Hi, I'm looking at setting up a small production system - predominantly for voice mail and IVR (with a few extensions and hold music MP3's). I've found a couple of IBM X330 servers, with dual 1.13Ghz P3 processors. My question is; is a dual 1.13Ghz P3 server sufficient to run for real-life demands? I come from a Unix/Mac background, so I'm not swayed by the '3Ghz' chips, or the Intel Xeon, Neon, Quninine or whatever the hell they call them now - I'm used to processors with low clock cycles (ie IBM/Motorola G5's 2Ghz or UltraSparc's) that outperform, in sheer process ability, the Intel's with clock speeds one, two, or even three times the 'speed'. So what I'm asking - is it a good server? It's a nice rack mount, with a 10K rpm SCSI 36gb disk, and is weighing in at only ?600 ($1100). Built in slim line CD, PCI slots (one with an Ultra WD SCSI card)... Hmmm - I bought a Sun Netra X1 for the same price - and that's an empty box with an 80's looking motherboard (but alledgedly is only 2 years old, and is used for telephony)... I'll run Red Hat (probably)... I'm just ranting... Let me know :-) Ad.
On Apr 27, 2004, at 12:40 PM, Adthrawn wrote:> I've found a couple of IBM X330 servers, with dual 1.13Ghz P3 > processors. > > My question is; is a dual 1.13Ghz P3 server sufficient to run for > real-life demands?It really depends on number of users/transcoding?/and reliability. For example my home machine: Duron 750, 256MB ram, 40G HD (way overkill) -- doesn't even have the sides of the case on it Running: Asterisk (1 FXO, 2 FXS, 4 VOIP phones) Apache, MySQL, SpamAssassin, Qmail, IMAP+SSL and the load stays below 1 and memory at ~250MB I don't really care if it goes down and I can recover in under 30 minutes. I have installed an IVR (data entry) Asterisk box with a T1 on an old Compaq with a PIII-1.4. Runs like a champ with no load. So get something reliable (SCSI is good if you are going to be recording a lot of Voicemail), and if you are not transcoding (converting g711/ulaw to g729 or gsm), then any recent cpu will do. Jeb Campbell jebc@c4solutions.net Cell: 865-385-1437
Steven Critchfield
2004-Apr-27 10:46 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] Second Hand Servers - How Powerful?
On Tue, 2004-04-27 at 11:40, Adthrawn wrote:> Hi, > > I'm looking at setting up a small production system - predominantly for > voice mail and IVR (with a few extensions and hold music MP3's). > > I've found a couple of IBM X330 servers, with dual 1.13Ghz P3 > processors. > > My question is; is a dual 1.13Ghz P3 server sufficient to run for > real-life demands?I'll agree with Jeb's comments mostly. It depends on what "real-life" means to you. My main switch is a single 800Mhz Celeron. It has it's own app running on asterisk, a PRI of phone lines, and a channel bank for a legacy Dialogic based application. Add to that a couple of VoIP users, a extremely lightly loaded postgres install, and you have a good look at our main asterisk server. Rarely sees .5 load average.> So what I'm asking - is it a good server? It's a nice rack mount, with > a 10K rpm SCSI 36gb disk, and is weighing in at only ?600 ($1100). > Built in slim line CD, PCI slots (one with an Ultra WD SCSI card)...Sounds like a nice box, maybe a tad pricey. I think we just purchased a new Dell with a 2.0 Celeron 40gig IDE drive. Comes with dual GigE card and a nice VGA and USB out on both the front and back panels. Add to that a real warranty and it is pretty nice at just over $1200.(1U just like the X330) Downside to the Dell was that it has the higherend PCI slots. The dual GigE card takes up the PCIX slot, and when I needed to use a standard Realtek ethernet card, it wouldn't fit in the remaining slot. I think the remaining slot is a 64bit slot. Either way, the price for the X330 seems too close to equivalent new costs to be a great deal. The warranty of new has great value even if not fully utilized.> Hmmm - I bought a Sun Netra X1 for the same price - and that's an empty > box with an 80's looking motherboard (but alledgedly is only 2 years > old, and is used for telephony)... > > I'll run Red Hat (probably)...Eww, why would you handicap the hardware.... -- Steven Critchfield <critch@basesys.com>