Ideal Hardware config for VICIBOX server

[futurzindia]

Please announce the ideal hardware configuration for vicibox server install as per number of seat ? This will help many first timer from making mistake and investment in wrong hardware.

[mflorell]

20 agents

3:1 lines to agent ratio

single quad-core CPU, 4GB RAM, ES-SATA drives

[williamconley]

sounds about right. as long as recording is "per sale" not "always".

and remember: size of hard drive does not matter. you can (should) push all recordings off the vicidial server to some OTHER server every night anyway. along with your nightly mysqldump and configuration files (in case you actually change your configuration files).

[bully]

I am looking to setup a vicidialnow box for approx 30-40 agents 10 of them being remote. I currently have an outdated dialer i would like to replace with this vicidialnow install. Some times depending on the quality of our leads we use about 10-16 lines per seat. We currently use t1s to run our dialer and was curious what I would need purchase in terms of hardware in order to get them to work for a vicidial install. We must use t1's because cable and dsl is not readily available where i am located. I guess i should also mention from time to time we run a blended environment when needed so it would be nice to be able to accomplish this as well. We do record on a per sale basis. Would you guys reccomend this be a multi server setup? I am quite new to the world of asterisk vicidial and voip so any help is appreciated. I would refer to the wiki but it seems to be down for me at the moment. Thanks in advance!

[williamconley]

I am looking to setup a vicidialnow box for approx 30-40 agents 10 of them being remote. I currently have an outdated dialer i would like to replace with this vicidialnow install. Some times depending on the quality of our leads we use about 10-16 lines per seat. We currently use t1s to run our dialer and was curious what I would need purchase in terms of hardware in order to get them to work for a vicidial install. We must use t1's because cable and dsl is not readily available where i am located. I guess i should also mention from time to time we run a blended environment when needed so it would be nice to be able to accomplish this as well. We do record on a per sale basis. Would you guys reccomend this be a multi server setup? I am quite new to the world of asterisk vicidial and voip so any help is appreciated. I would refer to the wiki but it seems to be down for me at the moment. Thanks in advance!

16 lines per seat x 40 seats is 640 lines. Yes, I would say you may need multi server. At least two monsters (Quad Xeons) or more preferably something like 4-6 Core2Quads. And don't forget the bandwidth to handle that many calls.

Of course, you may "peak" at something more like 500 calls, but still that's a fairly hefty load. And a clustered vicidial setup would be good. You may want to look at colocating your servers to be able to utilize SERIOUS bandwidth (or try a colo that allows UNLIMITED if you use their voip minutes, such as The Vicidial Group does, i believe). We offer colocation as well, but we don't offer unlimited anything to anyone, lol.

the bandwidth to handle 500 calls:
* 500 x 100k for uncompressed calls = 50Meg
* 500 x 20k for g729= 10Meg (g729 is technically 9k, but it never really works out that way unless you have a pure, clean circuit, 20k allows for some clarity and overhead)
* 500 x 35k for gsm = 17.5Meg

server quantities of course will vary and how they are used will as well. if you do not compress, you don't need as many servers. if you dedicate a single server to MySQL (a powerful one) you can serve MANY servers with that one sql server. if you also sep apache onto its own server you can improve your web availability, and while this can be shared with your mysql server ... many security nuts claim that allowing a server with SQL on it to be accessed through the web is a no-no. It's really not so bad as long as the SQL port isn't open so SQL isn't available to the web.

So having apache and mysql on one server and asterisk on all the others is a very expandable environment. Adding two or three Asterisk servers to a one "Master" Apache/MySQL system will probably do what you want, but you may even have to add the fourth if you want to be Sure.

[bully]

I am looking to setup a vicidialnow box for approx 30-40 agents 10 of them being remote. I currently have an outdated dialer i would like to replace with this vicidialnow install. Some times depending on the quality of our leads we use about 10-16 lines per seat. We currently use t1s to run our dialer and was curious what I would need purchase in terms of hardware in order to get them to work for a vicidial install. We must use t1's because cable and dsl is not readily available where i am located. I guess i should also mention from time to time we run a blended environment when needed so it would be nice to be able to accomplish this as well. We do record on a per sale basis. Would you guys reccomend this be a multi server setup? I am quite new to the world of asterisk vicidial and voip so any help is appreciated. I would refer to the wiki but it seems to be down for me at the moment. Thanks in advance!

