asterisk users - Jul 2005 - Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use

Hello,

 

My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were
thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)

First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply
that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of
messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even
Google search results!

 

Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well, I
already
knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all!

 

Let's make things clear and concrete now:

In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator
and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive
experience with telecom and VoIP.  Working for a telecom company, I now have
accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  During the
past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk
PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems,
and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production.
BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a
Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost
20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7
basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services
(some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users
every day!)  Why am I telling this?  Well, because I want to make it clear
that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent
whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let
alone my workstation).  What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with
linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution.

 

Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that we
can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32.  So before we can go live
with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved:
what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?

As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of
my lack
of knowledge) for running Asterisk.  So I'm asking about the best linux
distribution only to put up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the
easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm
asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having
to support thousands of users each and every day.  So it must be reliable
and easy to maintain and upgrade.  We are going to use Asterisk in our own
datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we
sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system).

So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home deployment
here.  Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage DS3 or
(lots of) E1 trunks.

 

If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I appreciate your
time and am hoping for some good suggestions and arguments which will lead
me to the correct choice for now and for the years to come.

 

Thanks!

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20050703/d2879c0b/attachment.htm

Hi TWV,
> My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. 
> (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you?re still reading, because 
> whatever you were thinking now, you?re thinking wrong! ;)
>
> Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer 
> always came back: ?Use the one you are most comfortable with?. Well, I 
> already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn?t apply to my 
> situation at all!
>
> [..]
>
> Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the 
> AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that 
> we can?t put any production system on AsteriskWin32? So before we can 
> go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to 
> be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
>
> As I explained, I see Linux merely as a ?necessary evil? (because of 
> my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So I?m asking about the 
> best linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers. I?m NOT 
> asking for the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and 
> learning new things), I?m asking for the best choice to build a 
> carrier grade telecom system, having to support thousands of users 
> each and every day. So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and 
> upgrade. We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters 
> (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we sell 
> to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system).
>
> So it should be clear that I?m not talking about a hobby or home 
> deployment here. Our central asterisk systems for example will have to 
> manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks?
>
We use a special adaprion of Gentoo-Linux with Asterisk compiled against 
mlibc. I think, for professional use it is the best way to make your own 
distribution. However, there are asterisk-specialized Linuxdistris in 
the net at all. If you need a distri for beginning, but not for gamers, 
i would recommend debian.

Hth,

Oliver

Hi

On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 08:45:05AM +0200, TWV wrote:
> Hello,
> 
Disclaimer: I'm a Debian fan and also maintain a small Debian derivative
distro specilized for Linux.
>  
> 
> My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
> holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you
were
> thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)
> 
> First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply
> that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of
> messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even
> Google search results!
> 
>  
> 
> Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
> came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well, I
already
> knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at
all!
Linux distros are not that different from one another. Why do you want a
recommendation for a specific distro? The base is quite the same.

BTW: why limit yourself to Limux only? I believe Asterisk/zaptel will
run on FreeBSD as well (Not sure about Open/NetBSD).

Familiarity with the distro will save you a lot of time.
> 
>  
> 
> Let's make things clear and concrete now:
> 
> In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
administrator
> and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive
> experience with telecom and VoIP.  Working for a telecom company, I now
have
> accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  
[breaking the paragraph, so readers can take some air]
> During the
> past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the
Asterisk
> PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR
systems,
> and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production.
> BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am
a
> Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost
> 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a
365/24/7
> basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services
> (some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000
users
> every day!)  
[ readers: breathe again ]
> Why am I telling this?  Well, because I want to make it clear
> that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent
> whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let
> alone my workstation).  What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact
with
> linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution.
> 
Fine. Therefore there's no specific linux distro you're familiar with.
>  
> 
> Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
> AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that we
> can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32.  So before we can go
live
> with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved:
> what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
I'm not familiar enough with AsteriskWin32, but I'm not sure if it will
actually save you more grieff that it will give you.
I doubt it if it will save you much. If you have a spare computer, a
simple linux distribution will not be some complicated to get started.
Linux distros do a good job at providing the rest of the required
components.

We created our distro (http://www.xorcom.com/rapid ) also for people
with no Linux exprince. I don't believe you need to start messing with a
compiler just to have a functioning Asterisk system.

