Drachtio SIP + RTP Server Setup Guide (2025)

Overview

Drachtio is an open-source SIP signaling server that enables developers to control SIP call flow, routing, and communication logic directly from Node.js or other backend applications.

This guide covers:

• Building Drachtio from source (latest version)
• Configuring SIP (UDP/TCP) and Admin API (TCP 9022)
• Enabling Prometheus monitoring and logging
• Connecting your Node.js SIP+RTP relay app

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Prerequisites

Requirement	Description
OS	Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+
Privileges	Root or sudo access
Network	SIP (UDP/TCP 5070), Admin (TCP 9022)
Packages	build-essential, libboost, libtool, libssl, cmake, git

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Step 1. Install Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential automake autoconf git cmake \
  libboost-all-dev libssl-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev \
  libpq-dev libexpat1-dev pkg-config libtool libtool-bin

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Step 2. Clone and Prepare the Source

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/davehorton/drachtio-server.git
cd drachtio-server
git submodule update --init --recursive

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Step 3. Build and Install

./bootstrap.sh
./configure
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

If you encounter a libtool error:

sudo apt install -y libtool libtool-bin
sudo make install

Verify installation:

which drachtio
drachtio -v

Expected:

/usr/local/bin/drachtio
Starting drachtio version v0.9.3

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Step 4. Configuration File

Create the config directory and file:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/drachtio
sudo nano /etc/drachtio/drachtio.conf.xml

Paste this configuration:

<drachtio>

  <!-- Admin TCP socket for Node.js relay control -->
  <admin port="9022" secret="c0mpl3x">127.0.0.1</admin>

  <!-- SIP stack configuration -->
  <sip>
    <contacts>
      <!-- Listen on both UDP and TCP, port 5070 -->
      <contact>sip:172.13.62.203:5070;transport=udp,tcp</contact>
    </contacts>

    <!-- Optional: block obvious scanners -->
    <spammers action="reject" tcp-action="discard">
      <header name="User-Agent">
        <value>sip-cli</value>
        <value>sipcli</value>
        <value>friendly-scanner</value>
      </header>
      <header name="To">
        <value>sipvicious</value>
      </header>
    </spammers>
  </sip>

  <!-- Metrics for Prometheus (optional) -->
  <monitoring>
    <prometheus port="8088">127.0.0.1</prometheus>
  </monitoring>

  <!-- Logging configuration -->
  <logging>
    <file>
      <name>/var/log/drachtio/drachtio.log</name>
      <archive>/var/log/drachtio/archive</archive>
      <size>100</size>
      <maxFiles>20</maxFiles>
      <auto-flush>true</auto-flush>
    </file>
    <sofia-loglevel>3</sofia-loglevel>
    <loglevel>info</loglevel>
  </logging>

</drachtio>

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Step 5. Systemd Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/drachtio.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=Drachtio SIP Server
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/drachtio -f /etc/drachtio/drachtio.conf.xml
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable drachtio
sudo systemctl start drachtio
sudo systemctl status drachtio

Expected:

● drachtio.service - Drachtio SIP Server
     Active: active (running)

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Step 6. Open Firewall Ports

sudo ufw allow 5070/udp
sudo ufw allow 5070/tcp
sudo ufw allow 9022/tcp
sudo ufw reload

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Step 7. Verify

sudo ss -tulnp | egrep '5070|9022|8088'

Expected:

udp   UNCONN 0 0 172.13.62.203:5070  0.0.0.0:* users:(("drachtio",pid=3120607))
tcp   LISTEN 0 4096 127.0.0.1:9022   0.0.0.0:* users:(("drachtio",pid=3120607))
tcp   LISTEN 0 4096 127.0.0.1:8088   0.0.0.0:* users:(("drachtio",pid=3120607))

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Step 8. Connect from Node.js

Install:

npm install drachtio-client

Example client:

import { DrachtioClient } from 'drachtio-client';

const app = new DrachtioClient();

app.connect({
  host: '127.0.0.1',
  port: 9022,
  secret: 'c0mpl3x'
});

app.on('connect', () => console.log('✅ Connected to Drachtio'));

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Step 9. Monitor & Logs

Metrics (Prometheus):

curl http://127.0.0.1:8088/metrics

Logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/drachtio/drachtio.log

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Summary

Component	Port	Description
SIP	5070 (UDP/TCP)	Public signaling
Admin API	9022 (TCP)	Local Node.js control
Prometheus	8088	Metrics endpoint

You now have a fully working Drachtio SIP + RTP signaling server, ready to pair with your Node.js relay system for full-duplex audio communication.

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