Section 4 Overview of Operation

This section introduces the basic operations of SIP using simple
   examples.  This section is tutorial in nature and does not contain
   any normative statements.
   The first example shows the basic functions of SIP: location of an
   end point, signal of a desire to communicate, negotiation of session
   parameters to establish the session, and teardown of the session once
   established.
   Figure 1 shows a typical example of a SIP message exchange between
   two users, Alice and Bob.  (Each message is labeled with the letter
   "F" and a number for reference by the text.)  In this example, Alice
   uses a SIP application on her PC (referred to as a softphone) to call
   Bob on his SIP phone over the Internet.  Also shown are two SIP proxy
   servers that act on behalf of Alice and Bob to facilitate the session
   establishment.  This typical arrangement is often referred to as the
   "SIP trapezoid" as shown by the geometric shape of the dotted lines
   in Figure 1.
   Alice "calls" Bob using his SIP identity, a type of Uniform Resource
   Identifier (URI) called a SIP URI. SIP URIs are defined in Section
   19.1.  It has a similar form to an email address, typically
   containing a username and a host name.  In this case, it is
   sip:bob@biloxi.com, where biloxi.com is the domain of Bob's SIP
   service provider.  Alice has a SIP URI of sip:alice@atlanta.com.
   Alice might have typed in Bob's URI or perhaps clicked on a hyperlink
   or an entry in an address book.  SIP also provides a secure URI,
   called a SIPS URI.  An example would be sips:bob@biloxi.com.  A call
   made to a SIPS URI guarantees that secure, encrypted transport
   (namely TLS) is used to carry all SIP messages from the caller to the
   domain of the callee.  From there, the request is sent securely to
   the callee, but with security mechanisms that depend on the policy of
   the domain of the callee.
   SIP is based on an HTTP-like request/response transaction model.
   Each transaction consists of a request that invokes a particular
   method, or function, on the server and at least one response.  In
   this example, the transaction begins with Alice's softphone sending
   an INVITE request addressed to Bob's SIP URI.  INVITE is an example
   of a SIP method that specifies the action that the requestor (Alice)
   wants the server (Bob) to take.  The INVITE request contains a number
   of header fields.  Header fields are named attributes that provide
   additional information about a message.  The ones present in an
   INVITE include a unique identifier for the call, the destination
   address, Alice's address, and information about the type of session
   that Alice wishes to establish with Bob.  The INVITE (message F1 in
   Figure 1) might look like this:
                     atlanta.com  . . . biloxi.com
                 .      proxy              proxy     .
               .                                       .
       Alice's  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Bob's
      softphone                                        SIP Phone
         |                |                |                |
         |    INVITE F1   |                |                |
         |--------------->|    INVITE F2   |                |
         |  100 Trying F3 |--------------->|    INVITE F4   |
         |<---------------|  100 Trying F5 |--------------->|
         |                |<-------------- | 180 Ringing F6 |
         |                | 180 Ringing F7 |<---------------|
         | 180 Ringing F8 |<---------------|     200 OK F9  |
         |<---------------|    200 OK F10  |<---------------|
         |    200 OK F11  |<---------------|                |
         |<---------------|                |                |
         |                       ACK F12                    |
         |------------------------------------------------->|
         |                   Media Session                  |
         |<================================================>|
         |                       BYE F13                    |
         |<-------------------------------------------------|
         |                     200 OK F14                   |
         |------------------------------------------------->|
         |                                                  |
         Figure 1: SIP session setup example with SIP trapezoid
      INVITE sip:bob@biloxi.com SIP/2.0
      Via: SIP/2.0/UDP pc33.atlanta.com;branch=z9hG4bK776asdhds
      Max-Forwards: 70
      To: Bob <sip:bob@biloxi.com>
      From: Alice <sip:alice@atlanta.com>;tag=1928301774
      Call-ID: a84b4c76e66710@pc33.atlanta.com
      CSeq: 314159 INVITE
      Contact: <sip:alice@pc33.atlanta.com>
      Content-Type: application/sdp
      Content-Length: 142
      (Alice's SDP not shown)
   The first line of the text-encoded message contains the method name
   (INVITE).  The lines that follow are a list of header fields.  This
   example contains a minimum required set.  The header fields are
   briefly described below:
   Via contains the address (pc33.atlanta.com) at which Alice is
   expecting to receive responses to this request.  It also contains a
   branch parameter that identifies this transaction.
