This page is a reference page of hardware that is known to work with Asterisk.
For finding out how to determine the hardware sizing needs of your Asterisk system see Asterisk dimensioning.

For phones to use with Asterisk, including VoIP phones (both hard and soft phones) and Analog Telephone Adapters, see Asterisk phones.

PSTN Interface cards (analog, ISDN-PRI and R2/MFC)

This section contains hardware for connecting analog or digital phone lines from the Public Switched Telephone Network to your Asterisk server.

Atcom

• AX-100P: one fxo pci card, compatible digium x100p
• AX-400P: Suitable for SOHO PBX application.
• AX-4E: Same as Tormenta2 and Digium's E400P cards
• AX-4T: Same as Tormenta2 and Digium's E400P cards
• AX-4S: 4 Basic Rate Interface ports (I.421) for TE and NT mode
• AX-1E: One PRI port 30 channels

BroadTel

• BroadTel TDM100 X100P Clone PCI card (Motorola chipset)
• BroadTel TDM101 X101P Clone PCI card (Ambient chipset)
• BroadTel TDM400A TDM400P Clone PCI analog card
• BroadTel TDM400D Tormenta2/T400P/E400P Clone PCI digital card

Digium

• Wildcard TDM400P 4 Port Analog Card
• Wildcard TDM800P 8 Port Analog Card
• Wildcard TDM2400P 24 Port Analog Card
• Wildcard TE411P 4 Port T1/E1/J1 Card with Hardware Echo Cancellation
• Wildcard TE410P 4 Port T1/E1/J1 Card
• Wildcard TE406P 4 Port T1/E1/J1 Card with Hardware Echo Cancellation
• Wildcard TE405P 4 Port T1/E1/J1 Card
• Wildcard TE210P 2 Port T1/E1/J1 Card
• Wildcard TE205P 2 Port T1/E1/J1 Card
• Wildcard TE110P 1 Port T1/E1/J1 Card
• Wildcard B410P 4 Port BRI Card
• Wildcard TC400B Transcoding G.729/G.723 Card

• Discontinued Hardware
  • Wildcard T100P (Discontinued)
  • Wildcard T400P (Discontinued)
  • Wildcard E100P (Discontinued)
  • Wildcard E400P (Discontinued)
  • Wildcard X100P (Discontinued 12/08/2004)

Digivoice:

• VB0408PCI - 4/8 FXO, with built in aLaw, uLaw and GSM codec, Echo Cancelation into DSP
• VB0404FX - 4 FXS, with built in aLaw, uLaw and GSM codec, Echo Cancelation into DSP
• VB6060PCI - 2 E1, with built in aLaw, uLaw and GSM codec, Echo Cancelation and R2D/MFC protocol into DSP
• VB3030PCI - 1 E1, with built in aLaw, uLaw and GSM codec, Echo Cancelation and R2D/MFC protocol into DSP

DingMing

• Herms* DM4100D PCI Card - E400P/T400P compatible
• Herms* DM110D PCI Card - T1/E1/J1 TE110P compatible
• Herms* DM400A PCI Card - 4 port FXS/FXO card, TDM400P compatible
• Herms* DM2400A PCI Card - 24 Port Analog Card, TDM2400P compatible

Eicon

The Diva Server V-Series provides a dedicated range of telephony adapters that provide rich media processing capabilities for enabling voice, speech and conferencing applications. For an explanation of the different cards please see this document

• Diva Server V-PRI - Connects to 1 E1/T1 Line
• Diva Server V-2PRI - Connects to 2 E1/T1 lines
• Diva Server V-4PRI - Connects to 4 E1/T1 lines
• Diva Server V-Analog - Connects to either 4 or 8 Analog lines
• Diva Server PRI/E1/T1-CTI -Connects to a E1 or T1 line

Diva Server provides a set of robust all-in-one communication adapters for the integration of multiple applications, including Fax, Unified Messaging and Voice - all on a common hardware platform. For an explanation of the different cards please see this document

• Diva Server PRI E1-30 -Connects to an E1 Line
• Diva Server PRI T1-24 -Connects to a T1 Line

Intel

• Drivers for a most of the Dialogic board families will be available with Asterisk Business Edition release B that is slated for May 2006.
  • The drivers are being developed by Intel and they will only be available with Asterisk Business Edition in a binary form.

