[Asterisk-Users] Nortel --> Asterisk-------->Asterisk

[Jim Van Meggelen]

asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> Jim Van Meggelen wrote:
>> asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>> 
>> 
>> Your diagram is a bit confusing to me. Still, the use of PRI in the
>> BCM is a good plan. You've avoided using the highly unstable VoIP
>> functions in the BCM. 
>> 
> Sorry, it got a little jumbled

No worries. I got the gist of it.

>> PRI support on the BCM is based on the Norstar architecture, which is
>> very stable. So that basic design philosophy should serve you well.
>> 
>>> [snip]
>>> 
>> That should work well. One thing you may want to consider is fronting
>> the BCM with the Asterisk, as the Asterisk dial plan is far more
>> flexible. 
>> 
> The Nortel is set up and runs well enough to serve the one
> location. I
> am a strong believer in if it isn't broke don't fix it. Any short
> comings that we have experienced with the BCM, I hate to say it, but
> people have gotten used to it.

As you said. If it ain't broke . . .

>> Never mind the money, Asterisk is technically superior to the BCM in
>> every way on the VoIP and OS side of things. The only place the BCM
>> might be able to argue a slight advantage is the wealth of key system
>> features it offers on its sets.
>> 
>> Whatever you do, avoid using the BCM for VoIP - you *will* regret it.
>> 
> Too late! I have 32 i2004's currently running off of it. Please don't
> even let me get started on how hard it is to get a clean call through
> the system even with QOS and dedicated links.

LOL! Did you try putting the sets on their own LAN? They don't seem to
play nice with other stuff on the network, but on their own it can be
tolerable (a Nortel switch can sometimes help as well). It's all that
proprietary thinking that leads them to think they can get away with not
testing in multi-vendor environments.

>> Bottom line? The BCM has a limited future, whereas Asterisk *is* the
>> future! 
>> 
>>> plus Tampa has twice the data rate capacity of Sarasota already.
>>> 
>>> I am really looking to achieve the following:
>>> 1. Reliability
>> 
>> Asterisk - BCM is famously unstable (as is its operating system -
>> Windows NT4.0). 
>> 
> We experienced the VOIP phones sporadically losing connection to the
> BCM. The ethernet link on the BCM was locking up for some reason. 

Have you got all your patches up to date? There's a new one every week,
it seems.

> The
> only way to do a hard reset on a BCM it to literally pull the
> power plug
> out of the back of the machine. To turn it on you plug it
> back in. Mind
> you these are Nortel directions. When they first told me that
> I thought
> they were joking.

The problem there is the MSC card. That card is actually a totally
independant Norstar KSU that's been wired onto a PCI board. The reason
you have to yank the power on the box is that it's the only supported
way of rebooting that card (it gets its power from the PCI bus, but it
has it's own CPU - M68030 - and operating system - WindRiver pSOS).
There are some pretty interesting utilities on the hard drive of the BCM
(there's one called resetksu.exe in the \Program Files\Nortel
Networks\Voice Platform folder), but they are neither supported nor
documented. For the most part it's a mess and when you see the number of
OS2- DOS-type CMD/BAT files Nortel has handling critical system scripts
you will want your money back. Most of the Nortel support folks barely
understand Windows, PCs and Norstar, never mind this beast they've
kludged together. 

My Dream? Format the hard drive of the BCM and install Asterisk. I've
had Linux running on a BCM chassis several times (back when I had access
to a lab with several BCMs). Not PCM telephony, though (at least not
integrated with the network). The trick'd be getting an API from Nortel
for the MSC card. Not much chance of that.

Rumour has it that BCM 4.0 is going to be Linux/PPC-based. Won't take
long before someone ports Asterisk to it.


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