We are currently working on a plan to fail-over to our secondary server if the primary server should fail. We plan to use a backup sip proxy so the phones will register with the secondary server if the primary server is unavailable and we have a plan to switch the phone lines, however, we are at a sticking point with ISymphony. What is the best way to redirect the clients to the failover server? So far, the easiest way to do this is to go to each computer and change the host to the IP address or host name of the secondary server, which is not very practical. A secondary host field for failover would be great.
An IP failover solution would probably be best. At this time as iSymphony does not handle automatic failover. Take a look at LinuxHA, specifically Heartbeat and Pacemaker
This is still a sticky so i’m going to assume input is still wanted.
I’m a huge fan of isymphony, but while it’s great for admins and Operators (and nosey managers), it’s too much for the average user.
I too would love to see a “light” version, like the HUD of old. Something about double the size of the Incoming call screen pop, with all the buttons from the my extension “key” (Hangup, Park, Hold, Xfer to VM ect) and add a Xfer button that expands an available user list… (opens the Extension “tab” on demand)
perhaps a type / paste number to dial window. Of course outlook click to dial would be ideal…
but maybe a browser click to dial extension (much like skype has… though theirs installing on it’s own and being next to impossible to remove makes me cringe when i say their name)
So far I’m loving it, at $20/seat + everything FreePBX does, it’s looking like it beats our current box by a landslide (in features and in price), the only thing I couldn’t replace with our current box is a decent operator panel, and now we may have it.
Only thing that bugs me is I have like a 15-day trial I think for 1 queue and 5 users, gives us very little time to play with it and learn the software, considering we’re looking to buy some 40+ seats between two companies and a handful of queues if we go with this. Though I can understand 1 queue and 5 users is enough for a small company to run without paying, so it’s an interesting trade off. I guess I could hassle you guys for an extension anyway when I start showing the company what I have put together.
The layout is pretty flexible, so I’m on the fence about wanting a “lite” version, considering I can tweak how much screen space this uses.
Only complaint I have so far is the stall you get when you apply settings to the server, I wish it would do that somewhat silently.
Keep up the good work, this beats the pants off our expensive proprietary operator panel.
Also, wish I could monitor inbound faxes, but that’s a minor perk.
We are currently working on a plan to fail-over to our secondary server if the primary server should fail. We plan to use a backup sip proxy so the phones will register with the secondary server if the primary server is unavailable and we have a plan to switch the phone lines, however, we are at a sticking point with ISymphony. What is the best way to redirect the clients to the failover server? So far, the easiest way to do this is to go to each computer and change the host to the IP address or host name of the secondary server, which is not very practical. A secondary host field for failover would be great.
Configure desktops to connect to a domain name, and do failover via DNS?
When you mention the “stall” are you referring to the load time in FreePBX when you hit “Apply configuration changes”? If so this issue has been resolved in the newest module as described further up in this thread.
Further up in this thread I have also provided a direction for doing IP fail over for iSymphnoy
“An IP failover solution would probably be best. At this time as iSymphony does not handle automatic failover. Take a look at LinuxHA, specifically Heartbeat and Pacemaker”
“When you mention the “stall” are you referring to the load time in FreePBX when you hit “Apply configuration changes”? If so this issue has been resolved in the newest module as described further up in this thread.”
Yeah when you apply configuration changes to FreePBX… it’s the popup that says server configs have been changed and it’s refreshing, is that what you’re talking about? I’m confused because FreePBX reports I have 2.4.0, getisymphony.com says only 2.2.0 is available… (module 1.4.0, again getisymphony.com shows 1.3.2 available… what?)
Ah yeah using those for IP failover would work well too.
Oops, double post.
If you need to extend the time of your trial just call the guys at iSymphony Sean and the crew are very easy to work with.
After playing around with it for a couple weeks:
You guys basically sold us on FreePBX (or got us on the path), I’ve already been asked if we can run this as a backup box (doable, but annoying), so we’re just a skip and a jump away from using it in production when we get tired of our current system.
While I like FreePBX because I’m familiar with Asterisk (coming from a background of Asterisk@Home, Elastix, and SwitchVox), no one here was really certain of it (even though we’re the target market for Asterisk). The UI leaves something to be desired, and the FOP would get me laughed at as a replacement for our software we have now… but iSymphony put on a good show for our managers in Asterisk, keep up the good work, I’ll definitely be pushing that we buy this if/when we make the move.
I honestly can’t think of anything I desperately need, other than the refreshing thing to go away (I was told that was gone… but I have it, so I dunno), but I’m sure I’ll have more useful feedback when it’s more than just me using it as a conference bridge (we don’t have conference rooms on our current PBX!).
We’ve been using iSymphony for a little more than a year now, through several PBX moves/upgrades and iSymphony updates and the iSymphony team has always been very helpful, going so far as to help us troubleshoot problems that turned out to be asterisk issues (not iSymphony issues). With the new web launch install it is dead simple to install and configure and if the auto-update works as advertised (don’t know yet) it will be super easy to maintain.
We tried the trail and fell in love with the features of the client panel, we really thought we found what we needed but then be got down to it and the price was just a bit overwhelming for our small company. We do have 22 extensions that will be using the panel to update there status but they will not be using all the features of the panel. We do have three different secretaries that would be using the full console and wish that there was a little less cost for the additional clients or even a smaller heads up display for the clients so they only had there incoming call there status and voice mail maybe call history but they can get that off there phone.
- In summary I wish there was a simple and cheap option for those who do not need the full operators console.
First iSymphony seems to be rock solid, never really causes a problem and just works, unlike hud 2 or 3 or hudlite.
iSymphony client interface has a bunch of wasted space, maybe its just the way the tabs work but it seems like I should be able to fix more into the space it takes.
I know many of the other complaints should be resolved in version 3 but here goes.
Chat, needs group chats, broadcast etc… basically just the standard feature set of most jabber clients.
Should be a join or conference button so if I have 2 more calls on my phone I can hit one button to join them together.
Outlook integration and an tapi client
We use iSymphony in my office and a few of our customers use it.
One customer is spread all over Florida have has a diverse user set and main issues are the lack of outlook integration and limit chat functionality.
So far the support from iSymphony has been great!