Asterisk server performance under stress test

VoIP has gained tremendous popularity in the recent times. However, security and Quality of Service (QoS) are two factors that severely affect its performance. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servers must have enough hardware configurations as well as they should be properly configured to get a good voice quality. In this paper we investigate the effects of hardware configuration of the Asterisk (SIP) server that it might have on the QoS of VoIP. In particular, we load the server gradually with bulk calls and check the performance of CPU and RAM. We also scan the network packets and continuously monitor the call quality. In essence, we try to investigate a threshold value for the number of bulk calls that can be generated by our hardware configuration that will guarantee a good QoS. Therefore, one can conclude about the hardware configuration requirements of the Asterisk SIP server by analyzing the QoS of the generated calls. We also take into account the network loading conditions and try to combine the effects of both to come to a realistic value on the number of calls that can be generated.