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New Trixbox build SFF setup - Help requested

MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Submitted by MiB on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 10:31am.

Hi all,
Need your help on a new small SFF low power trixbox setup.

I've ordered all the parts for the trixbox build based on a mini-itx setup to serve 3-4 users.

Here's the hardware setup
Case: iStar S2 Storm mini-itx 80w psu
Mobo: Intel D201GLY2
Ram: 1 GB PC5300 DDR2
HD: Seagate Momentus 5400.4 SATA 250GB notebook drive
CF: 4GB Sandisk Extreme III + CF to IDE adapter

The system will run off of the Seagate 2.5" drive and backup to the bootable CF card each night at midnight. The HD only draws 1w idle / 3w full load so it should be nice and efficient. The 4GB CF should be a bootable back up of the the trixbox state of that day so if the HD ever fails I can go into the system bios and boot off the CF until I can replace the failed HD.

I don't have much/any knowledge of linux so I need some advise/help on;

1. During the install I want to partition the 250GB SATA HD to apprx 8-10GB for trixbox and the balance to a seperate partion that I'll explain in the next point. How do I go about doing this ? I've researched on this and seems trixbox doesn't really give you an option durng the install, but I'm not sure.

2. The remaining 240GB partition will be formated and setup as a Samba share used for rsync backups from our small win-server for office data files late in the evening when the system is sitting idle. This is a secondary/just in case type backup. Is rsync is small, efficient and quick so these backups should only take a few minutes. Is rSync installed by default ith trixbox ? If not how do I install it ?

3. The system will have a 4GB CF card setup on the IDE channel using a CF/IDE adapter.
I'd like to format and setup a cron of some sort to create a bootable backup of the HD partition trixbox is running on. If the HD should ever fail I want to be able to go into the mobo bios and just set it to boot from CF to get the system back up and allow me time to replace the HD. How do I accomplish this backup from HD to CF ?

That's about it for now.
Really looking forward to reading your replies and advice.

Thanks

‹ How I got the Uniden UIP1868P (packet8 version) working with Asterisk (trixbox) Pro-lite LED sign in kitchen alerts the hungry to new calls ›

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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Objectives
Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:05am

Here are the objectives of this build and the build parts I've selected.

1. Best performance for a small office of 4-5 concurent calls.
Intel D201GLY2 1.3Ghz proc should handle this easily and efficiently and benefit from it's very small form factor of 6.7'' x 6.7''.

2. Small form factor system
Mini-ITX case is 8.0'' x 3.8'' x 10.7''(W x H x D) with 1 full size PCI slot for future FXO/FXS requirements. It also has a solid state PSU with AC to DC power brick.

3. Energy efficient performance
System will draw between 20w idle to 30w at load.
At most 30w x 24hrs x 365 days =282,800/1000=262kwh x $0.07=$18/year to run 24/7
The Seagate 5400.4 250GB draws 1w idle/3w at full load

3. Low cost build
The system build is just around $300.

4. To serve an additional purpose during off hours since it's running 24/7
I like to repurpose/retask my machines that run 24/7 to handle other tasks when not in primary use. This machine will run rsync server and receive secondary backups from our file server each night which will backup only the changed/new files.


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9680
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
The CF card seems overkill
Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:09am

The CF card seems overkill if you have other SFF or NFS shares on the network you can backup the trix to.

The energy numbers are very interesting also.

Looks like you have thought this through.

Looking forward to the results.

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
CF backup
Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:33am

Hi Scott,
Thanks for the input.

The idea behind the onboard CF card back up is that if the system HD drive fails at any time, I'd want anyone in the office to be able to boot into the mobo bios and simply change one setting to have it direcyly boot off of the IDE-CF.

I'm not always around and so this is an easier recovery than backing up to a network share. Besides I had the 4GB Sandisk Extreme CF laying around and the IDE/CF adapter was $5.00.

btw what I need to learn how to do is to create a nightly cron job to backup the entire HD trixbox partion onto the CF as a bootable image.

