[asterisk-users] RAMDisk vs Extarnal server for recording

Wed Oct 21 10:42:03 CDT 2009

Hello,

Yep, I'm the ViciDial Guy :)

In our most recent release we do have some instructions in the
SCRATCH_INSTALL.txt doc on setting up a tmpfs partition for recording.

8GB should be fine for the 60 concurrent recordings under the times
you gave, although with MySQL and Apache/PHP you may run into issues,
so I would recommend moving MySQL/Apache/PHP off to a different server
ASAP.

Thanks for the compliments!

MATT---

On 10/21/09, Robin <robin at zoap.org> wrote:
> Hi Matt,
>
> ain't you the vicidial guy? I'm actually trying to get this stuff fixed on a
> vicidial system.
>
> Anyway, the minimum length is 10-20 seconds, maximum can get as long as
> 15-20 minutes, and on average it's about 2-5 minutes, depending on the
> campaign.
>
> The server is now doing everything btw, but I'm going to dedicate it to only
> handle calling and recording. The rest (database and http) will be moved to
> other servers, which might help a bit too.
>
> Off topic: the company I work for went bankrupt a few months ago, but is
> back in business and we are making heavy use of vicidial (awesome stuff).
> Going to do loads of work on it, so hope to give loads of (usefull) code to
> the vicidial project by the end of the year. Looking forward to it!
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 17:11, Matt Florell <astmattf at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > We use RAM to record to on almost all systems we set up, although we
> > usually use tmpfs, instead of a fixed RAM drive, because it is more
> > flexible.
> >
> > The number of recordings you can handle is dependant on how long the
> > calls are. What would your average, minimum, maximum recording lengths
> > be?
> >
> > We usually do not do more than 100 concurrent recordings on a single
> > server, but we have done up to 250 before successfully.
> >
> > MATT---
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 10/21/09, Robin <robin at zoap.org> wrote:
> > > Thanks for your response.
> > > The hardware I have now is not sufficient to set up a ramdisk (just 4
> gb)...
> > > But memory is rather cheap nowadays. If i'd buf up the server with 8
> extra
> > > gigs for use as a ramdrive, do you think that might be enough to record
> > > between 30-60 simultanious streams? Or should it be way more?
> > >
> > > btw, I found this thread somewhere:
> > >
> http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2005-October/120930.html,
> > > but this is rather old info. Is this documentation still usefull? And if
> > > not, do you happen to have any idea/url/doc where I can find a bit less
> old
> > > info?
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > >
> > > robin
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 13:21, Zoaaaaa <zoachien at securax.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > There are 2 issues i think, one is the seek time on harddisks and the
> > > > lack of a big buffer in Asterisk (saving 10 streams at the same time
> > > > will cause a loooot of random writes).
> > > > The other one is the interrupts being taken up by the harddisk.
> > > >
> > > > So an SSD might help, saving to an network drive might help (it moves
> > > > the issue to another server, where it might not cause a problem),
> > > > buffering to ram (but you will lack space).
> > > > The best solution depends on your exact hardware and the amount of
> > > > writes you want to do.
> > > >
> > > > Buffering to a ramdrive before moving it over NFS seems like the best
> > > > idea to me.
> > > >
> > > > Zoa
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Robin wrote:
> > > > > I'm having loads of problems with recordings, as in crappy audio
> > > > > quality and lost pieces of the recordings. I've been searching for a
> > > > > solution and the solutions i find on the interwebs include a
> ramdisk,
> > > > > for local recording, or another machine, handling the recording. I
> > > > > guess the ramdisk would be the "easy" solution and the external
> > > > > machine would be  little harder to set up. I do actually prefer the
> > > > > external machine, but i'm not exaclty sure how to set that one up...
> > > > > The reason I prefer the external machine, is that the recording have
> > > > > to be moved to an external machine anyway. Although I've come across
> a
> > > > > post somewhere, talking about recording to ramdisk and then move the
> > > > > files over a crosscable directly to another disk over 1000mbit.
> Which
> > > > > sound nice as well...
> > > > >
> > > > > What do you advise for bringing serverload down and get rid of the
> > > > > harddisk bottleneck? Is a ramdisk a better solution then an external
> > > > > machine? And if so, why?
> > > > >
> > > > > Sorry about this pro-con question, but I cannot find an answer which
> > > > > compares these pro-cons anywhere.
> > > > >
> > > > > thanks,
> > > > >
> > > > > robin
> > > > >
> > >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com
> --
> > > > >
> > > > > asterisk-users mailing list
> > > > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > > > >
> > >
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> > > >
> > > > asterisk-users mailing list
> > > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > > >
> > >
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > >  -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> > >
> > >  asterisk-users mailing list
> > >  To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > >
> > >
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> >
> > asterisk-users mailing list
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> >
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>  -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>
>  asterisk-users mailing list
>  To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>