asterisk users - Nov 2003 - box for asterisk

Hi All,
 
We are looking at creating our first asterisk box, what type of server
requirements do we need to keep in mind? Is there any preferred server
that is used for asterisk? How processor intensive is asterisk? And what
is the requirements for the sound card?
 
Thanks,
 
Steve.

Steve Bradwell wrote:
> Hi All,
>  
> We are looking at creating our first asterisk box, what type of server
> requirements do we need to keep in mind? Is there any preferred server
> that is used for asterisk? How processor intensive is asterisk? And what
> is the requirements for the sound card?
>  
I was just about to send a mail like this to the list, even though I'm a 
fairly longtime user of asterisk.

What I would like to ask is slightly different, along these lines: for a 
SOHO type situation, if those of you on the list with lots of asterisk 
experience were to be able to choose "the ideal hardware platform" to 
put a TDM/X100P card (or two?) in, what would you use?

I'm thinking about such things as plenty of PCI slots, nice behavior wrt 
interrupt handling, CPU speed, etc.

I have gotten several requests from potential users along this line, and 
would love to spec out a few boxes that would represent "state of the
art."

Thanks.

B.