[Asterisk-Users] Server Criteria

[Spencer Nassar]

I've been doing a lot of background reading/searching of this list, 
voip-info.org, and Google, looking to define a good candidate for a 
server platform.  I'm very interested in thoughts from others!  So here 
goes...

Axiom 1:  if you are not doing doing much transcoding (converting 
between codecs), the bottleneck for supporting high volumes of 
simultaneous calls is system bus speed, not CPU power
---> points to a 64 bit AMD Opteron system, and maybe just one of the 
two processor slots populated.  Bus is twice as wide as a 32 bit 
system, and operates at 1.8GHz (a lot faster than a 64 bit Zeon 
system).  Then add the second processor to the board if you see you 
need it.

Axiom 2:  Get lots of memory
---> I haven't seen this quantified, and plan to do some testing.  I'll 
post results here, but can anyone share any insights?  I'm planning to 
start at 2GB, and go up from there if I see swap getting used.
    - what would an alaw to alaw connection consume (if it didn't hand 
off)?
    - what about a 5 call alaw meetme bridge (and how much memory per 
incremental caller)

Axiom 3: Don't allow any disk IO
---> I'm assuming this is related to #2 - get lots of memory to avoid 
swap to disk.  Other issues or thoughts?

Axoim 4: Come codecs will take advantage of the faster floating point 
of a 64 bit system
---> unknown... has anyone seen this?  Will Asterisk, compiled in a 64 
bit Linux environment, reap these or other benefits from being on a 64 
bit system (other than the system bus speed)?

Also, any experience with Asterisk on an Opteron out there?  Any 
unexpected issues?  How about card drivers?

Thanks!  I hope this spurs an interesting exchange of ideas that is of 
value to many.