[Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use

Michael Stahl mstahl at ocg.ca
Sun Jul 3 10:02:08 MST 2005 

I went with Fedora - great support and eas of use (because of Red Hat
shared tools).
So far so good!

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Kamp [mailto:skamp at arkayinc.com] 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 3:45 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use

Hrmmm small simple easy to manage, and very clean minimal install - 

FreeBSD, if you want linux Id also say Debian


On Sun, 2005-07-03 at 09:16 -0400, Ariel Batista wrote:
> Wow,
>  
> I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for 
> many years. I started back when Novell was king for networks.  Window 
> and many others have come by and I have setup shop with them.  I still

> manager and maintain several of my Clients Windows networks.  Almost 3

> years ago our boss/owner decided to give asterisk a try.  We got a 
> Consultant and they set the system up for us.  I at the time did not 
> know Linux distro's and was under the impression they were all the 
> same.  We I quickly learn there not.  (Yes Linux kernel is the main
> part.) But the distro's are very different.  We were setup on 
> Mandrake. I learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 
> months never did anything with the OS.
>  
> Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like 
> reporting and other options that required me to start learning the OS 
> and what It could do.  I looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 
> was current back then, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware.  There 
> all good I spent about 3 months going through them to fine the one 
> that would fit me best. I decided due to all the books out to learn 
> and setup Red Hat 9.  Which by the way asterisk works great on.  I 
> setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9.  Very soon RH changed there

> Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there Open 
> Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago.
> And at that time I found CentOS.  It's Red Hat Enterprise without 
> there labels.  And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For 
> Production systems I am using there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is

> easy to setup.  For my testing and other servers that run on Linux I 
> use CentOS 4.1.
>  
> I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great 
> stable OS which is mission critical product.
>  
> Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off

> list.
>  
> Ariel
>         ----- Original Message ----- 
>         From: TWV 
>         To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com 
>         Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM
>         Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk
>         server use
>         
>         
>         Hello,
>         
>          
>         
>         My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for
>         Asterisk. (/me holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still
>         reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you're
>         thinking wrong! ;)
>         
>         First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY
>         message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic,
>         so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk
>         mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search
>         results!
>         
>          
>         
>         Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same
>         answer always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable
>         with".  Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it
>         doesn't apply to my situation at all!
>         
>          
>         
>         Let's make things clear and concrete now:
>         
>         In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
>         administrator and as a developer on the NET platform, and have
>         a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP.
>         Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the
>         challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  During the
>         past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could
>         about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test
>         environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time
>         is right to put these services into production.  BUT, before
>         we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am
>         a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and
>         manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run
>         mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support
>         a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some
>         of the applications I have developed are used by more than
>         25000 users every day!)  Why am I telling this?  Well, because
>         I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my
>         platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever
>         change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my
>         workstation).  What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact
>         with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY
>         distribution.
>         
>          
>         
>         Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I
>         chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of
>         course, I realize that we can't put any production system on
>         AsteriskWin32...  So before we can go live with Asterisk
servers
>         and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what
>         Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
>         
>         As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary
>         evil" (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk.
>          So I'm asking about the best linux distribution only to put
>         up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the easiest one or so
>         (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm
>         asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom
>         system, having to support thousands of users each and every
>         day.  So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade.
>         We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters
>         (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that
>         we sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced
>         PBX/CTI system).
>         
>         So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or
>         home deployment here.  Our central asterisk systems for
>         example will have to manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks...
>         
>          
>         
>         If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I
>         appreciate your time and am hoping for some good suggestions
>         and arguments which will lead me to the correct choice for now
>         and for the years to come.
>         
>          
>         
>         Thanks!
>         
>          
>         
>         
>         
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