[asterisk-biz] Asterisk - Reseller Options (Resend)

[Patrick]

On Sun, 2007-02-04 at 21:14 -0500, Paul wrote:
> Senad Jordanovic wrote:
> 
> >>Alistair,
> >>
> >>It seems your solution does not support graceful fail-over from calls
> >>*in progress*. Is that correct? 
> >>
> >>
> >>Senad,
> >>
> >>It seems that your solution supports graceful fail-over of calls *in
> >>progress*. Is that correct? 
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>Patrick
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >Patrick,
> >
> >
> >Pls refer to telecom industry standard "fault tolerant" specifications.
> >
> >
> >Thanks...
> >Senad
> >  
> >
> Somebody educate me a bit. It seems like somebody is expecting way too
> much here. I bet even 911 calls get dropped when a primary switch fails
> and the secondary takes over.

Paul,

Bicom's box seems to be a Stratus ftServer. It is basically one server
consisting of two servers that act as one. So if for example the cpu or
ram on box1 blows up, the system should automagically switch over to
using box2 which should be in the same state as box1 before it blew up
and will continue like nothing happened. The 911 call would not get
dropped, at least on the original Stratus high-end telco boxes I used to
sell. Senad did not answer my question so I can't say if the Bicom box
drops the call or not.

Fault tolerance in hardware is only half the trick and overall success
depends on how well the OS + the special glue plays along. The Stratus
solutions I sold used a proprietary OS and worked very reliably in
various telco applications. Afaik the ftServer can use Stratus' own ft
Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The proof is in the pudding so if you
are interested get a demo box with the OS of your choice, install Linux,
fire up a ton of test calls and start removing parts :) Don't think they
are too expensive (in telco terms).

Regards,
Patrick (no affilition)