asterisk users - Nov 2004 - How to make/recieve call using asterisk when there is a power failure?

Hi,

 

I am supportive of the asterisk, but I have some concern, though the concern
also applies to traditional pbx as well. Hope someone can shine some light
into it. Thanks.

 

During a power failure situation, analog pstn lines that connect directly to
the analog phones will most likely still be able to make and receive calls. 

 

However, for the Asterisk implementation, unless you have a huge ups, you
will not be able to make and receive any call during power failure, since
there will be no power to the Asterisk server. And since all the incoming
lines, be it analog lines or T1/E1 are connected to the Asterisk, these
lines wont be able to function at all.  

 

In some situations, even though you may have a ups for the Asterisk, network
equipment, channel banks, etc, but your ATA, IP phones which located near to
your users and probably not connected to the UPS, so these devices wont be
able to function. 

 

And even if you have a ups, after an hour or two, your uos will drain out,
so how? 

 

Though we can have few analog pstn lines as standby, but these lines are
mostly use for making outgoing calls rather than receiving incoming calls.
For a prolong power failure situation, these lines cant really help much, so
businesses will be seriously affected. It is possible to contact the telco
to re-direct the incoming calls to the standby analog lines, however, it
will generally take couple of hours for the telco to make the switch and
very likely there will be a fee involve. 

 

I read from this forum that many asterisk implementations had been carried
out, I wonder how these implementation take care of the power failure
situation? Can someone share the views and implementations?

 

 

 

 

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TinKoon wrote:
> 
> During a power failure situation, analog pstn lines that connect directly
to
> the analog phones will most likely still be able to make and receive calls.
> 
> However, for the Asterisk implementation, unless you have a huge ups, you
> will not be able to make and receive any call during power failure, since
> there will be no power to the Asterisk server. And since all the incoming
> lines, be it analog lines or T1/E1 are connected to the Asterisk, these
> lines wont be able to function at all.  
> 
<snip>

There's been quite a bit of discussion on this list about failover 
scenarios and how to go about handling them; check the list archives for 
the discussions.

You can also look in the Wiki for some examples:

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+failover
http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Failover%20switches
http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Asterisk%20High%20Availability%20Solutions

If you're talking about a simple installation with a couple of lines you 
could use the DPDT Relay solution, look it up in the list archives. For 
larger installations with mission-critical stuff then you'd want to use 
failover switches.

The Wiki has good resources, look it up there.

Flynn

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004, TinKoon wrote:
> However, for the Asterisk implementation, unless you have a huge ups, you
> will not be able to make and receive any call during power failure, since
> there will be no power to the Asterisk server. And since all the incoming
> lines, be it analog lines or T1/E1 are connected to the Asterisk, these
> lines wont be able to function at all.  
> 
> In some situations, even though you may have a ups for the Asterisk,
network
> equipment, channel banks, etc, but your ATA, IP phones which located near
to
> your users and probably not connected to the UPS, so these devices wont be
> able to function. 
> 
> And even if you have a ups, after an hour or two, your uos will drain out,
> so how? 
We use an ups with 12 or 24 hours battery time for the load involved. This
is neither advanced nor terribly expensive, just dimension the ups
appropriately battery-wise and power-wise.

For terminals that require power you can use:
 * power over Ethernet from the switch
 * power over Ethernet from mid-line injectors
 * local ups per station/room

If your pstn provider is not a total fly-by-night operation your E1/T1 
should operate just fine if the power goes out. You may need to plug the 
termination equipment at your site into your ups, but they are usually 
fairly low power devices. 

If your E1 goes dead during a power outage you should switch provider.
Now.

Peter

We use several Dell 2650 servers.  Order them with the dual DC power supply
option.
Buy a row of -48 batteries and a -48 power source, your servers will stay up for
hours.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TinKoon 
  To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' 
  Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 3:56 AM
  Subject: [Asterisk-Users] How to make/recieve call using asterisk when thereis
a power failure?


  Hi,

   

  I am supportive of the asterisk, but I have some concern, though the concern
also applies to traditional pbx as well. Hope someone can shine some light into
it. Thanks.

   

  During a power failure situation, analog pstn lines that connect directly to
the analog phones will most likely still be able to make and receive calls.

   

  However, for the Asterisk implementation, unless you have a huge ups, you will
not be able to make and receive any call during power failure, since there will
be no power to the Asterisk server. And since all the incoming lines, be it
analog lines or T1/E1 are connected to the Asterisk, these lines wont be able to
function at all.

   

  In some situations, even though you may have a ups for the Asterisk, network
equipment, channel banks, etc, but your ATA, IP phones which located near to
your users and probably not connected to the UPS, so these devices wont be able
to function.

   

  And even if you have a ups, after an hour or two, your uos will drain out, so
how?

   

  Though we can have few analog pstn lines as standby, but these lines are
mostly use for making outgoing calls rather than receiving incoming calls. For a
prolong power failure situation, these lines cant really help much, so
businesses will be seriously affected. It is possible to contact the telco to
re-direct the incoming calls to the standby analog lines, however, it will
generally take couple of hours for the telco to make the switch and very likely
there will be a fee involve.

   

  I read from this forum that many asterisk implementations had been carried
out, I wonder how these implementation take care of the power failure situation?
Can someone share the views and implementations?

   

   

   

   



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