Part of what I like with Linux, and with Debian in particular, is that
the distro automates most of the necessary procedures you would have
normally done by hand and thus prevents you from doing them wrongly.

It takes extra effort to build a package that adhares to the Debian
Policy, but eventually it pays off, as you have another package that
play along nicely with the rest of your system. When you create a
software you tend think about your package only. The Debian Policy
forces you to think about the rest of the system.

Anyway, this applies for using Debian with the pre-built packages (and
perhaps with your own tweaks to them) rather than with a an installation
from /usr/src . 
> 
> As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because
of my lack
> of knowledge) for running Asterisk.  So I'm asking about the best linux
> distribution only to put up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the
> easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), 
Have it your way, then, :-p 

  http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
> I'm
> asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having
> to support thousands of users each and every day.  So it must be reliable
> and easy to maintain and upgrade.  We are going to use Asterisk in our own
> datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that
we
> sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI
system).
If you need to upgrade more than one box, I'd say that binary packages
(from the distro or ones you build) are definetly the way to go, as they
make testing updates much easier.

BTW: which other distros have pre-built packages?

* I heard something about FreeBSD ports
* Packages for Fedora were mentioned a number of monthes ago. 
* I saw recently in the developers list that someone's working on Mandrake 
  packages. 
* There's supposed to be a Gentoo ebuild, and it was reffred to as
  "ancient" by someone on the IRC.
* The Ubuntu/universe packages seem to be older copies of the pakcages from
  Debian/unstable.

Anyway we (Xorcom) will try to keep in line with Sarge for a while and
progress with Asterisk.

-- 
Tzafrir Cohen         | tzafrir@jbr.cohens.org.il | VIM is
http://tzafrir.org.il |                           | a Mutt's  
tzafrir@cohens.org.il |                           |  best
ICQ# 16849755         |                           | friend

Wow,

I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for many years. I
started back when Novell was king for networks.  Window and many others have
come by and I have setup shop with them.  I still manager and maintain several
of my Clients Windows networks.  Almost 3 years ago our boss/owner decided to
give asterisk a try.  We got a Consultant and they set the system up for us.  I
at the time did not know Linux distro's and was under the impression they
were all the same.  We I quickly learn there not.  (Yes Linux kernel is the main
part.) But the distro's are very different.  We were setup on Mandrake. I
learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 months never did
anything with the OS.

Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like reporting and
other options that required me to start learning the OS and what It could do.  I
looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 was current back then,
Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware.  There all good I spent about 3
months going through them to fine the one that would fit me best. I decided due
to all the books out to learn and setup Red Hat 9.  Which by the way asterisk
works great on.  I setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9.  Very soon RH
changed there Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there
Open Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago.  And
at that time I found CentOS.  It's Red Hat Enterprise without there labels. 
And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For Production systems I am using
there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is easy to setup.  For my testing and
other servers that run on Linux I use CentOS 4.1.

I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great stable
OS which is mission critical product.

Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off list.

Ariel
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TWV 
  To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com 
  Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM
  Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use


  Hello,

   

  My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were
thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)

  First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply
that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of
messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google
search results!

   

  Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well, I
already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at
all!

   

  Let's make things clear and concrete now:

  In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
administrator and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and
extensive experience with telecom and VoIP.  Working for a telecom company, I
now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  During
the past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk
PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems, and
now we feel the time is right to put these services into production.  BUT,
before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows
guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows
2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and
support a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some of the
applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users every day!)  Why
am I telling this?  Well, because I want to make it clear that I am perfectly
happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever
change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation). 
What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I
have never worked with ANY distribution.

   

  Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that we
can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32.  So before we can go live
with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what
Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?

  As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of
my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk.  So I'm asking about the best
linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the
easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm
asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having to
support thousands of users each and every day.  So it must be reliable and easy
to maintain and upgrade.  We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters
(supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we sell to
corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system).

  So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home
deployment here.  Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage
DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks.

   

  If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I appreciate your time
and am hoping for some good suggestions and arguments which will lead me to the
correct choice for now and for the years to come.

   

  Thanks!

