[asterisk-users] network design philosophy and practice

[Drew Gibson]

Bill Michaelson wrote:
> I'm wondering how prevalent the practice of physically segregating 
> voice and data networks is in the Real World.
>
> What are the factors that typically lead to such a decision?  
> DIscussions of pros and cons are most welcome by me.
>
> Experiences, anybody?
>

We chose to go with a segregated network and certainly don't regret the 
choice. Voice and data are on separate ports at the desk, avoiding QoS 
issues completely and reducing confision amongst users who still expect 
separate Phone and Computer plugs on the wall.
The traffic does run through the same switches and inter-switch trunks 
but always on distinct VLANs.

My experience with connecting the desktop computer through the phone has 
been very poor. Audio breaks up when the computer does large data transfers.

"Yes, Sir. I'll just look that up in our 
datab...ba....ba.....ba....sssss.....ssssss......ssssss......se"

In addition our users require gigabit to the desktop. The phones are 100Mb.

Worst part is the few Cisco phones we have insist on "searching for 
VLAN" (which doesn't exist) for 5 minutes on startup. Hopefully they 
will be replaced through attrition but despite being over-priced, 
over-featured and proprietary, Cisco do build robust kit. Sigh.....

regards,

Drew


-- 
Drew Gibson

Systems Administrator
OANDA Corporation
www.oanda.com