Basics

HOMER Basics

What is HOMER?

HOMER is really as a set of individual open-source software components, providing for a complete IP telephony capture suite and integrated monitoring appliance.

At the core of HOMER is Kamailio, providing the solid core building blocks of the capture solution via its functions and modules. HOMER Project's Sipcapture module specifically enables Kamailio to become "HOMER" and capture SIP messages in different modes:

• Homer Encapsulation Protocol (HEP v1, v2, v3)
• IPIP encapsulation (ETHHDR+IPHDR+IPHDR+UDPHDR)
• Monitoring/mirroring port (RAW SIP)

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In a HOMER eco-system there are two main actors:

• Capture Agent(s):
  The Capture Agents sniff, filter and mirror SIP Packets at the source interfaces and deliver them to a Capture Server using one of the available transport methods (HEP, IPIP, etc) for processing. The Capture Agent role can either be covered by a software element (integrated or external) running on an existing voice platform supporting HEP (ie: Kamailio, FreeSwitch, Asterisk, etc) or using a dedicated agent (CaptAgent) in parallel to the platform or using a dedicated instance with access to the mirrored traffic.

• Capture Server(s):
  The Capture Server receives, stores and analyzes packets received by Capture Agents or RAW Interfaces based on its configuration, and provides access to the archived data and statistics via API and Web UI to authenticated users. The Capture Server role is covered by Kamailio + Sipcapture module and webHomer interface. This core element is meant to be deployed in a protected/secure environment.