[asterisk-users] I need a second opinion on a new phone system deployment

Fri Jun 14 14:52:37 CDT 2013

http://red-fone.com <http://red-fone.com/products-new/fonebridge/> might be
a good place look and see if other ideas pop up.  They have good products.
 I am not affiliated with them, just a happy user on a couple of
deployments.

On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Nunya Biznatch
<asterisk at ihearbanjos.com>wrote:

> Howdy All,
>    They say opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one. (that's
> the "clean" version of the saying). So I'm asking for yours. I hope you see
> it as a fun exercise.
>
> I'm designing a phone system from the ground up. Will be about 1000-1300
> seats mixed 80/20 VoIP/Analog. 58-acre campus environment with 23
> buildings. Userbase is emergency services organization, 24/7/365 operation.
> Down time is not an option, but "blips" are acceptable. Repair time is
> immediate. We need failover for the failover essentially. However, money is
> a major factor, so I have to do it all for nothing. So here's what I'm
> thinking. Please throw in your 2 cents.
>
> Network will be separate for phones. Fiber infrastructure available
> between buildings as well as copper. Internet access will be limited to a
> single administrative console on a temporary basis, and then only when
> remote 3rd party support is required. Access for 3rd party support will be
> supervised through remote access tools such as VNC, GoToMeeting, etc...
> etc... System will have zero access to local data network. This means all
> ancillary support servers such as DHCP, DNS, NTP, FTP, etc...etc... will be
> specific to the phone system. Yes, I know some responders at this time will
> become fixated on me gaining this connectivity. It ain't gonna happen. It's
> not an option. Period, end of story. These are the parameters I must work
> within. Trying to "fix" that will be a non-starter.
>
> The phone system will upgrade an existing TDM-based system. Mitel SX2000
> with NuPoint Voicemail. This will not be a dump-trunk replacement. I expect
> at least a one to two-year transition, meaning we will have time to find
> problems,  work bugs, and learn over time, with minimized impacts. It also
> means we'll be supporting two systems for some time.
>
> PBX is 97% serving your basic phone on the desk. Nothing special.
> Customers expect the usual list of features. There will be a goodly number
> of hints required for BLF on maybe 150 phones. There is one office of about
> 30 phones in a call-center environment that will need that service. They
> would be considered low volume (but don't tell them that).
>
> My Skills... I am not a Linux kung fu master, but I have built and managed
> my share of Linux servers on mutiple Linux flavors. I am a DCAA, having
> been through formal training, and have been playing with Asterisk for
> years, but always in fits and spurts and never in a live environment so I
> am by no means a kung fu master there either. I have started dabbling with
> virtualizations via XEN, but I am not comfortable enough with it to go live
> this first round. I can see myself implementing it in about three years
> once we're totally comfortable with what we have, so I can then have time
> to get that skill sorted. I was a network engineer for the US no3. telecom
> for a number of years, 10-years in comm-electronics in the military before
> that. Telecom my entire career. I've got the kung-fu to handle the network
> side of the house, and having administrated multiple PBXs for decade-plus,
> I've got the concepts down.
>
> No plans to build databases for things like directories, etc... I'm not
> greatly confident in those skills, and to date, haven't found anything that
> really stands out that would make me require that. You may think otherwise,
> so please chime in. I say that, but at the same time I recognize I may
> require a GUI interface once fully deployed to allow lower-skilled people
> to follow the motions to complete simple moves, adds, and changes. I'm
> fighting the uphill battle that is the "GUI is new, CLI is old" mentality.
>
> System will use G.722 for VoIP Phones.
>
> So there's the groundwork. Here's the hardware plan.
>
> Plan is to build my own servers following industry standards (ATX) and
> using industry standard equipment. Why? Spares? Whether redundant or not, I
> will still have spares for the most common elements on the shelf so
> equipment can be returned to service as quickly as possible. This will also
> allow me to be comfortable with more "basic server" configurations and help
> keep cost down. For example, Servers with single power supplies vs. dual.
> Also, components will be standardized for all equipment to aid in supply
> requirements.
>
> First the layout.
>
> 2-servers acting as gateways. Each handling 2 PRIs for outside trunks.
> They'll also handle the analog ports. Failover will be in the form of
> degraded trunk access if one should fail, but the second will be able to
> support services in degraded fashion.
>
> 2-servers acting as VoIP PBX. A primary and a spare. Meaning one will be
> capable of handling the load of the entire system, and the other will
> pickup when the other dies, an active/passive cluster. Will also take care
> of voicemail. Use of heartbeat, pacemaker, etc... etc...
>
> 2-servers for support services. DNS, DHCP, FTP, NTP, etc...
> etc...Basically, everything the phones need to run plus system monitoring
> via something like Nagios.
>
> 1-Desktop for administration of everything. Provided from corporate. Basic
> Desktop.
>
> Looking at Intel Xeon E3-1230 ivy-bridge processors. 8GB DDR 1333 for
> Gateways and 16GB for PBX and support servers. 1TB drives in RAID 10 via
> LSI 3ware 9650 cards for PBX, 250GB for Gateways. Supermicro X9SCM-F mobo.
>
> OS of choice is Debian. Primarily because it appears to have the best
> availability for non-Internet installations.
>
>
> Now the Infrastructure
>
>
> 2-network switches in the phone room. Each set of "primary" servers to
> one, and "secondary" servers to the other, and each switch connected to the
> other. Each switch will have a different path to the network. RTSP
> implemented for dual path to the campus. Only one location on campus will
> have or require dual paths to the network.
>
> Most buildings on campus have cat-3 for voice installed in the mid-90s.
> Wired at the same time as the data network, I can generally conclude
> they're the same length. It's terminated to 110-blocks on walls. Some
> cabling is only 2-pair. I know I will find surprises. Essentially, I plan
> to re-use this cable, knowing in some circumstances I will need to make
> special patch cables. These connections will be forced to 10BaseT at the
> switch.
>
> I require PoE to the wire closets, no power sourced at the desktop. I
> require a minimum eight-hours emergency power which will be in the form of
> UPS in most cases. Why so much backup? Well if you ask, we can start a new
> discussion about NEBS compliance, E911 Federal, local, and state
> requirements, etc... etc...
>
> So why not use existing data network? The current data network consists
> primarily of 10+ year-old 100BaseT switches, no PoE. Barely any backup
> power. I don't believe they're using QoS. The network office is a separate
> department from the phone office. I question their skills, and above all,
> network folks treat phones like computers, not like multi-million dollar
> lawsuits when they don't work in an emergency. We could make another thread
> out of this huh? To use existing data network would require hundreds of
> thousands in Cisco 6500 and 4500 series switches. Network has already
> stated they'd want phone on separate ports from computer, and I agree. (Yet
> another thread). Thousands of computers across 23 buildings, and it must be
> Cisco by corporate policy, where phone is a different animal that doesn't
> have this limitation. You can see we're talking hundreds of thousands in
> just switching gear. Then UPS requirements to support a big hog of a switch
> vs a teeny 48-porter w/PoE, and you just cranked up one-time and long term
> cost for that as well. Trying to replace the network to support the phones
> is cost prohibitive and a non-starter. Maybe we can talk about it in 5
> years once they've replaced everything.
>
> I plan to purchase lower-cost Layer-2 smart switches from vendors such as
> DLink, Xyxel, Dell, etc... Many players in the market for 48-port switches
> with PoE and multiple SFP.
>
> I think that's probably enough... I apologize for the large email but I
> couldn't think of a better way to get a qualified peer opinion without
> laying out the facts.
>
> Thanks in advance for your review and consideration...!!!
>
>
>
>
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