[Asterisk-Users] Hard drive write cache

[Andrew Kohlsmith]

On Tuesday 13 June 2006 15:36, shadowym wrote:
> Physically locking down the server is not an option.  It will be hung on
> the wall in place of where a traditional PBX would normally go.  This is a
> telecom closet NOT a server rack environment.  UPS with auto shut down is
> just one link in the chain.  Do you have any further information of locking
> plugs?  I have not come across those before.  Of course in order for that
> to make sense I would need locking plugs on both the server AND UPS end. 
> It has to be idiot proof.

Almost every telco closet I have been in (anything from 5-person accounting 
firm to 750 person manufacturing facility for Honda) has had a telco closet 
with a lock on the door.  Sometimes this closet was little more than a space 
under the stairs to the basement and behind the water heater and 6 years of 
records, but the access was physically restricted.

Also, my Norstar MICS upstairs doesn't have locking plugs.  It's on a UPS that 
does not notify it of impending doom, and it comes back up just fine most of 
the time[1].  My Linux firewall is under the same constraints and also comes 
up fine.  Why are you giving such heavy requirements for your particular 
application?  What's wrong with a readonly / and RAM drive /var and /tmp?  
Store configs and voicemail on a flash drive or even a journalled filesystem 
on a hard drive mounted synchronously.

[1] Ask any Norstar user how often Flash takes a big shit when it loses power.  
And there is no way to notify it.  I'd say at least 5-10% of the time it has 
some problem, ranging from "stuck" voicemail to corrupted voicemail to rare 
(but often enough) occurances wherein you have to reinitialize the entire 
Flash voicemail system!

> Think PBX and/or network appliance not computer server.  They are idiot
> proof so it is quite reasonable IMHO to expect the same from an Asterisk
> server (or in my way of thinking, Asterisk network appliance).

I think you're aiming for too high a grade of idiot.  Any standard fanless PC 
can achieve the kinds of uptimes you want from your typical NEC Electra Elite 
or Norstar MICS without resorting to the kind of circus act you're doing 
here.

-A.