OpenVZ + DAHDI hardware

[tin]

Has anyone done this? OpenVZ + a line card that is...

What I've done so far is:
* Installed and loaded the dahdi kernel modules (only - no tools) on the Proxmox host.
* Built a VZ container using the PIAF template.
* Told VZ to pass through all the devices in /dev/dahdi
* Checked the devices and permissions in the container.

And this is where I found there aren't any userspace tools in the container... When I copy dahdi_tool from a "normal" PIAF install, it works perfectly - shows the card, shows FXS lines being picked up, etc.
The dahdi FreePBX module however shows nothing - I assume it needs the dahdi service running...?

I guess my questions are:
* Is there any reason to NOT have the dahdi services and userspace stuff in the container? The dahdi_tool didn't seem to care...

* If it's not a problem, how can I install the dahdi userspace stuff on the VZ container? I tried the digium package, but it wanted the kernel module package too, which wanted a kernel that I don't have installed (obviously). I tried building from source, but it too wanted the kernel module sources (I think).

* Should I abandon this idea?

 

[blanchae]

I haven't heard of anyone being successful using virtualization with the dahdi cards.

 

[tin]

So I've now run into another problem - asterisk on the OpenVZ template doesn't have dahdi support compiled in. Looks like if I want to continue trying to use a VZ container, I'm going to have to go it alone anyway.

This is kind of why I'd like to know if there's any reason for it to not work - Looking at how it's going so far, I'm starting to think it's a case of someone thought it wouldn't so they left it all out. I'd love to hear from one of the devs on that topic though.

I did have the card working perfectly with Trixbox running as a fully virtualised system using PCI passthrough. The only reason I'm not simply doing that now is that when shutting down the VM, it causes the host kernel to lock up on whichever CPU the VM was on... Everything else works fine still after that, except for shutting down the host. I have to turn the power off, which is not good.

 

[jroper]

Hi

To fool Asterisk into thinking Dahdi is present on OpenVZ,

#Create directory and file to get meetme working
mkdir /usr/include/dahdi/
cp /usr/src/dahdi-linux-complete/linux/include/dahdi/user.h /usr/include/dahdi/user.h

In terms of passing calls to a physical line card, my view would be to install vanilla Asterisk and Dahdi on the HN, and pass the calls via VoIP from the container to the HN, and then route them out of your line cards.

Add A2Billing if you need a UI to manage the customers, and provide billing for the containers.

Joe

 

[tin]

That header file is already present at that location, and the source path suggested to copy it from isn't there.

Oh well. I guess I'll go back to the clunky but working fully virtualised install. It'll require attention after every reboot (as far as I've been able to work out) and it causes the host kernel to freeze when the vm reboots... But at least it works while I'm not needing to reboot.

Edit: I prefer not to install Asterisk on the host - my preference is to keep the host as clean as possible. I already feel naughty having installed Dell Open Manage on there.