What are the system requirements for OpenSS7?
Description: OpenSS7 Frequently Asked Questions #11.
Please see also System Requirements.
Well, at current you need a Linux system running between a 2.4.10 and 3.14 kernel and a C
compiler (gcc) capable of compiling the Linux kernel. You need exploded and configured source
for the target kernel. You must have an appropriate set of kernel module tools available. The
package support cross-compilation for foreign targets, in which case you need an appropriate
cross-compile too chain.
What hardware do you need? Well, just about any hardware will do depending on which SS7 link
interface cards you are running. If you are running the ACB56 or similar ISA card, you will be
limited on the number of signalling links that you have on your box by the ISA IRQ and DMA
restrictions. If you are not running an SS7 link interface card which supports full duplex DMA,
the processor will be more heavily loaded and the number of links that you can support will be
diminished. Normally, the cards which provide a large number of links also support the full
duplex DMA or PCI DMA necessary to support their data rates quite nicely (SS7 uses slowwwww
56/64 kbps links when many of these cards were designed for 1 Mbps+ operation). The E1/T1/J1
PCI cards are best and can support hundreds of physical SS7 links. If you do not have (or want)
dedicated SS7 TDM hardware, use the SS7oIP or M2PA to create signalling links over an IP
network. This is the easiest configuration for lab testing. If you do not need TDM links at
all, SIGTRAN will run on just about any system.
If you want to take advantage of the reliability characteristics of the stack, you will need
a clustered systems with multiple hosts such as those provided by Unexicon.
