asterisk users - Apr 2006 - Asterisk hardware for new office suggestion

Hi list,
I am in the process of setting up Asterisk for a new office and since 
this is going to be my first "real" installation I'd appreciate
some
advice on the hardware from the real world. We will have 8 channels 
(still not sure if 4xISDN2 or ISDN30 8 channels, but I will definitely 
go for a Digium card with echo hw cancelation) and a DSL 2mbit line (QoS 
on the switch and firewall?), to be configured for both traditional and 
VoIP usage . I was looking at the Xorcom TS-1 server and I was wondering 
if you would recommend it for a 30 employees office or if you'd rather 
build it on a "normal" server (would a double PIII 1Ghz be enough),
and
also if you could give a suggestion on the phones (we will get an HP 
Gbit switch PoE).
Thanks, any hint really appreciated

Simone

Simone wrote:
> Hi list,
> I am in the process of setting up Asterisk for a new office and since 
> this is going to be my first "real" installation I'd
appreciate some
> advice on the hardware from the real world. We will have 8 channels 
> (still not sure if 4xISDN2 or ISDN30 8 channels, but I will definitely 
> go for a Digium card with echo hw cancelation) and a DSL 2mbit line (QoS 
> on the switch and firewall?), to be configured for both traditional and 
> VoIP usage . I was looking at the Xorcom TS-1 server and I was wondering 
> if you would recommend it for a 30 employees office or if you'd rather 
> build it on a "normal" server (would a double PIII 1Ghz be
enough), and
> also if you could give a suggestion on the phones (we will get an HP 
> Gbit switch PoE).
> Thanks, any hint really appreciated
Would suggest digging around the wiki as there really is a lot of useful 
info that would help you.

I don't have any isdn stuff, so can't comment on that.

QoS on the switch in a small office is not likely to do anything useful. 
It may help some on the firewall, but it really only impacts outbound 
packets, not inbound. A rather inexpensive way around all that is to 
simply implement a second dsl link used only for voip.

The size of the * box is more oriented around number of simultaneous 
calls and other apps running on the box.  E.g., if the 30 employees 
never place a call, a 600 mhz processor will be just fine. ;)

As I recall (which leaves accuracy questionable), several people have 
implemented a basic * system on old 600 mhz boxes. However, a call 
center with lots of call recording functions (etc) and high call volumes 
may require the largest/fastest processor money can buy.

There is no magic list comparing sip phone quality, features, etc. Lots 
of reasonably good comments on the wiki, but that's about it. Lots of 
"opinions", but keep in mind that what one person with soho-only 
experience considers good is highly likely to be rated poor by someone 
that supports a large corporate environment. Interpretations of 
"quality" varies dramatically based on each person's experience
level.

An individual in a less developed country might consider a softphone on 
a PC high quality (compared to their existing telephony infrastructure), 
but another person in a more well developed country would not use a 
softphone in production if their life depended on it.

For sip phones, I'd suggest starting with identifying some basic 
requirements and go from there. For example, if you don't want to do any 
additional cat5 cabling, using a phone with two rj45's (internal 
ethernet switch) might be a requirement. Is speakerphone capability 
needed? How many extensions are truly needed at each desk? Is intercom 
paging required (to individual sip phones)? Is the key system emulation 
of a busy lamp field required? Is PoE truly required? If the answer to 
just those questions are a mandatory yes, you've just eliminated about 
80% of the sip phones on the market.

I'd expect you to find a need for two or three different types of phones 
somewhat oriented around high-quality (exec types), medium (average 
office worker), and lower quality (break rooms or occasional user).

And, don't overlook the differences between key systems and pbx's. If 
your customer is accustomed to an existing key system, they are likely 
to be very disappointed with a pbx unless you spend a fair amount of 
time up front educating the employees and managing expectations (way 
before deployment).

On 14 Apr 2006, at 11:29, Simone wrote:
> Hi list,
> I am in the process of setting up Asterisk for a new office and  
> since this is going to be my first "real" installation I'd  
> appreciate some advice on the hardware from the real world. We will  
> have 8 channels (still not sure if 4xISDN2 or ISDN30 8 channels,  
> but I will definitely go for a Digium card with echo hw  
> cancelation) and a DSL 2mbit line (QoS on the switch and  
> firewall?), to be configured for both traditional and VoIP usage .  
> I was looking at the Xorcom TS-1 server and I was wondering if you  
> would recommend it for a 30 employees office or if you'd rather  
> build it on a "normal" server (would a double PIII 1Ghz be
enough),
> and also if you could give a suggestion on the phones (we will get  
> an HP Gbit switch PoE).
> Thanks, any hint really appreciated
>
> Simone
I can only base my advice on what we have done for a smaller office.

If you want 8 lines it is probably as cheap to go for ISDN 30 as for  
4xBRI
at least it is here in the UK.

We have a single span E1 card from digium without echo can in a small  
1U rack mounted server
(spec: 1Ghz Via processor and  512Mb ram). The Via might be a bit  
underpowered for 30 users, but
unless you are transcoding, virtually any modern processor would be  
fine for 8 lines.

You need to look out on the DSL line if it is ADSL, since they have  
low upstream bandwidth.
Heavy outgoing mail messages (eg attachments sent to distribution  
lists) can easily fill the outgoing
(256kbit/s) pipe degrading the voice quality.

I'm very fond of the SNOM phones - elmeg are selling the old SNOM 190  
model
which is a decent office phone. For 30 you should be able to get them  
for less than ?70 each.
I've got 6 - 4 SNOMs and 2 elmegs - No problems with any
of them, but they don't support PoE, so you may want to look at other  
models.

Don't underestimate how much training/doc you will need to provide to  
get people going on the new system.
They may have been using the old one for years and written little  
cribsheets about how to transfer etc.



Tim Panton
tim@mexuar.com