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<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>This
doesn't directly answer your question, because every integration scenario is
different, but one of the nice things about Asterisk is that the barrier to
entry to get a system working and play around with it is very low. What you
might want to consider doing is get your Asterisk box working, minus the PRI
card, get the Cisco phones running (you're going to buy them anyway) and put
them in place, side by side with the current phones, and just have the everyone
play with them. That alone will answer a lot of your questions about how to
engineer it without commiting to a particular way. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>However, in your remote office, I would ditch the crap router and at
least use a Monowall <A
href="http://m0n0.ch/wall/">http://m0n0.ch/wall/</A> because you can
prioritize traffic with it, it's super easy to set up, and you can make it work
with odds and ends you have laying around. If you have more than one static IP,
you can even do a Monowall to Monowall VPN and leave your PIX in place, and then
run the VoIP over the VPN. Monowall supports IPSec VPN's, so you can interface
it with a lot of other firewalls out there, including Pix. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Running VoIP over a VPN is sometimes problematic (but sometimes it works
great!) so again you can try it out without committing. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Sometimes it makes sense to have a remote Asterisk server at the other
end and route calls via IAX, IAX is like a VoIP dream protocol, but on the other
hand it adds complexity where complexity is undesirable. You should try it both
ways: Stick in a remote Asterisk server on the other end, route calls via IAX,
and also have some Cisco's register with your main Asterisk server over SIP
(both with and without the VPN)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
Dell will probably be fine, compatibility issues with Digium TDM cards
nonwithstanding (there are some - ask Digium when you buy) and in your case,
overkill. I'm running a Netfinity Xeon 550 (yup, 550 Mhz) with 2 Te110P
cards right now supporting 180 users in 32 locations in a 50 mile radius.
Looking at the console right now I have 36 of 46 channels open to my PRI's, 50
mixed SIP and IAX calls, and top says about 16% with load average about .53. And
I'm recording all the calls. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>On my
remote IAX sites (30), I have between 2 to 5 users that do SIP to a local IAX
server, then IAX here to the main office and out the PRI. What's running on the
remote servers? Frigging P-II 233's. That's all. The reason it works is because
I am careful with codec selection so there's no transcoding. And the call
quality is just fine, thank you. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Ask
the boss for a couple of weeks to experiment, get the gear, and test. That will
give you the optimum result, instead of my jackass opinion.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=011233723-08032006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>hth</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Jason Adams
[mailto:jadams@sumosystems.net]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 07, 2006 4:26
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial
Discussion<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Asterisk-Users] System
Design<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hey
Everyone,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are in the
works of planning a new * installation for our company. We have 20 users
in our main office and 5 users in a remote office a couple of states
away. Our call volume for the main office will be anywhere from 5-10
concurrent calls. The remote office will have about 3 heavy users with
two users making calls occasionally.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Right now we have
an existing PBX. We have a T-1/PRI coming into the main office and a DSL
connection at the remote office. We have a Cisco 2610/PIX 501 at the
main office a cheesy linksys router at the remote site.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are planning on
purchasing new Cisco IP phones for everyone.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>My main question
is this: What type of hardware/network design would be best for this
situation? Would a full T-1 at the remote site work with a VPN between
the offices? Or would a higher bandwidth DSL work with a VPN? Or
should we move to a Point-to-Point connection? What type of hardware
would be best for the end-to-end communication in regards to QoS? I know
the PIX 501 doesn't support it.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Would it be best
to have two * servers in each office or for that call volume at the remote
office does it make sense? I was thinking of a Dell Power Edge server
with 4GB of ram and a dual processor.. is that enough?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=402550023-07032006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sorry for all the
questions!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<P align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: gray; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><SPAN
class=402550023-07032006> -
</SPAN>Jason</SPAN></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>