I work full-time for an IT company, and on the side, I manage a few small businesses and their equipment.
One of my clients is looking to migrate away from Verizon One Talk to their own phone system to reduce costs — they have about 15 phone numbers. I recently brushed up on FreePBX and was able to pick up a batch of used Yealink phones in decent condition off eBay.
I was preparing to migrate them over to a VPS, but the client mentioned that she prefers having her own physical, on-site server. She’s the type of person who needs to “own it and be able to touch it.” For context, she’s still using a local Microsoft Exchange setup and also hosts their QuickBooks file on the same server.
Long story short: I quoted her a new Supermicro 1U build for around $2,000. Instead, she went on Amazon and found some used Dell PowerEdge servers in the $250–$450 range and now wants to go that route.
I did explain to her that buying used servers could introduce risks, especially when it comes to hardware reliability over time.
So I’m curious — what’s the community’s take on buying used 1U servers for on-site hardware in situations like this?
For 15 numbers and under 50 phones, I’d say any of the Intel NUC series or micro PC’s running Intel i5 or greater or Athlon Ryzen 7 processors would be more than enough. Sure, it sits on a shelf insted of mounting in the rack but they have plenty of power and storage available for many users. I just feel like in totday’s age a small business doesn’t need a huge rackmount server. Now if you need many terrabytes of disk for recordings and such, this solution would not apply.
For the micro pc’s, they’re cheap enough you can keep one or two configured spares on hand for the cost of Dells; new or used.
For small businesses phone-communication remains an essential tool. Therefore I wouldn’t cut the corners on hardware which will run 24/7/365.
That’s said, the boss is the boss and if she prefers taking chances you can still help her out in her endeavor.
My suggestion is that you go for a traditional chassis with good natural cooling and air flow, because chances are that once the PBX is fully operational it will be left to gather dust and get into troubles because of neglect.
Indeed, dust is a significant factor in shortening the lifespan of electronic components, much like cooling or lack of thereof, which generally causes most problems on such hardware. Because of this, I wouldn’t recommend an 1U server chassis at a small business, nor a mini-pc which will run into air flow problems sooner rather than later.
Once you got the used computer hardware you might want to run through it the vacuum cleaner and replace the fans even if they seem to be in working order.
If you are good with electronics handling, I would even suggest that you disassemble the power supply box, vacuum it thoroughly, spray away any sticky dust off of the coils and heatsinks, and also replace the fan built into it if there is one.
The sticky dust issue is often prevalent on the CPU heatsink as well as on the DRAM modules, so you might want to dust off those too with pressurized air.
Other than that make sure that, new or used, the sever is protected by a decent UPS, a new and un-shared one, regardless any power protection gadgetry the client might have.
Old hardware might actually have more life left in it than a new one if its properly maintained, but it’s likely that it will be more costly to operate in the long run.
Now, irrespective of the fact that you use brand new or second hand hardware for a 24/7/365 system, I would suggest that you (she) actually own(s) 2 such systems, preferably identical build and configuration, so that in the event of failure (hardware or software) the downtime is minimized.
For that many users, unless they want constant call recording just get one of the smaller ClearlyIP FreePBX appliances rated for 40 users and 10 concurrent calls.
“15 Phone numbers” is irrelevant to the physical system. Port the the DID’s (phone numbers) over to ClearlyIP. They’re extremely helpful with this.
If you are going to be managing this system for them be aware you’re responsible for making sure it’s configured properly and complies with the applicable 911 laws.
The risk of damaging is quite small if someone with at least a hobbyist level background is handling the hardware. The risk of finding the proper parts is also quite negligible assuming that the hardware is relatively recent (less than 10 years old).
Small businesses tend to use their hardware well beyond the 5 years which you seem to think is a standard in the industry. In fact, most small or medium size companies tend to only upgrade if there is failure or business growth calls for system replacement.
Over the years I noticed that there was a correlation between how often office furniture was replaced by most small companies vs their office equipment.
It’s hard to talk about ROI, business criticality, etc., when the principals only gauge their activity through the hard earned cash in their pocket or on their checking account. As a consultant you can only follow their lead unless you are ready to walk away from their business.
Going back to the OP, I think the PBX project can live with a second hand hardware with some TLC as long as the business owner is willing to compensate the consultant for the required labor, parts and so on.
From an accounting perspective, upgrading to a new server offers advantages for a business. The issue isn’t limited to the server’s age. Warranty coverage is also in the loop. Some warranty extensions can extend up to five years. To avoid any problems, it’s common practice to change a server, even if it’s working properly.
Ragarding a FreePBX server, that’s fine. It’s not a problem to use an old server.
For my personal usage (+10 extensions), I’m working on Athlon dual cores. 4 Gb Memoy, I just changed the HDD with an SSD.
TangoPBX is a trademark of TangoPBX LLC, FreePBX is a trademark of Sangoma US Inc, Asterisk is a trademark of Digium Inc.