Seeking advice on topology implementation

[kaptsea]

Hello there!

I am looking for advice on a VOIP network I need to create. There will be a main station and multiple sub stations that need to communicate via VOIP.

In each of the stations there will be a server (not for VOIP but we can use them) and the following clients:

• A phone
• A door bell with an intercom
• A public announcement device

The intercom in the doorbell will only need to reach its station's phone.

The phones will need to access all the other phones in other stations plus all of their local devices (door bell intercom and public announcement device)

The public announcement units will need to auto answer calls from the phones.



The phone in the main station must be able to reach everything.



A simple solution would be to have the server on the main station and register everything there, but I cannot risk the possibility of a main station failure cutting all communication in every sub station.

What I am thinking is setting up Asterisk (if there is something better/easier etc. I can go for it) on each station's server, and have all the servers reach the main station.



Could anyone please point me to a direction to get me started?



Here is a topology diagram:

 

[ostridge]

As a starting point have a look at our Tiki Wiki

Incredible PBX TikiWiki

 

[Eliad]

Hello there!

I am looking for advice on a VOIP network I need to create. There will be a main station and multiple sub stations that need to communicate via VOIP.

In each of the stations there will be a server (not for VOIP but we can use them) and the following clients:

• A phone
• A door bell with an intercom
• A public announcement device

The intercom in the doorbell will only need to reach its station's phone.

The phones will need to access all the other phones in other stations plus all of their local devices (door bell intercom and public announcement device)

The public announcement units will need to auto answer calls from the phones.



The phone in the main station must be able to reach everything.



A simple solution would be to have the server on the main station and register everything there, but I cannot risk the possibility of a main station failure cutting all communication in every sub station.

What I am thinking is setting up Asterisk (if there is something better/easier etc. I can go for it) on each station's server, and have all the servers reach the main station.



Could anyone please point me to a direction to get me started?



Here is a topology diagram:

View attachment 3201

I assume you have good quality internet connection at all 3 sites. Then easiest way to do this is to install one PBX in the cloud and you are done. If the internet connection is poor then you have a problem because if you loose internet then even the calls between extensions will fail.

 

[kaptsea]

I assume you have good quality internet connection at all 3 sites. Then easiest way to do this is to install one PBX in the cloud and you are done. If the internet connection is poor then you have a problem because if you loose internet then even the calls between extensions will fail.

My problem is that the local connections are going to be mission critical, and there will be a server at each substation already. The cloud solution would be best if there were no servers on the substations really, but it adds another point of failure.

 

[dhoppy]

My problem is that the local connections are going to be mission critical, and there will be a server at each substation already. The cloud solution would be best if there were no servers on the substations really, but it adds another point of failure.

Interconnecting stations is possible, but much more complicated. The single cloud PBX will not require a VPN or any special configuration of the router at each station.

If you go the route of multiple interconnected local PBX then you have to configure the firewall at each location to open the proper ports, configure trunks (last I did this, I used IAX trunks), and configure call routing between the PBXs. Another option is to use VPN to connect the stations. IMO, there are many more points of failure going with multiple interconnected PBXs. Also, the amount of research on your part to get this working will be extensive. I don't know your experience level, but I've been running variants of FreePBX for over 10 years, and although I am not an expert, what you are wanting to do would still take me many much hours. On the other hand, if you setup a cloud pbx following Ward's tutorial on NerdVittles, you would be up and running in less than 2 hours.

 

[Halea]

What kind of "server" are you talking about? How are you intending to run "voip" over that server to preserve each substation against connection loss to the main location.
Is this an all "local" networking encompassing configuration? Like within a private campus with multiple buildings, or the connections to the main site are over the Internet.
There are so many factors that are not clearly stated in your depiction that it is hard to figure out the best approach.
Also, will each "substation" only have one and only one phone set? or did you mean to say a bunch of them?
Can you explain what the "public announcement" devices are and how they operate. And why a public announcement device is supposed to answer a phone call? And during such a call who is on the phone talking to the public announcement device? Whoever that person is how does he/she dials the public announcement device? Or do you expect the phone to auto-dial the public announcement device if the phone is picked up but no dialing is done within some amount of time?
Since you've mentioned that the local communication aspect between the door bell the phone and the public announcement device is "mission critical", what is the "mission", and how it is "critical" (I mean what prompts criticality, like loss of networking to the outside, power loss ...)
The more information you provide the better your chances of being helped.