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 a 2.4.10+ 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.

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 when many of these cards were designed for 1 Mbps+ operation). The E1/T1 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 want to take advantage of the reliability characteristics of the stack, you will need cPCI or similar cards which can be hot-swapped, or you need to be running multiple boxes.