[Asterisk-Users] A Head Check

[Steven Critchfield]

On Tue, 2003-12-30 at 23:47, Greg Boehnlein wrote:
> Hello,
> 	I have been retained by a Building Management Company to install a 
> combined Voice/Data solution for a Tennated Office Space. This space will 
> rent offices, with telephone and internet service to inviduals or small 
> groups of individuals. As fate would have it, the service will be 
> provided in a building where we have a major Pop, with a DS-3 worth of 
> ISDN PRI circuits, 345 megs of upstream bandwidth and diesel generator 
> backup. We are providing everything for the solution, from the initial 
> wiring to the ongoing maintenance of the PBX and Internet service.
> 	I have arranged for a single PRI to be broken out of our DS-3 w/ 
> 100 inbound DID numbers assigned to it and have PICd it to the LD provider 
> of our choice. I intend to plug this PRI into an Asterisk server w/ a 
> Digium TE410P card, and deploy SNOM 200 IP phones to the desktops. We will 
> be using a RedHawk power-injector system to provide power to the phones.
> 	Now.. This is our first deployment of Asterisk, and I need a head 
> check here. Am I making the right decision? :)
> 
> Sepcifically...
> 
> 1. Are the SNOM 200 IP phones a good choice for standard users? Or should 
> I consider Cisco? Price of the phone is not the important thing.. What is 
> important is ease of use with minimal training and reliability!
> 
> 2. Does anyone have reccomendations for a solid motherboard to use as the 
> basis for the Asterisk server? Again, reliability and stability are the 
> important issues here. I'm looking for a Dual CPU board (Athlon MP or P4) 
> that will work flawlessly with the TE410P. I've used the Tyan Tiger MPX 
> (2466) http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tigermpx.html with Dual MP 
> processors with incredible success in the future. I'm considering building 
> the box on that platform.

Oddly enough, any decent motherboard should be okay given that you will
provide it appropriate cooling and proper power. I have a couple of abit
boards with multiple 1+ year up times. One currently approaching 2
years. I also have 2 dells 2450s that exceeded a year with one
approaching 2 years. We have a few supermicros, one of which is over a
year of uptime now. I have had a couple other otherwise unremarkable
machines make it past a year of uptime. All of those have been on huge
powerware UPS with diesel backup to them and all the other tier 1 level
colo facility amenities. So, while I am partial to the supermicros and
dells, I have experience with no name systems being just as stable long
term. 

> 3. I am also responsible for delivering inbound faxes to the DID numbers 
> via Email. I.E. customer has a document faxed to them and they get it in 
> Email as a tiff. I'm considering using Hylfax with a Multitech DID capable 
> modem, but other suggestions are welcomed!

It has been mentioned here before that you can pick up a device that
accepts a PRI and will do your fax reception for you. If you get one of
those and hook it to a empty port of the TE410P then it will be better
as you could accept several faxes at once.

> 4. I have built some cost for support from Digium and/or other Asterisk 
> experts into the budget. Does Digium have paid support plans? What about 
> other consultants out there?

Digium has support, and there are several companies around here that
will no doubt be contacting you shortly.

> I'm just trying to make sure that I cover all the bases. This is got to be 
> a bulletproof solution, and I'm departing from my comfort level with 
> Altigen to give Asterisk a run for the money. We've got TONS of Linux 
> experience here, and comfort with customizing code, so I am happy with 
> what Asterisk gives me.. What else should I be worried about?

Maybe you should look into a couple of machines. One that does actual
connections to the PSTN, and a couple of separate systems that then
support the VoIP phones. I suggest this so that you can then have a very
stable core machine that just routes calls, and several other machines
that may need to be brought down from time to time for updates. This is
the current method we use in my office. One super stable machine at the
core that is rarely updated. A few machines to the side that any one may
be downed and upgraded without affecting the others.

This may be especially of interest to you if you are concerned with the
sip phones functionality you may need to do somewhat regular updates.

-- 
Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>