Originally Published September 9, 2023
What do you need to know?
Based on customer feedback, we are extending the deadline to prepare for the Talkdesk Voice Global Communications Network upgrade from September 26, 2023 to December 5, 2023. This will allow more time to allowlist the full IP/port ranges, domains, and place test calls to ensure there is no disruption of voice services.
The upgrade will now begin on December 5, 2023 with 100% of voice traffic fully migrated on January 23, 2024. During this time, we will perform two days of testing with limited production voice traffic:
- December 5, 2023: 1% of all calls will use the new range for 24 hours
- January 16, 2024: 20% of all calls will use the new range for 24 hours
We will not proactively migrate voice traffic on the previously communicated dates of September 26, or October 10, 2023.
Customers who are ready for the upgrade do not need to wait for the limited traffic testing dates or final migration date. Once a customer has updated their network infrastructure and successfully tested, they can submit a ticket with Talkdesk Customer Care to schedule their account’s voice traffic upgrade to use the new IP/port ranges via a future scheduled maintenance window after September 26, 2023.
Why is this happening?
Based on the volume of requests for deadline extensions received, we understand you need more time to complete the necessary changes. This extension gives you additional time to allowlist the full IP/port ranges, place test calls, and opt-in your production traffic before the planned migration if you so choose.
What do you need to do?
Before December 5, 2023, make sure you, or your network engineering or operations teams, are informed of this change and update your network infrastructure to allowlist the full IP and port ranges.
Then, place test calls using the Talkdesk Network Test Tool. Once you have updated your network infrastructure and successfully tested, confirm your status if you have not done so already.
What is happening?
Talkdesk is upgrading its Global Communications Network to increase Talkdesk Voice reliability, quality of service, and overall resilience with a new global IP range, an expanded UDP port range, and additional network address domains. Our previously published region-specific IP/port ranges will be decommissioned and will no longer send or accept voice traffic. Talkdesk Voice media IPs will use a single global range; 168.86.128.0/18 with a UDP port range of 10000-60000.
If you do not use network security controls, then action is not required. The planned upgrade will be a seamless upgrade.
What action do I need to take?
If you have network security controls such as a VPN, firewall, network border controls, endpoint security controls, and/or network filtering, that manage the network traffic between a Talkdesk Voice user and one of the Talkdesk Voice regional points of presence you will need to update your network infrastructure to ensure that you have allowlist the full IP range, UDP port range, and additional network address domains by December 5 2023. Old IP and port ranges are scheduled for deprecation on January 23, 2024 and will no longer accept or send traffic after this date, but will need to be kept open in your infrastructure until that time.
When is this happening?
Starting December 5 , 2023 Talkdesk will do a series of tests to migrate voice traffic from the old IP range to the new IP range and corresponding ports to prepare for an eventual full migration of all voice traffic on January 23, 2024 as well as the deprecation of the old IP range and corresponding port range.
What will happen if I am unable to take action?
There are three upcoming dates with escalating potential consequences:
- If you do not take action by December 5, 2023, you will experience one-way audio and dropped calls for 1% of calls placed on that date
- If you do not take action by January 16, 2024, you will experience one-way audio and dropped calls for 20% of calls placed on that date
- If you do not take action by January 23, 2024, all calls will fail
I already performed the required changes, confirmed my network is correctly configured, and am ready for the upgrade. Do I have to wait till Dec 5?
Customers who are ready for the upgrade do not need to wait for the limited traffic testing dates or final migration date. Once a customer has updated their network infrastructure and successfully tested, they can submit a ticket with Talkdesk Customer Care to schedule their account’s voice traffic upgrade to use the new IP/port ranges via a future scheduled maintenance window after September 26, 2023.
What Talkdesk capabilities are impacted by this change?
For affected accounts, this change will impact all users. The change must be completed to allow Talkdesk Conversation App for Voice, Talkdesk Callbar, Talkdesk for Service Cloud Voice, and Talkdesk Embedded Voice, to continue to be able to place and receive calls.
Other Talkdesk features are not impacted. The changes do not impact:
- Talkdesk BYOC connections and configurations.
- Talkdesk Connections for integrations.
- Talkdesk Virtual Agent.
- Talkdesk Digital Engagement.
- Talkdesk Studio, including data dips powered by Talkdesk Connections.
- AppConnect, where the provided solution is not voice related.
- Bespoke, non-voice customizations provided by Talkdesk Professional Services.
What type of network connections are impacted by this change?
Please refer to Types of User Network Connections to confirm your type of connection and determine whether any action is necessary before this date.
Do we also need to open inbound/ingress traffic, as well as outbound/egress traffic on our network security infrastructure?
No. Only outbound/egress traffic from the private network to Talkdesks’s GCN new global IP range and port range. To access Talkdesk’s GCN your firewall should allow outgoing TCP and UDP traffic from Talkdesk users to Talkdesk's infrastructure and allow return traffic in response. Talkdesk will never initiate a connection to Talkdesk users. Therefore, the firewall should not allow externally initiated connections back into the private network.
Isn't it a security risk for us to have so many IPs/Ports open?
Generally, allowlisting IPs and Ports poses a security risk to have any IPs/ports allowlisted. If an attacker can take over one IP or port, they can take over others; so the threat doesn't increase with the number of IPs or ports open.
However, this is not a temporary IP range that other providers might recycle and reuse. So, this change, despite its larger range, enhances security compared to before.
The size of the allowlist is large, are you asking us to blindly open our systems?
You do not need to open any additional IPs or ports on your side. Allow UDP traffic to be sent and received only from the published IP address ranges.
Why is Talkdesk doing this all at once?
We are updating public media edges and private Interconnect media edges separately to ensure a smooth transition. This strategy aims to shift traffic to the new media range in a one-time change to minimize the number of discrete changes for our customers.
Will any of my data leave the country?
IP and network address domain changes have no effect on data residency and data in transit. The regional Voice points of presence used to manage Voice media traffic between a Talkdesk Voice user and a Talkdesk regional cloud will remain exactly the same before and after this configuration change.
This isn't going to work for us, we need to stay on the old IP addresses.
Unfortunately, this is not an option. These changes are necessary in order to increase the performance and reliability and to provide you with better voice quality and smoother communications.
Once I make the required changes, can I confirm my network is correctly configured?
To verify the configuration changes on your side, use this Talkdesk Network Test Tool to check the connectivity access using the new IP address and port ranges. Please refer to this Knowledge Base article for step-by-step instructions on proper use.
In our efforts to ensure continuity of service, we kindly request you Confirm your status so we can best service your needs.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your Customer Success Manager or the Customer Care team via the Talkdesk Support Portal.
Related Articles: Talkdesk Network Requirements | Network Requirements: Quality of Service.
CHANGE LOG:
- Sep 13 - Added question on what Talkdesk capabilities are not impacted
- Sep 13 - Added question on inbound and outbound firewall traffic
- Sep 15 - Added question on how to verify network configuration changes
- Sep 22 - Added question on types of affected network connections
- Sep 25 - Added question on updated migration timeline