PCI over Ethernet?
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
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@anthonyh Can you at least get a backup of the physical server?
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@Dashrender said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Who wrote the IVR interface? Do they offer other non PCI options in light of PBX IVR solutions these days?
20 years ago, Nuance sold hardware solution IVR cards, today they sell IVR software that does the same thing and ditches the hardware requirement.
Of course management says - hey why do I have to spend money replacing something that works perfectly well - so good luck with that.
On my list is to query the vendor to see if they have a VoIP based solution. The system isn't as old as you may think. It's victim to the niche market which usually aren't up to snuff when it comes to modern technologies (hence the analog voice cards to ATA MacGuyvering :D).
I suspect if they have a solution it'll be expensive, but if it's our only option I'll push for it.
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@Dashrender said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Ok, this thread is derailing fast....
So how much did you pay for the old hardware solution and who built it?
Do they have a solution that works directly with today's PBX IVRs?
Good question. This system was implemented before my time. No clue what it cost. Definitely going to query the vendor if it's looking like my only option.
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@aaronstuder said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Let's start with the basic's:
What OS is that last physical server on?
This server is running Server 2008 R2 I believe.
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@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
I don't think he means today - he means future updates/patches, etc, I'm sure.
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
What about the PCI passthrough for Xen? Did that look promising?
Is it an advertised feature from Citrix? I will admit I didn't re-google to see if this feature was newly "blessed" by Citrix. However, when I went through the 6.5 upgrade a while back there was no mention of it as far as I know. I know you can do GPU passhtrough, but not sure about PCI passthrough out of the box. I should re-research. The link you provided is a good start though.
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@aaronstuder said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh Can you at least get a backup of the physical server?
I can, I just need to figure out a good time to take the box down. Definitely a step 0 in this project for sure.
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
Holy crap XenServer 7! I feel like I JUST upgraded to 6.5. I'll need to investigate what new features XS 7 brings...
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@Dashrender said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
I don't think he means today - he means future updates/patches, etc, I'm sure.
Exactly.
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@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
Holy crap XenServer 7! I feel like I JUST upgraded to 6.5. I'll need to investigate what new features XS 7 brings...
Ha ha. Yeah. This is the "real" update that we have been waiting for post-Citrix era. Lots of the Citrix cruft has been removed and it is dramatically more up to date. NTG Lab has three XS 7 machines slated to come online soon (just waiting on the datacenter to get them ready for us.) I think that you'll want to look there, it very likely will make life a lot easier.
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Hmm. This looks intimidating (but that has never stopped me). I wonder how well this would translate to the XenServer world though. What would happen when I deploy patches? Hmm. Something to check out though.
DO you need pathces wtih XS 7? I've not looked. It is very current, though.
Holy crap XenServer 7! I feel like I JUST upgraded to 6.5. I'll need to investigate what new features XS 7 brings...
Ha ha. Yeah. This is the "real" update that we have been waiting for post-Citrix era. Lots of the Citrix cruft has been removed and it is dramatically more up to date. NTG Lab has three XS 7 machines slated to come online soon (just waiting on the datacenter to get them ready for us.) I think that you'll want to look there, it very likely will make life a lot easier.
Will do for sure!!!
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Ah check this out... XO was talking about this working but just missing from the XO interface some time ago: https://xen-orchestra.com/forum/topic/25/pci-passthrough-add-ability-to-do-this-from-the-web-interface
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@anthonyh First, you need to ignore anyone telling you to switch your PBX. There is nothing wrong with PBX in a Flash. In fact it is a better solution than FreePBX from the point of view that PBX in a Flash uses 100% standard repos. FreePBX uses custom repos.
Functionally they are identical.
On to your problem. Let me ask you this question.
The custom IVR thing uses the PCI card for what exactly? It sounds like they are FXO ports from your description in the first post. because you stated you connected them to an ATA which are typically an FXS device.
Does the software only work via these FXO cards?
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@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Ah check this out... XO was talking about this working but just missing from the XO interface some time ago: https://xen-orchestra.com/forum/topic/25/pci-passthrough-add-ability-to-do-this-from-the-web-interface
Oooh. If this is doable under vanilla XenServer 6.5, then I may be in business. I'm more than comfortable with the CLI. I'll just need to make sure we have a box that has the required hardware features to support it.
