Information Systems:While You Were Away (Darren, Aug 2017)

Virtualization

• Jeremy is to hoping to submit the business case by the end of this month.
• The 2 in-house options compiled in the business case should allow us to revisit the SAN option (after the case is approved) and stay within the same budget (obviously sans flash storage). The strong potential of hosting a virtualized PBX tips the scale a little bit towards 'needing' a SAN, but we could still do without. Anyway, in the interest of not disturbing the business case, this is a decision we can tackle once it gets OK'ed.

VoIP project

• 3CX is activated on a demo PRO license, courtesy of Teldata.

• The 3CX Debian appliance is in Jim's old office, connected to a port on VLAN2 (Loomis). It's installed on your old desktop on the new Kingston SSD.

• We're also on a demo with ThinkTel (directly), expiring October 13ish.

• How their demo works is that it's basically a free-for-all for 30 days. I configured 5 channels and 3-4 DIDs.
• A cancellation must be requested manually for our account to not enter the next billing cycle, at which point we would start getting charged.
• ThinkTel rates are basically $30/channel, and $2.75/DID (includes v911 on that DID, $2.00 otherwise). Entering into a contract will likely lower the cost/channel.
• According to ThinkTel, the difference between getting their lines through a reseller vs. direct is that with the latter, we would be establishing our own virtual trunk with them. With a resold line, it's Digitel that maintains their trunk with ThinkTel (or lots of trunks), and we are basically assigned channels in that trunk. Shouldn't make a difference really.

• The Yealink phone is set up, connected to a port on VLAN2. It is mapped to extension 900. Call quality and features are great, and this model is even on the lower-end in that the T4x line.
• 3CX Flow Designer is the Windows tool used to design call flows. When compiled, the result is a "voice app", which you assign to a call queue (e.g. when a user arrives at a call queue from dialing an extension mapped to a call queue, the app is "launched"). This will accomplish all the stuff we could ever want with advanced call routing.

• Zultys is decent, but their desktop client is ugly. They just released ZAC, which is their new desktop client and much nicer looking.
• Mitel you've already seen, but general consensus is that there's a premium to it (i.e. it'll probably be expensive option).
• I've asked for quotes on Zultys virtual and Mitel virtual.

• Telus has SIP service which they call IP trunking, I've sent an email to Edwin inquiring about that specifically.

• We can probably start regarding these options are very unlikely:

*Digitel in the Cloud: This is basically cloud-hosted Zultys on Thinktel, but it makes for sense if we host it on-premise.

*RingCentral: Subscription billing model just doesn't make sense for us e.g. it's per user (it's really per extension, so imagine paying $30/month to have a phone sitting in the computer cage).

*Using a PRI with a new VoiP PBX: Sticking to PRI is making less and less sense.

Accounting area network project

• I recommended the Cisco Small Business line after reviewing the OfficeConnect line and concluding that it sucked. Just google the interface and you'll see what I mean. It all made sense when I found out that OfficeConnect was re-branded 3Com.

• The SG350-28P is what I recommended. It is a 28-port (24 PoE) switch with 195W total PoE budget. We don't need 48 ports; a situation where we run a separate cable everywhere there is a network device is just not realistic. A 48-port, all-PoE switch is heavier, longer and louder. Also, I don't think we ever accounted for the dual ports found on a typical IP phone (which actually acts more like a switch in that it can also do separate VLANs for each port). So considering all this, we'll be fine with a 28-port. Sergiy agrees that the model is a good choice after chatting with him briefly about SMB switches.
• I did some network maintenance on the accounting switch. There were a few serious things (albeit they've been inconsequential to date) that needed to be addressed, like the Narc Psion AP acting as the STP root. This might not seem like a big deal, except there are two cables connecting the Accounting switch to the server room. So STP was actually saving our ass here from a broadcast storm caused by a network loop. This is all fixed. I also did an audit and was able to move all ports from that unmanaged Linksys that was also sitting up there (which has now been removed).
• We're now using 17/24 ports on switch. More proof that 28 will be more than enough.
• We'll want to test the dual-port configuration on our Yealink just because if we link the desktop, we'll want to know that the phone is also a reliable switch port. Kind of weird to consider that the phones will act like mini-switches (doing VLANs), but that's pretty much what we're going to be doing. If it's dual-gigabit, I can't imagine we'll run into any bandwidth issues.

Odds and sods

• Outbound ASW faxes have been fully migrated to Esker FoDC (Fax on Demand Connector), which are basically virtual adapters in VSIFax that point to Esker cloud fax endpoints.

• The whole workflow when it comes to dealing with fax errors needs to be worked out and documented.

• Lucy maintenance was renewed for 1 year through CDW. This really didn't seem worth it to me at first, but considering it's still a good server with good parts that can be re-used even after Lucy gets virtualized, we figured we could benefit from continued maintenance. Clearly though, a 4-hour repair window still doesn't do you much when you're running a critical and RF and forms server on that machine.

• Monitor upgrade was approved for the DC but I bought 2 to begin with for Simon, as a demo of sorts for the bigger purchase. I opted for something smaller, 21.5" but still 1080p, and I wanted a height/tilt/swivel/pivot stand. Bought the HP vh22, but it's currently on backorder.

• Sheila's old desktop is being used for Mike in HR (Donna's old office). It was too good of a computer to leave sitting there - our other ones are garbage. I made a Windows system backup of the entire computer onto an external SSD but that's really just for peace of mind. Even when she did work for us after she left, I don't think she used this computer.

• Purolator has set up their computers and there are now daily shipments going through them. The server is not the one in the cage but rather the one closest to the mail slots (opposite of Loomis setup). We purchased 2 Symbol wand scanners as they did not provide any, but otherwise their computers are pretty straightforward and are better managed in my opinion (e.g. custom locked-down version of Windows, browser-based shipping tool vs. Windows application etc.). The rest of the logistics around this new courier (Carrier Interface integration, input/output files) are still being worked on.

• Angela's fax line was the only one remaining that was going out through analog (all other fax lines are being routed through the PBX out the PRI), so as an exercise, we got Digitel to move the physical wire from the analog demarc to the PRI, and I went through the motion of setting up an SLT. It was very smooth (including the porting of the DID from Telus). Angela's Xerox was programmed to prefix a 9, and it's been completely fine since the move.

• There are 3 analog fax lines (2 previously used with VSIFax, and Angela's fax) that need to be canceled, but it was discovered that they're each under 5-year contracts that were renewed. As usual, Telus is being Telus and non-responsive, but I will continue to pester them. It's unacceptable how these contracts are structured. We don't even get any notifications, but what's worse is that the bill says "1 year" on the line item. Misleading at best.

• Maintenance for RF guns renewed for another year at ~$5200. Looking at the repair log, well worth it.

• Haven't permanently installed the wireless APs yet, just haven't had time. Wireless has been running very smoothly with no issues whatsoever, so they're fine where they're at right now. It's more of a cleanup job that's needed now, not re-locating them to more ideal positions. Still want the PoE switch in Accounting prior to mounting the 1st floor AP though.

• Mac is being auctioned.

• Looked at the list of Windows updates, but I'll leave it to you to push them through. Doesn't look like there's anything that critical.