A Study of Load Balancing Effectiveness on SIP Network

Abstract

Load balancing is the ability of the system to distribute network traffic efficiently. Due to time-sensitive nature of Voice over Internet Protocol, the system needs to be able to serve with almost excellent quality. Therefore, implementation of load balancing protocol is crucial in VoIP environment. In this study, Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP) is configured in Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) network which is one of VoIP signaling protocol. SIP functions to establish the connections between VoIP users as well as manages and maintains the VoIP session. This research is conducted in simulation environment by utilizing Graphical Network Simulator 3 (GNS3) software. Two scenarios is constructed; load balancing scenario and non-load balancing scenario in GNS3 topology where each of the scenarios is simulated to monitor SIP behavior in the network and also the differences in term of network performances and voice quality performances. The data traffics for both scenarios were captured by using jPerf tools and Omnipeek packet analyzer. jPerf is used to monitor the network throughput while Omnipeek packet analyzer is used to monitor jitter, packet loss, delay, Mean Opinion Score (MOS) and R-Factor during call session. Each of the monitored parameters were presented and the results of the simulation shown the implementation of GLBP to provide redundancy and load balancing in the system for smooth call connection.