vicidial.org

I just recently started working for a call center IT dept. Well they have a dialer works great and all but it getting to a point where it might one day go out and we are done. So i am trying to put together plan b, just in case this server goes out.

Does anyone have any suggestions, hardware, software, setup, and also importing what i have on the old dialer into a new one. Please any help and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

We right now are using Date-Tel info solutions: Xsellerator 7.0.

Old server specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield LGA775 2.4GHz
2x4MB L2 1066Mhz FSB 65nm Quad-Core
Processor

PICMG 1.0 Socket LGA775 for Intel Core 2 Quad /
Duo CPU Single Board Computer with DDR2 up to
8GB, Dual GbE LAN, 6x SATA RAID, TPM 1.2, VGA
and Audio

Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
(PC2 5300) x4

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2

My suggestion would be to take an old P4 workstation (you KNOW you have one lying around!) and install Vicibox Redux 3.1.8 on it (32 bit if you are using an old machine LOL) and see what it can do. Easily installed ... but does require a brain.

Do not think that the P4 will not hold a load. You can run it with 5-10 agents in many cases. I have a client with 20 agents on a P4 who refuses to give up his Vicidial 2.0.4 machine flat out.

It also works nicely on a $200 walmart machine and a $200 AMDQuad from Tigerdirect.

After you've got that online and running without spending a DIME, you will be in a much better position to make these decisions, yes? (and NO you do not need any special hardware ... just a network card and enough bandwidth to hold the SIP phone calls through a sip provider).

Cool that will work. Question on the demo that doesn't install, vicibox can i run that on a windows server 2003 with no effect to the server?

yep. it makes no changes to the hd at all. (if you're nervous you can always disconnect the HD before you boot from the .iso!)

I see that in the walk through that is posted for the installation of vicibox is for about 15 users, how much of a big change will there have to be to support about 25 users??

based on LOTS of factors: CPU speed, number of CPUs, bandwidth, hard drive speed, protocol and codec, hardware telephony equipment in use, recording all calls, memory, dial level ...

obviously the equipment makes a difference, but the "configuration and use" does, too: a manual dial system with agents on 3 shifts that keeps agents available for inbound with no recording on a fat pipe (100Meg?) could handle 200 agents on the same equipment that could only handle 5 agents on a single shift if you were doing an outbound survey with g729 and recording all calls (at a dial level of 40 to 60).

perhaps you could describe your complete system and configuration ...?

as a rule: a core2Quad 2.4Ghz with 2G ram in a stock vicibox system will handle 25 agents ... unless you are recording all calls in which case 20 may be a bit heavily loaded. but as i said: there are a lot of factors involved to "adjust" that number.

thank well i am just getting started, i don't even have a server available yet. I am going to chat with the boss and see what my budget is and one i know what i can work with ill start shopping. When i find a good server, ill post the specs.

to get started: get a $200 walmart or tigerdirect computer or use an old P4 lying around. it will educate you so your "real" install later will be EASY (and if you try it, you may find you can hold all your agents on some old crappy p4! no kidding, i have a client who still flat-out refuses to give up his old P4 with a three year old version of vicidial, 2.0.4, running ... because it still works!).

Seriously. Don't try to "figure it out". DO IT! LOL (Vicibox is free, that crappy old P4 workstation with the busted monitor in the corner is free ... put 'em together and you have a beautiful thing happnin ... installation manual is on vicibox.com and the user/manager/configuration manual is at eflo.net ...)

Like my subject title says, first time user and have lots of questions. Please forgive me if i post to much or ask stupid questions. Please forgive.

Would a single xeon processor handle that many users?

Or its strongly recommend to go with a core2quad.

