asterisk users - Apr 2005 - Asterisk Realtime Capabilities

Hello all. I am trying to architect a large-scale solution and need to 
know some of the capabilities of * using realtime configuration (I have 
read some docuemntation on the WIKI, but have not yet played with Realtime).

As the supporting docco is a little light-on at the moment, I'm hoping 
to get some meaningful feedback from those who've used it successfully.

Essentially, I'm trying to build a distributed network of * boxes which 
will terminate SIP/IAX/PSTN calls. I would potentially like to use a 
central "farm" of redundant * boxes in place of a single SER box (if 
possible) to act as the SIP (and IAX) registrar/proxy. I know that SER 
is a much more efficient SIP proxy, but I'm hoping that the addition of 
multiple * boxes will largely negate this fact, and provide redundancy.

Is it indeed conceivable to build a national network entirely of * 
servers, have users register via SIP/IAX to a load-balanced (not sure 
which mechanism I'll empoy here yet) farm of * servers (ie. an unknown 
server), and then receive calls from anywhere in the network (and 
outside)? In other words, can the registering server update a USRLOC 
type database on the fly, so all other servers know where to route calls 
for a given (dynamic?) client?

Also, I will be using multiple * boxes as media gateways. Is there an 
existing mechanism whereby a given server can record the number of 
busy/available ZAP channels to a central database for the purpose of 
call routing?

> to a load-balanced (not sure which mechanism I'll empoy here yet)
    I was quoted a $21,000 layer-7 switch from F5 Networks to do SIP load
balancing.
> outside)? In other words, can the registering server update a USRLOC
> type database on the fly, so all other servers know where to route calls
    As long as all * servers share the same central database; this way when
SIP 1 registers via RealTime at server A, server B (using same db) should be
able to see the registration. You may not be able to use RTCache though...
> Also, I will be using multiple * boxes as media gateways. Is there an
> existing mechanism whereby a given server can record the number of
> busy/available ZAP channels to a central database for the purpose of
> call routing?
    Nothing built-in comes to mind, but Im sure you could AGI something.

-Matthew

I am in the early stages of doing something similar, but am planning to use 
SER. Why? Because various postings imply that's the better thing to do and 
that Asterisk isn't ready for the type of scenario you envisage - yet. Also,
I see posts about problems with Asterisk RealTime that give me concern about 
its scalability. However I would prefer not to do this because integrating 
SER and Asterisk will be a pain e.g. voicemail notifications. So I would be 
keen to hear from you as you progress down your path - if it's better
I'd
like to switch!

Currently my plan is to have PSTN to IP gateways at PSTN interconnect points 
(e.g. ADIT600 with CMG02). These will route data to the centralised servers 
over a WAN i.e. Asterisk servers are not distributed.

Regards

Cameron
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rod Bacon" <rod.bacon@empoweredcomms.com.au>
To: <asterisk-users@lists.digium.com>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 1:24 PM
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Asterisk Realtime Capabilities

> Hello all. I am trying to architect a large-scale solution and need to 
> know some of the capabilities of * using realtime configuration (I have 
> read some docuemntation on the WIKI, but have not yet played with 
> Realtime).
>
> As the supporting docco is a little light-on at the moment, I'm hoping
to
> get some meaningful feedback from those who've used it successfully.
>
> Essentially, I'm trying to build a distributed network of * boxes which
> will terminate SIP/IAX/PSTN calls. I would potentially like to use a 
> central "farm" of redundant * boxes in place of a single SER box
(if
> possible) to act as the SIP (and IAX) registrar/proxy. I know that SER is 
> a much more efficient SIP proxy, but I'm hoping that the addition of 
> multiple * boxes will largely negate this fact, and provide redundancy.
>
> Is it indeed conceivable to build a national network entirely of * 
> servers, have users register via SIP/IAX to a load-balanced (not sure 
> which mechanism I'll empoy here yet) farm of * servers (ie. an unknown 
> server), and then receive calls from anywhere in the network (and 
> outside)? In other words, can the registering server update a USRLOC type 
> database on the fly, so all other servers know where to route calls for a 
> given (dynamic?) client?
>
> Also, I will be using multiple * boxes as media gateways. Is there an 
> existing mechanism whereby a given server can record the number of 
> busy/available ZAP channels to a central database for the purpose of call 
> routing?
>
>
>
>
>
>
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