[asterisk-users] A few (simple?) questions

[Carlos Alvarez]

Getting involved in an existing, and possibly broken system is the wrong
way to start with Asterisk.  I know, because that's how my career in VoIP
started.  I had to unlearn a lot of poor practices I learned from that
system.

But anyway without prior documentation or the ability to get the original
design intention, I think your next step is to go right back to the
beginning, and gather the user requirements and create a design.  Then see
if it was solved properly, or you need to start over, or what.  Without the
basics I don't think you can answer the questions you had.  Once you know
what was needed and why it was custom-written, you'll probably have all
those answers.  Just know that in its basic form, to process calls for a
normal company, nothing is needed other than one Asterisk server.
 Everything else is extra, which may or may not be warranted.  I've seen a
number of deployments that seemed geared more towards making a very
profitable complex custom system than just giving the customer the best
value.

Asterisk is a particularly noob-unfriendly product with a lot of pitfalls
and relatively poor documentation.  Don't go into it lightly, and always be
aware that doing it wrong results in anything from system failures to
thousands of dollars in toll fraud costs.


On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 8:38 AM, Brynjolfur Thorvardsson <binni at itanet.nu>wrote:

> Hi Carlos and thanks for your answer. To begin with: I am a noob in all
> telephony/asterisk/ror fields, coming from a Classic ASP/MS background!
> I’ve been nosing around in RoR and Asterisk for the last month or so and
> have managed to create several RoR sites and to get an Asterisk server up
> and running so me and my boss can phone each other using softphone on a
> smartphone.****
>
> ** **
>
> So, yes it’s going to be fun! And again, thanks for your answer.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *Fra:* asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:
> asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] *På vegne af *Carlos Alvarez
> *Sendt:* 14. december 2011 16:13
>
> *Til:* Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> *Emne:* Re: [asterisk-users] A few (simple?) questions****
>
> ** **
>
> On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 2:18 AM, Brynjolfur Thorvardsson <binni at itanet.nu>
> wrote:****
>
>  ****
>
> I’ve been saddled with recreating a running Asterisk PBX setup (with Ruby
> on Rails). Due to some wrangling between my client and the original
> developers I am not able to talk to the developers themselves but have been
> given full SSH access to their servers!****
>
> ** **
>
> Jumping in without documentation or help when there is a questionable
> relationship between the client and developer...this should be a lot of fun.
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> ** **
>
> The system offers PBX services to  ~10 small firms and connects via a SIP
> trunk to a Telecoms company.****
>
> ** **
>
> Sounds way over-built, but since we don't know the intent of the
> architecture nor all the features expected, hard to say.****
>
>  ****
>
> -          STUN server – is it necessary (given that there are many free
> STUN servers on the Internet), and why two?****
>
> ** **
>
> I don't believe so. ****
>
> -          Why have a separate Asterisk server for the trunk?****
>
> Can't think of any reason. ****
>
> -          Is the Apache Message Queue server necessary?****
>
> "Necessary" is not something that can be answered.  In their environment
> as programmed, probably.  In general, can an Asterisk server run without
> it?  Yes.  A low-end single x86 server can easily support hundreds of
> endpoints and dozens of concurrent calls, with all Asterisk services
> running on a single server.****
>
> Do you have Asterisk expertise already?  RoR, SQL, other telephony...?****
>
>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> -- ****
>
> Carlos Alvarez****
>
> TelEvolve****
>
> 602-889-3003****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
>  ****
>
> --
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-- 
Carlos Alvarez
TelEvolve
602-889-3003
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