Magiclink

• Magiclink Asterisk Appliance - AADK compatible Embedded Asterisk Box - 8 FXO/FXS port

Openvox

• A400P PCI Card - TDM400 compatible
• A1200P PCI Card - 12 port FXS/FXO card
• D110P PCI Card - T1/E1/J1 TE110P compatible
• D210P PCI Card - T1/E1/J1 TE210P/TE205P compatible
• D410P PCI Card - T1/E1/J1 TE410/TE405P compatible
• B400P PCI Card - Four Ports ISDN BRI Card
• B200P PCI Card - Two Ports ISDN BRI Card -*New

Parabel

• Quasar E1 Original E1 cards with 2/4/8 E1 interfaces, DMA controller and opensource driver. Contact sales(at)parabel.inc.ru for pricing for dealers.
  • Quasar-2PCI/PMC Two port E1 card
  • Quasar-4PCI/PMC Four port E1 card
  • Quasar-8PCI/PMC Eight port E1 card

PBX Hardware (PhonicEQ Inc)

PBX Hardware - Affordable Quad/Double/Single T1 and E1 cards and more! -> http://pbxhardware.com
New customers can receive $100 discount coupon - contact the store via email

• T200P Double T1 - MSRP $599
• E200P Double E1 - MSRP $599
• T400P Quad T1 - MSRP $699
• E400P Quad E1 - MSRP $699
• TE400P Quad T1/E1 - MSRP $799
• Quad(4) port BRI card - 4 Port ISDN BRI active Card - MSRP $400
• TE100P Single port T1/E1 - MSRP $420

Pika Technologies Inc

Pika offers a variety of analog and digital boards to support the Asterisk environment.

For information on the Digital Gateway T1/E1 Boards, Pika Low Density Analog Boards and the Pika High Density Analog Boards

• http://www.pikatechnologies.com/products/asterisk-h.htm

For the latest driver downloads

• http://www.pikatechnologies.com/asterisk/index.htm

Redfone

• REDFONE Communications Quad or Dual T1/E1 to Ethernet bridge.
  • Solid-state appliance designed for deploying high-availability, redundant Asterisk clusters.

Rhino Equipment Corp

• Analog PCI Plug-In telephony cards The analog PCI cards are the ideal connectivity solution for companies that need to connect a small to moderate number of analog lines to their PBX system.
• Digital PCI cards These cards support both voice and data transmission, making them ideal for connecting E1, T1 and J1 lines to PBX systems.
• Channel Banks The ideal solution for companies which need to connect a large number of analog lines, in a cost efficient (€/port) method.
• Ceros - Telephony System The key component to developing your own branded PBX system that looks like a PBX!

Sangoma cards

• A101 One port T1/E1 card
• A102 Two port T1/E1 card
• A104 Four port T1/E1 card PCIx and PCI Express
• A104d Four port T1/E1 card PCIx and PCI Express with 128ms telco grade hardware echo canceller
• A108 Eight Port T1/E1 card PCIx and PCI Express
• A108d Eight Port T1/E1 card card PCIx and PCI Express with 128ms telco grade hardware echo canceller
• A200 expandable 2 to 24 analog ports of FXO and or FXS
• A200d expandable 2 to 24 analog ports of FXO and or FXS with 128ms telco grade hardware echo canceller
• A400 expandable 2 to 48 analog ports of FXO and or FXS

SIPbase

External solution for connecting every VoIP-PBX with ISDN-Network (BRI or PRI). 100% reliable, no hardware and software conflicts and very easy to setup.