My Linux knowledge is very very limited so I'm hoping someone here knows how to accomplish this. Should be easy enough to do, but knowledge is power :)


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SkykingOH
Posts: 9680
 Member Since:
2007-12-17
I f somebody has a way to
Wed, 03/26/2008 - 5:46pm

I f somebody has a way to image multiple mounted file systems on a live system with a cron job I would eagerly appreciate them sharing.

That being said, I do not know of a way that you can have the user simply modify the BIOS setting for the boot drive.

I also do not know how well trix will run off of a flash drive.

Scott

--

Scott

aka "Skyking"


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mikemee
Posts: 126
 Member Since:
2006-06-07
hard without linux knowledge ...
Wed, 03/26/2008 - 10:21pm

Unfortunately its hard to give you the exact linux commands as the devices vary by system and where they're plugged in etc.

Personally, I like one function per box. I understand the temptation to make it do multiple things, and indeed I had a box running TB and a SAMBA file share for a long time, but I finally added the 2nd low power box that I think you saw at http://www.trixbox.org/forums/trixbox-forums/share-your-trixbox-s... and its been a huge relief. So much less to go wrong, easier to upgrade etc.

For the price of an external HD, you could just attach it to an existing computer, share it out and have everyone rsync to that, and also run a backup to it from the TB that you can run directly off the CF.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck! 2 yrs ago I did it almost like you did (but without the CF) and it worked pretty darn well, as I'm sure yours will too.

cheers, michael


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Just wanted to update on the
Mon, 03/31/2008 - 6:34pm

Just wanted to update on the build.

The parts came in for the server Friday afternoon.
I started building Friday night and by 11pm I had trix installed on the new box.

Pressed F2 during the install and to get into more options and setup the following paritions on the 250GB Seagate 5400.4 notebook drive;

10GB ext3 trixbox
2GB swap partition
218GB ext3 storage partion (later config'd for a Samba share/rsync)

The small form IStar S3 Storm ($85) mini ITX case including 80w pico psu is great. Very sleek and nice design.
Everything fit without a hitch, though there were no instructions at all with the case.
http://www.istarusa.com/rackmount_chassis/sstorm/mini-itx/s-3.asp...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811165041&T...

The Intel D201GLY2 ($65) mini itx is much quicker than I expected.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121325
Watching the CPU usage in FreePBX while on 2 simultaneous G711u calls and the CPU never went over 5%. I setup lm-sensors and it's averaging 36c temp on the cpu in the S3 case. Trix installed with no issues at all on this board. Very very nice.

1GB Kingston DDR2 KVR667D2N5 ($18)ram is perfect.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134045
Trix has never accessed the HD swap and usually only using 25% of the 1GB ram. For the price this was a steal.

Seagate 250GB Momentus 5400.4 ($82) SATA notebook drive is whisper quiet and very fast. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148310

Total cost so far around $250 and the pleasure has been priceless :)

Still have a lot to configure and setup, but it's working and I'm very pleased so far with the outcome. I should receive the IDE to CF adapter sometime this week, so I'll eventually get around to figuring out some way to image or backup the trix install onto the CF.

I took some pics of the build but I'm not sure how to post pics here.


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Mediatrix 2102
Mon, 03/31/2008 - 6:49pm

I had a Mediatrix 2102 (2 FXS port) laying around in a closet that I just upgraded the firmware and setup for trixbox.
http://www.voipsupply.com/product_info.php?products_id=334&search...

Took about half an hour for the whole deal. It allows you to connect 2 regular analog phones to it that each act as a seperate extension.

Some nice things about the Mediatrix 2102 is they're inexpensive, have excellent hardware based echo cancellation and support G711u-law, so the call quality is fantastic. They also have a rear FXO port for connecting a regular POTS line. If the power goes out the Mediatrix automatically switches both phones to the POTS line.


