Blaine,
I've not yet installed the latest TrixBox, so my views/reviews may be
not quite up todate.
TrixBox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] is Asterisk through and through, the older [EMAIL PROTECTED] was the older
version where TrixBox is *1.2.8.
If you have a small install it is a wonder, but it is specifically
targeted at a certain segment. It's one ISO, that without any
intelligence you can have a working install up and running in under an
hour ( that includes configuration ). But one has no real options. Now
that can be good, but it can also be bad. They changed the name due to
the pigeon hole that the @Home gave it. Now I'm also not fond f the new
name, sounds too gimmicky.
The install will take a raw machine, install centOS 4.3 (
RedHatEnterprise4.3 ) optimize the OS for the hardware you installed it
on, detect and configure your cards, if any are present plus :
* Asterisk 1.2.8
* mySQL 4.1.2
* Flash Operator Panel 0.25
* Festival Speech Engine version 1.96
* weather agi scripts
* wakeup calls
* Integrated WebMeetMe GUI
* AMP-1.10.010
* SugarCRM with Cisco XML Services interface + Click to Dial
* Native Music On Hold
* Fax support (spanDSP)
* xPL support
* Digium card auto-config
* Open A2Billing
And when it is done, everything works. But there are shortcomings also:
- firewall is not running
- ssh accepts root login
- no ntp synch running
- g729 and g723 are not installed so only work in pass through.
- ftp is running and accepts anon connections
Now these shortcomings are there for a reason, assumption is running on
an internal LAN, is for a home or a small office, you want CRM.
The installs I have are very stable, and since it is so easy to install,
you can build a test machine very quickly before deployment. On a P4 1.6
takes 40 minutes to have a fully configured machine running and most of
that is the compile time for the optimization, only really takes about
20 minutes of interaction/configure time ( longer if it is your first
time, I've done about 10 ). The guys who have developed ths have done a
great job for the target they are trying to hit. They have allowed for
customization using includes, so they don't get whacked when the system
regenerates conf files.
But if your looking for a lean asterisk machine, this is not it since
you have apache, ftp, mysql, Sugar all running on one box. So if you are
building for a call center,a TISP then TrixBox is not your solution. But
if you are a provider of small office solutions, you'd be hard pressed
to do a better job yourself with fully integrated CRM.
They have also integrated an update script for fetching and installing
updates, and have a very active wiki.
Mike
Blaine Aldridge wrote:
As far as I know, trixbox target audience/market is for home / small
business and not the enterprise or commercial market. That being said,
there's nothing stopping you from using I just have some fears and
concerns about using the trixbox product.
I did a quick google search for trixbox vs asterisk and [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(its previous name) vs asterisk and couldn't find much substance. Due
to the amount of posts I see weekly about trixbox on this list, I
think we should put together some of the pros and cons of using it.
This could be a good wiki article later.
Security: I like building boxes from scratch/minimal installs and
install each individual package I need as I go. That way, I have
nothing installed but packages I consider absolutely necessary to have
on my asterisk box. The main dial plan I believe is stored in mysql
and asterisk grabs what it needs via realtime. This sounds great but
unless I specifically need realtime for something, I prefer storing my
settings in configuration files.
Running mysql is an additional headache and security risk. Yes, mysql
could be locked down and not even exposed to the Internet but somehow
that would make me feel as if I'm moving backwards. I prefer to start
from the ground up, fix the leaks in my roof while I'm doing the roof
instead of leaving it for after I am done the kitchen.
Stability: I question the stability / reliability of the trixbox
product. Even if we say the product is perfect, it's still fair to say
each additional package I install has the possibility to decrease
stability.
Product Lifetime: What is the product release cycle like? Every 4
months? Is my asterisk installation critically vulnerable because I am
waiting for a new trixbox release to come out? Meanwhile, anyone
running asterisk can do a cvs update and install.
What about when trixbox lacks a specific feature needed in dialplan. I
have read a few threads on this mailing list that cite you can use a
extensions-custom.conf and, of course, the other option is to edit the
php interface. When I did look at some code for one of the php
interfaces a while back when it was [EMAIL PROTECTED], the code lacked
meaningful comments and some things could have been coded better (a
problem common in the open source community).
Community: Where do you go for help with this product? As soon as I
hear [EMAIL PROTECTED] or trixbox I quickly excuse myself from the
conversation because I cannot help you. #asterisk on freenode sends
everyone with [EMAIL PROTECTED] / trixbox questions to #freepbx. Most of
the posts on this mailing list about trixbox go either unanswered, or
somewhat answered, but not too in depth.
The fact is that people who know asterisk really know nothing about
trixbox because it's another beast of its own. I just can't apply my
knowledge of asterisk to your trixbox installation.
It would be fair to say that the 'regular' asterisk community has more
'hardcore' nerds let's call them and a much larger community.
(ignorant assumption warning light) The trixbox community would be
mainly composed of people who like GUIs and are generally expect their
answers to be solved by said GUI. When their answers are not solved by
the GUI, they come running for help from others who, like them, are
mostly unaware of what's going on in the background and how to solve
the issue at hand. I am sure that is not all of the community again
ignorant assumption warning light is on but for the most part the idea
is that the developers of trixbox know what's going on and the
consumer or the person using the product does not.
Let the (constructive) flame wars begin. For good measure, let's throw
Windows vs Linux in there as well :)
This mailing list will also be biased towards trixbox so someone feel
free to play devil's advocate.
I have done little research on trixbox/[EMAIL PROTECTED], its community,
or even installed it.
Blaine Aldridge
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