Hey guys, I've been using our "PBX on CD" on the WindPC with a high performance SATA flash drive (http://www.logicsupply.com/products/safd253ma008). This drive reads at 115MB/sec and writes at 65MB/sec. This is the fastest flash device I've ever used so far. This is almost as fast as a real hard drive.
Our 'PBX on CD' is designed to mostly run from RAM and save important data to flash in order to minimize wear and tear of the flash device. For example, all our logs are stored in the RAM disk and it's cleaned up every day. The DHCP file is stored in RAM disk too. All our web pages are loaded into RAM along with audio prompts and phone provisioning. This is why it's important to use a minimum of 1GBytes of RAM when using our 'PBX on CD' distribution. You can download our 'PBX on CD' and it's totally free: http://www.unlimitel.ca/temp/support/support.html Most PBX systems base on Asterisk are not designed to be used with flash storage. So far I can recommend to use the WindPC from MSI for any embedded project. It's been flawless, and very quiet with no fan noise at all. The CPU Fan on our Intel Atom board started to get noisy just after 1 month of use. We will need to replace the fan on it. You don't have this problem on the WindPC since there's no fan on the CPU. But how long will the WindPC be available for? I'm afraid to start deploying PBX on this box and 6 months down the road MSI will stop manufactruring the box. Then I need to start from scratch again. By the way, I'm working on the latest AstLinux project: FreeSwitch on CD !!! It was announced this week on the AstLinux page: http://www.astlinux.org/ So you can expect to see a new version of our PBX on CD using FreeSwitch in the next few weeks (or probably months!). See you next week at the TAUG presentation. Cheers. Stephan Monette Unlimitel Inc. On Fri, 2009-02-20 at 20:15 -0500, Chuck Mariotti wrote: > Terry, I think the Nettop 100 JUST got released this past week or two at > NewEgg.ca. I have been waiting for it. Unlike the netbooks, they don't come > stock with SSD, just a hard drive and CompactFlash/SD slots (CompactFlash > being a hard drive connected device rather than USB based). My understanding > is that the dual core does have a fan on the CPU and it is louder that the > single core model. Other Atom machines with noisy fan complaints have been > fixed by replacing the fan with a higher quality one. But I don't see any > feedback on this model specifically on this being done. There is also no > reset button. > > >From what I have heard, the single core can handle roughly 20+ x u711 with > >no transcoding. I have been unable to find anything definitive for G729 / > >u711 transcoding. This is why I was interested in dual-core and why I was > >waiting on the Nettop 100 in hopes that maybe it can do a good job there. I > >did see on a thread someone compare their single-core to being about the > >speed of Pentium III 1Ghz... of course, this was a feeling, not a technical > >indicator. > > You probably already know this but I'll say it anyways. With the flash drives > (specifically CF), my understanding is that large capacity is better since > the card's intelligent enough to utilize the whole card (even if only partly > used) to spread usage (reducing wearing out the memory). > > Trixbox on CompactFlash appears to be a bad idea (I started looking, came > across some threads and gave up quickly... I didn't look hard). I'm sure > people are doing it, but I think transfer speeds and the many write cycles > that Trixbox has on a stock installation are too high. I haven't seen a build > specifically for CF. > > PBXinaFlash seems to have a little more info on getting it running on CF, but > I haven't actually done one yet. There are documents on how to reduce the > writing. I haven't seen anything specific in terms of builds. Again, I > haven't tried it. > > Stephen at Unlimitel seems to have a nice solution for Embedded (he's tested > the MSI units). > > There are embedded specific builds for Asterisk that I have seen, but haven't > touched them. > > This all comes back to something I ran into on the pfSense list. I was > running pfSense on a PIII 1 Ghz server right off the CDROM. Worked like a > charm for a few years. I started asking questions about embedded (the power > savings alone made me seriously think about it). I was pointed to the Alix > boards, CF, etc... After much thinking, I bought one. Installed it (somewhat > painful) only to realize that it didn't support the full install version (so > no Snort, etc... out of the box). I was a little pissed off. It was kinda > painful to setup without a video port (sorry, I can't stand terminal > emulation... I left VT100 a long time ago). I'm told that a new version is > coming to do what I want. But in the end, I'm kinda disappointed. My point > being... I think I should have just stuck to an Atom with a low power/laptop > hard drive. Then it would have just _worked_. No screwing around. Ya, more > power, more noise. But less pain. > > If you are the Trixbox/Appliance type (I am), ... I'd just get a SATA laptop > drive and simplify it all... reduce the screwing around part. Trixbox has > gotten bigger... it'd be a shame to limit the box. I haven't seen anyone > specifically install on the Nettop 100, but I suspect it's the same as the > older single core model. > > Let me know what your final setup is and how it goes. I will probably pull > the trigger within the next 30 days myself. > > Regards, > > Chuck > > -----Original Message----- > From: Terry D. Cudney [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 10:33 AM > To: Asterisk User Group > Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] Asterisk / Trixbox with Atom Processors? > > Hi all, > > Following up on this thread...Stephan, Philip, or anyone else... > > What has your testing/experience with these machines revealed? Which one > works best with asterisk, ideally without fans, without hdd/cdrom, without > noise, removing the moving parts from the equation? Using CF, SD or usb flash > drive, what is the life expectancy of these ssd's? > > Has anyone tried the MSI Nettop 100 dual-core atom? Opinions pro/con the > windpc (single-core)? > > Thanks in advance for any comments/experiences. > > --terry > > On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 07:16:51PM -0500, Stephan Monette wrote: > --> I'm testing the Intel board and the MSI WindPC unit with our new SoftPBX > --> on CD (special CF Version). > --> > --> If you plan to run from CF, do not use the Intel boards, we're having > --> issues using Intel boards and high performance CF cards. > --> > --> The MSI WindPC version works great with the onboard CF IDE reader and we > --> have no issues with the high performance CF cards. > --> > --> I didn't do any transcoding since we always use uLaw, but the box can > --> easily support 200 extensions with uLaw (50-70 concurrent calls). > --> > --> Cheers. > --> > --> On Tue, 2009-01-13 at 19:00 -0500, Chuck Mariotti wrote: > --> > I have been looking at Atom based systems for a while. I keep drooling > over these cheapo, compact, low power units. > --> > > --> > I'd really like to replace my 1Ghz, 1GB, 1U machine running Asterisk > with one in an attempt to keep power usage low. Are these things supported > with Asterisk/Trixbox? > --> > > --> > Is anyone using them or can recommend a board or specific system? Any > ideas on capacity of users, transcoding, etc? > --> > > --> > I have been looking at Jetway and Intel boards. > --> > > --> > Any suggested configs (and accessories, riser cards, CF, etc...) or > alternatives would be appreciated. > --> > > --> > Regards, > --> > Chuck > --> > > --> > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > --> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > --> > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --> > > --> > > --> -- > --> ** > --> Stephan Monette > --> Unlimitel Inc. > --> Tel.: 613-688-6212, x221 > --> Fax.: 613-482-1077 > --> > --> > --> > --> --------------------------------------------------------------------- > --> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > --> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --> > -- ** Stephan Monette Unlimitel Inc. Tel.: 613-688-6212, x221 Fax.: 613-482-1077 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
