[asterisk-users] Multi-Tenant PBX with Asterisk

Tue Jul 31 00:24:55 CDT 2012

ARA is an acronym for Asterisk Realtime Architecture and is a different way
to keep configuration files in asterisk. Instead of reading configuration
from plain files at startup, asterisk read them from database, in realtime.
This mean, if you need to add a peer, you drop a new line in the sippeers
table and you are fine. You start defining an ODBC source in res_odbc.conf
and then configure the ARA source for each plain configuration files in
extconfig.conf

About the config reload, reloading only the module changed is a good idea,
but the commercial GUI I have meet so far doesn't support it. I have
clients with very simple dialplan, able to reload it even if more than
130.000 rows long, others, with more complicated dialplan cannot reload it
during work hours even if only 30.000 rows long.

You are right about freeware PBX for hosted services. Independent from the
fact a GUI is free or needs a payment, I think it is important to have the
source for it to be able to customize it and also it is important to have a
clean dialplan, so you can debug and customize it as well. I am a developer
selling software. I never protect my code obfuscating or compiling it and
my clients enjoy it and never steal my work (so far).

Leandro

2012/7/31 Carlos Alvarez <carlos at televolve.com>

> I don't know what ARA is.  We use just bare Asterisk, no GUI, and from the
> context it seems that's related to a GUI.  We have no problem doing a
> config reload during production hours.  We never do a full reload, just the
> relevant module (SIP, dialplan, voicemail, etc).
>
> I don't believe there is any freeware PBX software that is good for hosted
> services unless they are kept tiny and limited.  Switchvox is excellent as
> a hosted platform, but extremely expensive and totally closed so you can't
> customize as needed.  And at least 50% of our customers have customization
> that wouldn't fit into any of the GUI-based systems.
>
> You'll need to decide what your market is and your value proposition as
> well as your ability to learn Asterisk (which I don't think anyone would
> argue is easy or fast).
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 9:41 PM, Kannan <vasdeveloper at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Carlos, it is good to hear from one who is in a similar business.
>>
>> Are you getting use of ARA too in similar hosted PBX offerings?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 10:00 PM, Carlos Alvarez <carlos at televolve.com>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 2:36 AM, Kannan <vasdeveloper at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 2. Multi-tenant PBX: Configuring multiple PBXs within the same instance
>>>> of Asterisk. I.e. partitioning a single instance of Asterisk into multiple
>>>> PBXs by way of configurations, using unique landing context for each tenant.
>>>> 3. Virtual PBX: Multiple virtual machines within the same hardware,
>>>> each host an instance of Asterisk.
>>>>
>>>
>>> We use number two.  We dabbled with number three but didn't like the
>>> results for a lot of different reasons.  As others have mentioned, there is
>>> a certain level of danger when you mix companies so closely.  We have in
>>> the past made a mistake and brought down the whole system, but it's been
>>> many years since we've done that.  Part is improved skill and part is that
>>> Asterisk has improved and no longer commits suicide for certain minor
>>> errors.
>>>
>>> To do this, you need to plan out a good naming convention for everything
>>> that will be unique to customers accounts.  SIP accounts, macros, contexts,
>>> etc etc.  We use the accountcode feature and prepend the accountcode
>>> through the dial plan and accounts.
>>>
>>> accountcode.301 would be a SIP account
>>>
>>> accountcode#function would be a context name
>>>
>>> We do deploy custom hardware for specific functions or customers who are
>>> particularly large in some cases.  We just need a good reason to.  Like
>>> they want to self-manage, or they make a lot of changes, need custom
>>> integration with databases, etc.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Carlos Alvarez
>>> TelEvolve
>>> 602-889-3003
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> _____________________________________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> --
>> _____________________________________________________________________
>> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>> New to Asterisk? Join us for a live introductory webinar every Thurs:
>>                http://www.asterisk.org/hello
>>
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>>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
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>
>
>
> --
> Carlos Alvarez
> TelEvolve
> 602-889-3003
>
>
>
> --
> _____________________________________________________________________
> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> New to Asterisk? Join us for a live introductory webinar every Thurs:
>                http://www.asterisk.org/hello
>
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>
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