asterisk users - Jul 2005 - Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I ne ed?

>But currently, I only have one ethernet jack per office. Routing  
>another 60 or so ports would add a very substantial expense in both  
>cabling and backbone expansion (what category ethernet is required,  
>BTW?).
Most decent phones have an ethernet passthrough (2 port) so you can plug in
your PC. As long as your LAN is decent (Cat5 100baseT switched) the overhead
using VoIP is negligible. 

I have used the 3Com NJ wall jacks with good success:

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase
&sku=3CNJ90

It's basically a 4 port switch that you replace your wall jack with. I used
the NJ200, it allows you to set priority per port, although I think they are
discontinued now. In combination with a 3Com power over Ethernet injector, I
was able to expand a 24 port LAN to a 96 port LAN with a per-port cost of
$62 Cdn. And, 24 ports of those 96 are PoE, so I can plug my phones right in
to port 1 and they power up, no external power supply needed. 

hth

Let me expand on the bandwidth point HTH made and maybe shed light on
your requirements....

A 100baseT switched (no hubs) network has a lot of bandwidth when you
think in terms of VoIP.  The uLaw stream (uncompressed) from an IP500
phone to the Asterisk box is not going to take more than 80K of bandwith
from the bandwidth pool.  That means 60 phones ALL in a single call
would only be using around 5 megs of throughput.  At that point packet
scheduling becomes far more important than bandwidth.  Gigabit is nice
but the value of QoS in comparison is very evident.  If cost becomes a
driving factor, you may want to focus on upgrading port count and remain
at 100baseT instead of going to Gigabit.  A properly configured 100baseT
network with good QoS rules will yield great performance over an
unregulated 100baseT network.  Do you know your real traffic needs?  I
would check how much traffic is via user download, www browsing,
streaming, email, etc, etc...  You may find that some simple rules save
you quite a bit of cash.  Just a thought and alternative... Gigabit is
also very tempting so that whole spiel may have been for not.  8)

Also, pay heed to the PoE stuff you are hearing about.  I may be wrong
but I am pretty sure you want to be careful what you connect to a PoE
port.  Otherwise you wind up with fried PoE injectors and end devices.
I believe PoE ports would only be used for a PoE phone in essence.  Just
as a reminder and warning.

Cheers,
Wiley





-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Colin
Anderson
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 8:47 AM
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I
ne ed?
>But currently, I only have one ethernet jack per office. Routing  
>another 60 or so ports would add a very substantial expense in both  
>cabling and backbone expansion (what category ethernet is required,  
>BTW?).
Most decent phones have an ethernet passthrough (2 port) so you can plug
in
your PC. As long as your LAN is decent (Cat5 100baseT switched) the
overhead
using VoIP is negligible. 

I have used the 3Com NJ wall jacks with good success:

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purc
hase
&sku=3CNJ90

It's basically a 4 port switch that you replace your wall jack with. I
used
the NJ200, it allows you to set priority per port, although I think they
are
discontinued now. In combination with a 3Com power over Ethernet
injector, I
was able to expand a 24 port LAN to a 96 port LAN with a per-port cost
of
$62 Cdn. And, 24 ports of those 96 are PoE, so I can plug my phones
right in
to port 1 and they power up, no external power supply needed. 

hth
_______________________________________________
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 have used the 3Com NJ wall jacks with good success:
>
>
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase
> &sku=3CNJ90
>
> It's basically a 4 port switch that you replace your wall jack with. I
used
> the NJ200, it allows you to set priority per port, although I think they
are
> discontinued now. In combination with a 3Com power over Ethernet injector,
I
> was able to expand a 24 port LAN to a 96 port LAN with a per-port cost of
> $62 Cdn. And, 24 ports of those 96 are PoE, so I can plug my phones right
in
> to port 1 and they power up, no external power supply needed.
anyone know of an OEM version of this concept wall wart switch ?
not sure these are realy worth $60-70 us, feel like they should be $30-45

The only phone that I know of that has a 10/100/1000 switch in it is the
Cisco 7971G-GE:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/phones/ps379/products_data_sheet0900a
ecd801c5c4a.html

It is one heck of a phone, but the price is relatively astronomical (list
price is roughly $1100 each).

- Brad

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Ed Pastore
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:33 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I
need?


On Jul 14, 2005, at 11:54 AM, Adam Goryachev wrote:
> Use a phone like the polycom IP301/501/600 which has a built-in 2 port 
> 10/100 switch. ie, take the existing cable and plug it into the phone, 
> then take a second cable, connect one end to the phone, and the
> other to
> your PC. No need for any additional major investment....
Independent of my telephony overhaul, I am planning on migrating my  
network to gigabit to speed up some core file services (we do a lot  
of server-based computing). Are there phones with a gigabit switch in  
them? :)

Or, kludgy though it seems to me, is it realistic to suggest buying  
an el-cheapo unmanaged gigabit switch for every office? Looks like I  
could get away with $50 per node...
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=652855

 From a network admin's perspective, that seems to me like asking for  
trouble. But routing packets really isn't my specialty, so I don't  
know if it would really cause any problems.
> Well, there might be some way you could add a PRI connection from 
> asterisk to your comdial system, then configure your comdial system so 
> that all 'special' service numbers, and external calls are routed
to
> asterisk... Then there is probably a big battle to try and configure 
> everything to forward to the right system to support all the features 
> you want from asterisk etc.. (ie, there must be a reason you are 
> thinking of replacing the existing system?).
Yeah, our ComDial DXP is 1980s technology, has been discontinued for  
years, and most service techs won't even touch it (let alone be able  
to find parts for it). The idea is to get rid of it, not keep it  
lingering. But the phones themselves sure are nice....
_______________________________________________
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 contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It
contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named
addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose
it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately
and then destroy it.

Ooops...  I should also mention that apparently they don't support SIP (I
was just looking).  I saw them demoed by Cisco on a CallManager box awhile
ago.  I guess I just assumed that a newer phone like that would have SIP
firmware available as well.

Sorry for any confusion.

- Brad

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Ed Pastore
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:33 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I
need?


On Jul 14, 2005, at 11:54 AM, Adam Goryachev wrote:
> Use a phone like the polycom IP301/501/600 which has a built-in 2 port 
> 10/100 switch. ie, take the existing cable and plug it into the phone, 
> then take a second cable, connect one end to the phone, and the
> other to
> your PC. No need for any additional major investment....
Independent of my telephony overhaul, I am planning on migrating my  
network to gigabit to speed up some core file services (we do a lot  
of server-based computing). Are there phones with a gigabit switch in  
them? :)

Or, kludgy though it seems to me, is it realistic to suggest buying  
an el-cheapo unmanaged gigabit switch for every office? Looks like I  
could get away with $50 per node...
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=652855

 From a network admin's perspective, that seems to me like asking for  
trouble. But routing packets really isn't my specialty, so I don't  
know if it would really cause any problems.
> Well, there might be some way you could add a PRI connection from 
> asterisk to your comdial system, then configure your comdial system so 
> that all 'special' service numbers, and external calls are routed
to
> asterisk... Then there is probably a big battle to try and configure 
> everything to forward to the right system to support all the features 
> you want from asterisk etc.. (ie, there must be a reason you are 
> thinking of replacing the existing system?).
Yeah, our ComDial DXP is 1980s technology, has been discontinued for  
years, and most service techs won't even touch it (let alone be able  
to find parts for it). The idea is to get rid of it, not keep it  
lingering. But the phones themselves sure are nice....
_______________________________________________
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 contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It
contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named
addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose
it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately
and then destroy it.