[asterisk-users] Multi-Tenant PBX with Asterisk

Tue Jul 31 10:23:29 CDT 2012

Particularly, what virtualization software are you using?

On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 8:19 AM, Leandro Dardini <ldardini at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Bryant,
> it is nice to hear someone with different experience, so I am happy to
> know the "cloud" is indeed a feasible environment even for VoIP.
>
> Can you share with us some of your configuration magic? Like the cloud
> service you are using, the power of each node and the load you are
> experiencing on them in regards to the number of channels active and phone
> registered?
>
> Leandro
>
> 2012/7/31 Bryant Zimmerman <BryantZ at zktech.com>
>
>> Kannan
>>
>> I have to disagree with Leanrod. We are a hosted (cloud) PBX company we
>> successfully run our Multi-tenant systems in Virtual machines and have no
>> issues with them. It comes down to designing your virtual environment for
>> your target loads and then not exceeding them. This allows for fail over of
>> hardware and scalability. We have moved our virtual phone switches live
>> with full call loads and have no call drops.   We do not usually dedicate a
>> single Virtual Machine to each customer either. We have built our own
>> Multi-tenant PBX on top of asterisk. We achieve many of the features
>> available in freepbx/trixbox (not all). This method allows us to cost
>> effectively service our customers with a presence of scale in mind. It is
>> not uncommon to have 5000 + extensions per virtual switch. This method does
>> require highly skilled engineering to achieve stability.
>>
>> Bryant
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From*: "Kannan" <vasdeveloper at gmail.com>
>> *Sent*: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 12:37 AM
>> *To*: "Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion" <
>> asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
>> *Subject*: Re: [asterisk-users] Multi-Tenant PBX with Asterisk
>>
>>
>> Thanks Leandro for your comments.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:35 PM, Leandro Dardini <ldardini at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 2012/7/30 Kannan <vasdeveloper at gmail.com>
>>>
>>>> Hi
>>>>
>>>>  I came across couple of pointers on the Internet regarding solutions
>>>> available for providing hosted PBX service.
>>>>
>>>>  1. Multiple PBXs: Using separate hardware to host each PBX. Pretty
>>>> straightforward, but no hosting company wants to use it.
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>>  Which one of the method above is generally used by hosted PBX service
>>>> providers?
>>>>
>>>>  Isn't the second option with ARA a good choice for dynamic creation
>>>> of multiple "small" PBX tenants?
>>>>
>>>>  Is the last option alone or combination of options 2 and 3 good for
>>>> cloud based hosted PBX service offering?
>>>>
>>>>  Thanks,
>>>> Kannan.
>>>>
>>>
>>>  Working in the voip field from a lots of years, I have found all three
>>> type of business.
>>>
>>>  The first is maybe the easier and most common. Hardware is cheap and
>>> it is easier to "sell" a service like the PBX if it is sold together with a
>>> piece of iron. Usually the hardware is placed on client's network, using
>>> the bandwidth of the client. Usually together with the PBX is sold also a
>>> router/firewall/traffic shaper/vpn endpoint to try to optimize the traffic
>>> on the client's DSL.
>>>
>>>  The major pros about this solution is you can use a normal PBX like
>>> freepbx/trixbox,  the client can mess the config how he likes, without
>>> disrupting other services, you can install VoIP card to connect landlines,.
>>>
>>>  The major cons is the cost of the hardware, the cost of the g.729
>>> licenses (if any) and the maintenance cost of replacing hardware failures
>>> and the need to be physically near each client.
>>>
>>>  The second is the holy grail of the VoIP providers.
>>>
>>>  The major pros is the cost. Having a single hardware is cheap and it
>>> is still cheap also if you decide to get two to be ready in case of an
>>> hardware failure.
>>>
>>>  The major cons is the software. You cannot use the award winning
>>> freepbx/trixbox family and you need to deal with sometime limited or
>>> incomplete developed interfaces. The client always asks for the missing
>>> feature. One other major cons is the "reload". If the PBX software is not
>>> made using ARA, then every time you add a new peer or a new DID, you need
>>> to reload the entire PBX and that is a resource killer. Again, if the pbx
>>> interface is not made using ARA, then you cannot let your clients to change
>>> the configuration or they will trigger continuous reload (and delaying
>>> reload for example every 10 minutes is not a solution)
>>>
>>>  The last one is sometime the chosen compromise, but from my point of
>>> view, pbxes are not good software to virtualize. They are too sensible to
>>> delays and your voice quality can go down if the real server is overloaded.
>>>
>>>  The same for the cloud based solutions (I have yet to found). I
>>> suspect the "cloud" is good for services like http, not for real time
>>> applications.
>>>
>>>  Leandro
>>>
>>>
>>> --
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>
>
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-- 
Carlos Alvarez
TelEvolve
602-889-3003
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