asterisk users - May 2005 - Fwd: Newbie here. Tips on setting up 100 phones wanted.

So in order to answer the background and backbone questions here is
the system as it is. I hope this isn't too much for the list but I'll
post it in response to a few inquiries.


The current system is quite interesting.
We have an office in a town that is about 50 miles from
the ski area. The ski area is powered 100% of of generators and the
telephone access and internet access goes from the Office in town out
a private T1 to a town about 80 miles down another highway and then we
shoot a 5Mb microwave signal about 6 miles accross no mans land up to
the ski area, (that oddly enough is on it's own highway with no
utilities). From the top of the mountain I ran the signal over T1 to
the Upper Ski lodge. From there I use an HDSL bridge about 3 miles
down the hill to the lower lodge. Both lodges have a small size LAN
about 25 computers. I also run some ethernet extender over copper to a
couple other buildings and some WAP's these are all inside the
employee lodge and one of the main day lodges.

As you can see it is a very unique and quite complex system as is. But
the LAN is quite extensive and functions very well. As you can guess from
the description the weak link is the Microwave from the top of the ski area
down to the town with internet access. But that is very reliable and the
snowfall we get, which is immense, hasn't been a problem for it yet.

As for my technical background I build and admin servers and desktops
in FreeBSD, Windows, and OSX. I learned routing and networking as
needed for the job and look at this project as just more learning. And
I'm VERY excited that I found an active community to query.

Thanks again I hope that helps tell the story and background a bit more.

-brandt

On 5/27/05, Wiley Siler <wsiler@education2020.com>
wrote:
> OK.  Here are some pointers....
>
> Be sure to read up here...
> www.voip-info.org
>
> Lots of info and very specific to SIP, Asterisk, etc, etc...
> Also, with SIP, firewalls become an issue.  Check out the SIP stuff at
> above URL.
>
> Next, you will need to make sure you have some redundancy for your
> Asterisk box.
> Good news is that you can plan on using pretty simple dual processor
> boxes (Supermicro highly reccommended for compat)
>
> Next, how do you intend to connect to the PSTN?
>
> Just so you know, this is going to be a HUGE project form the sounds of
> it...
> I have a friend who owns a company in Denver that provides a hosted PBX
> solution if you are interested.
> They provide the Polycom IP500 phones with the accounts.
> www.unitybn.com  Ask for Greg Mennard and reference me...
> Have to throw that bone out there...
>
> What is your technical background?
>
> Thanks,
> Wiley
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: brandt Milczewski [mailto:motobrandtlists@gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 10:45 AM
> To: Wiley Siler
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Newbie here. Tips on setting up 100 phones
> wanted.
>
> hehe I hear this.. Fiber doesn't exist currently but is part of phase
> one infrastructure buildup. The current old phone system has been
> limping along for the last couple of years and is about ready to give up
> the ghost. It is off for the summer and the guy who runs it gives no
> guarantees that it will start up again. It's my job to come up with
> alternatives.
>
>
> On 5/27/05, Wiley Siler <wsiler@education2020.com> wrote:
> > I thought he meant that as well but I hope that what will occur is
> > that there is DSL somewhere already that can be utilized.
> > That conflicts with the 'old town PBX' scenario as well
though.
> >
> > So, assuming there is DSL already, that even makes you wonder why
> > bother if a phone line already exists and local calling is free?
> >
> > I think we need more details on this one.
> >
> > W
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
> > [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Colin
> > Anderson
> > Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 10:18 AM
> > To: 'brandt Milczewski'; 'Asterisk Users Mailing List -
Non-Commercial
>
> > Discussion'
> > Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Newbie here. Tips on setting up 100
> > phones wanted.
> >
> > >It will be about 100 phones at about 20 locations all within about
4
> > >miles of each other.
> >
> > Perhaps a more pressing question might be how you are going to
> > backhaul Ethernet in a 4-mile radius. You can't run a Cat 5 cable
more
>
> > than 100 metres reliably, and using Ethernet repeaters every hundred
> > metres or so isn't practical. You will need a fiber backbone or
> something like that.
> > What is your plan to create an Ethernet network to tie these locations
>
> > together?
> > _______________________________________________
> > Asterisk-Users mailing list
> > Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com
> > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> >    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> >
>

The first problem I would consider is the reliability of the system.
Currently, I assume you are using standard analog lines stretched
between your various buildings, which means you 'only' rely on power at
the central location (which you say is generator provided) and the
physical cable survives. However, once you move to IP based phones, you
have switches, microwave, DSL, T1, etc, etc, etc... Plus power at each
location to power the phone. In such an environment, I'd be most
concerned about what might happen during some severe weather or other
extreme situation.

If the sites were closer together, then perhaps standard ethernet with
PoE would be a good solution...

See more..

On Fri, 2005-05-27 at 11:42 -0700, brandt Milczewski
wrote:
> The current system is quite interesting.
> We have an office in a town that is about 50 miles from
> the ski area. The ski area is powered 100% of of generators and the
> telephone access and internet access goes from the Office in town out
> a private T1 to a town about 80 miles down another highway and then we
private T1 means dedicated point-to-point? ie, you 'rent' it from some
telco? Or, you ran your own cable, and installed your own equipment in
the other town, and just happen to use it as a T1??
> shoot a 5Mb microwave signal about 6 miles accross no mans land up to
> the ski area, (that oddly enough is on it's own highway with no
> utilities). 
So, the entire connection to your resort relies on this single 5MB
microwave link??
> From the top of the mountain I ran the signal over T1 to
> the Upper Ski lodge. 
Again, I assume you have installed your own equipment at the top of the
mountain and in the 'upper' ski lodge and run your own copper?
> From there I use an HDSL bridge about 3 miles
> down the hill to the lower lodge. 
So, if any ONE of the above fails, all comms to the lower lodge and
surrounding buildings are completely gone?
> Both lodges have a small size LAN
> about 25 computers. I also run some ethernet extender over copper to a
> couple other buildings and some WAP's these are all inside the
> employee lodge and one of the main day lodges.
I'm wondering, how do the power cables run, or does each 'area' have
it's own local generator, as opposed to a single large generator?

Perhaps you might look at adding some kind of redundancy, such as a
satellite link from the lower lodge. Meaning if you lose any one of the
above connections, you still have full external communications...
> As you can see it is a very unique and quite complex system as is. But
> the LAN is quite extensive and functions very well. As you can guess from
> the description the weak link is the Microwave from the top of the ski area
> down to the town with internet access. But that is very reliable and the
> snowfall we get, which is immense, hasn't been a problem for it yet.
That's great... hopefully it won't become a problem either...
> As for my technical background I build and admin servers and desktops
> in FreeBSD, Windows, and OSX. I learned routing and networking as
> needed for the job and look at this project as just more learning. And
> I'm VERY excited that I found an active community to query.
Well, as for my non-technical background, I've read plenty of novel's
where the basic theme is a group of people who lose all communication
with the rest of the world, and need to survive the elements/etc (plus
one or two people/animals/beasts intent on some evil plan) to make it
out alive...

Perhaps in the real world, that isn't such a likely story.....
> Thanks again I hope that helps tell the story and background a bit more.
Of course, I've not had any experience in your environment, nor in
anything similar, so if it works for you, and you are happy with the
reliability, then go for it..... (So long as you don't get someone
killed/injured and then get sued....

Regards,
Adam
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