PBX/Voip Solution Advice

masteroftherealm

Hey guys looking for some advice on this.

I am looking to setup a small PBX solution in my home office.

I have/need:

1 incoming PTSN line for home use from Eircom. (Have)
2 VOIP Lines/Numbers with seperate geographic numbers for work (Need Advice)

6/8 Extentions around the house, which I want to use Cisco IP phones flashed to SIP firmware.

All to be managed with voicemail etc by a Trixbox/Asterisk Style Solution (Need advice on Hardware and Software)

I am looking for advice on what I need in the way of FXO/FXS (Can someone give me a brief overfiew on what cards are best) card for the PTSN line. And wether my solution is even possible. I plan to want to be able to dial out on any of the lines and recieve calls on any of the lines from all the phones in the house.
And which provider would suit best for the VOIP lines, would I even need the 2 seperate lines or can I have 2 VOIP numbers on a single line.

I will be building this myself on a custom server so an off the shelf solution is not suitable btw.

Disclaimer: I am a Network Engineer so I know the basics this is just my first foray into the PBX market so looking for more of an overview on the specific needs of this kind of setup.

Cheers in advance.
Jay

joePC

Hi Jay,

First of all your solution is 100% possible,

Just to map out what you want.

Incoming: 1x PSTN Line

PSTN line (Eircom) --> FXO+Asterisk server --> Switch / hub --> Cisco IP Phones

Broadband (Eircom) --> Eircom / Netopia Box --> Switch / hub --> Asterisk server

Outgoing:

Cisco Phones --> Asterisk box --> PSTN line (Eircom)

Cisco Phones --> Asterisk box --> VOIP over Broadband (Blueface.ie)

---

For the 2x geographic numbers go with Blueface.ie - They can also serve as your VOIP Provider.

Hardware - For 6/8 phones a basic PC will do (P4 + 1Gig Ram or above). If you want redundancy then you will need a proper server, I can recommend the HP DL380 range.

For the FXO card there are 3/4 main players, Sangoma, Digium, Xorcom & Rhino

If you going with a PC setup then I would stick with Sangoma, the Digium cards tend to have some IRQ issues on Desktop type MB's

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Joe

masteroftherealm

Thats lovely exactly what I wanted to hear.

On the cards side, it'll be gonig in a Dell Poweredge 1950 as I have a few lying around here that I can spare. Would using a server push back to Digium as a reccomendation or would Sangoma still be the one you'd go for. Also I am assuming I just need a single port card?
Cheers again
JAy

joePC

The 1950 is known to work well with the Digium TDM cards, does it have a PCI-X riser card or is it PCI-Express?

Personally I like using Digium cards as their natively compatible with Zaptel / Dahdi - Sangoma need the wanpipe drivers installed.

SNIP

Cheers, Joe

Cat5

masteroftherealm wrote: »

Hey guys looking for some advice on this.

I am looking to setup a small PBX solution in my home office.

I have/need:

1 incoming PTSN line for home use from Eircom. (Have)
2 VOIP Lines/Numbers with seperate geographic numbers for work (Need Advice)

6/8 Extentions around the house, which I want to use Cisco IP phones flashed to SIP firmware.

All to be managed with voicemail etc by a Trixbox/Asterisk Style Solution (Need advice on Hardware and Software)

I am looking for advice on what I need in the way of FXO/FXS (Can someone give me a brief overfiew on what cards are best) card for the PTSN line. And wether my solution is even possible. I plan to want to be able to dial out on any of the lines and recieve calls on any of the lines from all the phones in the house.
And which provider would suit best for the VOIP lines, would I even need the 2 seperate lines or can I have 2 VOIP numbers on a single line.

I will be building this myself on a custom server so an off the shelf solution is not suitable btw.

Disclaimer: I am a Network Engineer so I know the basics this is just my first foray into the PBX market so looking for more of an overview on the specific needs of this kind of setup.

