[asterisk-users] Multi-Tenant PBX with Asterisk

Tue Jul 31 00:27:34 CDT 2012

We tried realtime and decided it wasn't for us. Never got it into
production, so I can't say much about it.

-- 
Carlos Alvarez
Sent from my Nexus 7
On Jul 30, 2012 10:25 PM, "Leandro Dardini" <ldardini at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>>>
>>>
>>> --
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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
>>
>
>
> --
> _____________________________________________________________________
> -- 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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