To host or not to host

[teleworx]

I'm quoting on a 45 extension 3CX Pro with 16 sim calls for a for a very busy office where being able to make and receive calls is a very high priority. Should I host it on one of the cloud server services,(comments on the best will be greatly appreciated) or should I install it on premises-based hardware? Connection is over a dedicated 80/20 FttC business class broadband. Any real world experience on which is most reliable will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[cobaltit]

Is this your first time installing any service (phones, email, etc)? This is a pretty basic question. Without information on dial tone, budget, up-time requirements, etc it's just pissing in the dark. Assuming you are going with BYOB SIP it doesn't matter which side of the fiber you are on when it goes down. As far as instance up-time are you asking if we think you can build a better environment than AWS/Google/MS? I doubt it.

 

[Mark Phillips]

If this business does genuinely rate the ability to make and receive calls as "very high priority" then I can't see how this can be reconciled to using only 80/20 FTTC. What is the Open Reach SLA if the line goes down (for example?)

 

[teleworx]

Hi, no not the first instance but the biggest and most important I've done to date and the first in a long time. Dial tone? What difference does that make? Please elaborate. Budget healthy, hardware will be leased so no need to skimp. Up-time, as close to 100% as possible. We're replacing a traditional PXB that ie bulletproof. Most endpoints will be hardware, probably Yealink/Polycom. Can failover to 100mb leased fibre line if required, but this is shared with the whole office. Important to keep working even if SIP trunks drop out as offices over 4 floors. Sounds like you'd favour hosted?

 

[teleworx]

If this business does genuinely rate the ability to make and receive calls as "very high priority" then I can't see how this can be reconciled to using only 80/20 FTTC. What is the Open Reach SLA if the line goes down (for example?)

Hi, yes good point. I forgot to mention we have a 100mb fibre leased line on the premises we can failover to if the VDSL goes down.

 

[cobaltit]

So if you have BYOB SIP trunk then it doesn't matter which side of the internet connection the PBX sits on as you are dead in the water anyways (as far as external calling). If you are replacing a PBX and re-using the existing dial tone (say PRI) then you'd want to be on prem. That is one of many factors.

 

[teleworx]

If this business does genuinely rate the ability to make and receive calls as "very high priority" then I can't see how this can be reconciled to using only 80/20 FTTC. What is the Open Reach SLA if the line goes down (for example?)

Change of plan, not going to use VDSL now. Going to install an Assured DSL connection. This allows up to 20 sim calls/channels and has a 6 hour SLA. I think that will do nicely!

 

[Saqqara]

If you host it on cloud services, have you thought about how you are going to provision the phones

SBC on PI, is out as you question as it handles 20 extensions with 10 blf keys per extension.
SBC Windows - is the other route

Stun - out of the question for the amount of extensions.

Site to Site VPN - would the easy solution.

Do you know what phones are you going to be using ?

 

[accentlogic]

Cobaltit mentioned the hosting environment - that is a huge consideration. Does your site have redundant power? Can you failover SIP and all other PBX routing properly between internet providers?

Unless you have to connect to local dial tone I would put the PBX in the cloud with AWS/Google/MS and use a VPN or SBC. VPN will allow use of Legacy supported equipment, removes dependency on SBC hardware, but adds ongoing cost for VPN with cloud provider. The SBC will gracefully handle internet connection failovers - nothing to configure on your firewall.

Have a hot spare SBC you can switch to, or split extensions between the two.

Have at least two SIP providers - outgoing secondary route and you can typically forward your main number to the second provider if the primary has an outage.

If you really want to add redundancy, use an Enterprise license and host the Passive instance on a different cloud provider. The SBC can auto-failover to the passive if the Active server or provider goes down.

With that setup staff can still answer calls using their mobile phones if you have a long term power or internet outage - or go work from home.

 

[teleworx]

If you host it on cloud services, have you thought about how you are going to provision the phones

SBC on PI, is out as you question as it handles 20 extensions with 10 blf keys per extension.
SBC Windows - is the other route

Stun - out of the question for the amount of extensions.

Site to Site VPN - would the easy solution.

Do you know what phones are you going to be using ?

Probably Yealink but nothing set in stone. Happy to use any good quality handset. Possibly Snom, Polycom or Fanvil. Any recommendations?

 

[accentlogic]

Probably Yealink but nothing set in stone. Happy to use any good quality handset. Possibly Snom, Polycom or Fanvil. Any recommendations?

We use Yealink whenever possible, but at least stick with the 3CX Supported list. Polycom are nice, but then you cannot use an SBC. (Stay away from the Legacy supported phones.)

EDIT: as cobaltit mentioned below, the Polycom VVX series does support using an SBC, but requires DHCP Option 66 to provision, does not support Shared Parking, and has some other limitations.

Use Debian on the SBC if you go that route - much less maintenance and more stable than a Windows machine.

 

[Mark Phillips]

If you really want to add redundancy, use an Enterprise license and host the Passive instance on a different cloud provider. The SBC can auto-failover to the passive if the Active server or provider goes down.

I'm interested to know how well the Active/Passive functionality works? Does it need any manual intervention? I think there's a disclaimer on the configuration page on v15.5 stating that services on the failed server need to be shut down to avoid problems??

 

[cobaltit]

Polycom are nice, but then you cannot use an SBC

Polycom VVX supports SBC although these are on the Legacy list you say to avoid.

 

[cobaltit]

I'm interested to know how well the Active/Passive functionality works? Does it need any manual intervention? I think there's a disclaimer on the configuration page on v15.5 stating that services on the failed server need to be shut down to avoid problems??

Should start your own thread instead of hijacking this one.