Hey guys, In your experience what is the best way to go for a production asterisk box in your offices? With desktop prices so cheap you might think that you should just buy them off the shelf, but is that really a reliable machine? Anything you can tell me that would assist me in deciding the best way to obtain and maintain these boxes would be very helpful. I have even looked into building system myself that have no moving parts, but for about the same price I can build an immensely more powerful machine WITH moving parts. - Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070102/2d60d079/attachment.htm
--- Mark Greene <markgreene@gmail.com> wrote:> Hey guys, > > In your experience what is the best way to go for a production > asterisk box in your offices?(In the US) I have had very good luck with Opterons in Tyson rackmounts bought from Newegg. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Gordon Henderson
2007-Jan-02 09:55 UTC
[asterisk-users] Best Hardware for Asterisk Server?
On Tue, 2 Jan 2007, Mark Greene wrote:> Hey guys, > > In your experience what is the best way to go for a production asterisk box > in your offices? With desktop prices so cheap you might think that you > should just buy them off the shelf, but is that really a reliable machine? > Anything you can tell me that would assist me in deciding the best way to > obtain and maintain these boxes would be very helpful. I have even looked > into building system myself that have no moving parts, but for about the > same price I can build an immensely more powerful machine WITH moving parts.The best hardware is the hardware that you're most familiar with - the hardware they you know will be reliable and know how to fix it if/when it goes wrong. And yes, you do end up paying slightly more (sometimes) for smaller, quieter, and no-moving parts kit. It's all to do with volume of sales I guess! If you have a computer/comms room with servers, etc. already in-place, then noise isn't going to be an issue for you, but you still want reliability. So if you are having moving parts (ie. disks!) then get two and run them in a RAID-1 (mirror) configuration. Think about redundant PSUs. (and UPS - and UPS the Ethernet switch, and think about PoE) Fit good ball bearing fans and if building it yourself, good thermal grease. Soaktest the system before it goes live. For some production machines, I'm using mini-ITX boards - 1GHz processors, fanless, diskless (boot off flash) but they aren't without their limitations (I doubt they'd be happy in a 100-extension office for example ;-) But I am currently looking at a 150-line system, but I'm still going to boot it off flash, just to reduce one failure point in the system... Gordon
I believe I am going to start out with some refurbished Dell Poweredge servers. They have had a high success rate with a friend. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070102/56f9b0bb/attachment.htm
Mark Greene<markgreene@gmail.com> Wrote on: 1/2/2007 12:58 PM:> I believe I am going to start out with some refurbished Dell Poweredge > servers. They have had a high success rate with a friend.I was going to go that route as well. But, depends on the model. I have several of the Poweredge 2300/2400 variety and these seem problematic. I could not get the final compile steps to perform on the 2400, for instance. Forget the exact issue. Also, these models, at least, do not directly support IDE drives, such as CD/DVD items. You are limited to SCSI versions, or trying to hack in an IDE controller. Which is fine, I guess, if all your source/install software is on CD. Or until the CDdrive fails and you have to hunt up a SCSI version. I've not seen, at any price, scsi versions of DVD drives. I am looking at the ACARD AEC7720-U IDE-SCSI bridge (converter) to get over that. joe a.
At 07:20 1/2/2007, Mark Greene, wrote:>Hey guys, > >In your experience what is the best way to go for a production >asterisk box in your offices? With desktop prices so cheap you might >think that you should just buy them off the shelf, but is that >really a reliable machine? Anything you can tell me that would >assist me in deciding the best way to obtain and maintain these >boxes would be very helpful. I have even looked into building system >myself that have no moving parts, but for about the same price I can >build an immensely more powerful machine WITH moving parts. > >- MarkCase: 1 CodeGen 4U Server Case $80 http://tinyurl.com/bnobz http://tinyurl.com/95s2b Power Supply: 1 Dual 450 W. Power supply -- IStar https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-TC50R8A http://www.directron.com/tc400r8.html Motherboard, CPU & 2GB of memory: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?&scriteria=MB-BA23083 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21409 2 Hard Drives in RAID 1 config: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA48770 Digium card: 2 port, 64 bit, 3.3 volt
ASUS motherboards, in particular, have worked for me perfectly, everytime with both Digium and Sangoma cards. They are also easy to work with and well documented. -----Original Message----- From: Doug [mailto:Doug@NaTel.net] Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 1:04 PM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] Best Hardware for Asterisk Server? At 07:20 1/2/2007, Mark Greene, wrote:>Hey guys, > >In your experience what is the best way to go for a production >asterisk box in your offices? With desktop prices so cheap you might >think that you should just buy them off the shelf, but is that >really a reliable machine? Anything you can tell me that would >assist me in deciding the best way to obtain and maintain these >boxes would be very helpful. I have even looked into building system >myself that have no moving parts, but for about the same price I can >build an immensely more powerful machine WITH moving parts. > >- MarkCase: 1 CodeGen 4U Server Case $80 http://tinyurl.com/bnobz http://tinyurl.com/95s2b Power Supply: 1 Dual 450 W. Power supply -- IStar https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-TC50R8A http://www.directron.com/tc400r8.html Motherboard, CPU & 2GB of memory: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?&scriteria=MB-BA23083 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21409 2 Hard Drives in RAID 1 config: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA48770 Digium card: 2 port, 64 bit, 3.3 volt _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Wow Doug thanks for the specs. This has really helped. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070102/b4bae4a0/attachment.htm
Colin Anderson wrote:> ASUS motherboards, in particular, have worked for me perfectly, everytime > with both Digium and Sangoma cards. They are also easy to work with and well > documented. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Doug [mailto:Doug@NaTel.net] > Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 1:04 PM > To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion > Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] Best Hardware for Asterisk Server? > > > At 07:20 1/2/2007, Mark Greene, wrote: >> Hey guys, >> >> In your experience what is the best way to go for a production >> asterisk box in your offices? With desktop prices so cheap you might >> think that you should just buy them off the shelf, but is that >> really a reliable machine? Anything you can tell me that would >> assist me in deciding the best way to obtain and maintain these >> boxes would be very helpful. I have even looked into building system >> myself that have no moving parts, but for about the same price I can >> build an immensely more powerful machine WITH moving parts. >> >> - Mark > > Case: > 1 CodeGen 4U Server Case $80 > http://tinyurl.com/bnobz > http://tinyurl.com/95s2b > > Power Supply: > 1 Dual 450 W. Power supply -- IStar > https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-TC50R8A > http://www.directron.com/tc400r8.html > > Motherboard, CPU & 2GB of memory: > http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?&scriteria=MB-BA23083 > http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21409 > > 2 Hard Drives in RAID 1 config: > http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA48770 > > Digium card: > 2 port, 64 bit, 3.3 volt > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > asterisk-users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > asterisk-users mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-usersno problems on my proliant DL580 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20070103/25b43978/signature.pgp
> lots of companies make scsi dvd drives -- g00gl3 is your friend... > > http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=scsi+dvd&btnG=Google+Search >Well, who'd have thought? All my ususal suppliers said no one makes them. joe a.