[asterisk-users] WAS: 64 analog phones NOW: Selection criteri a and recipie for a good Asterisk install [long]

[Raphaël Jacquot]

Colin Anderson wrote:
>> I concur with your approach, but "Tier 1" means as little here as it
>> does when evaluating Internet backbone carriers.  could you expand on
>> what evaluation criteria you use?  I'm going to be pre-speccing some
>> stuff myself this month...
> 
> Sorry I should have been more clear. A good Asterisk install needs a
> holistic approach to use a hippy dippy phrase. A Tier 1 server, which is a
> midrange to high end name brand server from the Big 3 (Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM,
> am I missing someone?) is usually highly optimized for bus bandwidth
> although that design was intended for a different use - usually massive disk
> I/O. As well, a Tier 1 server will have two seperate, independent PCI buses
> and this to me is a critical feature - it allows you to completely separate
> your TDM traffic from network, disk I/O etc. On my big production Netfinity,

nothing a good opteron motherboard from tyan can't do (something like
http://tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8we.html )

> 5. Tuning of Asterisk box itself - this cannot be under emphasized. This is
> a very important step and tuning methodologies vary according to distro,
> skill of the admin, and particular circumstances. I've learned *way* more
> than I ever wanted to about processor affinity sinc I started using
> Asterisk. 

I'll be interested in more pointers on that one

> 6. Termination of PSTN. Basically I would never do an Asterisk install where
> I was forced to do something stupid like aggregate a dozen Centrex lines or
> some mickey mouse deal with FXO ATA's or whatever except for a hobby or
> prototype install. PRI, BRI, IAX or SIP, don't mess around with anything
> else. 

sometimes you don't really have a choice. some providers don't know what
PRI is