asterisk users - Apr 2007 - A question about an install i have been asked about...

Hi List...

Lets say I have been asked to do an Asterisk/Trixbox install
for an environment where 2 companies 'live' in the same...
building...

Both companies have 2 incoming Analogue BT Lines
and then have good old BT Phones plugged into them..

I have been asked to setup a VoIP system for one of the
companies and the other company has showed an interest,
There is one central Server Room/Cabinet will all of the
shared services (www,file server, etc, etc...) and I thought
of going down the lies of installing one more Dedicated *
Box into this cabinet with would service both companies...

My 1st questions are as follows....

1.) can one * box host both separate phone setups and
handle them as separate setups.. (I.e. user in company A
can not dial and internal line to user in company B)

2.) can I use a Single 4 FXO port card and reserve 2 ports
for one company and the other 2 ports for the other company?

This would also need to work for outgoing calls, all calls
made by company 1 MUST go over the 2 lines that belong
to company 1 and of course the same for company 2...

3.) How easy is this setup ? or should I just make up 2
different * Boxes, 1 for each company ?

I hope someone could shed some light on this for me
and give me some idea's..

Maybe even point me in the direction of some HOWTOs
on making a 'Hosted * Server' type setup.

Best Regards


Gavin Spurgeon
Assistant Systems Administrator
Leigh City Technology College
gsp@leighctc.kent.sch.uk
http://www.leighctc.kent.sch.uk 
Tel: 01322 620501
Fax: 01322 620599
IS HelpDesk : Ext 541


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by the Systems @ the LeighCTC,
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The short answer is sure, one * box can handle multiple companies, each with
their individual "personalities"  This will take some dial-plan
coding,
which may be difficult in the trixbox environment. There are "GUIs"
which
proclaim to specifically support this type of environment -- Thirdlane being
an instance I've heard of (but have not used).  I have installations with
this specific environment, but using all custom dialplan coding.

On 4/13/07, Gavin Spurgeon <gsp@leighctc.kent.sch.uk>
wrote:
>
> Hi List...
>
> Lets say I have been asked to do an Asterisk/Trixbox install
> for an environment where 2 companies 'live' in the same...
> building...
>
> Both companies have 2 incoming Analogue BT Lines
> and then have good old BT Phones plugged into them..
>
> I have been asked to setup a VoIP system for one of the
> companies and the other company has showed an interest,
> There is one central Server Room/Cabinet will all of the
> shared services (www,file server, etc, etc...) and I thought
> of going down the lies of installing one more Dedicated *
> Box into this cabinet with would service both companies...
>
> My 1st questions are as follows....
>
> 1.) can one * box host both separate phone setups and
> handle them as separate setups.. (I.e. user in company A
> can not dial and internal line to user in company B)
>
> 2.) can I use a Single 4 FXO port card and reserve 2 ports
> for one company and the other 2 ports for the other company?
>
> This would also need to work for outgoing calls, all calls
> made by company 1 MUST go over the 2 lines that belong
> to company 1 and of course the same for company 2...
>
> 3.) How easy is this setup ? or should I just make up 2
> different * Boxes, 1 for each company ?
>
> I hope someone could shed some light on this for me
> and give me some idea's..
>
> Maybe even point me in the direction of some HOWTOs
> on making a 'Hosted * Server' type setup.
>
> Best Regards
>
>
> Gavin Spurgeon
> Assistant Systems Administrator
> Leigh City Technology College
> gsp@leighctc.kent.sch.uk
> http://www.leighctc.kent.sch.uk
> Tel: 01322 620501
> Fax: 01322 620599
> IS HelpDesk : Ext 541
>
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by the Systems @ the LeighCTC,
> and is believed to be clean.
>
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>
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-- 
Barry D. Hassler
President, HCST

http://www.hcst.net/
937-427-9000
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On Fri, 13 Apr 2007, Gavin Spurgeon wrote:
> Hi List...
>
> Lets say I have been asked to do an Asterisk/Trixbox install for an 
> environment where 2 companies 'live' in the same... building...
>
> Both companies have 2 incoming Analogue BT Lines and then have good old 
> BT Phones plugged into them..
>
> I have been asked to setup a VoIP system for one of the companies and 
> the other company has showed an interest, There is one central Server 
> Room/Cabinet will all of the shared services (www,file server, etc, 
> etc...) and I thought of going down the lies of installing one more 
> Dedicated * Box into this cabinet with would service both companies...
>
> My 1st questions are as follows....
>
> 1.) can one * box host both separate phone setups and handle them as 
> separate setups.. (I.e. user in company A can not dial and internal line 
> to user in company B)
>
> 2.) can I use a Single 4 FXO port card and reserve 2 ports for one 
> company and the other 2 ports for the other company?
>
> This would also need to work for outgoing calls, all calls made by 
> company 1 MUST go over the 2 lines that belong to company 1 and of 
> course the same for company 2...
>
> 3.) How easy is this setup ? or should I just make up 2 different * 
> Boxes, 1 for each company ?
Answers to the above are generally "Yes". People sell hosted VoIP
boxes
all the time (centrex/virtual PBX), and you can bet it's not one box per 
client - just like web hosting, that's not really financially viable 
unless they are paying lots of money!

But one issue you might have is the LAN to both companies. A typical * box 
might only have one Ethernet port - do both companies share the same LAN 
(I'd generally hope not!)

Also the outgoing Internet connections - do they have their own separate 
ADSL lines, or share one? If they're separate and want to do the remote
working thing, then routing the calls to each one is an additional factor.

If there's one Internet connection and they have a DMZ (small subnet 
routed down the ADSL line) and 2 routers, one for each company, then 
putting the asterisk box in the DMZ is the thing to do, but you then
have issues with NAT (probably) and firewalling for the phones on the 
inside. Not insurmountable, but an additional thing to go wrong.

And then there's the "political" side of things - what if one
company
decided it doesn't like the other company anymore and pulls the plug on 
the PBX ... Or gets access to the box and listens to all their voicemail? 
(Although since they already seem to have one common comms cupboard, it 
would seem they are friendly enough already!) So if you want a GUI to let 
each company manage their own extensions then you'll have to write your 
own - and at that point it might be just as easy to install 2 boxes...
> I hope someone could shed some light on this for me
> and give me some idea's..
Read-up on contexts, and I'd suggest you look into asterisk in the raw 
rather than rely on a GUI of some sorts...

The book helps. Asterisk, The future of Telephony. You can get it in PDF 
form.

Personally I'd install 2 boxes.

Gordon