• ISDN-BOX BRI/PRI External solution for BRI or PRI connections

TeleCom-DesignGroup TC-DG cards

• DS1x1 single span T1/E1/J1 interface card
• DS1x1F single span T1/E1/J1 interface card with line-failover relay

Varion

Zapata Telephony T1 and E1 cards: http://www.govarion.com

Voicetronix cards

• OpenPCI-4 & OpenPCI-8 4 and 8 FXO/FXS PCI cards
• OpenSwitch6 & OpenSwitch12 6 and 12 FXO/FXS PCI cards
• OpenLine4 4 FXO PCI card
• OpenPRI Single and dual E1/T1/J1 PCI cards

Xorcom

Asterisk Channel Banks and iPBXs

• Astribank-8 - The first channel bank designed for Asterisk - 8 FXS/FXO ports.
• Astribank-16 - The first channel bank designed for Asterisk - 16 FXS/FXO ports.
• Astribank-32 - The first channel bank designed for Asterisk - 32 FXS/FXO ports.
• Astribank-BRI - ISDN BRI channel banks - 2, 4 and 8 port models. Each port NT/TE by user's definition.
• TS-1 - Solid state Asterisk based IP-PBX

X100P.com

Single port FXO modems

• X100P Clone One port FXO PCI Interface for Digium Asterisk
• All Product comes with 1 Year Limited Warranty

Voxzone.com

Single port FXO Card

• Voxzone X100P 1 Port FXO for Asterisk
• One Year Limited Warranty

Yeastar

• TDM800 8 Ports FXS/FXO PCI Analog Interface Card with Intuitive LED. Red light for FXO module and Green light for FXS module.

ZapMicro

• ZMA400P 4 Port Analog Card
• ZMA800P 8 Port Analog Card
• ZMD110P 1 Port T1/E1 Card

X100P clone cards.

These are voice WinMODEMs marked with Intel 537, Ambient MD3200, or Motorola 62802 chipsets. These cards install and behaves exactly like a Digium Wildcard X101P card. (There are problems with intel 537EP & FA82537EP chipsets, but the 537PU & 537PG should work.) OEM X100P "clone" cards are sold based upon this soft modem chipset. People report very mixed results. Most start their Asterisk learning with these very inexpensive cards.

There are some possible Caller ID issues: Getting the following checksum error on the CLI, but the information is still passed correctly.

• NOTICE[-1252213840]: callerid.c:238 callerid_feed: Caller*ID failed checksum

Actual Caller ID problems are confirmed on one particular Motorola based card.

ISDN-BRI Interface cards (can be used as PSTN cards, or as terminal equipment)

• Eicon

• Diva Server V-Series provides a dedicated range of telephony adapters that provide rich media processing capabilities for enabling voice, speech and conferencing applications. For an explanation of the different cards please see this document
• Diva Server V-BRI- Connects to 1 BRI Line
• Diva Server V-4BRI - Connects to 4 BRI lines

• Diva Server provides a set of robust all-in-one communication adapters for the integration of multiple applications, including Fax, Unified Messaging and Voice - all on a common hardware platform. For an explanation of the different cards please see this document

• Diva Server BRI-Connects to 1 BRI Line
• Diva Server 4BRI-Connects to 4 BRI Lines

• any cheap HFC-S PCI chipset based ISDN card, can be used in either TE or NT mode - see zaphfc as part of zaptelBRI
• any CAPI compatible passive ISDN card (popular example: AVM Fritz! PCI) - see chan_capi
• Sirrix.PCI4S0 card providing 4 S0-ports (NT and TE), hardware switching, full featured ISDN stack and encryption of ISDN connections (optional). See also Sirrix ISDN channels.
• 4-port ISDN (NT (for isdn phones) or TE (for isdn lines)) interface cards manufactured by junghanns.net. See also zaptelBRI. Some comments about the difference between Junghanns and Beronet BRI cards.
• beroNet cards 4-port ISDN + 8-port ISDN (supporting NT/TE modes) interface cards by beroNet technologies GmbH. beroNet provides an own channel driver for Asterisk "chan_misdn".
  • beroNet installation guide for installing Digium cards with zaptel and beroNet cards with chan_misdn
    • german: http://www.beronet.com/download/card_installation_guide_de.pdf
    • english: http://www.beronet.com/download/card_installation_guide.pdf
• active ISDN card with hardware echo cancellation (popular example: Eicon Diva)
• any isdn4linux (i4l) compatible ISDN card (usage deprecated)

