Swap a 3300 in place of a SX2000

[northportphoneguy]

How would you do this? or Can this be done?

Existing equipment in a campus environment.

Main SX2K redundant with 1100 extensions(ONS and DNIC)
6 FD P-NODES
2 FD DSUs (PRIs)
5 T1s -each going to outlining SX2000s
4 MicroLits 1 Redundant

Now an additional 6 high tech buildings are being erected so I need to grow but changing all existing phones is out of the question. It would be nice to add a 3300 for IP phones in the new location, but I can see staff in the old areas wanting IP phones, but there will be line appearance problems with mixed pbxs.

The question: Can a 3300 take the place of the SX2000 control node, and leave all the p-nodes and if not, is there a way to combine the 3300 and sx2k so it appears to be one pbx.

 

[nytalkin]

Absolutley yes. There are some minor configuration differences but the 3300 is swappable for the 2k controllers

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

 

[northportphoneguy]

Hi and thanks for responding,

My vendor is telling me that the 3300 will not support all the nodes that I have in the sx2k as a direct swap. Is this a limitation?

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

A potential issue would be as to how many 3300s it would take to accomplish this. I believe (and please do not take this as gospel) that the TDM device limit on the 3300 MX controller is something like 200 sets (ONS/DNI). This would be the equivalent of approx 1 complete peripheral node (192 ports). If you have presently 1100 sets you're going to be forced to replace a few of them with IP phones.

To have it all appear as one virtual PBX would require clustering. Clustering would require having a server and purchasing Enterprise Manager w/OpsMan.

What is the max cable distance you would need between any of the controllers and your furthest-away set?

The 3300 will drive your existing DSU nodes, tho here I think I would set up a separate 3300 as a gateway node for your DSUs.

Before doing anything have someone price it all out for you. You might be surprised at the cost of biting the bullet and going all IP.

 

[northportphoneguy]

Agian thanks for the reply,

Please don't let the nickname fool you. That nickname was bestowed on me as a joke by my guys, as most nicknames are. I can get my way around a sx2k, but not IP. My real duties are to direct the Facilities Department here, but have no telephone tech, so I end up doing it in my "spare time".

My vendor will get back to me concerning my question and he seems to think that a 3300 can support 4 nodes; but he is looking into it. I just don't want to spend money needlessly. The problem of turning the whole campus into IP phones is wiring and switch capacity. Many of our buildings are over 50 years old and rewiring to all the single line phones would break the bank. Just would not happen any time soon. Hence the alternatives that I was hoping for.

 

[kwbMitel]

The Engineering Guidelines state that the number of ONS and DNIC devices that can be supported on a MXe controller with an expansion controller is 1200 using a maximum of 6 peripheral nodes. This can be expanded to 2400 by using Extended Peripheral Cabinets.

The key element is that you can only have 6 Fiber connections per controller.

The good news is that you can use multiple 3300 to increase capacity and redundany.

Mitel also can provide a software configuration tool that will migrate the SX2000 DB to the 3300 format. Bit of a pain to get working but well worth it.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[northportphoneguy]

Thank you very much. I now know it can be done. Even this small amount of knowledge, plus Mitel Docs, will allow me to determine if my vendor is tying to 'over sell' me.
Thanks again.

 

[nytalkin]

If you need to you can get per nodes that are supported i a piggy-back usig the CIM ports

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

Six per nodes would give you 16 x 12 x 6 or in other words 1152 station ports, assuming all are 16 port line cards (ONS/DNI).

As kwbMitel correctly states the key issue is that you can only put 3 FIM modules (6 fiber connections) per controller. That's going to leave you in a lurch for connecting your DSU can unless you use the extended peripherals option. There's some special hardware needed for ext'd pers (primary vs. slave node), but might be worth doing as that way you could get all 6 per nodes fed with only 3 fibers, leaving 3 others to drive 1-1/2 DSU nodes (up to 12 T1s).

Using extender Pers option also increases your blocking ratio from normal 1.5:1 to 3:1 with ext'd pers. Normally not an issue but could be in a really busy switch.

Note too that resiliency is not an option with TDM sets. However, since you're already running MicroLights you're not accustomed to having any type of redundancy.

Spread the joy. deploy 3 controllers. Two to run your peripheral nodes and the 3rd to act as a gateway for your DSUs.

 

[northportphoneguy]

Thank you all. As stated I have 1100 extention, but they are spread among the pbx. The pbx in question has currently 820, so that is good.

Light is beginning to glimmer for me, but I'm a tad confused about the last statement. If one controller can do 6 nodes and another for the DSU, why deploy a 3rd controller. Is that to much joy or am I missing something.

As to redundancy, I have two redundants and four microlights and as you all can attest, these things are bricks. My downtime since I started with Mitel in '89 is great. If my phone system had the same duty cycle that the IT department has with their network, I'd be relieved of my duties. I guess that is my big fear with going IP; I'm hitching my star to the IT wagon...aughhhh. Why is it that the expectation for the phone system is so much higher that the IT network. Ooops; sorry; pet peeve over.

 

[nytalkin]

Before you start get the Engineering Guidelines from Mitel. If the data network is fairly robust and you have fairly good support from the IT side you will keep your problems to a minmum.



NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

 

[Lundah]

The quickest way to validate how solid a data network you have is to put VOIP on it. My standard response to IP network engineer (particularly those with no experience working with voice) when they ask me how to prepare a network for VOIP is: go over every inch of your network and shake out all of the bugs and nagging problems, then do it again.