Reza, I've had a lot of success running VoIP software (not just Asterisk) using Xen and paravirtualization.
The other nice thing about the newer versions of Xen is that you can give a para virtualized host direct access to PCI cards, so you can still use TDM cards if you need to. On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Reza - Asterisk Consultant <[email protected]> wrote: > *Hello John:* > > This is great info! To update everyone here - after speaking with several > leaders in this field - we've decide to stay away from ESXi. > > Back to the drawing board. > > *Best, > Reza. > * > > On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 10:51 AM, John Lange <[email protected]> wrote: > >> This discussion really boils down to the difference between >> full-virtualization and para-virtualization. >> >> Do a google search for "full virtualization vs. paravirtualization". >> >> One of the things you will learn is that VMWare is full virtualization >> and Xen is para-virtualization. >> >> Para virtualization exposes parts of the underlying hardware allowing >> the guest OS direct access to some things, chief among them hardware >> clocks and timing which is absolutely critical to Asterisk. >> >> Asterisk running on a fully virtualized guest OS is unlikely to run >> properly because the clock bounces all over the place. Even just keeping >> the proper date and time is problematic on these systems which is why >> you are supposed to install "VMWare tools" which helps mitigate these >> issues. >> >> On the other hand, my understanding is that Asterisk on Xen runs great. >> I believe there is even a commercial product for hosted PBXes that is >> based on this though the name escapes me at the moment. >> >> And there Xen kernel modules for Digium cards meaning you install the >> Digium cards in the Xen box and then all the virtual machines can access >> them just as if they were installed on the local system. >> >> A couple more things to keep in mind: >> >> - there is a massive difference between virtualization installed on top >> of an existing OS (such as VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtualization and all >> the "free" VMWare products), and "bare metal" virtualization like ESX >> and Xen. Bare metal is the only way to go for serious virtualization. >> >> - There are now specially tuned installs of some OSes designed for >> virtualization. For example, SUSE has an option for "this is a >> virtualized system" which installs all the specially tuned kernel >> options which makes a major performance difference. >> >> - And, everything I've said above, while still true, is a bit outdated. >> VMWare has recently gotten into the para virtualization game and there >> has been _tons_ of work done on the linux kernel in the last couple >> years to improve the performance of full and para virtulized systems. >> >> -- >> John Lange >> http://www.johnlange.ca >> >> On Thu, 2010-03-04 at 00:49 -0500, Reza - Asterisk Consultant wrote: >> > *Hey guys!* >> > >> > Thanks for all your responses. We've played heavily with ESXi -- but >> > before getting an Asterisk server with ESXi, I'm not ready to take a >> blind >> > leap of faith here without bench marks. I don't mind swimming in a cold >> > water if I know there are others with me :). But then again if there are >> > other options besides ESXi catered for Asterisk, then I'd liketo >> investigate >> > it. >> > >> > During peak hours - we can hit 70+ simultaneous calls on ONE server >> alone. >> > We've also been receiving lots of requests for Virtual Asterisk Hosting >> > needs (plain vanilla Asterisk & FreePBX type). So I need to keep an open >> > mind with Virtualization options for prospects & clients. >> > >> > *Robert: *If you are using software G729 transcoding - then forget >> ESXi. >> > If you are doing any form of transcoding, then forget ESXi. If you are >> > doing call recordings & some sort of transcoding, forget ESXi. If you >> are >> > running Asterisk on top of other VM's on the same ESX(i), that is running >> > Windows Servers, Application servers and ESX(i) - then forget it. >> > >> > IF you **must** use PRIs in a virtual environment, then use foneBRIDGE ( >> > http://www.red-fone.com/) and make sure there is no transcoding going >> on. >> > >> > >> > *Hey Dave: *Been a LONG while! As per XEN, I've never used it - but >> I've >> > also heavily used Virtual Box. Though I love Sun's Virtual Box compared >> to >> > VMWare Workstation - don't even think of deploying Asterisk on VirtualBox >> on >> > a production platform. Trust me, as you always have :). >> > >> > *Cheers! >> > Reza.