Help Clustering Asterisk/FreePBX (1.8.10.1/2.10 respectively)

Version Information:
FreePBX 2.10.0.2
Asterisk 1.8.10.1

More Version Information on Request.
I will link a picture of my topology (specific information excluded) at the bottom of this post.

Before getting to my question, this is the layout I’ve designed for my company. Two servers per Time Zone(PST, CST, EST), one primary and one failover. All connected via IAX2 IP Trunks, with the PST Primary (we’ll refer to it as PST1) server being the main server for our (888) number. PST1 houses the main IVR, and will handle all inbound call routing to either phones in the PST, CST, or EST area though at present we have no offices in CST. It is mentioned for future expansion.

To compliment PST1’s IVR, the Company Directory will be housed on this server as well, such that anyone calling us will be able to navigate the Company Directory with ease. The issue comes into play when EST1 has a new extension amended to it, that PST1’s Company Directory requires a Custom Entry for this new extension.

Now the problems and suggestion requests:

I want to cluster these servers together, where a fifth “Management / Database” server exists for deploying configuration settings such as Users, trunks, etc across my grouping of four ‘Slave’ Asterisk-Only boxes. I understand that ODBC can be used alongside Asterisk Realtime, but I feel as if I’m missing key steps to making this work. I also worry that, although I could be wrong from my findings, FreePBX relies on AstDB in line with MySQL.

At request, I will attempt to document my proceedings thus far through VMware Workstation test work. Much of my understanding of ODBC is derived from this: http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596517342/asterisk-DB.html

Additionally, although previous versions of FreePBX apparently had a General Setting for Company Directory settings, it would appear that 2.10 does not. I want to modify the options so that it doesn’t ask for “The first 3 letters of either the first or last name, using ‘1’ for punctuation”. How am I to tweak Company Directory settings if there is no Settings section available? Or am I searching in the wrong location.

And finally, does Text-to-Speech exist for Company Directory anymore? While testing, the system would make no attempt to speak the entry name whatsoever. When set to spelling the entry, it performed flawlessly, and likewise with using the Voicemail Greeting. Unfortunately I cannot rely solely on Voicemail Greetings and as such want to avoid it at all costs.

Any and all help is appreciated. I expect whatever suggestions that occur here will help not only myself but others who want to perform similar tasks in the future. I can also draw up a visio to demonstrate my topology on request.

Thank you,
Adam

TL;DR: I want to cluster 5 total boxes, one with both FreePBX and Asterisk and the remaining four with just Asterisk. I want to have more control over ‘Company Directory’. Why is Text-To-Speech being so rude.

For those who got this far, the topology: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3081624/FreePBXCluster.png

Shameless bump for help.

I will continue to test, and begin (I was a fool for not doing it sooner) to document my proceedings. I hope that once this works and is verified, it can be made into a FreePBX resource for others to follow.