16 lines per seat x 40 seats is 640 lines. Yes, I would say you may need multi server. At least two monsters (Quad Xeons) or more preferably something like 4-6 Core2Quads. And don't forget the bandwidth to handle that many calls.

Of course, you may "peak" at something more like 500 calls, but still that's a fairly hefty load. And a clustered vicidial setup would be good. You may want to look at colocating your servers to be able to utilize SERIOUS bandwidth (or try a colo that allows UNLIMITED if you use their voip minutes, such as The Vicidial Group does, i believe). We offer colocation as well, but we don't offer unlimited anything to anyone, lol.

the bandwidth to handle 500 calls:
* 500 x 100k for uncompressed calls = 50Meg
* 500 x 20k for g729= 10Meg (g729 is technically 9k, but it never really works out that way unless you have a pure, clean circuit, 20k allows for some clarity and overhead)
* 500 x 35k for gsm = 17.5Meg

server quantities of course will vary and how they are used will as well. if you do not compress, you don't need as many servers. if you dedicate a single server to MySQL (a powerful one) you can serve MANY servers with that one sql server. if you also sep apache onto its own server you can improve your web availability, and while this can be shared with your mysql server ... many security nuts claim that allowing a server with SQL on it to be accessed through the web is a no-no. It's really not so bad as long as the SQL port isn't open so SQL isn't available to the web.

So having apache and mysql on one server and asterisk on all the others is a very expandable environment. Adding two or three Asterisk servers to a one "Master" Apache/MySQL system will probably do what you want, but you may even have to add the fourth if you want to be Sure.

Thanks for your reply william it is much appreciated. I guess i spoke too soon on the amount of lines we use here currently we only have 144 lines (6 T1'S). So maybe realistically I would still only need about 144- 168. So what would i need in terms of interface cards and extra hardware to plugin to the server to make it all work? is there some kind of guide you can direct me to or maybe an online shop that would let me browse the hardware so i have a basic understanding of what i need?

[Michael_N]

Sangomas 8 ports pri-card.

Vicidial recommends those cards.

http://sangoma.com/products/hardware_pr ... /a108.html

[bully]

Sangomas 8 ports pri-card.

Vicidial recommends those cards.

Thanks for the recommendation !

[WanCaSil]

I'm planning to start my own busines within the next months and I've chosen ViciDial Predictive solution.

Since I'll spend some money on hiring people and my initial client base is very small (only 1 in fact), I'll be very short on money for the initial months.

Researching, I've found that using SATA Drives on ViciDial Servers would end-up causing me 2 problems:
1) premature drive wear out
2) performance issues [SATA drives service one request at a time while SAS drives service multiple request at a time]

Unfortunately, I can't afford buying a Server with SAS HD but I'm worried my computer will not last at least 12 to 24 months for me to earn some money and buy a better hardware.

My specs is:
2.0 Ghz Core2Duo Processor
4GB RAM
160 GB SATA II HD
ASUS Motherboard

Could you help me find out if this hardware is capable of handling 10 agents dialing solution for 12 to 24 months?

Rgds,

[williamconley]

1) your question is "will my hard drive fail?" which is not THIS thread, you should definitely have created your own post. (Don't be afraid, The Vicidial Group charges the same for adding on to a post as it does for making your own.) Your likelihood of being answered is greatly improved if your subject line is simple and DIRECTLY on point for your post.

2) i have replaced (since SATA first came out) 1 or 2 SATA drives out of 300+ client boxes (and my own). We're talking years of SATA drives ... now that I think of it, those may both have been EIDE. I may not have had to replace ANY SATA drives yet. (They don't "just die" even though they may not be as durable as diamonds, and the "Global Warming" will NOT result in 150 degree summers in Alaska THIS year)

3) If you intend to record all calls, you may experience shorter life spans on the drives. (But I have not replaced any drives on those systems yet, either!)

4) Read your warranty, many drives come with FIVE year warranties. Keep your receipts.

5) Over time, the drive response time is more important than its life span, considering its cost vs the overall use of your system.

6) DAILY backups combined with a FULL drive image of the system after installation and upgrades are complete.

[williamconley]

My specs is:
2.0 Ghz Core2Duo Processor
4GB RAM
160 GB SATA II HD
ASUS Motherboard

Could you help me find out if this hardware is capable of handling 10 agents dialing solution for 12 to 24 months?

10 agents is not enough information ... we need to know dial ratio, will you be recording all calls, call format/hardware (SIP? Sangoma?), bandwidth (compression of calls?)