[Asterisk-Users] Hard drive write cache

[shadowym]

Hi Andrew,

I think we are more on the same page than you think.  Fanless PC and CF are
exactly what I am shooting for.  However, as far as I know you need a hard
drive to run FreePBX.  Read only partitions make a lot of sense and I will
certainly pursue that further.  Not sure if I would need to put Voicemail on
a CF if I have a hard drive.  I could care less if someones voicemail
messages get corrupted during a power outage.  All I want is for the phone
system to come back up and work again.  GUARANTEED!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Kohlsmith [mailto:akohlsmith-asterisk at benshaw.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 1:12 PM
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Hard drive write cache
> 
> 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.
> 
>