[Asterisk-Users] Looking for recommendations for home office setups
Greetings Asterisk Users, I'm looking for some friendly advice on setting up a asterisk PBX for our small business. I've played with Asterisk and setup a soft-phone open323, though even on my ethernet network this showed very poor performance. Got a phone call through to digium, but had a difficult time either hearing (low volume) or understanding (line breaking up). Hoping a hardware solution would solve both of these. We're a small software company, with employees working from home in three different locations: - Atlanta: cable modem connection - Denver: ADSL/PPPOE connection - Oklahoma City: ADSL/PPPOE connection Is this a pipe dream? Here's my goal: - One phone one fax at each location - One telco phone line at each location - Utilize existing phones, though willing to buy new phones - Central asterisk server in Atlanta - Phone line best rate routing, outgoing calls routed through the hard-line at a different location if local, etc. ie: One can originate a call from the Atlanta phone, have it routed through the Denver outgoing line to another location in Denver to achieve a local phone call. As far as I understand, this may involve three hardware interfaces, one at each location (plus a central asterisk box). Each would have: - TCP/IP connection back to the central asterisk server (perhaps via a VPN? Or can we just use straight TCP/IP with some form of authentication. Caveat: we have NAT firewalls at each location. - Local telco phone line input - Analog line output for using existing phone, or potentially go via ethernet to a true IP phone? I believe I'm looking for some form of gateway box at each location, controlled by the Asterisk server. Possible? If so, what hardware is recommended. Thanks for any assistance, James Harrell Copernicus Business Systems www.copernicusllc.com ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Looking for recommendations for home office setups
On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, James Harrell wrote: snip We're a small software company, with employees working from home in three different locations: - Atlanta: cable modem connection - Denver: ADSL/PPPOE connection - Oklahoma City: ADSL/PPPOE connection Is this a pipe dream? Here's my goal: - One phone one fax at each location - One telco phone line at each location - Utilize existing phones, though willing to buy new phones - Central asterisk server in Atlanta - Phone line best rate routing, outgoing calls routed through the hard-line at a different location if local, etc. ie: One can originate a call from the Atlanta phone, have it routed through the Denver outgoing line to another location in Denver to achieve a local phone call. As far as I understand, this may involve three hardware interfaces, one at each location (plus a central asterisk box). Each would have: - TCP/IP connection back to the central asterisk server (perhaps via a VPN? Or can we just use straight TCP/IP with some form of authentication. Caveat: we have NAT firewalls at each location. - Local telco phone line input - Analog line output for using existing phone, or potentially go via ethernet to a true IP phone? I believe I'm looking for some form of gateway box at each location, controlled by the Asterisk server. Possible? If so, what hardware is recommended. First, thanks for the very nicely prepared (and well thought-out) message. You are looking for 1 FXO port to bring in the local telco line at each site. You want two FXS ports to provide asterisk dialtone to the existing phone (assuming it's an analog phone) and dialtone to the fax machine. If your solution ends up being an asterisk box at each location, you can do this with 1 X100P and a 2-port TDM400P. Your best-rate routing is absolutely no problem. The 'swich' statement will be your friend. You shouldn't need VPN unless you're concerned about encryption. IAX2 (which, as you mention NAT, you'd be -strongly- encouraged to use) will do authentication for you. Good luck, Steve ___ Steve Creel[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Looking for recommendations for home office setups
Thanks Steve, First, thanks for the very nicely prepared (and well thought-out) message. ... I've tried to do my initial research, but with the list archive as big as this one is... I'm certain I've missed many pertinent posts. Sorry if this has been rehashed many times in the past. Going out on a limb below and asking more questions that will likely indicate a bit of ignorance on the topic. :) If your solution ends up being an asterisk box at each location, you can do this with 1 X100P and a 2-port TDM400P. I am hoping to avoid multiple asterisk servers simply from a management perspective. My ideal scenario would include one asterisk box at a central location managing several CPE type devices that have the FXO FXS embedded. Preferably these CPE devices could be managed by the asterisk to be used for the call routing scenario previously described. Would that require the CPE to support IAX or would SIP be sufficient? I think the answer to the question is the device would need to support IAX- hence the consideration for multiple asterisk boxes. Any embedded-type CPE devices around that natively support IAX, have at least one FXS and one FXO? Something along the lines of the LinkSys BEFN2PS4: http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34scid=29prid=163 - though I understand this product is tied to Net2Phone. No chance of getting it to work on an Asterisk network, right? Or maybe the ZipCom VOIP TA http://www.zipcom.com.tw/zipcom/products/bata.htm - which looks a lot like the device I'm looking for, but probably not exactly, and maybe not managable through asterisk. The limited literature provided on this box indicates it switches an incoming PSTN call directly to the attached analog phone rather than routing it through to asterisk. Appears to only support SIP H323, can't find a retial source anyway. ;) If all else fails, I'm not *completely* averse to multiple asterisk boxes- just trying to avoid it. Regards, James ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Looking for recommendations for home office setups
... and one more note after which I'll try to be less bothersome ... I'm willing to pay a consultant in the Atlanta GA USA area to assist with deployment. Every hour I spend doing this takes away from my primary business opportunities. :) Feel free to contact me offlist. Thanks, James ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
