[asterisk-users] zaptel huge irq problem

[Cosmin Prund]

I'm no Asterisk expert (nor Linux expert) but I am using my "*" box for multiple things (transparent firewall, NAT box, samba server, poptop server) and for a considerable time I've been running a VmWare server with a Windows XP virtual machine up-and-running at all times! The Windows XP VM was running IIS, Apache, WarFTP and a Firebird database server - all of which got moderate use.

The hardware for my "*" box is what would be considered "moderate-to-cheap": Sempron-something processor (not a big processor, don't remember the exact GHz), enough RAM (I've added 1 Gb of RAM when I've started using VmWare server), a nice motherboard (I remember I specifically looked for a motherboard with the minimum amount of on-board devices, of which I have disabled everything I don't need!). The "extra" hardware on my box includes 2 PCI NIC's (I'm also using the on-board NIC so I've got 3 working NIC's), an TDM400 card with 3 FXO and 1 FXS, and an Diva Eicon Server BRI card for my ISDN connection. I've got 3 HDD's into the box, of which 2 are "old" IDE drivers (parallel ATA) and the other one is SATA.

My VoIP experience has been good, my zaptel timing is pretty good and I can get faxes working on the FXS interface as well (coming in over the ISDN line).

The rationale behind placing the Windows XP virtual machine on the "*" has not been the lack of extra hardware but the desire to keep the number of always-on servers to a minimum. I've since moved the VM off the Asterisk server because I've installed an Windows SBS 2003 server on a considerably more powerful server.

So there it goes, proof that a small-office Asterisk box can do lots and lots of things!

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of François Delawarde
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 8:26 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] zaptel huge irq problem

Hi,
> Why are you so determined to use Asterisk in a VM? You're asking for
> trouble. Asterisk belongs on dedicated hardware.
>   
I actually want to use Asterisk in a machine HOSTING a VM (that's what I 
implied with the Dom-0 thing I said earlier), sorry for the 
misunderstanding. I agree with you that given the state of advancement 
of just about any 'virtualizer', I would have to be totally stupid to 
try running Asterisk inside a VM. (I also wouldn't have asked here in 
the first place, as I would have been totally certain that problems came 
from the virtualizer itself)

If you feel concerned with my reasons for doing that anyway:

- No one told me that Asterisk belonged on dedicated hardware before 
you, so I didn't know.
- I'm just not very rich and try to integrate some things I need in my 
machine (don't worry, I did not framebuffered or X.orged it yet) because 
I cannot afford to buy another one (yes, even the 200€ one)... The part 
you don't want to know is how many people I had to kill in order to get 
my TDM400 card, until I found out that other cheaper solutions existed. :-)

> We're just trying to help -- but if you insist on running Asterisk in a
> VM, then you're on your own.
>   
And I thank you for that (the helping part), you've found the deep cause 
of all my zaptel problems (Xen), so please don't leave me alone! ;-)

To be a bit more constructive, I'd like to ask you or anyone that dared 
to try using Asterisk on a non-dedicated hardware, specifically those 
that tried on a machine hosting VMs the following:

- If there is no way running Asterisk with Xen, what type of 
'hypervisor' should I use in order not to have problems? KVM?, KQemu?, 
VMWare?
- What type of problems should I expect if I dare to do that? (of 
course, Asterisk will be realtime-niced to make it more important)


Thanks and sorry again for the misunderstandings,
François.
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