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Hardware recommendation for VOIP Gateway

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LD1

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Hi,

We have a small office setup (~10 extensions). Typical concurrent calls is under 4. Our 3CX is V16 (Debian) and hosted in Amazon AWS.

Our local telco only provides domestic SIP Trunks via their fiber (i.e. not over the public internet). So I have to interface with them via an Ethernet connection which they will supply.

I am looking for a good VOIP-to-VOIP gateway that can use one network card to connect to our network and get access to the internet to interface with the AWS deployment; and a separate network card to connect to the Telco's ethernet.

I am presently duing this with a Dual-NIC mini PBX appliance. But I don't wish to administer and maintain a second PBX any longer (asterisk). Is there a good gateway that you can recommend? I was looking at the Patton SmartNode 4524 (SN4524). Any ideas?
 
LD1 said:
Hi,

We have a small office setup (~10 extensions). Typical concurrent calls is under 4. Our 3CX is V16 (Debian) and hosted in Amazon AWS.

Our local telco only provides domestic SIP Trunks via their fiber (i.e. not over the public internet). So I have to interface with them via an Ethernet connection which they will supply.

I am looking for a good VOIP-to-VOIP gateway that can use one network card to connect to our network and get access to the internet to interface with the AWS deployment; and a separate network card to connect to the Telco's ethernet.

I am presently duing this with a Dual-NIC mini PBX appliance. But I don't wish to administer and maintain a second PBX any longer (asterisk). Is there a good gateway that you can recommend? I was looking at the Patton SmartNode 4524 (SN4524). Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I think a simple VPN between your local network (on their Fiber) and the AWS VPC would do it.

This way, you program the SIP trunk to the IP of their server, which you set to be through VPN.

Also, please know that gateways are not supported over STUN nor SBC, only via local LAN or VPN.
 
Hey Frederick. Thanks for the quick reply! I would still need some hardware for the setup you recommend. As my provider will not provision the SIP trunks over the same connection as their internet. They deploy is on a totally separate port believe it or not.

Thanks for the heads-up that I will need to setup a VP to use the gateway. Makes me think I would be better off just setting up a mini PBX instead locally to connect between the AWS 3cx and the Telco lines...
 
LD1 said:
Hey Frederick. Thanks for the quick reply! I would still need some hardware for the setup you recommend. As my provider will not provision the SIP trunks over the same connection as their internet. They deploy is on a totally separate port believe it or not.

Thanks for the heads-up that I will need to setup a VP to use the gateway. Makes me think I would be better off just setting up a mini PBX instead locally to connect between the AWS 3cx and the Telco lines...
Click to expand...

When you say on a separate port, you mean it has its own connection the modem? If so, it might be a T1/E1/J1 port, which is different from a simple LAN port.

As for the hardware, most small business routers like Cisco and SonicWall have the ability to VPN with multiple protocol, IPSec PPTP being the most common. However, I do agree that in your case, setting up the PBX locally on a VM or PC would be easier. Still, if the port is a T1, you'll still need a gateway.
 
LD1 said:
Our local telco only provides domestic SIP Trunks via their fiber (i.e. not over the public internet). So I have to interface with them via an Ethernet connection which they will supply.
Click to expand...

Who is your provider, others may have experience , with them (and some suggestions that have worked).
 
Last edited:
Hi Frederick,

No, the Telco provides the SIP Trunks over a dedicated ethernet connection. I know its peculiar, but its their setup. So the SIP Trunks are delivered on a totally separate network to the internet. Hence the need for 2 network cards. One network card must connect to the office network to get access to the internet (and thus access to the AWS-hosted PBX) and the other network card connected to their dedicated SIP Trunk circuit.

Bringing the actual 3cx into a local environment is not an option for us. We have many users remotely and wish to stay in the AWS cloud.
 
leejor said:
Who is your provider, other may have experience , with them (and some suggestions that have worked).
Click to expand...

Hi Leejor. We are on the island of Barbados. The domestic provider is Columbus Communications, brand named "Flow."
 
