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Shared Line Appearance SLA on Asterisk 1.6 trixbo 2.8

SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Submitted by SkykingOH on Sat, 10/10/2009 - 1:00pm.

I was browsing through the commits to Asterisk 1.6 and saw many changes in the SLA support. I figured what the heck and configured a quick group of two stations.

It seems to be working (this never worked right in 1.4)

I have to add some code to the dialplan to get this to integrate with FreePBX extensions but on the surface it appears promising.

skyPBXhome*CLI> sla show stations
skyPBXhome*CLI>
=============================================================
=== Configured SLA Stations =================================
=============================================================
===
=== ---------------------------------------------------------
=== Station Name:    station1
=== ==> Device:      SIP/100
=== ==> AutoContext: (none)
=== ==> RingTimeout: (none)
=== ==> RingDelay:   (none)
=== ==> HoldAccess:  Open
=== ==> Trunks ...
=== ---------------------------------------------------------
===
=== ---------------------------------------------------------
=== Station Name:    station2
=== ==> Device:      SIP/111
=== ==> AutoContext: (none)
=== ==> RingTimeout: (none)
=== ==> RingDelay:   (none)
=== ==> HoldAccess:  Open
=== ==> Trunks ...
===    ==> Trunk Name: line1
===       ==> State:       SLA_TRUNK_STATE_IDLE
===       ==> RingTimeout: (none)
===       ==> RingDelay:   (none)
=== ---------------------------------------------------------
===
============================================================

skyPBXhome*CLI>
‹ SLA on Asterisk Business Edition? RESERVE BOUNTY: Aastra XML SLA (Share "Line" Experience) ›
--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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joshpatten
Posts: 733
 Member Since:
2007-01-20
Is there any documentation
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 6:29pm

Is there any documentation on what phones support this?


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Quote: Is there any
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 6:48pm
Quote:
Is there any documentation on what phones support this?

It has nothing to do with the endpoint. It's an Asterisk module.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Once I get a refined config
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 11:25pm

Once I get a refined config I will post it.

Bottom line is any phone with a BLF will work. Essentially you setup a BLF to subscribe to the station. When you come off hook you are "hot dialing" just like a dumb key system. I don't like this feature at all.

The problem with this is that Aastra and Polycom won't support a ring on a BLF. A shared extension subscription Broasoft style like the Aastra supports is not the same thing.

Russell's notes indicated testing worked with a Polycom so I am very unclear at this point how it was done.

I want to make it clear my goals are probably far short of what others idea of SLA is. I simply want to be able to have a administrative phone have a line appearance of an executives phone.

I am weighing if multiple parking lots might be the better option.

One other thing is I have a great PHP guy who owes me a bunch of hours. I am considering donating them back to the community in the form an updated FreePBX parking lot module that supports multiple parking lots or an SLA.conf it testing proves it worthwhile.

Stay tuned.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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ddickenson
Posts: 1
 Member Since:
2009-11-02
How did you ever come out on
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:47am

How did you ever come out on this? I'm trying to look at the best options for my execs and their assistants too. They are on an old norstar system right now and they would have a fit if they didn't have that functionality.


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joshpatten
Posts: 733
 Member Since:
2007-01-20
ddickenson: You don't want
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:56am

ddickenson: You don't want Asterisk then. Norstars are the worst about creating bad habits. If you want a true SLA environment you will either have to go with a big-name proprietary system or wait for sipX 4.2 to be released (Slated for November/December 2009)

http://sipx-wiki.calivia.com/index.php/Bridged_Line_Appearance


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
Just get an Aastralink Pro
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 1:43pm

I KNOW Aastra phones do SLA because they work this way on the Aastralink Pro system. What Skyking was talking about with sharing an extension is called SCA (Shared Call Appearance). It's not the same as SLA.

I wouldn't bother mucking around with Asterisk if you want SLA which probably never will work properly. They have no interest in it even though there is huge demand on small systems. The Asterisk developers are more interested in big systems which do not use SLA. If you have a small business that wants KSU type behaviour just get an Aastralink Pro 160. It will give them EXACTLY what they want and works beautifully.

I argued about the need for SLA on Asterisk for years and it just fell on deaf ears. I got tired of people trying to tell me to tell the customer to use parking so I now use the Aastralink Pro for small businesses that want SLA even though I would prefer to use Asterisk. You cannot tell people to do it differently when they have been using KSU's for 20 years!

Aastra knows this which is why they created a NEW product that emulates KSU behaviour. If people don't want/need that feature as many Asterisk people will try tell you then WHY are Aastra, Mitel, Panasonic, Samsung etc. still manufacturing and selling hundreds of thousands of them??!!