• OpenVox
  • B400P 4 port ISDN PRI card + Buildin NT Power supply (mISDN and bristuff driver)

• Vlines

• Vlines access_4S0 4x S0-ports (NT and TE). Based on HFC-4S Cologne Chip: compatible to mISDN, BRIstuff & vISDN

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PC/Server Motherboards

While Asterisk will run on many different systems, the limitations will be determined by what type of interface cards you choose for connecting to phone lines or phones.

PCI Slot Requirements: Carefully check what the requirements are for any PCI card you select in terms of PCI slot type, 5 volt vs. 3.3V, 32 bit vs. 64 bit, 33 Mhz or higher. The X100P clone cards require 5 volts and won't work in motherboards that can't supply 5 volts. The cards should be keyed so they will only fit in 5V slots, but at least some of the clone cards have the notch in the PCI connector that will allow them to fit into 3.3V slots. Symptoms of putting a 5V card in a 3.3V only slot is that the system won't power up.

Pictorial guides to identifying types of PCI slots:

• From Digium
• From CERN

The DIGIUM TE410 PRI card, requires a motherboard with a 64bit 3.3v PCI slot. Given the bandwidth requirements, it would be better to have a 133Mhz slot if available.

The newer DIGIUM TE405P PRI card uses the more commonly available 32bit 5 volt PCI slot, so you have a wider selection of motherboards for this card. Other than the PCI slot type, this board is virtually identical to the TE410P.

Note: Some cards like the TDM400's are 3.3V cards, but to make up for their higher power requirements, they require an available hard drive power connector in order to get 5V or 12V. If all of your connectors are in use you may require a Y (splitter) cable.

PCI interrupts: A lot of issues are reported with MB's that share interrupts on a single PCI slot, with the Digium hardware. Better quality MB's allow BIOS specifcation of the IRQ to a PCI slot to avoid this issue.

See also: Asterisk hardware interrupts

You can use the command "cat /proc/interrupts" to see the interrupt allocations and possible conflicts.
The command "lspci -bv" can also provide additional information regarding IRQs.

If you find the interrupts are not shared, but hear ticking noises in your digium hardware anyhow, I've discovered the IDE harddisk write can be the cause. Digium support susguested the following command. $ hdparm -u1 /dev/hda This command sets "get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)". By default the disk will ask for interrupt priority to write to the disk. Changing this setting hardly affects performance, but the sound problems go away.

The DIGIUM T100P has issues with at least one chipset (the SiS 740) with shared-memory onboard video. If you're trying to run a T100P or TE4xx on a board with shared-memory video, and the zaptel driver locks up the computer soon after you configure the spans with ztcfg, try adding a PCI or AGP video card, then go into the BIOS setup and disable the onboard video. The theory is that the T100P is too "busy" a device for the 740 to cope with, and causes the chipset to lock up. Machines that use dedicated-memory video (where the video chip has its own memory, just as if it were on a card) are apparently not affected. If you have this problem with another shared-memory chipset, please note it here.

There has also been trouble with the Tyan S2466 Athlon MP motherboard. When running more than two T400P boards, the system will lock up soon after starting the zaptel drivers. No workaround has been found.