   



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20050703/ae12af47/attachment.htm

Hello,

I would recommend Slackware mostly for it's streamlined, minimalist approach
and history of stable distro releases. But with that said, the most
important thing is building a custom streamlined Linux kernel no matter what
distro you use. This can save you bootup time as well as speeding up the
running of the machine. One other very important thing is to not install or
run Xwindows or any window environment(Gnome, KDE, ...) because it will
screw up Asterisk on a high-load machine if you have it running.

We have our 10 production Asterisk servers all running Slackware 10.1 with
custom Linux kernels and the high-volume servers each handle over 60,000
calls a day with no problems.

MATT---

-----Original Message-----
From: TWV [mailto:voip@teleweb.be]
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use


Hello,
 
My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were
thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)
First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply
that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of
messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even
Google search results!
 
Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well, I
already
knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all!
 
Let's make things clear and concrete now:
In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator
and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive
experience with telecom and VoIP.  Working for a telecom company, I now have
accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  During the
past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk
PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems,
and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production.
BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a
Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost
20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7
basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services
(some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users
every day!)  Why am I telling this?  Well, because I want to make it clear
that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent
whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let
alone my workstation).  What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with
linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution.
 
Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that we
can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32...  So before we can go
live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be
resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of
my lack
of knowledge) for running Asterisk.  So I'm asking about the best linux
distribution only to put up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the
easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm
asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having
to support thousands of users each and every day.  So it must be reliable
and easy to maintain and upgrade.  We are going to use Asterisk in our own
datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we
sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system).
So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home deployment
here.  Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage DS3 or
(lots of) E1 trunks...
 
If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I appreciate your
time and am hoping for some good suggestions and arguments which will lead
me to the correct choice for now and for the years to come.
 
Thanks!

Just my two cents... but with that ambitious deployment plan, you
shouldn't ask about distros, but rather start interviewing some linux
admins.  If you're really planning on deploying all those machines on a
platform foreign to you, the distro is a fraction of your battle.
You'll need to understand linux security, create failover
configurations, etc.  You won't learn that in a month or two... And even
if you're able to deploy, what are you going to do when the system
fails?  There's never a good time to acquire debugging skills, but when
your DS3-connected server is down at 10am on a Monday, that's just about
the worst time.

That said, for proof of concept, go with CentOS 4.1 -- smooth install,
all the benefits of RHEL4 and you'll be in business in no time.  Later
on you can moderately tune the kernel if needed or simply re-install
when you get someone who knows linux.  Of course, there was the
obligatory plug for GenToo on the list, and I'm sure I'll get flamed for
saying this, but I recommend you simply skip over that.  Yes, it sounds
attractive and there's a very vocal group of supporters, but in my
experience (and that of several associates), the effort required to
achieve a stable system (or even a "running" system) are in no
sensible
ratio to the "benefits" (perceived or otherwise).  

The above was written by a professional Windows Programmer (since before
Win32) and spare-time Windows Admin (since NT 3.5).  As you, I first
arrived at Linux with Asterisk being the *only* reason.  Now, a year
later, I'm looking at how to replace my NT servers with Linux
machines...


-----Original Message-----
From: TWV [mailto:voip@teleweb.be] 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 1:45 AM
To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use


Hello,
 
My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk.
(/me holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever
you were thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)
First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and
reply that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the
dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum
forum, and even Google search results!
 
Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer
always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well,
I
already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation
at all!
 
Let's make things clear and concrete now:
In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
administrator and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long
and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP.  Working for a telecom
company, I now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with
Asterisk.  During the past 6 months, I have learned as much as I
possibly could about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete
test environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time is
right to put these services into production.  BUT, before we can go
live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows guy, I
have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows
2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis,
and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services
(some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000
users every day!)  Why am I telling this?  Well, because I want to make
it clear that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and
have no intent whatsoever to ever change servers or application
platforms to linux (let alone my workstation).  What's more, I have
NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never worked
with ANY distribution.
 
Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that
we can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32.  So before we can
go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to
be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of
my
lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk.  So I'm asking about the best
linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for
the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new
things), I'm asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom
system, having to support thousands of users each and every day.  So it
must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade.  We are going to use
Asterisk in our own datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as
well as in servers that we sell to corporations and callcenters for use
as an advanced PBX/CTI system).
So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home
deployment here.  Our central asterisk systems for example will have to
manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks.
 