   To contains a display name (Bob) and a SIP or SIPS URI
   (sip:bob@biloxi.com) towards which the request was originally
   directed.  Display names are described in RFC 2822 [3].
   From also contains a display name (Alice) and a SIP or SIPS URI
   (sip:alice@atlanta.com) that indicate the originator of the request.
   This header field also has a tag parameter containing a random string
   (1928301774) that was added to the URI by the softphone.  It is used
   for identification purposes.
   Call-ID contains a globally unique identifier for this call,
   generated by the combination of a random string and the softphone's
   host name or IP address.  The combination of the To tag, From tag,
   and Call-ID completely defines a peer-to-peer SIP relationship
   between Alice and Bob and is referred to as a dialog.
   CSeq or Command Sequence contains an integer and a method name.  The
   CSeq number is incremented for each new request within a dialog and
   is a traditional sequence number.
   Contact contains a SIP or SIPS URI that represents a direct route to
   contact Alice, usually composed of a username at a fully qualified
   domain name (FQDN).  While an FQDN is preferred, many end systems do
   not have registered domain names, so IP addresses are permitted.
   While the Via header field tells other elements where to send the
   response, the Contact header field tells other elements where to send
   future requests.
   Max-Forwards serves to limit the number of hops a request can make on
   the way to its destination.  It consists of an integer that is
   decremented by one at each hop.
   Content-Type contains a description of the message body (not shown).
   Content-Length contains an octet (byte) count of the message body.
   The complete set of SIP header fields is defined in Section 20.
   The details of the session, such as the type of media, codec, or
   sampling rate, are not described using SIP.  Rather, the body of a
   SIP message contains a description of the session, encoded in some
   other protocol format.  One such format is the Session Description
   Protocol (SDP) (RFC 2327 [1]).  This SDP message (not shown in the
   example) is carried by the SIP message in a way that is analogous to
   a document attachment being carried by an email message, or a web
   page being carried in an HTTP message.
   Since the softphone does not know the location of Bob or the SIP
   server in the biloxi.com domain, the softphone sends the INVITE to
   the SIP server that serves Alice's domain, atlanta.com.  The address
   of the atlanta.com SIP server could have been configured in Alice's
   softphone, or it could have been discovered by DHCP, for example.
   The atlanta.com SIP server is a type of SIP server known as a proxy
   server.  A proxy server receives SIP requests and forwards them on
   behalf of the requestor.  In this example, the proxy server receives
   the INVITE request and sends a 100 (Trying) response back to Alice's
   softphone.  The 100 (Trying) response indicates that the INVITE has
   been received and that the proxy is working on her behalf to route
   the INVITE to the destination.  Responses in SIP use a three-digit
   code followed by a descriptive phrase.  This response contains the
   same To, From, Call-ID, CSeq and branch parameter in the Via as the
   INVITE, which allows Alice's softphone to correlate this response to
   the sent INVITE.  The atlanta.com proxy server locates the proxy
   server at biloxi.com, possibly by performing a particular type of DNS
   (Domain Name Service) lookup to find the SIP server that serves the
   biloxi.com domain.  This is described in [4].  As a result, it
   obtains the IP address of the biloxi.com proxy server and forwards,
   or proxies, the INVITE request there.  Before forwarding the request,
   the atlanta.com proxy server adds an additional Via header field
   value that contains its own address (the INVITE already contains
   Alice's address in the first Via).  The biloxi.com proxy server
   receives the INVITE and responds with a 100 (Trying) response back to
   the atlanta.com proxy server to indicate that it has received the
   INVITE and is processing the request.  The proxy server consults a
   database, generically called a location service, that contains the
   current IP address of Bob.  (We shall see in the next section how
   this database can be populated.)  The biloxi.com proxy server adds
   another Via header field value with its own address to the INVITE and
   proxies it to Bob's SIP phone.