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@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@scottalanmiller said in PCI over Ethernet?:
Ah check this out... XO was talking about this working but just missing from the XO interface some time ago: https://xen-orchestra.com/forum/topic/25/pci-passthrough-add-ability-to-do-this-from-the-web-interface
Oooh. If this is doable under vanilla XenServer 6.5, then I may be in business. I'm more than comfortable with the CLI. I'll just need to make sure we have a box that has the required hardware features to support it.
Seems likely. Just sadly not something I've tested or needed to do.
Okay, maybe sadly means thankfully there.
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@JaredBusch said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh First, you need to ignore anyone telling you to switch your PBX. There is nothing wrong with PBX in a Flash. In fact it is a better solution than FreePBX from the point of view that PBX in a Flash uses 100% standard repos. FreePBX uses custom repos.
Functionally they are identical.
On to your problem. Let me ask you this question.
The custom IVR thing uses the PCI card for what exactly? It sounds like they are FXO ports from your description in the first post. because you stated you connected them to an ATA which are typically an FXS device.
Does the software only work via these FXO cards?
They are multi-port FXO cards, yes (I couldn't remember the term!). I do not know exactly how the software interfaces with them. I'm not sure if they are proprietary hardware paired with their software, or if they are off-the-shelf cards that were simply recommended by the software vendor. This system was set up before my time, and has been solid enough that in the 2+ years I've been here I have not even needed to log into the box (though I have logged in so that 1) I knew I could get in if I needed to, and 2) to check it out so I at least kinda-knew what I was working with, lol).
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@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@JaredBusch said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh First, you need to ignore anyone telling you to switch your PBX. There is nothing wrong with PBX in a Flash. In fact it is a better solution than FreePBX from the point of view that PBX in a Flash uses 100% standard repos. FreePBX uses custom repos.
Functionally they are identical.
On to your problem. Let me ask you this question.
The custom IVR thing uses the PCI card for what exactly? It sounds like they are FXO ports from your description in the first post. because you stated you connected them to an ATA which are typically an FXS device.
Does the software only work via these FXO cards?
They are multi-port FXO cards, yes (I couldn't remember the term!). I do not know exactly how the software interfaces with them. I'm not sure if they are proprietary hardware paired with their software, or if they are off-the-shelf cards that were simply recommended by the software vendor. This system was set up before my time, and has been solid enough that in the 2+ years I've been here I have not even needed to log into the box (though I have logged in so that 1) I knew I could get in if I needed to, and 2) to check it out so I at least kinda-knew what I was working with, lol).
Well even if you get your PCI pass through on XS, you will not have HA because the card is tied to the compute node it is installed in.
I would definitely spend time investigating the software options the vendor has. If there is an option to remove the FXO cards from the picture, you will gain everything you want.
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@JaredBusch said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@JaredBusch said in PCI over Ethernet?:
@anthonyh First, you need to ignore anyone telling you to switch your PBX. There is nothing wrong with PBX in a Flash. In fact it is a better solution than FreePBX from the point of view that PBX in a Flash uses 100% standard repos. FreePBX uses custom repos.
Functionally they are identical.
On to your problem. Let me ask you this question.
The custom IVR thing uses the PCI card for what exactly? It sounds like they are FXO ports from your description in the first post. because you stated you connected them to an ATA which are typically an FXS device.
Does the software only work via these FXO cards?
They are multi-port FXO cards, yes (I couldn't remember the term!). I do not know exactly how the software interfaces with them. I'm not sure if they are proprietary hardware paired with their software, or if they are off-the-shelf cards that were simply recommended by the software vendor. This system was set up before my time, and has been solid enough that in the 2+ years I've been here I have not even needed to log into the box (though I have logged in so that 1) I knew I could get in if I needed to, and 2) to check it out so I at least kinda-knew what I was working with, lol).
Well even if you get your PCI pass through on XS, you will not have HA because the card is tied to the compute node it is installed in.
I would definitely spend time investigating the software options the vendor has. If there is an option to remove the FXO cards from the picture, you will gain everything you want.
We are going to check with the vendor for sure.
Another thought I had was possible FXO emulation. I wonder if there is a such animal? We could then emulate the FXO interfaces on the server in question and have said emulator simply connect to our PBX via SIP and it all be software and then be nice and portable.