If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I appreciate
your time and am hoping for some good suggestions and arguments which
will lead me to the correct choice for now and for the years to come.
 
Thanks!

> My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
holds breath)  OK,
hopefully youre still reading, because
> whatever you were thinking now, youre thinking wrong! ;)
> 
> First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply
that I could
possibly find about this topic, so that includes the
> dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum,
and even Google
search results!
> 
>  
> 
> Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
came back:
Use 
the one you are most comfortable with
.
>  Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesnt apply to my
situation at all!
> 
>  
> 
> Lets make things clear and concrete now:
> 
> In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
administrator and as a developer
on the .NET platform, and have a long and
> extensive experience with telecom and VoIP.  
You found the correct answer, but apparently don't understand why
its the correct answer. Let's try this approach....

You understand and manage the Windows, .NET, etc, systems because
you've learned how to work with those products. It's no different
with the various Linux distributions.

If you learn how to get around (and manage) a particular linux distro,
that becomes the distro that you're familiar with, and it becomes the
distro that you recommend to your friends. Almost like recommending
a religion.

If you're going to support a linux system in a production voip
environment, pick a popular distro and attend some classes (or learn
through whatever mechanism you are comfortable with) oriented around
that distro. Keep in mind that asterisk is somewhat a realtime system,
and in the majority of realtime systems you don't want to impact the
system's ability to process voip calls by negatively impacting its
performance with GUI overhead. Therefore, you'll find a fair number 
of recommendations that all the GUI stuff be disabled and you run the 
linux system from a simple command line (just like unix systems were
twenty years ago). If you were implementing a small soho system, the 
GUI interface has little impact; but in larger systems it _can_ impact 
voip quality. Attending classes on how to deal with the GUI stuff 
certainly is not going to do you any good.

Once you disable all the GUI stuff, the majority of linux distros
become _somewhat_ the same. (There are differences, but however one
accompishes a task in one distro, there is a way to accomplish that 
exact same task in a different distro. Once familiar with how to get 
around in a system, its not difficult to get around any IBM, HP, Sun, 
BSD, RedHat, Debian, or dozens of other unix/linux systems.

So, the bottom line is still the same answer that you've already found
and that is, "use whichever linux distro you're familiar with",
or,
"pick one and learn it".

In case you aren't aware, the majority of linux built in functions and
applications on various distros come from the same exact source code.
The exact directory layout may be different from one linux install to 
another, and the GUI tools typically have differences, but most of that 
stuff just does not matter on an asterisk system. You _could_ actually 
start your own linux distro if you wanted to spend your time doing it.

If you want to get into low-level programming, you'll find the majority
of the linux/unix OS api's or system calls are almost identical to 
those in Windows (with the exception of the GUI stuff). There are a
number of people throughout the world that have ported linux apps to
their favorite Windows box, and if you dig through the source code for
those apps, you can "see" the real differences. (There are obviously
lots of differences in how Windows kernel routines function when compared
to linux/unix equivalent functions, and a lot of that has to do with
the slicing, timeslots, interrupt servicing, etc. Asterisk has some
very time-critical linux-oriented interrupt servicing requirements, and
that's one of the major reasons why asterisk has not been fully 
ported to a Windows box.)

If you consider the stability of the companies that are supporting the
various distro's, and think about whether these companies are going to
be around in five/ten years, you might choose one distro over another.
(This might be a bad example, but you already are familiar with 
Microsoft vs Novell market share over the last twenty years. Is it in
your company's best interest to move forward with a Novell-based distro
or maybe a different distro?)

So, pick one and learn it.

Quoting TWV <voip@teleweb.be>:
> My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me
> holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you
were
> thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;)
Your email is an excellent example on a well researched question a perfect
example on how questions should be asked on a public forum. Thank you.

Back to your question.

In a commercial environment where you're providing a (I assume managed)
service
for users you want to make sure your tools will be up to the job and you
won't
be let back by your supplier(s).

In this kind of environment on a business level you want support if you're
stuck,
a backup in case things go fubar, the only distros that can provide that are
SuSE
(Novell) and RedHat, regardless what many people say about redhat, it's
still
(the base) the most popular distro according to netcraft (fedora, centOS etc).
The advantage of taken a well used and popular OS is that a) someone else will
probable have faced a problem you'll encouter later on and posted a solution
that you can find on google. and b) You have commercial support from the
writers of the software with (Almost) quick and direct access to a big portion
of the core coders.

