Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Mon, Jul 04, 2005 at 10:43:24PM -0400, Jeff Heath wrote: > Anyway, at the user's group meetings their existed a "friendly rivalry" > between the RedHat crowd and the Debian crowd, so I decided to try > Debian. Couldn't get it to install. I really tried, even got some help > from the Debian guys on the list, but I just couldn't do it. Now, I'm > not a Linux guru, but I can follow instructions, but I just couldn't get > it to go. Note that Debian's installer has improved from being "horrible" to being "quite usable by a newbie" from 3.0 (Woody) to 3.1 (Sarge). In fact, when we decided on what version if debian to base our distro on, that installer was a very important factor. > > For what you're going to do with Asterisk, I don't think there are huge > technical differences between the distributions, so the main > consideration ought to be "which one can I install and learn the > fastest" and not "which one will support the most clients, or have the > most uptime". Having said that, there is one caveat - I would stay away > from Fedora Core 3 or Debian unstable or whatever newest release of any > version. Also keep in mind that Asterisk runs just fine on Linux kernel > 2.4.x. You don't need 2.6.x. Specifically I'd say that 2.6 has matured enough by now. It has a number of important atvantages (preemption, mainly). As for the more general point: Fedora is indeed a sort of "beta of RHEL". Debian/unstable and Debian/testing are actually not that unstable as their name hints (they are being used by many), their main disatvantage is being a "moving target". Kind of like working with the HEAD version of Asterisk. Even though you have snapshots.debian.org to go back to a specific day/version, it still takes much more monitoring of the base system. However, if you don't use the latest Fedora, do you rely on Fedora Legacy for updates? Check it yourself. The updates of FedoraLegacy for FC1: http://fedoralegacy.org/updates/FC1/ LWN's vulnurabilities database lists quite a few newer problems. A number of them probably affects FC1 as well: http://lwn.net/Vulnerabilities/ If you really care about this, you should probably be able to contribute from your time/money/whatever to improve this. But the OP asked about a dependable system. The above refers to RH9 and Fedora, and not to RHEL and its clones (such as CentOS). -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849755 | | friend ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
I needed to learn Linux for a project about 18 months ago, so I went down to a retail computer store and bought RedHat Linux. Installed with no problems, and I was up and playing around with it in about an hour. As I got more into it (and started breaking things) I needed some help. The help I got from RedHat tech support was not very helpful. It was the e-mail help you get with the retail consumer version, so I figured you get what you pay for and let it go. If you had a business support contract, it might be better, but maybe not. The best help I got was from joining my local Linux Users Group (LILUG in my case). They were great. And when I went to a few meetings, and got to ask questions in person it got really good! If you have a local Linux User's group that's not too inconvenient to attend I highly recommend it. Anyway, at the user's group meetings their existed a "friendly rivalry" between the RedHat crowd and the Debian crowd, so I decided to try Debian. Couldn't get it to install. I really tried, even got some help from the Debian guys on the list, but I just couldn't do it. Now, I'm not a Linux guru, but I can follow instructions, but I just couldn't get it to go. Then I downloaded and installed Fedora Core 1 (RedHat open source / development version). No problem. So my newbie experience is that RedHat is quite a bit easier to install. Used to be that one of the big advantages of Debian was its package management system (apt). RedHat has a good package manager now too (yum). So IMHO, go with RedHat for the following reasons: 1. Sounds like price isn't your big issue, so if you purchase an enterprise edition of Linux, you'll have access to RedHat tech support, and you'll have a certain amount of CYA built in. 2. Some might argue that the community support for Debian or Mandrake is better, but the mailing list / IRC support you'll get with RedHat is probably good enough. 3. There are more books available for RedHat than for other distributions. 4. In my experience, it installs easier. 5. Getting security patches and OS upgrades from RedHat is very simple (probably is with the other distros too). For what you're going to do with Asterisk, I don't think there are huge technical differences between the distributions, so the main consideration ought to be "which one can I install and learn the fastest" and not "which one will support the most clients, or have the most uptime". Having said that, there is one caveat - I would stay away from Fedora Core 3 or Debian unstable or whatever newest release of any version. Also keep in mind that Asterisk runs just fine on Linux kernel 2.4.x. You don't need 2.6.x. Jeff Heath ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sun, 3 Jul 2005, Subhi S Hashwa wrote: > Telephony is a critical system to a business, if your phone system is down > your > business is as good as dead. If it costs me £600 for OS with support for 3 > years, it's a price worth paying in the grand scale of things. You're buying > Xeon server, Digium card, Digium license for G729 why not pay a small amount > of > money for peace of mind if the OS decides in the future it doesn't like your > tie > one day. Think of it as insurance. I'm assuming you are buying Asterisk Business Edition? If not, why not? Steve ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
