[Asterisk-Users] Re: 911 and lawsuits and redundancy

[Jonathan Moore]

Quoting Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>:

> If you come at your install with a couple of computers, you can have a
> similar effect. My main asterisk machine has the PRI attached to it.
> This machine does little work, and receives next to no upgrades. It was
> locked down and does just PSTN gateway work. I have another machine in
> the same rack as the PSTN gateway that hosts one of our apps. This
> machine may get more frequent upgrades if we ever notice problems with
> the software or if we need newer features. Our office switch is a
> similar beast. Updates when needed, but it affects fewer people. My home
> machine connects to the PSTN gateway, but my home machine is usually
> bleeding edge and sometimes my working version. At worst case my home
> machine only affects 3 people, 2 of which have cell phones.

This is very interesting. I was hoping someone was running a setup like this.
Lets say that in theory I have a server that is fast enough to handle all my
pstn connections and all of my internal extensions. I have multiple sites
connnected via single mode fiber. Is there a benefit of placing a "local" *
server in each building without pstn connectivity with the local connections
going to an * server with the pstn connections? Would this be better than
running the single server?

Now lets expand on this idea with 2 extras

1. Add a second * server at the central point and split the pstn lines between
it and the first unit. In this setup how would you program the local * to call
either pstn gateway as needed? Is there a way to share the analog lines between
the two gateways such that if one box dies the other unit detects and takes over
their usage?

2. Add some VoIP service accounts for the organization from someone like Vonage,
etc so that if the fiber connection goes down the local * server will continue
to allow outbound calls via there cable modem and connection to the Internet. Is
it possible to have a "pool" of a few voip accounts that could be shared like
these amongst the buildings? One issue we have right now with local redundancy
is that just a single pots line at each building as backup with actually double
our entire phone bill. This is because most of our calls are internal so we
don't need very many pstn lines compared to desktop phones (6 lines to 150
stations is the current ratio).

With either or both of these additions how would you share a central dial plan
and what can you do to simplify maintenance in terms of the * configurations?

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