using "abcdEf" also failed.

One last installtion using the default prefix but with one capital "3Cxskypeacc" also failed.

It appears that the use of any capital letters in the prefix causes it to fail

Thanks agian for your help. I don't know if this is a bug and has been noted or just something that can't be fix due to limitations in the OS
If you didn't know about it, now you do

 

[Vali_3CX]

8)
I was just about to submit the reply, now I will post just the technical description I wrote

(line1) 15:46:19:526 - Info : Searching for existing Skype gateway computer accounts:
(line2) 15:46:19:536 - Warning : ----------- Logging is now filtered according to option "info warning error time" -----------
(line3) 15:46:19:536 - Error : Cannot take computer account [1] for channel [10000], channel will be disabled![/quote]

The issue is "described" by these three lines, mainly by the first one: (line1) service attempts to check existing gateway's computer accounts, and these should be displayed. Since between (line1) and (line2) is nothing, it means it wasn't able to retrieve/check any account. Therefore, on (line3) it tells it cannot use declared (in the inifile) account, so it disable its port. Since it was the only one, it means the service has no ports to run therefore it shuts down itself.

Thank you for your feedback, now I know what I have to test and to improve 8)

Best regards

vali

 

[CharlesC]

Yea I noticed that error in the log and thats what got me thinking about using the caps in the prefix. Glad I could be of some help in the debugging. Everything is working great! Incoming works awesome and I love the feature of it passing the skype username in the callerid field! The only thing now is to configure the outbound rule to work correctly Thanks agian and goodluck!