I like Mandrake/Mandriva linux (cooker) - it has asterisk cvs and other usefull stuff and addons for asterisk (icd, sccp,... ), all prepared as rpm packages and regularly updated ;-) PJ ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sunday 03 July 2005 15:06, Subhi S Hashwa wrote: > In a business enviroment, you discovered an undocumented issue with XYZ I > want to have the peace of mind and assurance that I woun't be stuck out in > the cold waiting for a response from a mailing list or getting insults from > someone on irc, it's how much is your time worth to you question and how > long your customer is willing to wait for you to fix the system, think > SLAs. Most businesses rant and rave about the beauty of SLAs and vendor support until they see what it costs... then they are suddenly alright with alternatives. I've seen it dozens of times over the years. I want SLA service but without SLA prices. :-) As far as "waiting for a mailing list or insult on IRC" goes though -- typically when you get a problem that requires an answer from one of those avenues you've done something to change the system. 90 times out of 100 undoing the change will fix it and suddenly it's not a crisis anymore. Typically I only see (and give) rude behaviour on IRC or the lists when people come off demanding answers. (Back to the SLA argument again, I suppose. If you want to demand that someone help you or that it's their job to help you then yeah, I suppose you should pay for the privilege.) -A. ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 08:06:13PM +0100, Subhi S Hashwa wrote: > Quoting Tzafrir Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Actually this is incorrect: Everybody can provide support for CentOS, > > Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, FreeBSD, or whatever. With RedHat or SuSE > > you're locked to a single vendor to provide maintinance. > > You're already locked in (to Digium) You've already gave me 1000$. So why on earth won't you give me not an extra 1000$? Anyway, you're not. Unless you bought their prioprietary version. Avoiding a vendor lock-in is indeed a good argument against buying that. > > You're missing my point. > > In a business enviroment, you discovered an undocumented issue with XYZ I > want to have the peace of mind and assurance that I woun't be stuck out in the > cold waiting for a response from a mailing list or getting insults from > someone > on irc, it's how much is your time worth to you question and how long your > customer is willing to wait for you to fix the system, think SLAs. Now what would it take for someone to give you an SLA for a free distro? In fact, there are those who provide it. E.g: see link from my message. > > Telephony is a critical system to a business, if your phone system is down > your > business is as good as dead. If it costs me £600 for OS with support for 3 > years, it's a price worth paying in the grand scale of things. You're buying > Xeon server, Digium card, Digium license for G729 why not pay a small amount > of > money for peace of mind if the OS decides in the future it doesn't like your > tie > one day. Think of it as insurance. It's not that small an ammount, BTW. And the standard SLA naturally won't cover the Asterisk packages. -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849755 | | friend ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Quoting Tzafrir Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Actually this is incorrect: Everybody can provide support for CentOS, > Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, FreeBSD, or whatever. With RedHat or SuSE > you're locked to a single vendor to provide maintinance. You're already locked in (to Digium) You're missing my point. In a business enviroment, you discovered an undocumented issue with XYZ I want to have the peace of mind and assurance that I woun't be stuck out in the cold waiting for a response from a mailing list or getting insults from someone on irc, it's how much is your time worth to you question and how long your customer is willing to wait for you to fix the system, think SLAs. Telephony is a critical system to a business, if your phone system is down your business is as good as dead. If it costs me £600 for OS with support for 3 years, it's a price worth paying in the grand scale of things. You're buying Xeon server, Digium card, Digium license for G729 why not pay a small amount of money for peace of mind if the OS decides in the future it doesn't like your tie one day. Think of it as insurance. > > A small example of how annoying it is: Suppose you don't trust the > vendor's QA (the vendor did not check the updates with Asterisk, did > he?) and want to provide your own local updates source that only updates > manually with tested packages. > > With apt, yum, urpmi: this is a matter of basic scriptology (if this > scriptology doesn't exist already). But if you use > up2date/YOU/red-carpet/whatever then your server has to be registered > directly with the download source at redhat/suse/ximian/whatever and you > have to install the updates directly from them. > > Anyway, let's as our fountain of knowledge if there is any commercial > support for Debian: > > http://www.google.com/search?q=commercial+support+for+debian Many people offer commercial support, that's all good, what I am saying is, Redhat and Novell probably hire a big % of the kernel hackers, who's best at supporting their software, go to the source, the people who wrote it. Choosing an OS is a business decision in Asterisk installation rather than a technical one. My £0.02 +VAT -- Subhi S Hashwa // When everything's heading your way, you're in the wrong lane. This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 01:02:08PM -0400, Michael Stahl wrote: > I went with Fedora - great support and eas of use (because of Red Hat > shared tools). > So far so good! However so far relatively short supported life. Is Fedora Legacy showing enough signs of life to be an actual source of support? In that sense CentOS seems like a wiser choice for those who want a free RedHat^WPinkTie[tm] "compatible" distro. One atvantage Fedora seems to have over CentOS is a wider choice of packages, at least if you include freshrpms.net . But then again, it is still not Debian :-p -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849755 | | friend ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 04:33:29PM +0100, Subhi S Hashwa wrote: > Quoting TWV <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me > > holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were > > thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) > > Your email is an excellent example on a well researched question a perfect > example on how questions should be asked on a public forum. Thank you. > > Back to your question. > > In a commercial environment where you're providing a (I assume managed) > service > for users you want to make sure your tools will be up to the job and you won't > be let back by your supplier(s). You'd also want to avoid vendor lock-in. > > In this kind of environment on a business level you want support if you're > stuck, > a backup in case things go fubar, the only distros that can provide that are > SuSE > (Novell) and RedHat. Actually this is incorrect: Everybody can provide support for CentOS, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, FreeBSD, or whatever. With RedHat or SuSE you're locked to a single vendor to provide maintinance. A small example of how annoying it is: Suppose you don't trust the vendor's QA (the vendor did not check the updates with Asterisk, did he?) and want to provide your own local updates source that only updates manually with tested packages. With apt, yum, urpmi: this is a matter of basic scriptology (if this scriptology doesn't exist already). But if you use up2date/YOU/red-carpet/whatever then your server has to be registered directly with the download source at redhat/suse/ximian/whatever and you have to install the updates directly from them. Anyway, let's as our fountain of knowledge if there is any commercial support for Debian: http://www.google.com/search?q=commercial+support+for+debian -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849755 | | friend ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
