[Mac-telephony-list] Asterisk/OpenPBX on Mac vs. Linux

[Tom Rymes via List]

Folks,

There has been a lot of traffic on the list lately about the desire  
for a "turn-key" solution for Asterisk/OpenPBX on Mac OS X. Normally,  
it seems to be folks who wish to use the software right now to deploy  
a PBX solution built on Mac OS X, including interfaces to the PSTN  
(Phone network) such as a T1, a PRI, or Analog lines. I would suggest  
the following:

If you want to build a robust, production-ready Asterisk system for  
deployment at a non-SOHO business environment, don't try to build it  
on Mac OS. I've been a mac user since the late '80s and I really wish  
that running our PBX on Mac OS was a viable alternative, but it  
isn't, IMHO. The reasons are as follows:

Asterisk
1.) No Music On Hold (MOH)
2.) No PCI interface cards
3.) No MeetMe conferencing

OpenPBX
1.) Not "stable" software
2.) Not fully functional on Mac OS yet (The CLI does not work on Mac OS)
3.) Unicall not yet complete, so no PCI cards

Both
1.) Using external PSTN gateways is often more hassle than PCI card  
solutions. Sipura SPA3000, etc sometimes need to be power cycled, and  
PRI to SIP bridges introduce additional complexity.

Also, since running Asterisk/OpenPBX on the Mac OS is a non-standard  
installation, it requires additional work & knowledge to install and  
run, but it  yields no significant advantages. In fact, if you look  
above, you actually lose functionality! Additionally, there is much  
less information out there to help you when you run into problems,  
because the community is that much smaller.

I trust that these problems will be worked out in the future as  
Sunrise and others work to make Asterisk and OpenPBX work better on  
the Mac OS. Until, then, though, I would suggest that any serious  
deployments should be done on Linux. Please keep in mind how  
important telephones are to your business and how much trouble you  
would encounter if they stopped working.

Looking forward to the day when I can say "This e-mail is no longer  
applicable",

Tom Rymes