I am going to explore two options, 1: go with dell and just order a new server or 2: just build one from scratch (which will be much cheaper).

thank you
MoNdO

williamconley wrote:based on LOTS of factors: CPU speed, number of CPUs, bandwidth, hard drive speed, protocol and codec, hardware telephony equipment in use, recording all calls, memory, dial level ...

obviously the equipment makes a difference, but the "configuration and use" does, too: a manual dial system with agents on 3 shifts that keeps agents available for inbound with no recording on a fat pipe (100Meg?) could handle 200 agents on the same equipment that could only handle 5 agents on a single shift if you were doing an outbound survey with g729 and recording all calls (at a dial level of 40 to 60).

"that many users"? how many is that? where is the rest of your information? you didn't mention internet avalability (bandwidth), whether you have or will be using a voice T1 with a telephony card ... all sorts of information is still kinda missing.

And i'm not kidding, before you "invest" in hardware that you are nervous will be too much or not enough ... try it! put it on a pc in the office and see how many users fit. then you'll have a much better idea of what you are dealing with, and you haven't spent any $$ yet. (except for the minutes with a voip provider!)

sorry for that bad day. The old dialer was giving us alot of trouble.

Now for what we have here.

Sip trunk, T1, NEC DS2000 - DX7NA-48
(PBX change) (Telovations)

Cisco AS5300 universal gateway.

Also Verizon Fios for voip and internet.

At any given time we can have from 10 to 25 agents. And there are 2 shift day and night.

And as for dialing software, we are using Data-Tel Xsellerator 7.0. (Note: this company has been bought and sold about 3 times. So any original disk or manuals are gone, that is why i am looking into a new dialer for support. we cant get any support for this dialer without a contract and i don't have any info for that.)

This place could use a little cable management, it does not look pretty, it looks like they threw the cables at the wall and where it landed is where it stayed.

Now the dialer is running 4 T1 phone card, which are dialogic d 240sc t1. now those cards can handle 24 lines or channels. so in all 96 phone lines.

Now this call center is for a travel agency in a wat. They give away free vacations packages. People sign up for whatever event is going on. And have to attend a 90 min seminar for whatever. We get the information that people provide at kiosks. We call these Leads. We get the lead in excel (csv format). I import the leads and the dialer predictive dials the numbers in the leads list and when a call is connected, dialer connects that person with a free agent.

I hope i gave enough information, if not just let me know what else ya need??

Thank you everyone for your patience

MoNdO

Seriously, hook up an old workstation with Vicibox Redux to your FiOS and fire it up. NO T1, no special hardware. With your network connection, you should be able to keep all your agents very busy very easily.

I'll sell you a machine right now for under $1k that'll hook up with generic NIC to your FiOS and replace that entire system (with Vicidial already installed ). But if you pop an old workstation on to see what I'm talking about, you may find that you can handle the entire office on THAT box. Certainly enough to demonstrate the validity of the Vicidial system.

I hear ya, i am just going to have to bring one of my spare one from home cause they don't have towers here, they are all using vSpace by ncomputing, so they are terminal servicing into the dialer. and the only other tower here is used for storage.

Could i try this at home and just use my internet connection there just to play with it and get used to software.

Yall were also helping my friend that was here, he landed a better job and asked if i could take over for him cause he wanted someone he can trust. His username is plexxonic.

Thank you again.

a home internet connection is perfect for testing. as is VMWare and even an old storage server. LOL

pop the HD out of that old storage server and put Vicibox on it, and put the old hd in for the nightly backups. run it that way a couple days, you'd be surprised how "robust" an old storage server can be under LINUX instead of Windows.

but "home" allows for more of a learning curve. educational.

K another questions, the agents don't use standard telephone, they are using plantronics t10 units. Will vicidial or vicibox, work with these units??

no phones will work with vicidial or vicibox. they have to work with ASTERISK.

are they sip phones?

i hope platronics t110 is like a normal analog phone,

to get it work with asterisk you need a fxs gateway

well we have sip trunk, but the follow link is what the agents are using right now.

htt p://cgi . ebay.c o m/ Plantronics-T10-Telephone-Dialler-ENCORE-H91N-Headset-/110639623183?pt=Headsets&hash=item19c2a2ac0f

the units are using 2 pair wires to the hubs or switchs, then to the predictive dialer phone cards that i posted earlier, and the dialer handles all that for them.

does the two pair cable is going to the switch or any analog patch panel

k i followed one of the 2pairs, from the back of one the units.

