Server Specs

[hisham]

What would be the recommended specs for a server using v7 with:

15, 20 and 30 voice channels?

 

Thanks

Hisham

[SupportTeam]

Any current model Pentium Core2 with 1GB RAM is fine. See bottom of the "Recommended Hardware" page: http://www.voiceguide.com/suppRecomHardware.htm

[hisham]

Thanks for the reply.

Would you have the processing power required by the system?

I got this question from a customer.

 

Thanks

Hisham

[BluePlanet]

VG support will probably say much the same thing, but to add my two cents...

 

Dialogic and similar voice boards have digital processors DSP's that do most of the actual voice work. If you are using multiple boards than they use SCbus or CTbus cables to talk among themselves, transferring calls, etc. and that takes no CPU power.

 

The real issue is how complicated your applications will be. It depends upon how many VG scripts and how complicated they are that will be running and how much database access there will be. Are you going to be doing TTS, and how much? Are you doing voice recognition? If you are using databases, the database engine is also a factor.

 

Is everything running on the one computer?

 

Another issue might be disk access. In any case, the more memory the better. Depending on your application, you might even consider solid-state disks for static voice files and other things.

 

It also depends upon your traffic. Are you building the system for peaks or averages? How many lines will actually be in use at one time is an issue and if all are in use, is some latency okay?

 

If your client is using a standard motherboard, that is not a major expense to upgrade. Start out with the best he can afford and see how it works.

 

Personally, my systems are using industrial computers with redundant power supplies, 19 slot ISA/PCI backplanes. When I outgrow a SBC, I'll buy a better one and use the old one in a backup system, in a database server or something else. Or I can sell it on ebay. All the VG related drives are SATA and mirrored in their own 8 drive enclosures with their own redundant power supplies.

 

The CPU speed is not the only issue to consider. And there is a big difference between 15 and 30 channels. There is nothing written in stone.

 

It also depends if you/your client is looking to get by as cheaply as possible or if you/they want to build for the future.

You get what you pay for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hisham]

Thanks BluePlanet

 

I am planning to use

- An HP server: ML350G5

- 2GHz CPU

- Hard Disk: 2x146GB

- 4GB RAM

- Redundant Power Supply

 

The flow is quite complex, but there will not be any text to speech.

There will be one database on the same machine, and the system will also be querying another database on another server.

30 lines will be used at one time.

 

Do you think this system will be ok?

 

Thanks

Hisham

 

[BluePlanet]

That should be okay.

 

The db access over the network. What kind of a database, what engine? If it is SQL Server, Oracle, or even MySQL, then no problem there. If you are using MS Access or something along those lines (jet engine) you will have serious problems with more than 4-6 simul accesses. Db size is also an issue.

 

But generally speaking, you should be fine.

 

[SupportTeam]

I think you'll find the ML350G5 will be more the enough to handle 30 channels. The current models all use Dual or Quad core Xeon CPUs, so there is plenty of power for 30 channels even if fairly complex Database SQL queries are issued from the script.

 

Ultimately as BluePlanet said you will not know exactly how the system performs until you try it, there are just to many variables, but I think you've selected a very capable machine which will handle 30 channels + DB interactions easily.

 

Keep in mind that Windows will also cache in memory any of the often used files, this will include the sound files and any database files used by the system.

 

If you use Win2003 Server on this system you will be able to better monitor disk access etc. using Windows performance tracking tools.