I went with Fedora - great support and eas of use (because of Red Hat shared tools). So far so good! -Original Message- From: Scott Kamp [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 3:45 PM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use Hrmmm small simple easy to manage, and very clean minimal install - FreeBSD, if you want linux Id also say Debian On Sun, 2005-07-03 at 09:16 -0400, Ariel Batista wrote: > Wow, > > I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for > many years. I started back when Novell was king for networks. Window > and many others have come by and I have setup shop with them. I still > manager and maintain several of my Clients Windows networks. Almost 3 > years ago our boss/owner decided to give asterisk a try. We got a > Consultant and they set the system up for us. I at the time did not > know Linux distro's and was under the impression they were all the > same. We I quickly learn there not. (Yes Linux kernel is the main > part.) But the distro's are very different. We were setup on > Mandrake. I learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 > months never did anything with the OS. > > Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like > reporting and other options that required me to start learning the OS > and what It could do. I looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 > was current back then, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware. There > all good I spent about 3 months going through them to fine the one > that would fit me best. I decided due to all the books out to learn > and setup Red Hat 9. Which by the way asterisk works great on. I > setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9. Very soon RH changed there > Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there Open > Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago. > And at that time I found CentOS. It's Red Hat Enterprise without > there labels. And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For > Production systems I am using there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is > easy to setup. For my testing and other servers that run on Linux I > use CentOS 4.1. > > I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great > stable OS which is mission critical product. > > Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off > list. > > Ariel > - Original Message - > From: TWV > To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com > Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM > Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk > server use > > > Hello, > > > > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for > Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still > reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you're > thinking wrong! ;) > > First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY > message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic, > so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk > mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search > results! > > > > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same > answer always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable > with". Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it > doesn't apply to my situation at all! > > > > Let's make things clear and concrete now: > > In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network > administrator and as a developer on the NET platform, and have > a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. > Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the > challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. During the > past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could > about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test > environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time > is right to put these services into production. BUT, before > we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am > a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and > manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run > mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support &
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sunday 03 July 2005 02:45, TWV wrote: > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always > came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with". Well, I already > knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all! Then you don't understand or aren't willing to accept the answer. > or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation). What's more, > I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never > worked with ANY distribution. Ah, so there is no distribution that you are most comfortable with. :-) > Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the > AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we > can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32. So before we can go live > with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: > what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? It's all about time and expense balance. If you go with one of the commercial distributions (redhat, suse, etc.) they will have courses for you to take and certifications you can use to gauge your understanding and basically they have all the same analogues that you see in the windows world. There's someone you can call and pay for support. This is probably the most stable, least bleeding edge way to do things. However, if you're going to go down this path, why not just call up Digium and make use of their Asterisk Business Edition package? This is *exactly* what it's for! By and large, Linux is linux but it's the details that will hang you. Startup scripts, package management, documentation, support... these all vary from distro to distro and saying that Linux is Linux is like saying Windows is Windows... Win31 was quite different from Win95 which was subtly different from Win98 which is different from Win2k and XP, and even the latter two have subtle gotchas. And we haven't even touched on 2000 vs 2003 vs the server edition of both and so on... Personally I use Slackware which is one of the oldest maintained distributions but it's not known for its ease of use, moreso for its simplicity. What it sounds like is that you want Asterisk Business Edition on one of their supported distributions, and then get yourself some training on that distribution. It's likely the most sane, stable way to deploy Asterisk for those who have the money to trade for time. -A. ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Quoting TWV <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me > holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were > thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) Your email is an excellent example on a well researched question a perfect example on how questions should be asked on a public forum. Thank you. Back to your question. In a commercial environment where you're providing a (I assume managed) service for users you want to make sure your tools will be up to the job and you won't be let back by your supplier(s). In this kind of environment on a business level you want support if you're stuck, a backup in case things go fubar, the only distros that can provide that are SuSE (Novell) and RedHat, regardless what many people say about redhat, it's still (the base) the most popular distro according to netcraft (fedora, centOS etc). The advantage of taken a well used and popular OS is that a) someone else will probable have faced a problem you'll encouter later on and posted a solution that you can find on google. and b) You have commercial support from the writers of the software with (Almost) quick and direct access to a big portion of the core coders. If your clients are price sensitive then I'd suggest debian it's free but it does have a weird way of doing things and documentations have room for improvement but again, it's good value for money. Once you're more comfortable with Linux you can start looking around for the one that fits, personally I use FreeBSD but it does have some limitations when it comes to asterisk. To summarise: For commercial support, help on the other side of the phone Redhat and SuSE. For free, Debian. Good luck. Subhi PS. My post is not intended to start OS holywar, if it did, oh well. too bad :) -- Subhi S Hashwa // When everything's heading your way, you're in the wrong lane. This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
> My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me > holds breath) OK, hopefully youre still reading, because > whatever you were thinking now, youre thinking wrong! ;) > > First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply > that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the > dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and > even Google search results! > > > > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always > came back: Use the one you are most comfortable with . > Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesnt apply to my > situation at all! > > > > Lets make things clear and concrete now: > > In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator > and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and > extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. You found the correct answer, but apparently don't understand why its the correct answer. Let's try this approach You understand and manage the Windows, .NET, etc, systems because you've learned how to work with those products. It's no different with the various Linux distributions. If you learn how to get around (and manage) a particular linux distro, that becomes the distro that you're familiar with, and it becomes the distro that you recommend to your friends. Almost like recommending a religion. If you're going to support a linux system in a production voip environment, pick a popular distro and attend some classes (or learn through whatever mechanism you are comfortable with) oriented around that distro. Keep in mind that asterisk is somewhat a realtime system, and in the majority of realtime systems you don't want to impact the system's ability to process voip calls by negatively impacting its performance with GUI overhead. Therefore, you'll find a fair number of recommendations that all the GUI stuff be disabled and you run the linux system from a simple command line (just like unix systems were twenty years ago). If you were implementing a small soho system, the GUI interface has little impact; but in larger systems it _can_ impact voip quality. Attending classes on how to deal with the GUI stuff certainly is not going to do you any good. Once you disable all the GUI stuff, the majority of linux distros become _somewhat_ the same. (There are differences, but however one accompishes a task in one distro, there is a way to accomplish that exact same task in a different distro. Once familiar with how to get around in a system, its not difficult to get around any IBM, HP, Sun, BSD, RedHat, Debian, or dozens of other unix/linux systems. So, the bottom line is still the same answer that you've already found and that is, "use whichever linux distro you're familiar with", or, "pick one and learn it". In case you aren't aware, the majority of linux built in functions and applications on various distros come from the same exact source code. The exact directory layout may be different from one linux install to another, and the GUI tools typically have differences, but most of that stuff just does not matter on an asterisk system. You _could_ actually start your own linux distro if you wanted to spend your time doing it. If you want to get into low-level programming, you'll find the majority of the linux/unix OS api's or system calls are almost identical to those in Windows (with the exception of the GUI stuff). There are a number of people throughout the world that have ported linux apps to their favorite Windows box, and if you dig through the source code for those apps, you can "see" the real differences. (There are obviously lots of differences in how Windows kernel routines function when compared to linux/unix equivalent functions, and a lot of that has to do with the slicing, timeslots, interrupt servicing, etc. Asterisk has some very time-critical linux-oriented interrupt servicing requirements, and that's one of the major reasons why asterisk has not been fully ported to a Windows box.) If you consider the stability of the companies that are supporting the various distro's, and think about whether these companies are going to be around in five/ten years, you might choose one distro over another. (This might be a bad example, but you already are familiar with Microsoft vs Novell market share over the last twenty years. Is it in your company's best interest to move forward with a Novell-based distro or maybe a different distro?) So, pick one and learn it. ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Just my two cents... but with that ambitious deployment plan, you shouldn't ask about distros, but rather start interviewing some linux admins. If you're really planning on deploying all those machines on a platform foreign to you, the distro is a fraction of your battle. You'll need to understand linux security, create failover configurations, etc. You won't learn that in a month or two... And even if you're able to deploy, what are you going to do when the system fails? There's never a good time to acquire debugging skills, but when your DS3-connected server is down at 10am on a Monday, that's just about the worst time. That said, for proof of concept, go with CentOS 4.1 -- smooth install, all the benefits of RHEL4 and you'll be in business in no time. Later on you can moderately tune the kernel if needed or simply re-install when you get someone who knows linux. Of course, there was the obligatory plug for GenToo on the list, and I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying this, but I recommend you simply skip over that. Yes, it sounds attractive and there's a very vocal group of supporters, but in my experience (and that of several associates), the effort required to achieve a stable system (or even a "running" system) are in no sensible ratio to the "benefits" (perceived or otherwise). The above was written by a professional Windows Programmer (since before Win32) and spare-time Windows Admin (since NT 3.5). As you, I first arrived at Linux with Asterisk being the *only* reason. Now, a year later, I'm looking at how to replace my NT servers with Linux machines... -Original Message- From: TWV [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 1:45 AM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use Hello, My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search results! Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with". Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all! Let's make things clear and concrete now: In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. During the past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production. BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users every day!) Why am I telling this? Well, because I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation). What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution. Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32. So before we can go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So I'm asking about the best linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers. I'm NOT asking for the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having to support thousands of users each and every day. So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade. We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system). So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home deployment here. Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks. If you ne
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Hrmmm small simple easy to manage, and very clean minimal install - FreeBSD, if you want linux Id also say Debian On Sun, 2005-07-03 at 09:16 -0400, Ariel Batista wrote: > Wow, > > I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for > many years. I started back when Novell was king for networks. Window > and many others have come by and I have setup shop with them. I still > manager and maintain several of my Clients Windows networks. Almost 3 > years ago our boss/owner decided to give asterisk a try. We got a > Consultant and they set the system up for us. I at the time did not > know Linux distro's and was under the impression they were all the > same. We I quickly learn there not. (Yes Linux kernel is the main > part.) But the distro's are very different. We were setup on > Mandrake. I learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 > months never did anything with the OS. > > Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like > reporting and other options that required me to start learning the OS > and what It could do. I looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 > was current back then, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware. There > all good I spent about 3 months going through them to fine the one > that would fit me best. I decided due to all the books out to learn > and setup Red Hat 9. Which by the way asterisk works great on. I > setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9. Very soon RH changed there > Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there Open > Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago. > And at that time I found CentOS. It's Red Hat Enterprise without > there labels. And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For > Production systems I am using there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is > easy to setup. For my testing and other servers that run on Linux I > use CentOS 4.1. > > I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great > stable OS which is mission critical product. > > Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off > list. > > Ariel > - Original Message - > From: TWV > To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com > Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM > Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk > server use > > > Hello, > > > > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for > Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you’re still > reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you’re > thinking wrong! ;) > > First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY > message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic, > so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk > mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search > results! > > > > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same > answer always came back: “Use the one you are most comfortable > with”. Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it > doesn’t apply to my situation at all! > > > > Let’s make things clear and concrete now: > > In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network > administrator and as a developer on the NET platform, and have > a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. > Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the > challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. During the > past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could > about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test > environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time > is right to put these services into production. BUT, before > we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am > a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and > manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run > mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support > a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some > of the applications I have developed are used by more than > 25000 users every day!) Why am I telling this? Well, because > I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my > platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever > change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my > workstation). What’s more, I have NEVER come in to contact > with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY > distribution. > > > > Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I >
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Wow, I just want you to know I am and have been a Networks Engineer for many years. I started back when Novell was king for networks. Window and many others have come by and I have setup shop with them. I still manager and maintain several of my Clients Windows networks. Almost 3 years ago our boss/owner decided to give asterisk a try. We got a Consultant and they set the system up for us. I at the time did not know Linux distro's and was under the impression they were all the same. We I quickly learn there not. (Yes Linux kernel is the main part.) But the distro's are very different. We were setup on Mandrake. I learn as much as I could about asterisk and for the 1st 6 months never did anything with the OS. Well soon I needed to do some changes and add something's like reporting and other options that required me to start learning the OS and what It could do. I looked at about 10 major distro's, Red Hat 9 was current back then, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, & Slackware. There all good I spent about 3 months going through them to fine the one that would fit me best. I decided due to all the books out to learn and setup Red Hat 9. Which by the way asterisk works great on. I setup all our 3 different servers on RH 9. Very soon RH changed there Linux distro's to the Enterprise editions and create in there Open Source Fedora. I tried Fedora Core1 and Core 2 until about 1 year ago. And at that time I found CentOS. It's Red Hat Enterprise without there labels. And Now I am using for all my setups CentOS. For Production systems I am using there CentOS 3.4/3.5. Works great and is easy to setup. For my testing and other servers that run on Linux I use CentOS 4.1. I have started to move some of my customers off Windows. It's a great stable OS which is mission critical product. Hope this helps if you need more info please feel free to email me off list. Ariel - Original Message - From: TWV To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use Hello, My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully youre still reading, because whatever you were thinking now, youre thinking wrong! ;) First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search results! Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always came back: Use the one you are most comfortable with. Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesnt apply to my situation at all! Lets make things clear and concrete now: In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator and as a developer on the NET platform, and have a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. During the past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production. BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users every day!) Why am I telling this? Well, because I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation). Whats more, I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution. Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we cant put any production system on AsteriskWin32 So before we can go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? As I explained, I see Linux merely as a necessary evil (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So Im asking about the best linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers. Im NOT asking for the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), Im asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having to support
RE: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Hello, I would recommend Slackware mostly for it's streamlined, minimalist approach and history of stable distro releases. But with that said, the most important thing is building a custom streamlined Linux kernel no matter what distro you use. This can save you bootup time as well as speeding up the running of the machine. One other very important thing is to not install or run Xwindows or any window environment(Gnome, KDE, ...) because it will screw up Asterisk on a high-load machine if you have it running. We have our 10 production Asterisk servers all running Slackware 10.1 with custom Linux kernels and the high-volume servers each handle over 60,000 calls a day with no problems. MATT--- -Original Message- From: TWV [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 2:45 AM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use Hello, My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even Google search results! Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with". Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all! Let's make things clear and concrete now: In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. Working for a telecom company, I now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. During the past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production. BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services (some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users every day!) Why am I telling this? Well, because I want to make it clear that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let alone my workstation). What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution. Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32... So before we can go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So I'm asking about the best linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers. I'm NOT asking for the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I'm asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having to support thousands of users each and every day. So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade. We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system). So it should be clear that I'm not talking about a hobby or home deployment here. Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks... If you need more information, I am happy to supply it. I appreciate your time and am hoping for some good suggestions and arguments which will lead me to the correct choice for now and for the years to come. Thanks! ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: RE : [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 11:01:44AM +0200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi the list ! > > I totaly agree Tzafrir. > I am an happy Debian user from a while now. > I recommand to my friends to use Testing branch to have the latest packages > (which are stable or near to be stable but usable). > Asterisk is delivered closed to be complete "Asterisk > 1.0.7-BRIstuffed-0.2.0-RC7k" with major applications and nice tools > included. > The only thing to do is to compile zaptel driver if any analog lines. > Realy cool distro and maintainers... Actually, now is a good time to go with Stable. 1.0.9 will soon reach Unstable and later Testing if all goes well. But currently the packages in Testing are not even newer than the ones in Stable. I figure that Stable or Stable+backports is generally a saner path than the constant updates of unstable/testing: If you want a development platform with generally the latest and greatest, then testing/unstable is good for you. But if you want a solid PBX onto which you can apply fixes to issues without upgrading the whole system in the process, Stable is your choice. -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849755 | | friend ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
RE : [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Hi the list ! I totaly agree Tzafrir. I am an happy Debian user from a while now. I recommand to my friends to use Testing branch to have the latest packages (which are stable or near to be stable but usable). Asterisk is delivered closed to be complete "Asterisk 1.0.7-BRIstuffed-0.2.0-RC7k" with major applications and nice tools included. The only thing to do is to compile zaptel driver if any analog lines. Realy cool distro and maintainers... Good Luck and Best Regards, Francois BERGERET, France. -Message d'origine- De : [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] De la part de Tzafrir Cohen Envoyé : dimanche 3 juillet 2005 10:14 À : asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Objet : Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use Hi On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 08:45:05AM +0200, TWV wrote: > Hello, > Disclaimer: I'm a Debian fan and also maintain a small Debian derivative distro specilized for Linux. > > > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. > (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because > whatever you were thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) > > First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and > reply that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes > the dozens of messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum > forum, and even Google search results! > > > > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer > always came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with". Well, > I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my > situation at all! Linux distros are not that different from one another. Why do you want a recommendation for a specific distro? The base is quite the same. BTW: why limit yourself to Limux only? I believe Asterisk/zaptel will run on FreeBSD as well (Not sure about Open/NetBSD). Familiarity with the distro will save you a lot of time. > > > > Let's make things clear and concrete now: > > In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network > administrator and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long > and extensive experience with telecom and VoIP. Working for a telecom > company, I now have accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. [breaking the paragraph, so readers can take some air] > During the > past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the > Asterisk PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, > developed IVR systems, and now we feel the time is right to put these > services into production. BUT, before we can go live, one important > problem remains: as I said, I am a Windows guy, I have a VERY profound > knowledge of Windows and manage almost 20 Windows 2003 Servers that > run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 basis, and support a > large number of Windows applications and Web services (some of the > applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users every day!) [ readers: breathe again ] > Why am I telling this? Well, because I want to make it clear that I > am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent > whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux > (let alone my workstation). What's more, I have NEVER come in to > contact with linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY > distribution. > Fine. Therefore there's no specific linux distro you're familiar with. > > > Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the > AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize > that we can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32. So before > we can go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue > remains to be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and > learn)? I'm not familiar enough with AsteriskWin32, but I'm not sure if it will actually save you more grieff that it will give you. I doubt it if it will save you much. If you have a spare computer, a simple linux distribution will not be some complicated to get started. Linux distros do a good job at providing the rest of the required components. We created our distro (http://www.xorcom.com/rapid ) also for people with no Linux exprince. I don't believe you need to start messing with a compiler just to have a functioning Asterisk system. Part of what I like with Linux, and with Debian in particular, is that the distro automates most of the necessary procedures you would have normally done by hand and thus prevents you from doing them wrongly. It takes extra effort to build a package that adhares to the Debian Policy, but eventually it pays off, as you have
