dst_blocklist.txt

Destination blocklist Overview
------------------------------

 The destination blocklist (dst_blocklist) is used to try to mark bad
 destinations and avoid possible future expensive send operation to them.
 A destination is added to the blocklist when an attempt to send to it fails (e.g.
 timeout while trying to send or connect on TCP), or when a SIP timeout occurs
 while trying to forward statefully an INVITE (using tm) and the remote side
 doesn't send back any response.

 The blocklist (if enabled) is checked before any send attempt.

Drawbacks
---------

 Using the destination blocklist will cause some performance degradation,
 especially on multi cpu machines. If you don't need it you can easily
 disable it, either in sip-router's config or at compile time. Disabling it at
 compile time is slightly better (but not in a "measurable" way) than
 disabling it at runtime, from the config file.

 Whether the destination blocklist is a good solution for you depends a lot
 on the setup. In general it is better to turn it on when:
   - sending to clients that don't respond is expensive (e.g. lots of clients
     use tcp and they have the habit of silently discarding tcp traffic from time
     to time)
   - stateful forwarding is used (tm) and lower memory usage is desired
     (a transaction will fail immediately if the destination is already 
     blocklisted by a previous transaction to the same destination that failed
     due to timeout)
   - faster dns failover is desired, especially when stateful forwarding (tm)
     and UDP are used
   - better chances of DOS attack survival are important

Config Variables
----------------

 use_dst_blocklist = on | off (default off) - enable the destination blocklist:
  If on each failed send attempt will cause the destination to be blocklisted.
  Before any send operation this blocklist will be checked and if a match is found the
  send is no longer attempted (an error is returned immediately).
  Note: using the blocklist incurs a small performance penalty.

 dst_blocklist_mem = size in Kb (default 250 Kb) - maximum
  shared memory amount used for keeping the blocklisted destinations.

 dst_blocklist_expire = time in s (default 60 s) - how long time a 
  blocklisted destination will be kept in the blocklist (w/o any update).

 dst_blocklist_gc_interval = time in s (default 60 s) - how often the 
  garbage collection will run (eliminating old, expired entries).

 dst_blocklist_init = on | off (default on) - if off, the blocklist
  is not initialized at startup and cannot be enabled at runtime,
  which saves some memory.

Compile Time Options
--------------------

 USE_DST_BLOCKLIST - if defined the blocklist support will be compiled-in
  (default).


 Note: To remove a compile time option,  edit the file Makefile.defs and remove
    USE_DST_BLOCKLIST from the list named DEFS. 
    To add a compile time option, just add it to the make command line,
     e.g.: make proper; make all extra_defs=-DUSE_DNS_FAILOVER
    or for a permanent solution, edit Makefile.defs and add it to DEFS 
    (don't forget to prefix it with -D).