* >> > >> > -- >> > Toronto based VoIP / Asterisk Trainer, >> > I.T. Consultant and Hosted PBX Solutions Provider. >> > +1-647-476-2067. >> > http://www.linkedin.com/in/seminar >> > >> > >> > On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 9:57 PM, Robert Brock <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> > > Odd, I had a lot of problems with ESXi. >> > > >> > > If I setup the asterisk server with just a firewall and asterisk server >> > > everything ran fine, Isolated nics for each app and network (internal, >> DMZ >> > > and external), worked fine, but as soon as you load more VM machines >> things >> > > started to go sideways. Call quality of recordings went weird, G729 >> > > connections started to act like there was a lot of jitter on the line. >> > > >> > > I tried loading a test server on our ESX cluster and it was much much >> worse >> > > (60+ VM's). >> > > >> > > Also with ESXi you can't add PRI/PSTN cards, everything must be >> external. >> > > >> > > I couldn't see much point in running a production asterisk server as >> and VM >> > > on ESX - Handy for testing but not for production. >> > > >> > > I have also tried using ESX as a media server for Video and once more >> than >> > > 6 Vm were running on the ESX cluster video would get choppy for 1080P >> > > streams, it's like the network resource pools are being shared, even >> when >> > > nics are isolated to the specific VM. >> > > >> > > Robert Brock >> > > Telecom Administrator, MKS Inc., www.mks.com >> > > Waterloo, ON, Canada >> > > Tel: 519-883-3243 or 800-265-2797 x3243 >> > > Fax: 519-884-8861 >> > > >> > > >> > > -----Original Message----- >> > > From: Dave Donovan [mailto:[email protected]] >> > > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 9:27 PM >> > > To: Asterisk Users Group >> > > Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] VM ESXi on Asterisk Production Platforms. >> > > >> > > On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 3:34 AM, Reza - Asterisk Consultant >> > > <[email protected]> wrote: >> > > > Has anyone in here worked hands on with ESXi and Asterisk? Would >> like >> > > to >> > > > hear your input and benchmarks, along with recommendations of other >> > > > alternatives that you may have placed at your data centre running >> > > Asterisk. >> > > > >> > > > Do you prefer ESXi or other alternatives? If alternatives, then >> why? >> > > >> > > Reza, >> > > >> > > This is a timely post. We just deployed Asterisk (PBX in a Flash) on >> > > our ESX 3.5 platform at our Mississauga office. ESXi is just a >> > > skinnier version of ESX. >> > > >> > > It's a bit early to say much about long-term stability, but we've had >> > > no problems with Asterisk since deployment. Fingers-crossed. >> > > >> > > During testing, we found we had choppy/poor quality audio on >> > > playback() operations like autoattendant. It wasn't as bad with >> > > voicemail messages so we installed native sounds, hoping that avoiding >> > > GSM-ULAW transcoding would fix it. It was improved but not great. We >> > > applie a kernel patch to resolve timing issues that caused the choppy >> > > audio. Now it's smooth as silk. >> > > >> > > Info on that patch can be found here: http://pbxinaflash.com/vm/ >> > > >> > > We ran the code exactly as it appears near the bottom of the page. >> > > The only other thing we had to do was edit grub.conf to make the new >> > > kernel the default one. >> > > >> > > I imagine that you're looking at a hosted type of application so, >> > > unfortunately, I can't tell you much about scaling since we're running >> > > only one Asterisk instance and it's the only thing in the high >> > > priority resource pool. It doesn't have to contend with any >> > > resource-intensive guests on the same machine. >> > > >> > > We chose VMware a couple of years ago for several reasons not related >> > > to Asterisk. Since then I've heard good things about other platforms >> > > like VirtualBox and Xen but I have no first hand experience with them. >> > > >> > > Good luck with your project, >> > > >> > > Dave >> > > >> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] >> > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >> > > >> > > >> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] >> > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >> > > >> > > >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Toronto based VoIP / Asterisk Trainer, > I.T. Consultant and Hosted PBX Solutions Provider. > +1-647-476-2067. > http://www.linkedin.com/in/seminar > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