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Hi On Sun, Jul 03, 2005 at 08:45:05AM +0200, TWV wrote: > Hello, > Disclaimer: I'm a Debian fan and also maintain a small Debian derivative distro specilized for Linux. > > > My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me > holds breath) OK, hopefully you're still reading, because whatever you were > thinking now, you're thinking wrong! ;) > > First of all, I want to make clear that I have read EVERY message and reply > that I could possibly find about this topic, so that includes the dozens of > messages here on the Asterisk mailinglists, on the Digum forum, and even > Google search results! > > > > Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always > came back: "Use the one you are most comfortable with". Well, I already > knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn't apply to my situation at all! Linux distros are not that different from one another. Why do you want a recommendation for a specific distro? The base is quite the same. BTW: why limit yourself to Limux only? I believe Asterisk/zaptel will run on FreeBSD as well (Not sure about Open/NetBSD). Familiarity with the distro will save you a lot of time. > > > > Let's make things clear and concrete now: > > In my professional life, I work as a windows system & network administrator > and as a developer on the .NET platform, and have a long and extensive > experience with telecom and VoIP. Working for a telecom company, I now have > accepted the challenge to extend our offering with Asterisk. [breaking the paragraph, so readers can take some air] > During the > past 6 months, I have learned as much as I possibly could about the Asterisk > PBX, successfully set up a complete test environment, developed IVR systems, > and now we feel the time is right to put these services into production. > BUT, before we can go live, one important problem remains: as I said, I am a > Windows guy, I have a VERY profound knowledge of Windows and manage almost > 20 Windows 2003 Servers that run mission-critical applications on a 365/24/7 > basis, and support a large number of Windows applications and Web services > (some of the applications I have developed are used by more than 25000 users > every day!) [ readers: breathe again ] > Why am I telling this? Well, because I want to make it clear > that I am perfectly happy with my platform/OS (windows), and have no intent > whatsoever to ever change servers or application platforms to linux (let > alone my workstation). What's more, I have NEVER come in to contact with > linux/unix before, so I have never worked with ANY distribution. > Fine. Therefore there's no specific linux distro you're familiar with. > > > Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the > AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we > can't put any production system on AsteriskWin32. So before we can go live > with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: > what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? I'm not familiar enough with AsteriskWin32, but I'm not sure if it will actually save you more grieff that it will give you. I doubt it if it will save you much. If you have a spare computer, a simple linux distribution will not be some complicated to get started. Linux distros do a good job at providing the rest of the required components. We created our distro (http://www.xorcom.com/rapid ) also for people with no Linux exprince. I don't believe you need to start messing with a compiler just to have a functioning Asterisk system. Part of what I like with Linux, and with Debian in particular, is that the distro automates most of the necessary procedures you would have normally done by hand and thus prevents you from doing them wrongly. It takes extra effort to build a package that adhares to the Debian Policy, but eventually it pays off, as you have another package that play along nicely with the rest of your system. When you create a software you tend think about your package only. The Debian Policy forces you to think about the rest of the system. Anyway, this applies for using Debian with the pre-built packages (and perhaps with your own tweaks to them) rather than with a an installation from /usr/src . > > As I explained, I see Linux merely as a "necessary evil" (because of my lack > of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So I'm asking about the best linux > distribution only to put up asterisk servers. I'm NOT asking for the > easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), Have it your way, then, :-p http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ > I'm > asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having > to support thousands of users each and every day. So it must be reliable > and easy to maintain and upgrade. We are going to use Asterisk in our own > datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers
Re: [Asterisk-Users] Linux Distribution for Asterisk server use
Hi TWV, My question is about which Linux distribution to choose for Asterisk. (/me holds breath) OK, hopefully you’re still reading, because whatever you were thinking now, you’re thinking wrong! ;) Still, my question was not answered! Mainly because the same answer always came back: “Use the one you are most comfortable with”. Well, I already knew that (linux is linux), but it doesn’t apply to my situation at all! [..] Having explained all this, it should sound logical that I chose the AsteriskWin32 version for learning Asterisk. Of course, I realize that we can’t put any production system on AsteriskWin32… So before we can go live with Asterisk servers and services, this last issue remains to be resolved: what Linux distribution should I choose (and learn)? As I explained, I see Linux merely as a “necessary evil” (because of my lack of knowledge) for running Asterisk. So I’m asking about the best linux distribution only to put up asterisk servers. I’m NOT asking for the easiest one or so (I always enjoy challenges and learning new things), I’m asking for the best choice to build a carrier grade telecom system, having to support thousands of users each and every day. So it must be reliable and easy to maintain and upgrade. We are going to use Asterisk in our own datacenters (supporting nation-wide services), as well as in servers that we sell to corporations and callcenters for use as an advanced PBX/CTI system). So it should be clear that I’m not talking about a hobby or home deployment here. Our central asterisk systems for example will have to manage DS3 or (lots of) E1 trunks… We use a special adaprion of Gentoo-Linux with Asterisk compiled against mlibc. I think, for professional use it is the best way to make your own distribution. However, there are asterisk-specialized Linuxdistris in the net at all. If you need a distri for beginning, but not for gamers, i would recommend debian. Hth, Oliver ___ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