If your clients are price sensitive then I'd suggest debian it's free
but it
does have a weird way of doing things and documentations have room for
improvement but again, it's good value for money.

Once you're more comfortable with Linux you can start looking around for the
one
that fits, personally I use FreeBSD but it does have some limitations when it
comes to asterisk.

To summarise:

For commercial support, help on the other side of the phone Redhat and SuSE.
For free, Debian.

Good luck.

Subhi


PS. My post is not intended to start OS holywar, if it did, oh well. too bad :)

-- 
Subhi S Hashwa
// When everything's heading your way, you're in the wrong lane.

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

On Sunday 03 July 2005 02:45, TWV wrote:
> Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same answer always
> came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with".  Well, I
already
> knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at
all!
Then you don't understand or aren't willing to accept the answer.
> or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation).  What's
more,
> I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never
> worked with ANY distribution.
Ah, so there is no distribution that you are most comfortable with.  :-)
> Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the
> AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of course, I realize that we
> can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32.  So before we can go
live
> with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved:
> what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
It's all about time and expense balance.  If you go with one of the
commercial
distributions (redhat, suse, etc.) they will have courses for you to take and 
certifications you can use to gauge your understanding and basically they 
have all the same analogues that you see in the windows world.  There's 
someone you can call and pay for support.  This is probably the most stable, 
least bleeding edge way to do things.

However, if you're going to go down this path, why not just call up Digium
and
make use of their Asterisk Business Edition package?  This is *exactly* what 
it's for!

By and large, Linux is linux but it's the details that will hang you. 
Startup
scripts, package management, documentation, support...  these all vary from 
distro to distro and saying that Linux is Linux is like saying Windows is 
Windows...  Win31 was quite different from Win95 which was subtly different 
from Win98 which is different from Win2k and XP, and even the latter two have 
subtle gotchas.  And we haven't even touched on 2000 vs 2003 vs the server 
edition of both and so on...

Personally I use Slackware which is one of the oldest maintained distributions 
but it's not known for its ease of use, moreso for its simplicity.

What it sounds like is that you want Asterisk Business Edition on one of their 
supported distributions, and then get yourself some training on that 
distribution.   It's likely the most sane, stable way to deploy Asterisk for
those who have the money to trade for time.

-A.

I went with Fedora - great support and eas of use (because of Red Hat
shared tools).
So far so good!

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Kamp [mailto:skamp@arkayinc.com] 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 3:45 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use

