Comments on: Cisco FXO with Asterisk still getting a lot of play http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/2009/02/22/cisco-fxo-with-asterisk-still-getting-a-lot-of-play/ Purging my mental dust bunnies Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:38:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Ian Justman http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/2009/02/22/cisco-fxo-with-asterisk-still-getting-a-lot-of-play/comment-page-1/#comment-4809 Ian Justman Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:30:16 +0000 http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/?p=353#comment-4809 Actually, I had no trouble installing ESX 3i on the hardware I described (in fact, I have a rig running right now ready to receive VMs).  I did have to edit one script per instructions I found on a site; other than that, it installed with minimal effort. A great resource for playing with ESX 3i is http://www.vm-help.com.  It had those instructions for installing ESX 3i on stuff that was a bit outside what it really wants.  About all that it had any real "trouble" with was the IDE controller.  It worked, so I'm happy. Hope this helps out. --Ian. Actually, I had no trouble installing ESX 3i on the hardware I described (in fact, I have a rig running right now ready to receive VMs).  I did have to edit one script per instructions I found on a site; other than that, it installed with minimal effort.

A great resource for playing with ESX 3i is http://www.vm-help.com.  It had those instructions for installing ESX 3i on stuff that was a bit outside what it really wants.  About all that it had any real “trouble” with was the IDE controller.  It worked, so I’m happy.

Hope this helps out.

–Ian.

]]> By: scott http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/2009/02/22/cisco-fxo-with-asterisk-still-getting-a-lot-of-play/comment-page-1/#comment-4807 scott Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:42:59 +0000 http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/?p=353#comment-4807 Most of the time my virtualization consisted of what you're talking about there.  Older P4's with as much ram as I can find running VMWare Server 2.0.  I also tried ESX 3i on a couple different machines and had numerous problems getting it to install.  It seems to prefer newer hardware.  I was even running the pre-built TB VMWare image and still having clock sync problems. Most of the time my virtualization consisted of what you’re talking about there.  Older P4′s with as much ram as I can find running VMWare Server 2.0.  I also tried ESX 3i on a couple different machines and had numerous problems getting it to install.  It seems to prefer newer hardware.  I was even running the pre-built TB VMWare image and still having clock sync problems.

]]> By: Ian Justman http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/2009/02/22/cisco-fxo-with-asterisk-still-getting-a-lot-of-play/comment-page-1/#comment-4806 Ian Justman Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:25:21 +0000 http://www.thecruftofmybrain.com/?p=353#comment-4806 In my case, I'm using straight-up Asterisk under Ubuntu.  Up until recently, I was using a PCI modem card as an FXO device and a Sipura SPA-1001 as an FXS device. However, owing to the fact that my modem cards are PCI devices, I had little choice but to keep Asterisk on the bare metal, precluding the use of ESX Server 3i--a freebie, which is what I wanted to use.  So my other infrastructure machines handling mail and DNS had to be virtualized with VMware Server.  I didn't want to mess with Xen because FreeBSD doesn't install paravirtualized very well on older hardware without VT-x/AMD-V instructions. With this Cisco handling my FXO and FXS ports, I can now consider ESX 3i as an option.  Though of course, the time and timing might be an issue, so I have a separate computer running ESX 3i I can actually prototype on. Though for your part, what were you using to handle virtualization?  I'm running a am older Northwood-class P4 Del OptiPlex GX270 I picked up from the county surplus yard for a song.  Right now, I'm using VMware Server 2.0.0 on that machine which seems to be handling my auxiliary tasks pretty well.  That and VLAN support set up in the host and bridging set up along with a Cisco switch I picked up at the same place allows me to use my eight bridged statics without having to insert any cards (which I don't have the room for anyway because both slots are full) or use any more switchports than is needed. I'll have to work up on my study of contexts; I think I understand them as well, and I'm making more sense of them as I work my extensions.conf file (I'm not using trixbox; I'm hand-editing the extensions.conf file).  Running the Asterisk monitor at a shell prompt also helps a lot when debugging configs. Anyway, that's all for now.  Am going to have fun with virtualizing things and seeing if I can keep them working as they should. --Ian. In my case, I’m using straight-up Asterisk under Ubuntu.  Up until recently, I was using a PCI modem card as an FXO device and a Sipura SPA-1001 as an FXS device.

However, owing to the fact that my modem cards are PCI devices, I had little choice but to keep Asterisk on the bare metal, precluding the use of ESX Server 3i–a freebie, which is what I wanted to use.  So my other infrastructure machines handling mail and DNS had to be virtualized with VMware Server.  I didn’t want to mess with Xen because FreeBSD doesn’t install paravirtualized very well on older hardware without VT-x/AMD-V instructions.

With this Cisco handling my FXO and FXS ports, I can now consider ESX 3i as an option.  Though of course, the time and timing might be an issue, so I have a separate computer running ESX 3i I can actually prototype on.

Though for your part, what were you using to handle virtualization?  I’m running a am older Northwood-class P4 Del OptiPlex GX270 I picked up from the county surplus yard for a song.  Right now, I’m using VMware Server 2.0.0 on that machine which seems to be handling my auxiliary tasks pretty well.  That and VLAN support set up in the host and bridging set up along with a Cisco switch I picked up at the same place allows me to use my eight bridged statics without having to insert any cards (which I don’t have the room for anyway because both slots are full) or use any more switchports than is needed.

I’ll have to work up on my study of contexts; I think I understand them as well, and I’m making more sense of them as I work my extensions.conf file (I’m not using trixbox; I’m hand-editing the extensions.conf file).  Running the Asterisk monitor at a shell prompt also helps a lot when debugging configs.

Anyway, that’s all for now.  Am going to have fun with virtualizing things and seeing if I can keep them working as they should.

–Ian.

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