[Serusers] why combine ser with asterisk

[Fredrik Lundmark]

I'm still learning myself, but SEMS (iptel.org/sems) seems to offer many of 
the media- and/or b2bua-functions that Asterisk do.

///Fredrik



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "SIP" <sip at arcdiv.com>
To: "Nhadie" <nhadie at tbgi.net.ph>
Cc: <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>; <serusers at lists.iptel.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 1:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Serusers] why combine ser with asterisk


> Asterisk is an excellent PBX system, and makes a very good endpoint in
> the SIP chain for all sorts of things -- IVR systems, voicemail
> applications, automated messages, etc.
>
> It has an extremely well-written CDR engine, so many people mesh it with
> billing applications to produce accurate accounting information. It also
> is fully aware of the media stream, which means it's capable of cutting
> off a call mid-stream, injecting audio into the call, etc, etc.
>
> Programming for Asterisk addons can be easily done in just about any
> language, and it meshes well with the overall structure. Programming for
> SER is... not so simple.
>
> As for running them both on the same box, the biggest problem would be
> resources. Unlike SER, Asterisk is not designed to be a carrier-grade
> SIP proxy. If you're actually proxying the media stream, you'd be
> hard-pressed to squeeze more than 150 simultaneous calls out of Asterisk
> on even the beefiest of hardware. Add SER to the same box, and you will
> quickly run into resource problems in medium-sized environments. It also
> doesn't have a lot of the SIP proxy functionality that SER has.
>
> If you're careful, you can configure Asterisk NOT to handle the media
> stream and still use it for prepaid solutions (using astcc or
> asterisk-b2bua), and this will save you bandwidth (but you'll still
> likely run into NAT issues that need to be dealt with somehow) and still
> let you use Asterisk as an in-between point.
>
> Together, Asterisk and SER make a very powerful combination for
> providing a full suite of services to clientele, and each plays well off
> the other's strengths.
>
> N.
>
>
>
> Nhadie wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> What's the advantage of combining ser with asterisk? I always see
>> comments like using ser with asterisk is a very good solution etc. etc.
>> the thing i liked with ser is that it does not do codec translation,
>> which saves me cpu usage and also bandwidth. if i combine it with
>> asterisk, would it not use codec translation?
>>
>> i also read that there is also a problem when ser and asterisk is run on
>> the same machine, why is it so?
>> if use prepaid billing solution for asterisk like astcc, would i then be
>> able to provide prepaid service?
>>
>> soryy for asking too much, i'd just like to really understand it. Thank
>> You in advanced.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Nhadie
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>
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