Hrmmm small simple easy to manage, and very clean minimal install - 

FreeBSD, if you want linux Id also say Debian


On Sun, 2005-07-03 at 09:16 -0400, Ariel Batista wrote:
> Wow,
>  
> I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for 
> many years. I started back when Novell was king for networks.  Window 
> and many others have come by and I have setup shop with them.  I still
> manager and maintain several of my Clients Windows networks.  Almost 3
> years ago our boss/owner decided to give asterisk a try.  We got a 
> Consultant and they set the system up for us.  I at the time did not 
> know Linux distro's and was under the impression they were all the 
> same.  We I quickly learn there not.  (Yes Linux kernel is the main
> part.) But the distro's are very different.  We were setup on 
> Mandrake. I learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 
> months never did anything with the OS.
>  
> Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like 
> reporting and other options that required me to start learning the OS 
> and what It could do.  I looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 
> was current back then, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware.  There 
> all good I spent about 3 months going through them to fine the one 
> that would fit me best. I decided due to all the books out to learn 
> and setup Red Hat 9.  Which by the way asterisk works great on.  I 
> setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9.  Very soon RH changed there
> Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there Open 
> Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago.
> And at that time I found CentOS.  It's Red Hat Enterprise without 
> there labels.  And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For 
> Production systems I am using there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is
> easy to setup.  For my testing and other servers that run on Linux I 
> use CentOS 4.1.
>  
> I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great 
> stable OS which is mission critical product.
>  
> Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off
> list.
>  
> Ariel
>         ----- Original Message ----- 
>         From: TWV 
>         To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com 
>         Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM
>         Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk
>         server use
>         
>         
>         Hello,
>         
>          
>         
>         My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for
>         Asterisk. (/me holds breath)  OK, hopefully you're still
>         reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you're
>         thinking wrong! ;)
>         
>         First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY
>         message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic,
>         so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk
>         mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search
>         results!
>         
>          
>         
>         Still, my question was not answered!  Mainly because the same
>         answer always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable
>         with".  Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it
>         doesn't apply to my situation at all!
>         
>          
>         
>         Let's make things clear and concrete now:
>         
>         In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network
>         administrator and as a developer on the NET platform, and have
>         a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP.
>         Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the
>         challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk.  During the
>         past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could
>         about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test
>         environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time
>         is right to put these services into production.  BUT, before
>         we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am
>         a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and
>         manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run
>         mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support
>         a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some
>         of the applications I have developed are used by more than
>         25000 users every day!)  Why am I telling this?  Well, because
>         I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my
>         platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever
>         change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my
>         workstation).  What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact
>         with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY
>         distribution.
>         
>          
>         
>         Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I
>         chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk.  Of
>         course, I realize that we can't put any production system on
>         AsteriskWin32...  So before we can go live with Asterisk
servers
>         and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what
>         Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)?
>         
>         As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary
>         evil" (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk.
>          So I'm asking about the best linux distribution only to put
>         up asterisk servers.  I'm NOT asking for the easiest one or so
>         (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm
>         asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom
>         system, having to support thousands of users each and every
>         day.  So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade.
>         We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters
>         (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that
>         we sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced
>         PBX/CTI system).
>         
>         So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or
>         home deployment here.  Our central asterisk systems for
>         example will have to manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks...
>         
>          
>         
>         If you need more information, I am happy to supply it.  I
>         appreciate your time and am hoping for some good suggestions
>         and arguments which will lead me to the correct choice for now
>         and for the years to come.
>         
>          
>         
>         Thanks!
>         
>          
>         
>         
>         
>         ______________________________________________________________
>         
>         _______________________________________________
>         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
> _______________________________________________
> 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

I needed to learn Linux for a project about 18 months ago, so I went
down to a retail computer store and bought RedHat Linux.  Installed with
no problems, and I was up and playing around with it in about an hour.
As I got more into it (and started breaking things) I needed some help. 
The help I got from RedHat tech support was not very helpful.  It was
the e-mail help you get with the retail consumer version, so I figured
you get what you pay for and let it go.  If you had a business support
contract, it might be better, but maybe not.  The best help I got was
from joining my local Linux Users Group (LILUG in my case).  They were
great.  And when I went to a few meetings, and got to ask questions in
person it got really good!  If you have a local Linux User's group
that's not too inconvenient to attend I highly recommend it.

Anyway, at the user's group meetings their existed a "friendly
rivalry"
between the RedHat crowd and the Debian crowd, so I decided to try
Debian.  Couldn't get it to install.  I really tried, even got some help
from the Debian guys on the list, but I just couldn't do it.  Now, I'm
not a Linux guru, but I can follow instructions, but I just couldn't get
it to go.

Then I downloaded and installed Fedora Core 1 (RedHat open source /
development version).  No problem.  So my newbie experience is that
RedHat is quite a bit easier to install.

Used to be that one of the big advantages of Debian was its package
management system (apt).  RedHat has a good package manager now too
(yum).  

So IMHO, go with RedHat for the following reasons:

1.  Sounds like price isn't your big issue, so if you purchase an
enterprise edition of Linux, you'll have access to RedHat tech support,
and you'll have a certain amount of CYA built in.

2.  Some might argue that the community support for Debian or Mandrake
is better, but the mailing list / IRC support you'll get with RedHat is
probably good enough.

3.  There are more books available for RedHat than for other
distributions.

4.  In my experience, it installs easier.

5.  Getting security patches and OS upgrades from RedHat is very simple
(probably is with the other distros too).

For what you're going to do with Asterisk, I don't think there are huge
technical differences between the distributions, so the main
consideration ought to be "which one can I install and learn the
fastest" and not "which one will support the most clients, or have the
most uptime".  Having said that, there is one caveat - I would stay away
from Fedora Core 3 or Debian unstable or whatever newest release of any
version.  Also keep in mind that Asterisk runs just fine on Linux kernel
2.4.x.  You don't need 2.6.x.  

Jeff Heath