Dell T110 vs Supermicro D510 Atom

[golfnut]

I am working on specs for three systems and battling with myself as to which hardware I should go with. My largest location will have about 25 users with 10 concurrent calls so I am wanting to size off of this so that I have consistency with hardware.

I'm debating between Dell T110 servers with two hard drives for $520 or Supermicro Atom machines with d510 processors. Both machines (to my understanding) are more than adequate for my needs so I'm weighing the cost, power usage, noise, and reliability of the systems.

I do not plan on using queues and will most likely not use the FOP. All users will have voicemail. I will be using Sangoma A200D cards and also SIP or IAX2 trunking for outgoing long distance calls.

What are the communities opinions and recommendations? Thanks in advance.

 

[jmullinix]

I have an installation about the size you are referring to here in Blue Ridge, GA. It is a small call center with 10 trunks and about 15 users. It is running on an Atom 330, dual-core with 2 gigs of RAM and a 160 gig hard drive. It works swimmingly.

 

[TheShniz]

You will be unable to house more than 4-ports of analog using the A200 in the Supermicro, you will be limited to one drive (no raid), and it will be a tight fit.

 

[golfnut]

If I go with the Supermicro, newegg has a combo going that uses a tower style case. I was thinking that even though the mobo only has the one pci slot, with the remora board I could use the additional openings on the case and build off of that. Am I mistaken?

 

[TheShniz]

If I go with the Supermicro, newegg has a combo going that uses a tower style case. I was thinking that even though the mobo only has the one pci slot, with the remora board I could use the additional openings on the case and build off of that. Am I mistaken?

Correct. If you're building a whitebox with a supermicro board, then you can fit 4-ports per slot/faceplate as provided by the chassis, with only one PCI/PCIe slot used.

 

[phonebuff]

Just did one of these --

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/5015/SYS-5015A-H.cfm?typ=H

with (2) 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" and 2GB of Memory for about $750.00

Of course the Analog ports are all external in Audiocodes units, (8-FXO & 4-FXS) mounted three rooms over and one floor down..

Handsets are all Aastra 6757i

-------------------

No issues so far ---

 

[golfnut]

Those 5015 boxes are great devices....I use some of them for some simple single disk NAS devices loaded with Openfiler....they are light years faster than the Buffalo's they replaced.

 

[wardmundy]

Here's another good tip which I received from the AAUG Mailing List:

I specialize in Asterisk/FreePBX installations in small businesses,
typically less than 10 extensions. I was using the Aspire Revo, and the
Lenovo Q100 Nettops for many of these installations. Both of these were
based on the Atom 230 processor. For $199, they were great and have given me
no problems based on hardware.

Well, Acer an Lenovo have quit manufacturing these boxes, and instead have
come out with new versions that are more expensive and have upgrades that I
don't need or use. Of course the prices are rising as well. It's hard to
find much in the $200 price range anymore. So now, I have started building
my own mini ITX boxes with components from Newegg. ASUS makes a fantastic
motherboard based on the newer Intel dual core Atom N510 processor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131630

Put this in the popular Apex MI-008 ITX case, add at least a Gig of RAM and
a Seagate hard drive, and you've got a darn good box for less than $200. The
ASUS motherboard has a PCI slot, so add an OpenVox A400P series TDM card
with a single FXO or FXS port for $89.95, and then add additional FXO or FXS
port modules for $39.95 each. This is a tough combination to beat for the
price.

Regards,
Jess Smith
AusTex VoIP

 

[Linetux]

in the Supermicro, you will be limited to one drive (no raid), and it will be a tight fit.

This isn't true.

You can get the 2.5" dual-drive mount that works perfectly. I've posted the specs for the part # previously, and have used it in a number of builds... works great.

You are limited, however, to either a single PCI/PCI-e card and/or USB-connected devices.

 

[TheShniz]

You can get the 2.5" dual-drive mount that works perfectly. I've posted the specs for the part # previously, and have used it in a number of builds... works great.

That's correct, and it does work well... but you'll be unable to use a PCI-card of any real size as it goes over the hard drive mounting. The way they designed the chassis, the hard drives and expansion slot shares much of the same space (there's room for improvement considering the size of the case).

 

[Linetux]

Oh, now I see what you're talking about.

Yes, there is a bit of a space issue. However, if you use low-profile cards, it's ok. Here's 2 shots of one of the SuperMicro boxes with 2 2.5" drives and a Sangoma 4-FXO card:

 

[jess101]

Careful With ASUS D510 Motherboard Build

Ward posted a response I had over at the VUC on the hardware I was using to roll my own Asterisk servers using products purchased at Newegg. This included the ASUS AT5NM10-l motherboard.

I normally don't add Incredible PBX to my installs, and have been using a version that includes Asterisk 1.6 and Centos 5.4. I tried the 1.7.5.5.4 payloads this weekend and thought they were doing fine until I checked out a few things like call transfers using Grandstream transfer keys, along with call park functions. This stuff would not work with any of the payloads, whether 32 bit or 64 bit. I tried them all.

I went back to a build using Centos 5.4 along with Asterisk 1.6 and FreePBX 2.6. Everything works fine. I'm leaning toward a Centos issue at this time, but I can't be sure. I've spent a bunch of hours trying to make this work this weekend, but so far no go. Hopefully, I'll figure it out eventually.

 

[thx2000]

Linetux,

I'm thinking about doing the Supermicro w/ a single 2.5" SSD. In that configuration do you think I would be able to tuck an AEX800 into that box ? Have you had any success fitting any 8+ channel TDM card in that box?

Thanks!

 

[TheShniz]

Yes, it should fit w/ a single-drive cage...
yes, it will probably still hit the hard drive cage...
but, their drive cage has a thin plastic mat/sticker to avoid any grounding issues.

...probably won't want to go much bigger tho (it's the width, not the length).

 

[thx2000]

Just wanted to follow up. I picked up one of these guys and so far I'm very pleased. The Intel SSD I used came with a mounting bracket that worked perfectly, and fit nicely just under the PRI adapter I put in the machine. I don't have a spare AEX800 card to throw in there at the moment, but I don't think there would be any problem getting it to fit.

I also found this 1U wallmount bracket which I think will make this server the universal machine I've been looking for.

 

[Linetux]

Good luck getting the card in if you're doing a RAID config on that box... full-height PCI/E cards just don't fit in that small space unfortunately.

 

[thx2000]

Yeah, RAID is out of the question. Although if both drives laid side by side rather than on top of each other I think it could work. Personally, I think I'm better off with a good SSD, rather than a couple of 2.5" HDD's in a RAID.

 

[TheShniz]

Yeah, while it's a great lil machine... I sure wish Supermicro would have put a little thought into its design; some obvious shortcomings in arrangement & what 'could have been'... would make it even better.