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Yeah - What Josh said. SLA
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 3:44pm

Yeah - What Josh said. SLA sorta kinda works. Nothing you would want for production.

It is designed for someone who would actually consider replacing a small key system with an Asterisk box.

If you simply need to have an administrative line appearance consider using multiple parking lots. That does work well though it is not supported in the GUI yet.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
Best of luck telling the
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 7:29pm

Best of luck telling the customer to use parking instead unless it's a relative or a customer you have a very close relationship with. I don't even bother trying to sell people on it anymore. If they had it before they expect to get the same thing from whatever you are trying to sell them. No sense trying to swim upstream just because the developers decided call parking is good enough.


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krayt3ch
Posts: 160
 Member Since:
2009-07-28
i just explain to the
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 8:56pm

i just explain to the customer that SLA is outdated and that a parking lot with substantial BLF's are a better option and allows more flexibility for them, and once they get used to it, it will make their life alot easier


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antidelldude
Posts: 287
 Member Since:
2009-05-18
Remember, all you have to
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:36pm

Remember, all you have to sell is whoever is in charge of purchasing the system. I can see where that still poses a problem in small installs though. BUT, why argue when you don't have to? A php module would be awesome. I'm sure this time next year when 1.6 is more mainline, and my knowledge of Asterisks grows, I won't care about a php module to set up sla's.

--

Regards,
Jon
Please respond if your problem was ever solved, and how you solved it. It'll help the next guy.


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Quote: and my knowledge of
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 10:28pm
Quote:
and my knowledge of Asterisks grows, I won't care about a php module to set up sla's.

It's more than that. It works well with DAHDI channels so it does just what you would think. It allows you to dub down Asterisk and turn it into a dumb key system.

It does not work well with SIP. I actually lost patience and quit when I saw it is only useful for analog trunks.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
Sigh, ok no problem I will
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 9:44pm

Sigh, ok no problem I will "just tell them SLA is outdated" at which point they will go and buy a brand spanking new latest and greatest 2009 Panasonic Hybrid system which is EXACTLY what they want....SLA and all!

I guess Panasonic 'just doesn't get it' so they continue making and selling it and winning against my Asterisk quotes everytime. Silly buggers they are.

All sarcasm aside, I am certainly NOT dishing Asterisk. It is the way to go for mid to larger systems hands down IMHO and competes well in that market. It also competes favorably on small systems where there is no interest in SLA. I have a few of those and they are all very happy. Much happier than they were before with their Bizfon's or Nortel Meridians. Much tougher sell for small systems though. A lot of established players have VERY good and competively priced products in this segment.

I just don't bother with the smaller stuff anymore unless I can sell them an Aastralink Pro.


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
How many extensions are you
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 11:34pm

How many extensions are you talking about? I am not quite sure how anyone makes money simply selling phone systems in the US. Where I am at the telco is giving away Nortel BCM-50's if you sign a 3 year contract for a PRI.

I have been in the business over 20 years and I have never seen the value ripped out at this pace before.

As far as features go remote extensions and simple office linking are "killer" features over SLA.

Our usual sales call goes like this:

We can save you 50% on your phone bill and you can have these new Aastra phones at no charge. We take care of everything. It is a great pitch.

You know what else is cool is that with a little hard work it's not that difficult to pick this up. Mustardman you where one of the first people to get me started in the right direction with Open Source Telephony. Like most people I wanted to check Asterisk out and the ISO was the simplest way to do it.

We have retired the Sylantro soft switch and are entirely Open Source at the core and the edge. Thanks to the excellent training from OTTS we are rolling are own builds today. It's been a fun ride.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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krayt3ch
Posts: 160
 Member Since:
2009-07-28
that specific client that we
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 3:13pm

that specific client that we had that wanted sla, had some spa962's from memory and i just rebound the voicemail button to the extention of the parking lot since voicemail went to another phone so they just went

Xfer
Mail
2nd from left (cant remember exactly what the button said)
it would then say call is in parking lot XX (which then triggers BLF on the lcd)

and tada they then pick it up from anywhere, which imo is better than sla


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
Oh yea just transfer it here
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:57pm

Oh yea just transfer it here and listen to the prompt there and just go to the parking lot in the prompts. Yea, that is sooooooooo much better than just pressing the flashing button!


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antidelldude
Posts: 287
 Member Since:
2009-05-18
On the Aastra phones you can
Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:20am

On the Aastra phones you can do one button park with announcement. Then you hit page and say call on whatever 71, 72, etc... it's like one extra button, compared to a line button. Or you could bind a line button to the parking lot. Those are a lot of buttons to be pressing on one of those linksys phones.