• Production Tested Compatible Server boards (64bit 3.3v)
  • Dell
    • WARNING - many Dell motherboards use the e1000 gigabit ethernet chipset, which has been known to cause random locksup - if you plan on using a Dell server, disable the onboard controller and purchase an addon ethernet card.
    • Dell PowerEdge 1750
    • Dell PowerEdge 2650
    • Dell PowerEdge 2850 - When using the 2850 or 2800 server you will find they don't ship with internal molex connectors. If you expect to be using a card such as the Digium TDM2400P and FXS modules then you will need internal molex connectors to power the FXS modules. You can order Item number G2536 from dell and this connection will provide you with internal molex connectors. The item description is listed as "ASSY;CBL;PWR;PBAY;2DROP;PE2800"
    • Dell Poweredge 750 (TE110P) Kernel 2.6.9, must use SMP kernel for APIC and X Windows not running, otherwise frame slips occur
  • HP
    • Compaq ProLiant DL380 G3
    • HP DL320 (TE410P, TE110P) Kernel 2.6.5, 2.6.9 uniprocessor and SMP kernel
  • IBM
    • IBM X300 Series
  • Intel
    • Intel SE7501HG2
  • Tyan
    • Tyan Tomcat i720 S5112
    • Tyan 7500i(S2721)
    • Tyan Thunder i7501 Pro (S2721-533)
    • Tyan Trinity GC-SL (S2707)
    • Tyan GX15 B2723T15/B2723T15M
  • MG3000-R
    • MG3000-R use arm to run asterisk. It can also provice 2/4/8FXO, FXS port.
  • Supermicro
    • Supermicro 7043A-ib, 614H-Xi, kernel 2.6.9 uniprocessor and Supermicro 6014H-X8 kernel 2.6.9 SMP - T100P, Sangoma A101, 102, and A104
    • Supermicro PDSME, Intel E7230 chipset, Dual LAN, 2x 64-bit 133MHz PCI-X, 2x 64-bit 100MHz PCI-X, Sangoma A200D, 3ware 8006-2LP SATA RAID 1, kernel 2.6.9 SMP
  • Unknown
    • 7500i Systems
    • Crystal CS100 with single PIV SBC running kernel 2.6 and a single T100P - Asterisk 1.0 stable

• Other Production Tested Compatible Server boards
• Other Production Tested Desktop boards
  • ABIT IS-10
  • Asus A7V-333
  • Soekris Net4501: Tiny board with Compact Flash drive
  • Asterisk hardware Soekris: Soekris Net4801 boards
  • Asus P4P800 Deluxe
• Other motherboards, not production tested
  • Asterisk hardware mini-itx: Via MINI-itx boards
  • Asus P4S800-MX (SiS661FX,SiS963L Chipsets)
    • This was tested with Asterisk@Home 1.3. All system hardware required was detected (including onboard LAN). There was no problem using onboard video. System was used with a Digium X100P Clone FXO card.

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IBM NEBS compliant Blade Server for Telco applications.

• Have successfully run multiple Asterisks with HA fail over. (without dropping connected SIP calls)
• Up to 4 processors x 8 Blades (32 3GB Xeon processors)
• Up to 8 GB per Blade.
• 2 1 gigabit builtin switches.
• Redundant power supplies
• Redundant Managent Modules

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Sun Netra T1 AC200

Specs:

• Around $150 - $300 on eBay for maxed out configurations.
• 500 Mhz UltraSparc IIi.
• Usually 512MB - 1GB of RAM.
• Usually two 18GB hot swap SCSI drives.
• One PCI slot.
• Two 10/100 ethernet ports.
• Two serial ports, one of which is a "lights out" port and lets you remotely power on and power off the machine.

Positives:

• NEBS compliant.
• Lights out management.
• Great interrupt handling.
• Surprisingly capable processing power.

Negatives:

• The Zaptel drivers aren't ported to Solaris (not that I care, but you might).
• The Zaptel drivers are not ported to mixed 32/64 bit userspace/kernelspace.
• So you need to either run a 32 bit kernel (and 32 bit userspace) or run a 64 bit userspace (on a 64 bit kernel).

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Channel Banks

• See: Asterisk Channel Bank

Cable Info T1, Amp50, Punch Down etc

• See: Cable Info

Paging Systems

• See: Asterisk Paging and Intercom

GSM and other cellular networks

• See: Asterisk Connecting to the Cellular Network

See also

• Asterisk phones: Soft and hardphone configurations and recommendations
• Asterisk hardware recommendations: Recommended configurations
• Discussion of analog hardware for small home systems.
• Used terms: FXO, FXS, PSTN, POTS, CallerID, ISDN, PRI

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• Asterisk: Wiki start page | Introduction | FAQ | Tips & Tricks