Recommendations

[slydder]

Hello all,

So this is my last question (hopefully) before we start ordering parts and building the systems.

I am in Germany and have access to either basic ISDN lines or an E1 to arcor. I am waiting on pricing before deciding which i will go with so I'd like to plan for both to be on the safe side.

Each agent will have a thin client and a headset hooked into the computer (no phones).

I will have, maximum, ca. 50 agents per server. In the beginning a maximum of 100 agents. which means 2 astgui/vicidial servers.

1 apache server

1 mysql server

1 recording server

All will be installed on a gigbit network.

As far as the computers go I know what I want. However, I would like some input as far as what cards to buy. And let me know if my expectations, of supporting 50 agents on 1 server with recording across the network, are unreasonable. If not then the installation of more servers shouldn't be a big problem.

Thanks,
Chuck

[mflorell]

100 VICIDIAL agents on a single server is not recommended. 50 is pretty close to the limit actually, and that's if you are either doing inbound or outbound with no more than a 1.2 dial level. I would suggest more Asterisk/VICIDIAL servers in a vicidial load-balance setup.

Recording over the network will work just fine, but it is not very scalable and not really worth the money if you have a large installation. It's easier to record on the Asterisk/VICIDIAL server and batch offload to an archive server at night.

Thin clients will have capacity issues with VOIP clients on each terminal. You will need several servers to drive 50 seats using thin clients.

As far as E1 cards, I can recommend Sangoma or Digium. They both work well for us in production.

[slydder]

Thanks for the help.

I hadn't figured 100 agents on one server. I figured 100 agents on 2 servers with 50 pro server. However, after reading a bit more through the forums I'm thinking of setting a limit of 25 - 30 agents per server.

I also checked out the cards you mentioned and am thinking on one of the 4 port cards but am not sure if that is a bit overkill to support 25 or 30 agents.

Am waiting on info regarding ISDN cards that work. I found a 24 port POTS card by digium (i think) but I'd rather go ISDN.

thanks,
chuck

[mflorell]

I would recommend getting an E1 and staying away from POTS lines with VICIDIAL.

As far as the E1 cards, you can get single, dual and quad cards, so you can pick what number of spans you want.

non-E1 ISDN cards are not as heavily tested with Asterisk, but I do believe that Digium is releasing their own ISDN card soon.

[slydder]

Well, for € 230 per PRI I really have no choice. grinz.

Another question has since popped up though. While looking at the Digium and Sangoma cards I noticed the Wildcard TE207P at about $2000 with the DSP echo cancelation where the other dual cards from digium and sangoma sit around $1000 each.

Does the TE207P DSP echo cancelation actually work good enough (if it even works with asterisk/astgui/vicidial) to justify an extra $1000 per card?

chuck

[mflorell]

The Digium TEX07 cards and the Sangoma echo can cards both work very well. We have found that we didn't really have to have the hardware echo cancellation on any of our T1 PRIs but they do reduce system load overall and are nice to have, not essential though. Both echo-canceller cards and non-echo-canceller cards from Digium and Sangoma all work well with VICIDIAL.

[slydder]

Yeah but is the cutback in load on the server an extra $1000 worth? I could imagine by investing a bit more in a better server (less than a $1000 more than was planned) one could get about the same results, if not better, for less money.

I'm considering buying a one of the echo cards and testing it against other alternatives. That way I can see if it's actually worth the cost. However, I can't imagine that it's worth it.

chuck

[mflorell]

I have already done the tests. It's about a 20% reduction in load for the Sangoma a104d and 10% reduction in load for the TE407P.

[slydder]

OH. almost forgot.

Here in Germany (well actually most of europe is so) the PRI has 30 channels. And a single A101c can handle a single PRI with all 30 channels right?

chuck

[slydder]

forget that last question. finally found the info. it's a perfect match. grinz.

thanks for all,
chuck