   Bob's SIP phone receives the INVITE and alerts Bob to the incoming
   call from Alice so that Bob can decide whether to answer the call,
   that is, Bob's phone rings.  Bob's SIP phone indicates this in a 180
   (Ringing) response, which is routed back through the two proxies in
   the reverse direction.  Each proxy uses the Via header field to
   determine where to send the response and removes its own address from
   the top.  As a result, although DNS and location service lookups were
   required to route the initial INVITE, the 180 (Ringing) response can
   be returned to the caller without lookups or without state being
   maintained in the proxies.  This also has the desirable property that
   each proxy that sees the INVITE will also see all responses to the
   INVITE.
   When Alice's softphone receives the 180 (Ringing) response, it passes
   this information to Alice, perhaps using an audio ringback tone or by
   displaying a message on Alice's screen.
   In this example, Bob decides to answer the call.  When he picks up
   the handset, his SIP phone sends a 200 (OK) response to indicate that
   the call has been answered.  The 200 (OK) contains a message body
   with the SDP media description of the type of session that Bob is
   willing to establish with Alice.  As a result, there is a two-phase
   exchange of SDP messages: Alice sent one to Bob, and Bob sent one
   back to Alice.  This two-phase exchange provides basic negotiation
   capabilities and is based on a simple offer/answer model of SDP
   exchange.  If Bob did not wish to answer the call or was busy on
   another call, an error response would have been sent instead of the
   200 (OK), which would have resulted in no media session being
   established.  The complete list of SIP response codes is in Section
   21.  The 200 (OK) (message F9 in Figure 1) might look like this as
   Bob sends it out:
      SIP/2.0 200 OK
      Via: SIP/2.0/UDP server10.biloxi.com
         ;branch=z9hG4bKnashds8;received=192.0.2.3
      Via: SIP/2.0/UDP bigbox3.site3.atlanta.com
         ;branch=z9hG4bK77ef4c2312983.1;received=192.0.2.2
      Via: SIP/2.0/UDP pc33.atlanta.com
         ;branch=z9hG4bK776asdhds ;received=192.0.2.1
      To: Bob <sip:bob@biloxi.com>;tag=a6c85cf
      From: Alice <sip:alice@atlanta.com>;tag=1928301774
      Call-ID: a84b4c76e66710@pc33.atlanta.com
      CSeq: 314159 INVITE
      Contact: <sip:bob@192.0.2.4>
      Content-Type: application/sdp
      Content-Length: 131
      (Bob's SDP not shown)
   The first line of the response contains the response code (200) and
   the reason phrase (OK).  The remaining lines contain header fields.
   The Via, To, From, Call-ID, and CSeq header fields are copied from
   the INVITE request.  (There are three Via header field values - one
   added by Alice's SIP phone, one added by the atlanta.com proxy, and
   one added by the biloxi.com proxy.)  Bob's SIP phone has added a tag
   parameter to the To header field.  This tag will be incorporated by
   both endpoints into the dialog and will be included in all future
   requests and responses in this call.  The Contact header field
   contains a URI at which Bob can be directly reached at his SIP phone.
   The Content-Type and Content-Length refer to the message body (not
   shown) that contains Bob's SDP media information.
   In addition to DNS and location service lookups shown in this
   example, proxy servers can make flexible "routing decisions" to
   decide where to send a request.  For example, if Bob's SIP phone
   returned a 486 (Busy Here) response, the biloxi.com proxy server
   could proxy the INVITE to Bob's voicemail server.  A proxy server can
   also send an INVITE to a number of locations at the same time.  This
   type of parallel search is known as forking.
   In this case, the 200 (OK) is routed back through the two proxies and
   is received by Alice's softphone, which then stops the ringback tone
   and indicates that the call has been answered.  Finally, Alice's
   softphone sends an acknowledgement message, ACK, to Bob's SIP phone
   to confirm the reception of the final response (200 (OK)).  In this
   example, the ACK is sent directly from Alice's softphone to Bob's SIP
   phone, bypassing the two proxies.  This occurs because the endpoints
   have learned each other's address from the Contact header fields
   through the INVITE/200 (OK) exchange, which was not known when the
   initial INVITE was sent.  The lookups performed by the two proxies
   are no longer needed, so the proxies drop out of the call flow.  This
   completes the INVITE/200/ACK three-way handshake used to establish
   SIP sessions.  Full details on session setup are in Section 13.
