Server Hardware for 20Cams 3MP and higher

[thomas1977]

Hi everyone,

we want to use 20Cams DS-2CD2032-I with 2048x1536px and need a new server for that.

We will record all the time without motion detection, we want full color 24bit and full resolution @5fps

Each Cam will send about 2.3MByte/s (not Mbit!)

I believe 32GB RAM will be enoupgh, but what CPU to use?

2,3MByte/s and 20CAMs results in 46Mbyte/s.

I am thinking about the following Hardware
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on SSD
32GB RAM
5x4TB HGST Deskstar 7K4000 4TB in Raid5 with Softwareraid mdadm

1) What CPU/Plattform to use?
2) All in one machine or better to use dedicated storage?
I would prefere all in one machine and dont want to spent that much money.


thank you for your suggestions

[diluted]

I'd be thinking dual quad core xeons and I'm not sure your hdd throughput will be enough.

[thomas1977]

I guess I will buy somethink like that: HP ProLiant ML350 G6 Server 2x Xeon X5670 Six Core 2.9 + extra RAM.

HDD throughput not enough? I expect 50Mbyte/s writing all the time, but my Raid5 should be able to handle that.
What else would you suggest?

[river100]

Not cheap but you might even be looking at hardware raid 10.
It's pretty fast.

I had one with software RAID 10 with 7 HD cams, no problem.
The install was supposed to grow to 15 cams and possibly a
hardware RAID card but once he saw the coverage with HD cams
he let it stay at 7 cams.

If you don't do motion detect the CPU(s) won't take as big as hit.
Writing at 2048x1536 is a chore.
The real problem will be when it starts purging, keeping the HD
from filling up. You didn't mention how much of a back log you want
so it may not be super expensive but raid 10 is the most expensive RAID.
You can get decent Hardware controllers cheaper on Ebay.

[river100]

2 of the Xeon X5670 would probably do it.

[thomas1977]

I was thinking about 7 days of back log. Did a little bit of math and ended with 16TB needed.

So far, I was thinking about using Raid5. I didnt realize raid10 has such a writeperformance advantage over raid5. Now I know better.

I was aiming so high with the 2 Xeon X5670, because of motion detection and know, it takes a ton of cpu power.

[river100]

Do you need redundancy ? A lot of people run RAID 0, if hard drive dies you loose your events
but to some it's not that big of deal. RAID 0 is twice as cheap .

[thomas1977]

No redundancy needed good point! I was thinking about raid0 too but didnt dare to post this

[river100]

i switch a server over to RAID 0 from RAID 10 when a business was sold. the new owner didn't need Raid 10.
been running great.