--

Regards,
Jon
Please respond if your problem was ever solved, and how you solved it. It'll help the next guy.


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
anti, Believe me I know how
Thu, 11/05/2009 - 10:28pm

anti,

Believe me I know how it works and have spent many hours configuring things this way. I personally have no problem with it. I understand that most of the people here have no problem with it. I understand that if your so inclined, as most everyone here is, to do it yourself for your business then it is not a problem.

It's the other 99.9% of the people out there that use phones that have a problem with it. Yea I know if I can just get them to start using it they will get used to it. It's hard enough overcoming the whole open source software on a PC barrier to make a sale. No SLA is just one more thing to kill the deal before you ever get a chance to let them use it and get comfortable with it.

The bottom line is you are trying to sell them a car without a steering wheel when everyone else sells cars with steering wheels. You can argue till your blue in the face that a joystick is a much better way to steer a car (even though it isn't).


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Everyone knows where I
Thu, 11/05/2009 - 11:01pm

Everyone knows where I stand, however I must clear up the misconception that Asterisk is lacking a feature the competition has.

You can't compare to a key system. The term was created to describe the origial Western Electric (AKA Bell) 1A2 Key Telephone sets. Each line had a key and the flashing was driven by an electromechanical interrupter motor. It was quite the mechanical contraption.

PBX's (which by the way stand for Private Branch Exchange) never had any type of line appearances. In fact key systems where often used to "front end" a PBX on a departmental level.

The only major IP PBX that supports out and out key system like functionality is Avaya IP Office. That system is actually a hybrid.

Cisco Call Manager and the Nortel SCS nor Mitel's pure IP stuff support SLA. Shoretel does not have SLA.

Beyond 5-10 phones SLA makes no sense. These size businesses are not the target market. The cool thing is Asterisk and OST in general makes the "big system features" available to small business. Selling Asterisk to the low end market is a losing proposition.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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mustardman
Posts: 1289
 Member Since:
2006-06-18
Sky, Yes, SLA was originally
Mon, 11/09/2009 - 2:18am

Sky,

Yes, SLA was originally all about a simple cross connect of phone lines which was the most practical way to do it on low cost electronic phone systems of old also known as KSU's. Now with SIP and software based PBX's it is easier to do it other ways rather than try to emulate the old ways. Trouble is, users like doing it the old way. See, the way it works in the REAL world is you give the customer what they want, not what software developers and techies want to give them.

Personally, I prefer SLA for small systems. You don't have to train anyone to press a flashing button. By small I mean up to about 6 analog lines. After than then the PBX way makes more sense.

I'm done with this argument. If you don't want to listen to me then how about all the manufacturers that make very recent model small business phone systems that ALL do SLA. They don't do it for giggles. They do it because that is what the customer wants


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cougarmast
Posts: 201
 Member Since:
2007-02-05
Why would u need SLA if you
Mon, 11/09/2009 - 4:44am

Why would u need SLA if you can just transfer the calls? Anyway what the clients wants is what the clients wants but I never give it to them because its plain stupid.When there are better ways of handling calls why would anyone in the right mind wants SLA.


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9675
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
Mustard - if you actually
Mon, 11/09/2009 - 7:42am

Mustard - if you actually read my posts you would have seen that for under 10 extensions I agree with you under most circumstances.

I also don't deal with systems that small. The buyers are on a budget and the margins are too thin.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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MrPhones
Posts: 10
 Member Since:
2010-01-14
Great SLA implementation analysis
Sun, 01/17/2010 - 1:06am

Best reference site I found on the trials and tribulations of Asterisk and Shared Line Appearance (SLA) operation is at http://www.smartvox.co.uk/astfaq_asterisk_sla.htm

Very well written, and full credit to John Quick at Smartvox Limited in the UK for a very thorough and well written article.


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MrPhones
Posts: 10
 Member Since:
2010-01-14
New KONNECT phones for Asterisk
Sun, 01/17/2010 - 1:06am

If anyone is interested in seeing some great advancements being made in Shared Line Appearance (SLA) and general Key Telephone System (KTS) behavior with Asterisk, and happen to be attending the upcoming IT Expo in Miami, be sure to check out the following presentation.

http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/digium-asterisk-world/daw-e...

Topic: Asterisk as a Key Telephone System (KTS) … is there any hope ?

Date: Thursday, January 20, 2010, 2PM
Location: IT Expo East 2010, Miami Beach, FL
Where: Digium Asterisk World Presentation Theatre

Please also visit Aksys Networks at Booth D06 to view the new KONNECT line of phones with unprecedented tight integration to Asterisk, and superior SLA and BLF support.


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