Session Border Controller Failover for Survivable Call Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud-based telephony services are vulnerable to outages, which limit or prevent users from accessing telephony services, and routing to alternative servers may not be practical during network connection issues.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an on-premises telephony node that provides telephony services during outages by using stored data from the telephony server and routing to a survivable distribution group via a session border controller.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cloud-based telephony services are used, then service accessibility and functionality are improved, but system reliability deteriorates during network outages or server failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring an on-premises telephony node with stored data from the cloud-based telephony server before outages occur. This stored data includes configuration information, contact lists, and routing rules that enable the on-premises node to immediately provide telephony services when the cloud server becomes unavailable, thus maintaining service availability during network outages or server failures
Solution Approach 2:
The on-premises telephony node acts as an intermediary between the cloud-based telephony server and the user devices. During normal operation, it forwards calls to the cloud server. During outages, it mediates by using its locally stored data to route calls to alternative destinations, including other on-premises devices or alternative cloud servers, thereby maintaining service availability without requiring continuous cloud connectivity
2Reliability
If routing to alternative servers is implemented, then service continuity is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional routing configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The on-premises telephony node implements self-service by automatically detecting when the cloud-based telephony server is unavailable and autonomously switching to alternative services using pre-configured routing rules. The system monitors its own operational status and can trigger failover without requiring manual intervention or complex centralized management, thereby maintaining service continuity while limiting the increase in operational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Routing configurations and alternative server information are pre-loaded into the on-premises telephony node during initial setup. This preliminary configuration eliminates the need for complex real-time routing decisions during outages, as the system simply executes pre-defined failover procedures using stored data, thus reducing operational complexity while ensuring service continuity
Data Source
AI summary
A session border controller (SBC) that is separate from a telephony server associated with a destination telephony address receives an initiation request for a telephone call from an originating telephony device to the destination telephony address. The SBC attempts to connect the originating telephony device to the telephony server. Upon failing to connect the originating telephony device to the telephony server, the SBC connects the originating telephony device to a backup address associated with a distribution group. The SBC causes connection of the telephony device to a device of the distribution group via the backup address.