   Alice and Bob's media session has now begun, and they send media
   packets using the format to which they agreed in the exchange of SDP.
   In general, the end-to-end media packets take a different path from
   the SIP signaling messages.
   During the session, either Alice or Bob may decide to change the
   characteristics of the media session.  This is accomplished by
   sending a re-INVITE containing a new media description.  This re-
   INVITE references the existing dialog so that the other party knows
   that it is to modify an existing session instead of establishing a
   new session.  The other party sends a 200 (OK) to accept the change.
   The requestor responds to the 200 (OK) with an ACK.  If the other
   party does not accept the change, he sends an error response such as
   488 (Not Acceptable Here), which also receives an ACK.  However, the
   failure of the re-INVITE does not cause the existing call to fail -
   the session continues using the previously negotiated
   characteristics.  Full details on session modification are in Section
   14.
   At the end of the call, Bob disconnects (hangs up) first and
   generates a BYE message.  This BYE is routed directly to Alice's
   softphone, again bypassing the proxies.  Alice confirms receipt of
   the BYE with a 200 (OK) response, which terminates the session and
   the BYE transaction.  No ACK is sent - an ACK is only sent in
   response to a response to an INVITE request.  The reasons for this
   special handling for INVITE will be discussed later, but relate to
   the reliability mechanisms in SIP, the length of time it can take for
   a ringing phone to be answered, and forking.  For this reason,
   request handling in SIP is often classified as either INVITE or non-
   INVITE, referring to all other methods besides INVITE.  Full details
   on session termination are in Section 15.
   Section 24.2 describes the messages shown in Figure 1 in full.
   In some cases, it may be useful for proxies in the SIP signaling path
   to see all the messaging between the endpoints for the duration of
   the session.  For example, if the biloxi.com proxy server wished to
   remain in the SIP messaging path beyond the initial INVITE, it would
   add to the INVITE a required routing header field known as Record-
   Route that contained a URI resolving to the hostname or IP address of
   the proxy.  This information would be received by both Bob's SIP
   phone and (due to the Record-Route header field being passed back in
   the 200 (OK)) Alice's softphone and stored for the duration of the
   dialog.  The biloxi.com proxy server would then receive and proxy the
   ACK, BYE, and 200 (OK) to the BYE.  Each proxy can independently
   decide to receive subsequent messages, and those messages will pass
   through all proxies that elect to receive it.  This capability is
   frequently used for proxies that are providing mid-call features.
   Registration is another common operation in SIP.  Registration is one
   way that the biloxi.com server can learn the current location of Bob.
   Upon initialization, and at periodic intervals, Bob's SIP phone sends
   REGISTER messages to a server in the biloxi.com domain known as a SIP
   registrar.  The REGISTER messages associate Bob's SIP or SIPS URI
   (sip:bob@biloxi.com) with the machine into which he is currently
   logged (conveyed as a SIP or SIPS URI in the Contact header field).
   The registrar writes this association, also called a binding, to a
   database, called the location service, where it can be used by the
   proxy in the biloxi.com domain.  Often, a registrar server for a
   domain is co-located with the proxy for that domain.  It is an
   important concept that the distinction between types of SIP servers
   is logical, not physical.
   Bob is not limited to registering from a single device.  For example,
   both his SIP phone at home and the one in the office could send
   registrations.  This information is stored together in the location
   service and allows a proxy to perform various types of searches to
   locate Bob.  Similarly, more than one user can be registered on a
   single device at the same time.
   The location service is just an abstract concept.  It generally
   contains information that allows a proxy to input a URI and receive a
   set of zero or more URIs that tell the proxy where to send the
   request.  Registrations are one way to create this information, but
   not the only way.  Arbitrary mapping functions can be configured at
   the discretion of the administrator.
   Finally, it is important to note that in SIP, registration is used
   for routing incoming SIP requests and has no role in authorizing
   outgoing requests.  Authorization and authentication are handled in
   SIP either on a request-by-request basis with a challenge/response
   mechanism, or by using a lower layer scheme as discussed in Section
   26.
   The complete set of SIP message details for this registration example
   is in Section 24.1.
   Additional operations in SIP, such as querying for the capabilities
   of a SIP server or client using OPTIONS, or canceling a pending
   request using CANCEL, will be introduced in later sections.