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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ MMS & SMS Technical Discussions (unsupported) ⬆ Archive through November 21, 2009 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| medium kuriboh New member Username: Mediumkuriboh Post Number: 8 Registered: 04-2008 |
I am working at a value added services, i am used to using nowsms as SMSC gateway, usually i connect to our operator using SMPP connection, the operator provide the SMSC IP/PORT, and i just connect to it, and use 2-way SMS... We requested to establish MMS service with the same operator, the operator gave us a new IP/PORT, a shortcode, a VASPID and a VASID. I guess the VASPID and VASID are not useful and are related to only marketing issues. Now, what should i do to be able to send an MMS throught my operator, i guess i should configure nowsms as an MMS gateway, but i am not sure what to do. I read lot about the subject, but unfortunately there is no simple tutorial anywhere, all i have is an IP/Port, what to do to be able to send MMS? Thanks | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 388 Registered: 08-2008 |
Hi, Actually the VASPID and VASID can be important ... they are often required for an additional level of authentication on the provider system. However, that said ... an IP address and a port isn't enough to go on. The MMS protocols for this type of connectivity are not as well-standardised as SMPP in the SMS world. Based upon the information that you have been given, I am guessing that your provider has provisioned an MM7 connection for you. To successfully make an MM7 connection, they need to give you a complete URL. For example, if they gave you an IP address of 1.2.3.4 and a port number of 5678, then this would be a URL of http://1.2.3.4:5678/ However, in our experience ... usually there is more to the URL than just an IP address and port number. So you should ask your provider if the IP address and port information that you have is the complete URL. Next, it would also be helpful if you ask them what vendor's software they are using for their MMSC. (This will help if you have problems after the initial attempt, and we need to do further troubleshooting.) Assuming that you've got the complete URL, here are the basics of defining an MM7 connection: You define an MM7 connection under the "MMSC Routing" section of NowSMS. "Account Name" and "Account Description" are internal account names used only within NowSMS, so you can use any values here. "Default Sender Address" refers to the sender address that will be applied to messages that you send out. You can set a default value for this sender address here, which would normally be your short code. If "Allow Sender Address Override" is UNchecked, this means that all messages you send out will have the "Default Sender Address" applied as the sender address. If it is checked, then this means that you can specify different sender addresses when you send out messages. "Route Messages to VASP via" should be "MM7" if that is the protocol being used. "Server Address" refers to the path on their server to which you should submit messages using MM7. You should ask them what path you should use (or if http://1.2.3.4:5678/ is enough). "Login Name" and "Password" refer to a username and password that can be sent to the server when you submit messages. If these parameters are set, NowSMS will send these parameters with "HTTP Basic Authentication" (e.g., "Authorization: Basic" header). Note that in our experience, very few providers actually use this for user identification, instead authenticating based upon your IP address and "VASP ID", "VAS ID" and/or "Service Code" values. So it is not unusual for several of these fields to be left blank. If your provider has given you "VASP ID", "VAS ID" and/or "Service Code" values to use, then normally the "Login Name" and "Password" fields are left blank. Set "Connection Type" to be "To MMSC (submit format)", as you will be submitting MMS messages to the provider for outbound delivery. (The "Default" would also work, but better to be explicit.) The remaining settings can probably be left at their defaults. Press "Ok" to save the settings, and then when you get back to the "MMSC Routing" screen, select this route as the "Default Route" and press "Apply" to save. Now ... any messages that you submit via NowSMS will be routed via this MM7 connection. Note that because you don't seem to have much detail about what parameters are required by your service provider ... chances are that the first attempt will not be successful. To troubleshoot your connection, enable the "MMSCDEBUG.LOG" on the "Serial #" page of the configuration dialog. This will log all of the MM7 submission attempts, and the responses that come back. We can look at this log file to try to determine the problem. But you may also need feedback from your provider about what they are seeing on their end. Note that the above only covers you sending MMS messages through your provider. It does not cover how you receive messages from your provider. To receive messages from the service provider, the service provider actually initiates a connection to your system to deliver MMS messages. To configure this on your end, you define an account under "MMSC VASP". This defines an account on your system that your service provider will use when connecting to your system. They will then connect to you (posting received messages via MM7) using the following URL format: http://host.name:port/mm7/account=password "host.name" is the IP address or host name of your NowSMS server. "port" is the "HTTP port" on the "MMSC" page of the configuration dialog". "account" is the "MMSC VASP" account name, and "password" is the password associated with that account. Those are the basics. It's a bit more difficult to get up and running than SMS, so get ready with the MMSCDEBUG.LOG and we'll help you work through that initial configuration. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
| medium kuriboh New member Username: Mediumkuriboh Post Number: 10 Registered: 04-2008 |
Thanks Sir, you were a great help. Actually the operator has provided us with an URL, they seem blocked the port on their firewall. I will request reopening the port and check back again, and feedback here. Currently we requested only sending mms, however the application form is the same for both, and it seems there is no place for a password, just i need to define the IP/port on my side, is this normal ? Probably i will request receiving msgs after sending will succeed, i hope it will  Thanks again | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 394 Registered: 08-2008 |
That's normal. They usually need to provision the IP address that you are connection from.