LD1 said:
Hi Frederick,

No, the Telco provides the SIP Trunks over a dedicated ethernet connection. I know its peculiar, but its their setup. So the SIP Trunks are delivered on a totally separate network to the internet. Hence the need for 2 network cards. One network card must connect to the office network to get access to the internet (and thus access to the AWS-hosted PBX) and the other network card connected to their dedicated SIP Trunk circuit.

Bringing the actual 3cx into a local environment is not an option for us. We have many users remotely and wish to stay in the AWS cloud.
Click to expand...

Ok, this means the second Ethernet connection will have its own IP which is good. In this case, there would be two options:

- VPN from the 3CX-to-SIP, like a Cisco router plugged into the dedicated link for the trunk, configured to VPN to the Cloud. Another VPN from LAN-to-3CX to connect the phones. This way, 3CX can communicate with the trunk (however it might cause some bandwith issue if the link is weak).

- A VPN for the trunk as above but use a SBC for the phones.
 
Is their Ethernet connection comming from a router type device (is it a DHCP server) ,does it have a fixed IP (changeable?), or is it expecting to be connected to a DHCP server?
 
LD1 said:
Hi Frederick,

No, the Telco provides the SIP Trunks over a dedicated ethernet connection. I know its peculiar, but its their setup. So the SIP Trunks are delivered on a totally separate network to the internet. Hence the need for 2 network cards. One network card must connect to the office network to get access to the internet (and thus access to the AWS-hosted PBX) and the other network card connected to their dedicated SIP Trunk circuit.

Bringing the actual 3cx into a local environment is not an option for us. We have many users remotely and wish to stay in the AWS cloud.
Click to expand...

Or, of course, go with another SIP provider that is supported, so no issues and easy config.
 
leejor said:
Is their Ethernet connection comming from a router type device (is it a DHCP server) ,does it have a fixed IP (changeable?), or is it expecting to be connected to a DHCP server?
Click to expand...

My guess is it will be a DHCP or PPPoE connection. However, they want the PBX on AWS so a VPN might be necessary here.
 
leejor said:
Is their Ethernet connection comming from a router type device (is it a DHCP server) ,does it have a fixed IP (changeable?), or is it expecting to be connected to a DHCP server?
Click to expand...

Their ethernet connection is coming from a router that will be running a DHCP server and provide the IP Address. This is the case at other sites where we use them.

(at those other sites we just run an Asterisk server on a dual-NIC setup. That is typically an Elastix/FreePBX deployment, and we setup a Sip Trunk between the 3CX and the FreePBX for local telco connections via the Asterisk. So the call flow is 3CX -> Asterisk -> Telco.... It's honestly rock-solid - we never touch the asterisk box. I was just looking for an easier way (3CX -> Gateway -> Telco) and taking a the asterisk out the middle. But the recommendation here to manage VPNs etc sounds way more complicated than just getting a dog cheap Asterisk appliance and replicating what we already do).
 
LD1 said:
Their ethernet connection is coming from a router that will be running a DHCP server and provide the IP Address. This is the case at other sites where we use them.

(at those other sites we just run an Asterisk server on a dual-NIC setup. That is typically an Elastix/FreePBX deployment, and we setup a Sip Trunk between the 3CX and the FreePBX for local telco connections via the Asterisk. So the call flow is 3CX -> Asterisk -> Telco.... It's honestly rock-solid - we never touch the asterisk box. I was just looking for an easier way (3CX -> Gateway -> Telco) and taking a the asterisk out the middle. But the recommendation here to manage VPNs etc sounds way more complicated than just getting a dog cheap Asterisk appliance and replicating what we already do).
Click to expand...

I suppose I could use the same type of dual-nic appliance, and just setup a second 3CX instead of the asterisk box... Any ideas for a good dual-nic appliance to run 3cx on?
 
LD1 said:
I suppose I could use the same type of dual-nic appliance, and just setup a second 3CX instead of the asterisk box... Any ideas for a good dual-nic appliance to run 3cx on?
Click to expand...

I am not sure if 3CX supports dual-NIC. In this case, if your Asterisk way works, don't change it and go for it. It will act like a gateway/SBC.

A VPN is no more complicated than setting up Asterisk, but I know some routers have a hard time keeping the VPN up after internet loss or power loss.
 
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