[asterisk-users] network design philosophy and practice

[Daniel Hazelbaker]

On Oct 29, 2008, at 8:21 AM, Alex Balashov wrote:

> In my experience most of the serious QoS issues arise in relation to  
> the
> Internet pipe (if the provider is IP, and outside the network), not  
> the
> LAN.  Of course, LANs can be heavily contended, but are not in most
> organisations, especially as gigabit cores are getting increasingly
> common even in smaller mid-size and small organisations.
>
> I would pay most attention to the router(s), unless your PSTN
> connectivity is TDM and on-premise.

I would agree with this as long as you have a decent LAN.  We have  
about 60 computer workstations and 85 phones on our network.  The  
entire thing is Gigabit.  Each phone (with a few exceptions that we  
are running new cable to rectify) has a dedicated ethernet port, no  
sharing.  We are NOT however separating the data/voice networks.  They  
are on one VLAN.  We may segment later, but only if the need arises.   
Right now we have no problems.  I should point out that all of our  
switches have 2+ gigabit links back to the master switch.  We've never  
had a problem with the phones other than related to the outside world  
(telco side).

I won't argue that "best practice" would probably be to VLAN off the  
phones, but if you don't have a massive network and are fully gigabit  
smart switches etc with good cabling, then keeping the two "networks"  
merged should not be a problem.  I do wholly recommend multiple drops  
per workstation though.  In a day when I can buy CAT 6 cable for 10  
cents a foot, there is really just no reason not to be doing multiple  
drops in new installs.

Daniel

> -- 
> Alex Balashov
> Evariste Systems
> Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
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