TIPS Hardware Recommendations

[bk1]

Any other new info on recommended systems for smaller offices?

 

[Spock-71_]

In our labs, we're actually experimenting with using a redundant, failover system. Sooner or later, it will be made available.

How is this redundant system coming along?

If that is of interest, then you need to be using stock PIAF2 installs.

By this, do you mean ALL of the available PIAF2 latest varieties (of course using the "6.4.4." kernel), i.e. PIAF2 "Green", "Yellow", "Purple", "Red" and "Brown"?

We strongly recommend running these systems behind a secure, hardware-based firewall with no port exposure to the Internet. In that configuration, most of your security woes are minimized without separating components onto separate boxes.

... separate boxes, as in a separate router, like a Netgear? ... (as I've found Netgear to be the most SIP-tolerant router of the major store-brand routers), I believe because of the SIP-ALG included in almost all Netgear routers.

P.S. - My apologies, as I'm not familiar with the divided-quote feature on this new forum system.

 

[atsak]

Over a year later...
Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for small business hardware... say less than 75 extensions and 4 POTS lines from the teleco?

I am using the Supermicro 5015A-EHF-D525. Comes with Riser, works great with Sangoma card.

 

[fizadmin]

Dell Optiplex FX170 - you can find them on eBay for around $99 with 2GB of RAM and most have 4GB flash modules. They use IDE DOM modules for flash, though - so if you want more you can get KingSpec 32GB DOM modules for around $40, also on eBay.

These work quite well. Otherwise, one of the MITXPC is my goto choice for bigger needs.

 

[w1ve]

Quad-Core Box with 4-8GB Ram... they are a commodity these days. If selling to a customer, buy new from Dell. Otherwise, buy an off-lease box on ebay for cheap.

 

[jeff.h]

Spock-71_ I have found that Netgear tend to not work very well with remote extensions if that is a concern of yours. The ALG gets in the way and causes them to register on random high ports and causes one way audio. I have been through several of them (not including the higher end like Nighthawk) and they all have done this even when ALG was supposedly turned off.

 

[MacNix]

What about Mini-pc's with low-end celeron chips (1.2-1.6ghz)??

looking for use in small businesses - 10-20 extensions with some voice recording.

 

[krzykat]

What about Mini-pc's with low-end celeron chips (1.2-1.6ghz)??

looking for use in small businesses - 10-20 extensions with some voice recording.

I've used the FoxConn's with SSD drive in those scenarios and they work great.

 

[MacNix]

I've used the FoxConn's with SSD drive in those scenarios and they work great.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0XR24K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thoughts? the newer SSHD (500gb for $75) is what I'm thinking - to give plenty of space for audio recordings


EDIT: followup.. this is a piece of junk, from a quality/hardware perspective. Don't bet on any reliability from it. it's got a terribly designed fan and other issues, which (IMO) will cause it to fail prematurely...

 

[Jay Deal]

↑I've used the FoxConn's with SSD drive in those scenarios and they work great.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0XR24K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Is it me or does this:

Look like this:

 

[MacNix]

lol..

"all your phones are belong to us"

 

[MacNix]

Well, I tried the Gigabyte Brix.... Gigabyte Intel Celeron N2807 chipset.. no dice...

Very unhappy on Centos...

Pretty attractive at $125, I thought it'd be good.. It requires 1.35v SODIMMs, which are odd ducks anyway.. performance (on almost any OS) is slower than an iPad..

The aforementioned MSI space alien seems to be pretty decent, though I've not been able to load it down fully with more than a couple active extensions thus far. A budget project for a non-profit - we'll see how it fares.

 

[Jay Deal]

A small footprint Atom based device for you to consider - I just set up an HP T5740 thin client (that included a PCI expansion pack) with Ubuntu IPBX and IFAX. It has a single core Atom 280 and 2GB of RAM but still is alot faster than IPBX on my Beaglebone and perceptably faster than IPBX-Centos on a 2.00Ghz Pentium M Dell D610 laptop. The PCI expansion pack is there for a 4 port TDM400 FXO I want to add at some point and I was able to get a SATA connection out of it by gerrymandering the SATA DOM (Disk on Module) connector that HP used to store the embedded OS on. (<<<you could go diskless by the way by getting a 32 or 64gb SATA DOM from overseas). I had to go with an external ESATA drive in an enclosure but it was easy enough to route the cable by carefully moving the unused serial port in the expansion module. Total price for the T5740 and expansion pack was less than $60.00 with the other components stuff I had lying around. Not sure what it will do under extreme load but considering the investment I am very pleased plus I helped re-use something that may have been destined for scrap.

 

[johnk]

A little while ago we started to use Linux flavors to a greater extent - pfsense, freenas, piaf, freepbx, and Ubuntu Server and desktop. We also wanted long life, low power and scalability - also Intel NICs. So, for one mobo solution we use the micro-atx ASUS z97m plus ( mid$100 ) range because we can use anything from a Celeron class to a i7 multicore. The other solution we use a mini-itx Supermicro C2758 or C2550 Rangely ( atom ) board These have 4 Intel NICs on board. An Antec Minuet 350 handles either (latest version only). The Minuet has a 350 Watt power supply that also works the the Rangely 15 watt solutions. Cost for solutions starts at about $400 and goes up from there.

 

[MacNix]

We've been moving to a standardized box which has helped a lot in terms of redundancy. we've been using Foxconn boxes with Atom processors, and a 128gb or 256gb SSD drive.

Additionally, certain SATA-SATA dedicated drive duplicators will handle block-to-block duplication quite well on SSD drives, which means we're now able to rapidly replicate drives for backup. investing an extra $75 in a duplicate SSD backup is well worth the cost, as you can simply plug it into another box and fire it up, in case your box (or drive) gets damaged in any way...

Additionally, this saves hours of time in setup of basic parts, Ifax, IPbx, trunk creds, etc....


Additional recommended considerations:

- your box should really be a minimal power user. This will make a huge difference in UPS purchase and run-time in a blackout. Every portion of the phone/network needs to be on UPS, so the power consumption will add up pretty quickly. If a SOHO setup of less than 15 phones is set up well, the PBX should be drawing less than 100watts.. I've got a PBX unit running on 45w, the firewall is 40w, the switch (48port POE) is max 180w (including all POE devices), the cable modem is another 25w, so we're at a total of around 300W of max-draw power requiring backup. This puts a 1500VA UPS good for only about 70 minutes of runtime under full load..

Use this for calculation: http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/US/en/home/load

- ALWAYS calculate power loads on a 'worst case' scenario, because with technology, things always get worse not better..

 

[johnk]

For Solid State Drives it's best to set the TRIM function for maintaining reliability, longevity, and performance. For raided, low power apps, we use 7200 RPM 2.5", 7mm ht drives. With Rangely atoms you can go fanless and run any OS from win server 2012 to various Linux flavors - 20 watts in use.

 

[GomezAddams]

I just bought an Intel 2820 NUC (for XBMC, not PiaF), but it has been very impressive. It's the most powerful box I have in the house, but it only draws a few watts of juice.

It doesn't have PCI slots, but it does have USB3 and wifi.

There is a cheaper, fanless version of the NUC that uses an Atom CPU.

 

[comet48]

Has anyone tried installing on the OdroidXu4 (http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php). A lot faster than the raspberrypi 2 and runs Ubuntu 14. Do you see any issues with such an install?