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dbhdan
Posts: 10
 Member Since:
2007-10-18
What version of trix?
Thu, 04/03/2008 - 6:27pm

What version of trix did you install on D201GLY2? I have this same board in the same case (nice case by the way - I use it in all of my installs) and am trying to install trix 2.6.0.5 on it. After hitting enter on the trix menu to install, I get the following error:

Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

What am I doing wrong? This is my first try with this board. I have used VIA C7 boards in the past with trix 2.2.

Thank you,

Dan


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Hi Dan, I had no trouble at
Sat, 04/05/2008 - 8:13pm

Hi Dan,

I had no trouble at installing 2.6.0.5 on the D201GLY2.

I just hit F2 and typed advanced to setup the drive partitions the way I wanted but that's about it.

What else do you have connected to the board ?
Have you made any changes to the bios ?


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dbhdan
Posts: 10
 Member Since:
2007-10-18
Bad Memory
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 6:17pm

Thanks for the response.

As it turns out, I had a bad memory card. Replaced the memory, and voila, it works perfect now.

Thanks again,

Dan


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
Glad to hear it all worked
Tue, 04/08/2008 - 6:59pm

Glad to hear it all worked out Dan. How are you liking the Intel GLY2 ?
I think it's a suprisingly great little board.


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jprevost
Posts: 8
 Member Since:
2008-04-15
I'm pretty much copying your
Sat, 04/26/2008 - 10:24pm

I'm pretty much copying your exact setup minus the CF and instead using a 3.5" hard drive because this box will be at my office in the basement.
A few questions;
1) The onboard Broadcom NIC doesn't have any issues with CentOS does it?
2) You said the cpu only hits about 5%, how do you measure the CPU usage. Don't waste your time being specific, I'm pretty quick so I can find out with just a few "key" words.
3) Do you know of any other micro ITX boards that are cheaper and still Trixbox compatible? Like a Jetway VIA. I ask because my box will only be serving 4 phones with no other commissioned duties.
Thanks for the build details, looking forward to doing the same!


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MiB
Posts: 29
 Member Since:
2007-10-20
1. Integrated NIC /CentOS
Sun, 04/27/2008 - 7:16am

1. Integrated NIC /CentOS compatability.
No issues at all. Eveything works first time smooth like a baby's bottom :)
Cent set's up as a SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet

2. CPU usage and Avg load indicated in main FreePBX GUI page.

3. AFAIK the intel D201GLY2 is the least expensive of the MiniITX board/cpu combos as well as the best bang for the buck. At $65-70$ for mobo/cpu I don't think you could find anything cheaper. Best of all Trix installs smooth and everything works :)

My Trixbox is tucked away in a wiring closet now and in the iStar S3 case with only a single fan LMsensors reports the system running between 35c - 38c so I'm very pleased with the way this solution worked out.

p.s. I'd suggest running a 2.5" Seagate Momentus instead a 3.5" HD if you can. The 2.5" drive produces much less heat and signifcantly less power consumption. Afterall this box is on 24/7.


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jprevost
Posts: 8
 Member Since:
2008-04-15
Thanks for the quick reply.
Mon, 04/28/2008 - 4:32pm

Thanks for the quick reply. My newegg cart is now full ;)
I appreciate the advice about the 2.5" HD but as it stands, this is a very budget oriented shift and I have plenty of 3.5" drives sitting around. I will also be the on-site IT so for me, a broken hard drive will be easily swapped out with an older drive that has an image of the 1st. I might even have some older 2.5" drives sitting around that could find their way into this little box.
Last question;
4) How much room does Trixbox require on a drive? I ask because I'd like to use this device as a NAS samba share device. The windows program backups are very small and light. Our database zipped is only 20MB now and I don't expect it to get above 50. This would help because I wouldn't need to keep our other client machine on all day to do daily backups of the server.
I'll let you all know how it turns out. We're using 3 or 4 Grandstream 2000's and am very excited to get away from the antiqued Merlin system.
edit: I think instead of a Samba share I'll make it an FTP upload.
Do you think this device would be able to host a website that would see VERY little traffic? This is for a small veterinary hospital so traffic would be on the very low side.


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