[Asterisk-Users] MultiBRI in Australia - found one - maybe

[James Harper]

> I have been involved with a BRI install using 3 x Draytek minivigor
128
> BRI
> adapters and chan_mISDN.  The draytek units use the HFCS-USB chipset,
are
> USB and take power from the USB interface.  Each adapter will support
PTP,
> PTMP, TE and I think NT mode with a maximum of 8 adapters (16
channels)
> per
> server.  The TA's themselves cost $71 inc GST which is the most cost
> effective BRI / multi BRI solution I have found in Australia to date.

Wow! I wish you had spoken up sooner :)

I used to try and avoid usb, but the linux usb stack and general usb
implementation of hardware has improved a lot in recent years. I might
try and get a couple.

The vISDN web site says that their hfc usb driver is under development,
but there seems to be a bit of code there so maybe it's already
working...

> I have one in production for about a week, however chan_mISDN is still
> listed as experimental at this time.  Initially with FC4 and the
default
> FC4
> kernel the server used to lock up solid about once every 24 hours.  It
has
> been suggested to us that people using kernel 2.6.14 or higher do not
> experience these problems so we rebuilt the server with the new kernel
and
> put it in yesterday.  We should find out in a couple of days if this
has
> fixed the lockup problem. 

This is a USB shortcoming, is the lockup occurring in the USB hardware
(eg you have a faulty mainboard), of of the many layers of the USB linux
driver, the HFC usb driver, or the device itself. So many possibilities
for failure. Things are better than they used to be though.

> If we can't resolve it we'll stick in a Cisco
> router to handle the BRI.

Will the cisco router will do the BRI to VoIP, or are you working with
data?

> Anyhow, apart from the lockup problem, it does definitely work and if
the
> lockup is in chan_mISDN then you could use chan_capi on top of mISDN
with
> these adapters.  I have a server in production elsewhere using the
Fritz!
> card with mISDN drivers and chan_capi for over a year.
> 
> So, if you have have the ability to do some testing then definitely
have a
> play with these Draytek adapters.  I got mine from Netbro in NSW.
Note
> that
> it is only the currently available minivigors that have the HFCS-USB
> chipset, older ones on the secondhand market and eBay most likely use
a
> Winbond chipset.

Thanks for the tip.

> As for aesthetics, I was concerned that from the customers viewpoint
it
> might look dodgy, as if we are using the equivalent of external modems
to
> connect the PBX to the pstn, however the units are quite small and
have a
> business feel to them.  They look sorta like an ADSL line splitter and
> cabled neatly look quite professional.

Nice to know. I think that was sort of my perception too, that USB is a
'baby' interface that is useful for plugging in toys like mice and
cameras, but nowadays we are selling systems to clients with HP USB
DAT72 drives on them, and there are no issues (except that all DAT
drives are pieces of crap, but that's nothing to do with the interface,
and now we can swap them out without taking the server down!), and USB
harddisks are widely used as an easy way to move large amounts of data
around.

Thanks again for speaking up, I might get a couple and start playing.

James