2 pair from the unit it goes into a switch and then from there into the IT room where there is another switch, and then to the dialer. (With out toning out the line i couldn't tell which cable it is in the IT room.)

Then from there right into the dialer phone cards.

I hope that makes sense

sorry the cables here are a mess. the cable that are at the agents desk go from their desk to a 110 block, then from the 110 block to the sip trunk from the sip trunk to the dialer and from the dialer out on verzion through voip. Fairly new at this, usually i work on straight voip, or simple in and out bound calls, not much with predictive dials. And most of the setups i build from scratch, all new. So with this setup i have to find my around everything.

sorry for any hassle, and thank you for all your patience. Well i am going to go home and play with what will end up being our new dialer. Thank you all again and if have problems ill know who i can count on. Y'all the best, thanks.

PeAcE
MoNdO

williamconley, if you can and have a moment can we talk via private message, or live messenger?? i have questions about that server you said you would sell. I just have a few questions about that.

thank you
MoNdO

k if we buy the server from that site. what is the version linux os that will installed?? i need to get software that will work with our terminal service client end-stations and for the server as well.

We can install with VicidialNOW, GoAutoDial, Vicibox or Vicibox Redux (or on Slackware or Gentoo as manual installs).

that would be the listed version of Centos (5.5?), I believe the Vicibox is Ubuntu 8.04LTS and the Redux is OpenSuSE 11.3.

Slackware, Gentoo, both would be considered Scratch Installs (Priced differently on our site), as would any other version of Ubuntu or any other OS. Remember that scratch installs are NOT guaranteed to be "stable" upon full operation (heavy load), and may require tweaking after the main installation (for a fee!) to stabilize the operating system.

ALL such stabilization would be (of course) shared with the community so others could install on the same OS in the future (extra fee for non-shared code!).

Cool cause per the ncomputing the sofware for linux apparently will only run on Ubuntu 8.10, but i am still trying to get a straight answer from the company, the website says two thing and the tech guy is saying something else. Basically i am just getting everything organized, so that when they get that server, i have the software i need and the right versions that are compatible

I'm a little confused on what exactly you want to "install" in the system that requires a special version.

You do NOT want to run something other than Vicidial on this box (thin client server sofware on the same box is a severe waste of money).

if you're going do to that, get two boxes. Save yourself a lot of cash and headache.

K the computers that the end-users here are using are not really computers, its a terminal services client, or a dumb terminal and they all connect to one computer the old dialer or server. that is how they get access to the dialing software and to the agent screens, basically all of our agents are logging into one server.
Now if i am replacing my old dialer with the new one, how are my agents going to get access to the dialer, cause they don't have towers at their desks. To give a better understanding of what i am talking about, here is a like to a pdf of the model we are using. Hopefully you will understand what i am talking about when you review that pdf. Also please check out the site and what they support for linux.

http://w w w ncomputing.com/ docs/datasheets /en/datasheet_lseries .pdf

this is what my agents are using and that little box screws onto the back of their monitors. Now i am trying install vSpace which is the name of the software that is installed on the old server and install it on the new one.

i hope i explained it well. If not shoot me phone number and i can probably explain it better over the phone. let me know

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the help everyone had given me and especially Mr. Conley, thank you sir.

