[kwlug-disc] voip questions

[unsolicited at swiz.ca]

On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:52:20 -0500, <unsolicited at swiz.ca> wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:50:30 -0500 (EST), John Van Ostrand
> <john at netdirect.ca> wrote:
>> So does a presentation that only just brushes on ATA and telephony card
>> but spends more time inside Asterisk and FreePBX work? That should be
>> generic enough for Ubuntu, Fedora and Trixbox users. The target
>> configuration would be a SIP ITSP line as a trunk and home phones as a
>> single extension. If there is time we might be able to set up a SIP
soft
>> phone.
> 
> Quick answer: Include ATA's, including SPA3102. Not necessarily deep
> configuration (per Raul's 3 step implementation), but people can see it,
> touch it, it's familiar. (Pick it up and you get dial tone. Dial an
> extension and you can talk, with the same sort of beasties I have at
home,
> already. Bonus points, I suppose, if those attending with laptops have a
> softphone which can register with a test asterisk box on site, and start
> [video?] calling each other during the presentation. )
> - it is probably fair to say that beyond an ATA or 3102, you're into a
> more complex situation, get help if you're intimidated. BUT - everything
> else they are about to learn forms the basis upon which this hardware
sits,
> so pay attention.

Keeping more to the less expansive here ...

May I ask that the context within which things sit be included, and how to
get there?

- suppose the asterisk (or whatever) system here is to be a vm, for
simplicity's sake. Extrapolating that to a standalone box should be
relatively self-explanatory, in this context (of kwlug).
- how to accomplish the vm? (1) 'live cd' (2) building it 'from scratch'
(let alone CentOS vs *buntu based).
  - perhaps not demo (2) so much as describe the issues, differences,
functionality, complexity. Dealing with (1) only (loading trixbox?), makes
it real - presumably the purpose of the topic.
- networking / internal connectivity issues (pinging / making internal
calls from elsewhere in the local network, via this vm)
- maintenance issues? e.g. Security updates, to what extent required /
prudent, backups, etc.
- box replacing router / direct connected to ISP, vs. not - requirements
and steps, safety, reliability for rest of current functionality (e.g. web
browsing).


Guess this would have to be a separate night. Not sure whether it's better
a prior, or a post, night. And I guess this isn't VoIP specific. More of a
'how to experiment' or 'use an appliance' for CDN$0.02/day.