Cheers in advance.
Jay

Most engineers are familiar with the phrase "Keep it simple Stupid".:D.You could just use the ip phones as a stand alone. Using one geographic number with 5 or six sip extensions (calls forwarded to each extension like a hunting group. (just one number on your business card)....For voice mail just enable the voice mail on each extension... (BTW Use Blueface)

masteroftherealm

My problem is I actually run 2 sperate business that need seperate numbers and need my personal home number also hence the wanting of the 3 seperate numbers

jasontallon

Hi

Have a look at AsteriskNOW they have an iso which does all the install, os, asterisk, asterisknow (web config), zaptel drivers for analog cards etc,

also have a look at the OpenVox cards they work out of the box with asterisk and zaptel.

Jason

bhickey

jasontallon, is it possible for you to post here on this forum without pimping your website or products that you sell? I don't know how the moderators haven't banned you at this stage.

jasontallon

Hi bhickey

What web site do you refer to ?, I don`t see any mention of a web site in this post or any attempt to promote any.

Funny thing there are others who post on this forum and mention trade websites yet I cannot find any posts from you condemning them.

Jason

bhickey

Jasontallon, go back over your 15 posts here on this forum. In the majority of them there's a direct link to your website and if there's not a direct link then there'll probably be a reference to a product or service you sell on your website. It seems you only give impartial advice about products & services you sell yourself. Give it a rest will you.

jasontallon

Hi bhickey

No attempt was made by me to promote or solicit any product or website in this post suggestions where made "thats it".

I answer requests for info and sometimes provide relevant links.

You will not tell me to not post on this forum who do you think you are. Please end you ranting and move on.

You seem to be selective in your request can you point me at any post/s made by you to any other posts of the type you despise.

I notice this is the second time you have sent a complaint to a post I have made.

Do you have a relationship with the other users/organizations who overtly promote there interests here.

Jason

Cabaal

This applys to EVERYONE, if your running a company or employed by a company then its fine and well to put your website URL in your sig but boards.ie is not the place to pimp your business.

If you want to advertise on boards.ie then contact the admins and they'll be happy to advise you of whats involved in advertising your business here.

Jason in relation to jmcsoft, it certainly does come across like you are pimping it, see one example here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56341227, I recommend you do not continue this.

Finally if anyone has a problem with somebodys post and think a mod should look it at use the report post button!

Now lets go back on topic...

bhickey

masteroftherealm wrote: »

My problem is I actually run 2 sperate business that need seperate numbers and need my personal home number also hence the wanting of the 3 seperate numbers

With Asterisk, you can easily setup different inbound routes for each number dialled (even if they're on the same VoIP provider account). So if someone rings the geographic number for your Business #1 then you can have the call handled differently than if they ring the number for Business #2. Inbound routes can be based on the Caller ID, the number dialled or even both.

On the cards, I'd go with Sangoma. The Sangoma wiki website has all the instructions you'll need for whatever you're trying to do

jasontallon

Hi masteroftherealm

As you are new to Asterisk

"Disclaimer: I am a Network Engineer so I know the basics this is just my first foray into the PBX market so looking for more of an overview on the specific needs of this kind of setup."

Take a look at the following 2 options

AsteriskNOW - http://www.asterisknow.org/
TrixboxCE - http://www.trixbox.org/

Both offer downloadable iso images that can be burned to a cd and will almost automatically install a Linux operating system, the asterisk PBX system and Web based GUI, and telephony card drivers.

The Web GUI`s are pretty easy to use and can make the administration and configuration of the PBX simple enough.

The Cisco phones will require additional configuration as most are based on the Skinny Call Control Protocol(SCCP) to run with Cisco CallManager - a google search with phone model & asterisk will provide you with links to how to do this. I found that http://www.asteriskguru.com a very useful resource.

As for the cards I personally would steer clear of the Sangoma, have a look for a Zaptel compatible card there are recommendations above apart from mine (as the drivers are installed automatically), with the GUI you can do the configuration of these to meet your needs.

Jason

masteroftherealm

bhickey wrote: »

With Asterisk, you can easily setup different inbound routes for each number dialled (even if they're on the same VoIP provider account). So if someone rings the geographic number for your Business #1 then you can have the call handled differently than if they ring the number for Business #2. Inbound routes can be based on the Caller ID, the number dialled or even both.

On the cards, I'd go with Sangoma. The Sangoma wiki website has all the instructions you'll need for whatever you're trying to do

Thanks thats what I had hoped.
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