That's normal. I'd say 90+% of the time you are being authenticated primarily based upon your IP address, not a login name and password. VASPID and VASID are sometimes used as an extra layer of authentication. And "Service Code" is sometimes used for operator accounting purposes. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
| medium kuriboh New member Username: Mediumkuriboh Post Number: 11 Registered: 04-2008 |
I tried to send an mms, and it worked from second try. It seems like i should run the mmsc service, even if i am not using my mmsc locally. Also for the mmsc route i made, i should specify that i want to send to all phonenumbers by setting * in recipient phonenumbers. I tried sending first a wave file, phone recognized that it is a sound file, however, it couldn't play it, maybe it is something related to codecs supported by my phone? I then tried sending 2 Jpeg image, an .amr sound file, all ok. Then i tried a 3GP video file, it worked fine. So basically it seems most of issues are related to supported formats of image, audio, and video on a specific mobile. So if you can guide me to some links that provide information concerning audio and video codecs most supported... There is another issue, in the application form i got from my provider, it seems like they specified that i can receive delivery report, also they provide a specific port (different than the one for mmsc) to get these reports. Now how can i get these reports and use them ? Do i get an sms ? is there some id in the sms to associate the sent mms with the delivery report? Thanks | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 417 Registered: 08-2008 |
Correct, all of the MMS routing functionality is preformed by the MMSC, even if it is routing externally to other MMSCs. Regarding MMS formats, the universal standard formats are pretty much what you've already encounter ... JPEG, GIF, AMR (sound) and 3GP (H.263 video + AMR). You can find more details in the MMS Conformance Document published by the Open Mobile Alliance (http://www.openmobilealliance.org), as part of the MMS enabler. But that's the basics. Some phones, of course, may support additional content types, like MP3s, or other video formats, but what other content types to support are at the discretion of the phone manufacturer. Regarding delivery reports ... the way this typically works is that the provider connects back to you via MM7 to deliver them. This is done in the same way as if the provider was delivering messages to you. So they connect to you to deliver them, you don't connect to them. It is described in the bottom part of this link: http://blog.nowsms.com/2009/02/connecting-to-operator-mmsc-with-mm7.html That said, figuring out how to process the delivery reports once you have them is a bit of a challenge. Currently the PHP script option for processing received MMS messages does not support delivery reports. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
| medium kuriboh New member Username: Mediumkuriboh Post Number: 12 Registered: 04-2008 |
i am still having problems in receiving delivery reports, actually it seems like operator is not sending back anything. Using wireshark to sniff network activity, i realized that i get no traffic from the operator (it is supposed that the operator uses some ip address from their side to post delivery reports to me (in the application form i sent first), but it seems i get no activity from that ip. So i just have this question, could the problem be in the cellphone i am using to receive sent mms ? i am sending to a a sony Ericsson W200 mobile, could it be the problem. I need to know this so if the problem is elsewhere, i can contact my operator and try to solve the problem in their side. thanks | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 473 Registered: 08-2008 |
Hi, The first thing you should do is make sure that delivery reports are actually being requested. You should see <DeliveryReport>true</DeliveryReport> in the MM7 data. There is a small possibility that the receiving device could be blocking the delivery report. Technically, the MMS specification does allow a receiving MMS client to block a delivery report from being generated. Even if the client does this, the MMSC may choose to ignore the request. I don't recall seeing this configuration setting for any MMS clients, but if it were present, it would be something like "Allow delivery report". It is also possible that if the phone was not configured with the correct MMSC settings, it might be able to receive an MMS, but the MMSC could have a problem generating a delivery report. Verify that the phone can properly send an MMS message, and that will be enough to tell you that its settings are ok. In fact, go ahead and send an MMS from the phone to itself with a delivery report requested ... that will tell you whether or not there is an issue with delivery reports being generated for that specific client. In all likelihood, there's a configuration issue at your mobile operator. They might not actually support MMS delivery reports ... or they might have some other configuration issue that is stopping the MMS delivery reports from getting routed back to you. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
| medium kuriboh New member Username: Mediumkuriboh Post Number: 14 Registered: 04-2008 |
yes i have <DeliveryReport>true</DeliveryReport> in my mm7 soap, also i am receiving the delivery report after receiving, however i am not receiving a "Read report". I guess it is time to contact my operator, again. Thanks | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 478 Registered: 08-2008 |
Ah ... ok, "Read Report" is significantly different from "Delivery Report". You do need to make sure that <ReadReply>true</ReadReply> is in the MM7 data. There are many compatibility issues here, because the first version of the MMS specification did not support read reports. Therefore all of the following are possible: 1.) The receiving handset does not support read reports. Similar to what I suggested above, try having the handset send a message to itself, requesting a read report. With a SonyEricsson phone, after you read the message, it will prompt you as to whether or not you want to send a read report. (Note how easy it is for the recipient to suppress this report.) Assuming that the read report is generated ... how does the phone receive it back? Does it appear as a new MMS message in the inbox (if it does, then this suggests that the operator MMSC does not support true "read reports"). Normally, on a SonyEricsson phone, the read report would just flash on the screen ... and the status should update in your sent messages folder on the phone. (If the status doesn't update, then your operator MMSC has a problem with message IDs in the read reports, which unfortunately can happen.) So the question is what do you see when you try this test sending an MMS from a phone with a read report requested. 2.) As I hinted at above, the operator MMSC might not support read reports. It was about 2 to 3 years after the first release of MMS that read reports were added to the official OMA MMS specification. So older MMSC software (and older phones) may not support read reports. In some cases with phones that don't support read reports you'll receive a regular MMS message back in reply from the receiving handset. Because of this ... and because the recipient might be charged for sending the read receipt (because the operator can't tell it is a read receipt if the handset sends a regular MMS back in reply), some operators as a policy have disabled read receipts on their systems. Again, doing a read report test with a live mobile phone is a good way to see what is supported on your operator network. 3.) Your provider might not support read reports for MM7, or it may be a configuration issue on their end. At least you can go through the first bit to see if read reports are even available phone-to-phone on your operator network first. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
