asterisk users - Aug 2009 - PRI Gateway - Worth it?

Hi all,

I was looking to build a SIP-to-PRI gateway using Asterisk (as in my other
post), but there is also an alternative of using a Cisco router with something
like an NM-HDV module with a T1 VIC module and DSP channel banks.

The question is, would it be more reliable to offload all dahdi/zaptel/libpri
type stuff to a dedicated gateway device (Asterisk or Cisco) and have the
Asterisk PBX only process SIP/IAX?  What prompted all this was terrible call
quality/dropped calls over our PRI (which currently has a Wildcard TE207P PCI
card) and after two weeks of searching I think I've finally found the issue
today (Serial ATA vs Auto mode in the BIOS, would you believe which leads us to
believe that offloading duties would be very beneficial performance-wise!).

I can think of the gateway allowing us to have multiple PBX's to serve our
calls more easily, maybe making it easier to failover PRI's too, etc... 
Although we do have an ADTRAN Atlas that allows us to split call volume by DIDs
if we wanted to (right now we only have one Asterisk PBX, one electronic FAX
server and a couple of standalone FXO devices - all sharing our PRI by the
ADTRAN)...

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks!

S.

Shashi Dookhee wrote:
> The question is, would it be more reliable to offload all
dahdi/zaptel/libpri
> type stuff to a dedicated gateway device (Asterisk or Cisco) 
Yes - for Cisco.  No - for Asterisk.

-- 
Alex Balashov
Evariste Systems
Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel    : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671
Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 6:25 AM, Shashi Dookhee <sdookhee at
fortify.com>wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I was looking to build a SIP-to-PRI gateway using Asterisk (as in my other
> post), but there is also an alternative of using a Cisco router with
> something like an NM-HDV module with a T1 VIC module and DSP channel banks.
>
> The question is, would it be more reliable to offload all
> dahdi/zaptel/libpri type stuff to a dedicated gateway device (Asterisk or
> Cisco) and have the Asterisk PBX only process SIP/IAX?  What prompted all
> this was terrible call quality/dropped calls over our PRI (which currently
> has a Wildcard TE207P PCI card) and after two weeks of searching I think
> I've finally found the issue today (Serial ATA vs Auto mode in the
BIOS,
> would you believe which leads us to believe that offloading duties would be
> very beneficial performance-wise!).
>
> I can think of the gateway allowing us to have multiple PBX's to serve
our
> calls more easily, maybe making it easier to failover PRI's too, etc...
>  Although we do have an ADTRAN Atlas that allows us to split call volume by
> DIDs if we wanted to (right now we only have one Asterisk PBX, one
> electronic FAX server and a couple of standalone FXO devices - all sharing
> our PRI by the ADTRAN)...
>
> Any comments appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> S.
>
I try to dedicate a box (sometimes HA heartbeat or just a decent server like
the HP DL360 with dual power supplies and RAID) to a certain task.

The litmus test is when that task is mission critical and can logically be
drawn out on a whiteboard.

PRI<->SIP is pretty intensive and obviously mission critical and at least
to
me can sit on it's own little square on the whiteboard.

Budget wise, if possible, I would go with two HP DL360s with dual power
supplies, RAID and a Redfone device or at the least two Sangoma cards, one
for cold spare (unless Digium now has a lifetime warranty that I am unaware
of).

-- 
Thanks,
Steve Totaro
+18887771888 (Toll Free)
+12409381212 (Cell)
+12024369784 (Skype)
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