Reply To: Which Asterisk distribution should I use?

Many configuration generators are trying to compete with one another on secondary features – covering everything from security, faxing, messaging, email, router, SBC, security, high availability, and more. Most users disable/ignore these add-ons as they can be poorly designed or integrated (the real strength of configuration generators is in managing the Asterisk configuration files). If you are planning to use their add-ons compare each carefully to stand alone products so you know what you are getting. (You may even find that a commercial module that you are buying is just a collection of open source packages).

Next there are more sophisticated PBX’s which use Asterisk as the media engine/call processing engine but extend the functionality using a variety of other programs. PBX’s like Amtelco’s Genesis / ISS fall into this category. Telium is also pleased to work directly with manufacturers of more sophisticated PBX’s suchs as Amtelco Genesis / ISS to ensure full compatibility and deep product integration.

And finally there are some ‘closed’ PBX’s which are Asterisk based, but according to their vendors they are not compatible with ANY add-ons (unless sold from that same manufacturer). In reality we have helped customers install HAAst/SecAst/and many other 3rd party products onto these systems. However, we don’t want to upset these vendors so we leave it up to the customer to determine if they can/want to reset the root password and install other products. (It’s your product, so you probably have a right to modify it as you see fit). But we don’t offer any assistance that might violate the DMCA in the USA, or similar laws in other countries. (e.g. you can find instructions on how to unlock/remove vendor protections on the internet, but we can’t give those instructions to you). Also if you are an authorized vendor of such closed systems read your reseller agreement carefully; your customer can do what he wants with the PBX but you might violate your reseller agreement if you unlock the box for them.

HAAst tries to work well with every configuration generator. We are pleased to add support for new products/databases, but we also deprecate support for little used configuration generators / databases / features. If you are a large corporation or critical call center using Asterisk directly (no configuration generator) then HAAst can fully support you as well. You don’t need a configuration generator or add-on to use HAAst, SecAst, etc.

So if you are designing a telephony solution we recommend:

1. Pure asterisk (no configuration generator) if you are ok doing some basic diaplan coding
2. If you need a configuration generator pick one that is fully open source (avoid anything with ‘distro’ in the name)
3. Use flat-files to hold config information
4. If you need a database (or your config generator needs a database) insist on MariaDB/MySQL

If you need to stray from this advice be sure to understand the compromises you are making