[Asterisk-Dev] Is Asterisk the right software suite?

[John Todd]

At 9:00 PM -0700 8/19/03, Kevin K wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I am looking to set-up a VERY simple VoIP system to enable an 
>end-to-end call (TDM-IP-TDM) or possibly multiple calls.  My 
>intention is to look into bandwidth-saving algorithms such as voice 
>activity detection / silence suppression and RTP header compression. 
>I am not overly interested in other features such as IVR, voicemail, 
>etc at this time.
>
>My questions are:
>
>1) What are the memory/processor requirements to install and run 
>Asterisk? (<- this might be influenced by question 2)
>
>2) Are the different applications and features available for 
>Asterisk optional or must everything be installed to work properly? 
>As said, my use for Asterisk is very simplistic, so I'm wondering if 
>I still need to link all the features that I don't need to use (e.g. 
>those under usr/lib/asterisk/modules, var/spool/asterisk/vm, etc 
>directories).
>
>3) How long has it taken some of you to install Asterisk and get it 
>working in a simple call?  (I know this is a very general question, 
>but it may give me an idea for my schedule).
>
>Thanks for the help,
>Kevin


Answers:

1) That depends on how many simultaneous channels you have running, 
and what compression codec you're using.  Best case: G711 (no 
compression, really) and 1 channel can probably be run on a Pentium 2 
233.  Since you hint at a very small installation, I'd say a PIII 700 
at both ends of the connection.  You can probably wedge 4 channels of 
G711 into such a config.  If you choose to run the $10 per channel 
G.729 license (you mention "RTP header compression", which Asterisk 
doesn't do, but has a fairly decent multipath bandwidth savings 
method called IAX2 trunking - I'll let you do the archive searcihng) 
then you probably need to look at at 1.5ghz or so to handle a few 
G.729 channels.


2) Pretty much everything is installed when you build/install 
Asterisk.  That which you don't use.... don't use.  See the 
modules.conf file to comment things out that you don't need.

3) I have had Asterisk installations running in under 10 minutes for 
basic systems, starting from a fresh Linux install.  See 
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/07/03/asterisk.html  or my 
more extensive configs at http://www.loligo.com/asterisk/   - note 
that even the slightest hint of complexity radically alters your 
timeframes.  :-)

4) This should have been sent to asterisk-users, since it has nothing 
to do with development, and so I have moved the thread there 
appropriately.

JT