Thank you
MoNdO

the vicidial platform is WEB based. each agent requires a web browser (ie, firefox). it does not have and should not have a thin client server running in or on it.

if your previous dialer supplies a web browser for the thin client boxes, then continue to use it. if it does not, you should investigate adding a web browser to each machine (ie: the central image being distributed).

the phones can also be added as soft phones (iax, sip, several other protocols, anything that will work with asterisk)

yes they do, they basically have their own usernames and passwords, when they log in, they have a fully functioning desktop, they are able to use outlook express and until recently were able to get out on the net, but that was blocked.
My only concern is that the thin client work with the server cause that is their only means of accessing anything. So i have been on the website for the thin client, trying to find a good version of the software that is compatible with vicidial and the OS that is installed.

as i said: you do NOT want to put the server for the thin-client onto the vicidial server. use another box for that. vicidial is your TELEPHONE server and requires all of its cpu to perform that task. you do not want it to serve as the thin client's server.

what is wrong with the existing server that is presently offering the thin client images? you have to send it back or something?

i cant take it down, cause its the bread and butter right now. I am in the development stage right now.
I need to get the new stuff tested before it goes live that is why i have been asking all of these questions. So that when the time comes all i have to do is flip the switch.
Also i still have to train the agents on the new dialing software. that is going to take some time.
Then i am going to have to find a good work around and use your idea then.

and when i say we have nothing here to build a system together, i mean nothing, been trying to get one together but that parts i am using are so old, and half of the stuff wont work.

LOL

there is no work around. install vicidial with internet access in the same facility. use an old P4 or a laptop. if you don't have one to "install on" permanently, download the vicibox demo cd and just boot from it. works perfectly well, but you cannot reboot because it will "forget" everything because it does not alter the laptop (like running a dvd)! LOL (in other words: write down everything you do, so when you reboot ... you can re-create your configuration easily)

the agents who have a web browser and soft phone can log in immediately without shutting down your old system

you can then practice on a limited basis and get everything completely set up.

when you shut down the old system, leave UP the thin client system as it is right now, or install on another server ... but NOT the vicidial server (unless you do not intend to exceed 10 agents)

i have to go over 10 users. I need the server to support anywhere between, 25 to 30 users, 30 being the max. what has to be done on that aspect.

And great about setting up another system and have that system point to the dialer through the web browser.

there are a great deal of calculations required to determine system capability.

rule of thumb is 25 users on a core2quad with 4G ram, but ...

how many lines do you dial per user?

what type of trunks are you using? (sip/iax/telephony hardware?)

what codec will you be using? if using something other than ulaw, how will the translation be accomplished (telephony hardware or just by the asterisk transcoder?)

are you recording all calls?

how fast is your hard drive?

there's more ... but you can wander the forums for the hundreds of times this has been asked and realize that if you plan to have more than 20 agents ... you will likely end up with either an 8-core system or two quad-cores in a "cluster".

Alrighty, i finally got something together, its not pretty but for testing purposes it will have to do, lol.

I followed the scratch install, but i think i might have done something wrong, unless i did it right and just don't know where to go from the point i am at.

After the install and reboot i am presented with a command prompt to login, after i login, i am presented with "Vicibox:~#" in orange. Did i miss a step, or is there more for me to do. Never really played with linux. So from this point i am at a loss. I thought after the install i would be presented with a gui or some kind of desktop?

Thank you
Armando

there is NO gui in a linux server (at least not a proper one). No desktop. Noone is ever expected to physically touch the machine again. In many offices it doesn't even have a mouse/kbd.

Some "Linux Guys" pride themselves on the fact that there has been NO interaction with their server for years. I suspect some of them have forgotten where they are! LOL

Continue following the manager's manual and installation instructions all the way through phone registration, carrier setup ... whatever step you are on.

wow, ok, lol. well the step i am at is after the install and reboot, that is where i stopped and got lost. Alrgihty, ill keep trucking along, thank you.

Thank you
Armando

I am using fire fox, i enter the ip/vicidial/admin.php, i get username and password, i enter the default, 6666 -1234, and it won't let me log in. i even tried the password i created during the vicibox install nothing.

k i tried all possible combinations, i guess in a few ill just reinstall from scratch, and try again. Unless anyone has any ideas.

why are you trying to install from scratch? or are you referring to reinstalling Vicibox Redux "again"?