Hello everybody. First of all thanks to all the people giving their
opinion on the subject I proposed: "Trixbox vs. custom install".
You've all been very helpful.
I try to summarize what has emerged from the various messages.
Forgive me if I miss or forget something or if I simplify too much
some of your messages...
- Elman Efendiyev says that you should install from sources if you
need customized setup. He suggests using Slackware for Asterisk installations.
- Lee Jenkins suggests using a GUI (like [EMAIL PROTECTED]), while
admitting there are some problems with dialplan customization. He has
also written his own Asterisk GUI to learn system internals, among
other reasons.
- Michael Collins suggests having two boxes two play with both
Trixbox and a scratch install. Each method, he says, can teach a lot.
He has still not decided which one to use in production.
- Edward Halman suggests a step-by-step install. But he says also
that if you just need Asterisk, FreePBX and A2Billing, Trixbox can be
a good choice because setting up FreePPBX and A2Billing can be a little tricky.
- Stephen Bosch writes: if you're only going to use Voip Trunks...
use Trixbox. But if you're going to use PSTN hardware (like Digium or
Sangoma cards), then a custom install is better. He had problems with
Trixbox 2.0 and hardware, then replaced it with a custom install. He
says also that the userbase of custom install is greater and has more
advanced knowledge.
- Shadowym states that if you're not able to set up Asterisk with a
custom install, you should not use it in a production environment.
- Mark Brooker says that both approaches are to be mastered. Anyway,
you should be able to install from source to use Asterisk in a
production environment. However, FreePBX is a great tool and should
be used too.
- Tom Rymes says that troubleshooting a GUI is much easier and
Trixbox has no more problems with hardware than a custom install has.
For example, on Sangoma site, there's a link to a customized Trixbox
version targeted to Sangoma cards. Using Yum you can download new
drivers an eventually install them. For what regarding the user base,
Trixbox contains FreePBX and FreePBX has a huge user base, so that
can also help. He concludes that if you want easy of use for you and
your customers, you should use Trixbox. If you want complete control
you should go for a custom install.
- Tzafrir Cohen (in reply to Tom Rymes) reports problems with "Yum
update" and says that abstraction can hide relevant details. For
example, just to figure out if a FreePBX actually dialed, requires a
trained Asterisk user examining the logs.
- Stephen Bosch (in reply to Tom Rymes) says that he prefers not
using binary distributions. About troubleshooting a GUI, he says
that's not troubleshooting, it's more often debugging... Trixbox,
furthermore, has little documentation. Furthermore, having to
download drivers from various sites cancel the advantages of an
"easy" Trixbox installation. And for what regarding the user base, he
says that the messages regarding Trixbox are not answered so promptly
within the Asterisk mailing list. He concludes: if you have at last
to go back to pico/vim/emacs... better start with them.
- Tzafrir Cohen (in reply to Stephen Bosch) suggests using SRPMS to
rebuild packages from sources.
- Tom Rymes (in reply to Tzafir Cohen) says he never had problems
with Yum update. Of course you have to exclude the Kernel from the
Yum updates. He reports installing Trixbox many times with Sangoma
cards. He concludes that neither approaches, anyway, can be fine for
everybody and you must choose the right approach according to your needs.
I also include a consideration from mine: I would happily use
Trixbox, because I did FreePBX setup once and it was a real pain, but
I'm very frightened by a few issues:
1) Trixbox "Macho" installation that installs everything without
asking. I, for example, would like to use software RAID (maybe it's
wrong with Asterisk, but I want to do it!). I wouldn't like doing it
manually after Trixbox installation. I would like to have an
installer doing it for me. Centos (ex redhat) installer does it, so
why Trixbox choose to install everything without prompting?
2) How easy it is to find Trixbox SRPMS? Is it possible to compile
new software (i.e. Asterisk or FreePBX, etc..) on Trixbox without
having to rewrite all the configuration files, changing all paths,
all permissions, and so on...
3) Trixbox site and documentation are really SCARY. Someone should
tell those guys.
4) How about updates? Are they published with a constant pace from
the Trixbox team?
Again (as for point 3) from the site and documentation I see, I don't
expect me a very responsive development team.
Thanks to everybody
Stefano
--
Stefano Corsi
www.floo.it
via della Fiera, 1
57029, Venturina - Campiglia Marittima (LI)
Tel. 0565-836130 - Fax. 0565-836143
Cell. 320-3484294
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