[asterisk-users] Is Asterisk ready for Prime-Time?

[Gordon Henderson]

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008, Tzafrir Cohen wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 06:54:46PM +0000, Gordon Henderson wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008, Senad Jordanovic wrote:
>>
>>> And yes, running the whole thing from standard PC based "desktop" will
>>> eventually cause issues hence an solid state appliance is a way to go :)
>>
>> My gripe is that I think people try to put too much into a system, don't
>> have a "server build and operation" head, and are basically OK with
>> rebooting because maybe that's what they're used to... And maybe they just
>> don't have enough customers that whinge loudly enough when things stop
>> working :)
>>
>> Personally I don't think an "appliance" ought to be running SQL. I don't
>> think it should have it's own billing platform either (Although make the
>> call logs available by all means!), nor should it have a built-in CRM
>> solution. Don't use agi, external scripts where dialplan will do, and so
>> on.
>
> Right. And mysql is the thing that will cause Asterisk to crash?

No. But my point was that "appliances" don't need it - my aim is to keep 
them as light and simple as absolutely possible. The less it runs, the 
less there is to go wrong. I don't need MySQL to support an appliance that 
can handle 100+ extensions, changes to names, extensions, etc. at random, 
plus all the usual web based "stuff" for manipulating call/hunt groups, 
voicemail, simple queues, parking, etc. so for me it would be an 
unneccessary burden to the system. (Not to mention an extra 16MB of 
executables in the flash-card!)

>> As for prime-time? I think the answer is "yes, but..." You need reliable
>> hardware, customised software, not generic (Cuscom compiled Linux kernel,
>> distribution, asterisk, etc.),
>
> Actually distros do a relatively good job with kernels. While there is a
> room for improvments, there is also where to go badly downhill.
>
> What customizations do you set to a custom kernel?

I take a stock kernel from kernel.org and compile in only what it needs 
for the hardware it's running on. I've been doing this since day 1 though 
(As in Linux day 1 which for me was 1994 ish) - I know it's not for 
everyone, but again, it's removing stuff that's not needed. The only 
modules that get loaded are the ones I can't compile into the kernel.

If you want my .config for a VIA processor, drop me an email.

> I've seen strange things being done by (most typically) Gentoo users.

I'm purely Debian, but when building my "appliances" I build up a custom 
initrd.gz file from a list of executables and libraries on my development 
server... (The device runs purely from RAM, but boots off flash)

> If not every release of Asterisk is solid enough and you must use a
> custom build just to get a stable (read: non-crashing) system, then I
> would agree with the OP that Asterisk is not ready for prime-time. This
> is because the support costs are too high.

I have to say that I've never had issues with the releases of asterisk 
I've used - 1.2.x, but I do compile them from scratch - you have to for 
VIA processors as they lack some MMX instructions...

And oddly enough, I've found that some people (mainly corporate type 
enterprises) get shirty if you don't charge them for support! (Then at the 
other end of the scale, some SMEs get shirty when you do charge them )-:

Gordon