This paper studies the N policy $M^[x]/G/1$ queue with server vacations; startup and breakdowns, where arrivals form a compound Poisson process and service times are generally distributed. The server is turned off and takes a vacation whenever the system is empty. If the number of customers waiting in the system at the instant of a vacation completion is less than N, the server will take another vacation. If the server returns from a vacation and finds at least N customers in the system, he is immediately turned on and requires a startup time before providing the service until the system is empty again. It is assumed that the server breaks down according to a Poisson process whose repair time has a general distribution. The system characteristics of such a model are analyzed and the total expected cost function per unit time is developed to determine the optimal threshold of N at a minimum cost.