Grandstream GXW-4104 disconnects after some time

[e23cx]

Hello All,

I configured GXW-4104 with my 3CX, direct after configuration it started working but after some time, I would say 6-12 hours, the status on the SIP trunk for GXW-4104 turned to "red". I can still do calls after it turned "red", but after next few hours it stops to accept the inbound and outbound calls from/to my internal extensions on 3CX.
The logs show only "Not Answered"
Activity logs show "05/14/2020 7:14:55 AM - : Failed to create outbound lines to call 900491xxxxxx"

On the GXW-4104 router I see the SIP registartion status for the configured account - "No" ... But direct after SIP trunk new configured on 3CX, the registration status "Yes"

If I remove GXW-4104 SIP trunk and reconfigure it again, it starts working again for the next few hours and the same behavior happens again.

I follow the exact steps which are on 3CX page for this router config and the router has latest firmware. 3CX is also latest version.

Any thoughts what I can do else?

Thank you in advance!

 

[leejor]

I'm assuming that the gateway and 3CX server are on the same LAN. Have you checked the 3CX Activity Log for any error messages? Maybe IP Blacklist ?

 

[e23cx]

no, it's on different LAN. I put the system behind a Cisco firewall. But this ip range is routable ( it's on 10.x.x.x/8 ip network range). and all ports are open between these both networks.

there're no messages about any blacklisted IP in Activity logs.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

The Gateway is registration based, so if after a while the registration is not refreshed (for network reasons or other) it will eventually appear unregistered on the management console.

You should also report what version firmware it is running currently and what version your PBX is.

 

[e23cx]

Where can I set a timer in 3CX to keep the registration as long as possible?

3CX version 16.0.612
GXW-4104 FW. version 1.4.1.5

 

[JohnS_3CX]

You don't, this is already built in and the gateway will refresh its registration with the PBX every 120 seconds. As a matter of fact, that model refreshes much more often than that in practice when we look at a capture (it's a 4 port so 4 accounts register).

I think this may potentially be a network issue on your end, so I would suggest you run a capture on your PBX and on the Cisco to which the gateway is connected. Then turn on the gateway and let the capture run for about 5 mins.

You should notice that the gateway sends quite a few registrations per minute, and the PBX replies to them.

However, if you see the gateway-side capture sending say 10 registrations, and the PBX-side capture showing less than that coming in, then you know for a fact that the network between the two is not carrying all the packets across from one end to the other as you would expect.

 

[e23cx]

could you please guide me how to run capture on PBX ?
I can run capture on Cisco Firewall, but I don't know how to run capture on PBX

 

[craigreilly]

Wireshark.
Use the mirroring option on a network switch to capture the traffic live without installing WireShark on 3cx. (Mirror 3cx port and another port where laptop is connected)

Or, Dashboard, Activity, Capture.... Then open Wireshark and the associated Capture after stopping it and downloading. And then review the details.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

You can run the PBX capture by going to the Activity Log and clicking the Capture button on top. If you have more than one interfaces, select "All Interfaces" to be sure.

For the GrandStream Capture, you may have to run it from the Cisco (look it up online for your model).

Once you have the two captures, you can filter them in Wireshark for SIP traffic between the PBX IP and the Granstream IP.

Finally, if you see the Granstream capture sending registrations to the PBX IP, and the PBX capture not seeing the same registrations arriving on its interface, then you know it is network related.

 

[e23cx]

I have finally collected the logs. From Wireshark logs I don't see any SIP registration packets are sent from Grandstream.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Do you mean that it registers at first (you see the packets) and then it stops after some point?

If so, then you will have to look at the last block of registration attempts and see if the reply from the PBX comes or not. The reason I say this, is that in case the PBX stops replying, or the network stops the replies from reaching the gateway, it may back off it's registration attempts and only send one every maybe 5 minutes or so. This does not mean it stopped completely, so the capture will have to run for a while (not just 1-2 mins) in order to ascertain if this is what is happening.

It could also be that the device is freezing, but I'm not sure if you can check for that without contacting Grandstream for support.

 

[e23cx]

I had captured the traffic from the port where Grandstream is connected for 30 minutes. I even rebooted the Grandstream while capturing the traffic. But I couldn't see any packets except of ARP and ICMP.
Device is not freezing, as the SIP account status on registration tab shown as "Yes".

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi,

In this case, it appears the gateway stops for some reason. The best I can suggest is to factory reset it, and reprovision exactly as per our guide, although you said you have already done this and the same issue comes back after a few hours https://www.3cx.com/voip-gateways/grandstream-fxo/

You could potentially try to put it behind the same network as the PBX and run it there for a while to check for stability. The current way you have it installed may be causing something the gateway doesn't like and it stops registering at some point, so this test should at least clarify this point. Failing that, I would suggest to contact the manufacturer directly as a last resort.

 

[e23cx]

I did some changes on my laptop and was able to capture those SIP registrations packets you were talking about. From the capture I can see after some time where one last confirmation packet from PBX is not coming, and exactly after that the Grandstream trunk in PBX is shown in "red".



I can't understand why Grandstream stops sending the registartion SIP packets to PBX if only one confirmation SIP paket from PBX is not received?

 

[JohnS_3CX]

I'm not sure it would stop after a single reply missing, but it might be worth capturing from the PBX too (Activity Log > capture) to see whether the reply was indeed sent through, but never arrived. This is to see if there is any loss.

 

[e23cx]

but it does, it stops after single reply has been missed.
I collected the logs from PBX side today, And I see the last SIP registration confirmation message has been sent, but never received on Grandstream side. That's why Gradstream doesn't send any new SIP registration packets and hangs in that awaiting state.

I understand the issue is somewhere on Firewall side or network. I'm troubleshooting this now.
I'm just wondering why Grandstream stops sending new registartion packets if one was missed. It's normal in Network environment that the network can be fluctuating sometimes and lose packets.

What I can also confimr, that without any new config, if I reboot the Grandstream, it starts sending SIP registration packets again.

Should I try to ask this question on Grandstream forum?

 

[CentrexJ]

Here is an "unorthodox" option that works really well for us with these Grandstream gateways. In 3CX, SIP trunks, find your Grandstream gateway. Change it from "Registration/Account based" to "Do Not Require - IP Based".

I have sold over 20 of these Grandstream boxes (including the GXW4108) and they will have issues during certain circumstances maintaining the registration with 3CX. However the GXW device will work just fine with 3CX when configured with the 3CX template if you change 3CX to "IP Auth" after you configure it. No changes required on the Grandstream device side.

While we only deploy these for "on-prem" based 3CX systems, so I know this will fix it in that circumstance, it will probably also work for you. The issue I have most with these GXW boxes dropping the registration is if 3CX server or services restart, the GXW will need a reboot to re-connect if that happens. Setting to "IP Auth" fixes that and you never have to worry again.

 

[e23cx]

this did the fix! when I changed it to "IP Based", the GXW status changed to "Green" !
Thank you, so much!

But from Wireshark I see, there's no more SIP registrations packets sent to PBX from GXW

 

[CentrexJ]

this did the fix! when I changed it to "IP Based", the GXW status changed to "Green" !
Thank you, so much!

But from Wireshark I see, there's no more SIP registrations packets sent to PBX from GXW

It won't register anymore with that configuration, but does it work for calling out and calling in?

 

[e23cx]

yes, it works for inbound and outbound calls !
thank you!