ZoneMinder Forums

We have two pv-183 8 chip 16 port cards in our system for a total of 32 inputs but are using only 24 the rest have the function set as none.
CPU Intel dual core 2 6400
4 GB RAM, (Only 3 GB used)

O/S Suse 10.3
Zoneminder 1.23.3 installation

More often than not is having high load "> 1.00 many times. This is even in the early hours when most of the building is empty.

I've noticed the mysql runs high at times, wondering if that is the cause.

Finally, if a filter was created to keep the disksize to 80 % and saved, is that filter still on the system and how can it be removed.

Is there anything that can be done to lower the CPU usage?
One tech at work wants to put in a Q6600, but will that solve the problem?

Thanks



Here is the output from the top command:

top - 15:53:51 up 3 days, 8:15, 1 user, load average: 0.96, 1.24, 1.40
Tasks: 142 total, 2 running, 140 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 7.7%us, 0.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 89.8%id, 2.0%wa, 0.2%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 3360608k total, 2973524k used, 387084k free, 472896k buffers
Swap: 3727072k total, 0k used, 3727072k free, 1746196k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
4087 wwwrun 15 0 187m 59m 53m S 4 1.8 46:39.88 zmc
4125 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 3 0.8 29:15.61 zma
3652 mysql 15 0 118m 33m 4476 S 1 1.0 161:16.53 mysqld
4055 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 1 0.8 103:52.31 zma
4069 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 1 0.8 19:02.36 zma
11105 wwwrun 15 0 144m 16m 11m S 1 0.5 6:11.97 zma
15594 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 1 0.8 2:25.74 zma
4013 wwwrun 15 0 169m 41m 36m S 0 1.3 0:59.60 zmc
4017 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 38:40.81 zma
4025 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 23:22.98 zma
4031 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 17:37.51 zma
4039 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 15:10.78 zma
4051 wwwrun 15 0 169m 41m 36m S 0 1.3 6:33.63 zmc
4059 wwwrun 15 0 187m 59m 53m S 0 1.8 39:14.11 zmc
4063 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 36:32.20 zma
4119 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 27:54.57 zma
4133 wwwrun 15 0 145m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 42:37.28 zma
4141 wwwrun 15 0 145m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 28:52.61 zma
4149 wwwrun 15 0 144m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 15:56.74 zma
4155 wwwrun 15 0 144m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 12:02.48 zma
4163 wwwrun 15 0 145m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 12:46.57 zma
4169 wwwrun 15 0 144m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 18:35.11 zma
4173 wwwrun 15 0 160m 32m 27m R 0 1.0 1:05.11 zmc
4185 wwwrun 15 0 145m 16m 11m S 0 0.5 15:12.54 zma
11718 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 4:56.51 zma
15802 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 20m S 0 0.8 3:20.39 zma
15920 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 19m S 0 0.8 1:36.76 zma
26075 wwwrun 15 0 153m 25m 19m S 0 0.8 0:31.34 zma
27027 root 15 0 2196 1016 764 R 0 0.0 0:00.43 top
1 root 15 0 744 284 240 S 0 0.0 0:00.91 init
2 root 17 -5 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd
3 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 migration/0
4 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:01.28 ksoftirqd/0
5 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.02 migration/1
6 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.75 ksoftirqd/1
7 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:01.58 events/0
8 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.91 events/1

24 cameras running what I call "vga" SWEET!
camera modes, frame rates, number of zones, color or B/W cameras?
My guess, I would say 64 bit OS running on a quad processor for sure, with a minimal OS install to keep as much overhead off it as possible, and add another 4GB of memory, got a decent RAID card running RAID 0 might speed it up too.

did you try the jpg modification? search for jpegsrc here

Are you accessing it with firefox? I have had that kill my system.

I wish I could "complain about this problem!"

Filter? I don't know I haven't tried it. I must have messed up my install, ZM seems to not save my filters, but I am not to good with computers much less having to be an apache expert, mySQL expert, PHP expert, perl expert, and the 1000's of other variables ZM uses to run under the hood. Hummm, guess I better hit that tip cup again!

Best of Luck,
Pat Jr.

i'm no expert at linux or zoneminder but i do know a few things that will increase your load.
with 25 cams and a dual core you're not doing too bad. 1.0 for dual core is = .50 ? every little change you make with 25 cams will make a big diff'

1- image size 640x480 or 320 x 240 ? it would be hard to believe its at 640, looks like 640 would be way up there with 24 cams.

just setting one of my 3 cams to 640 shoots my load
way up on my little northwood p4 2.8.

2 - high frame rates on cams really push it up, 5 seems to do way better than 15 to 25. you can still have 25 on alarm.

3- under options > config > ZM_CREATE_ANALYSIS_IMAGES if this is on... another biggie for load

4- set system to boot to prompt, no desktop

5- are you streaming cams while watching load ? another big load, and if firefox 3 then i think it holds streams till ALL browsers are closed.
so you could close a stream and still have the load of the stream.

6- like i said... not a Linux expert. but when your drive fills and starts getting purged it seems like ext3 puts more load on than ReiserFS.
so i have my events on seperate HD with ReiserFS.

7- if.... you have a 32 bit OS then the jpeg libs mod would help
i don't remember if it will work on 64bit OS

8- i think this is in the manual.... more zones per cam... more load, this one is not one I've spent much time looking into

**** the first 4 above will make a big difference along with any streaming

you could try it, set all at 5 fps, turn off ZM_CREATE_ANALYSIS_IMAGES, no desktop

if you dont have a purge when full filter, you're looking for trouble if its all on one HD

you may know most of this but i put it in just in case

hope this helps,

clay

ps: i just looked at a zm test install (i did it for free) 8 cams 320 x 240, 2 of them are at 15 fps others at 5 fps. 25 fps on alarm with modetect,
64bit ubuntu server 1.22.3 amd 5400, 4gigs ram full disk no motion and
it's at .20, (dark outside ) in the daytime at this place it goes to 2.0 or higher

my load sets at .07 with 3 cams motion detect, 320 x 240, PV-149 10 fps, 25 fps on alarm. zm 1.23.3
ubuntu 8.04 32bit 512m ram p4 northwood 2.8ghz ibm
i know that sounds high but one is an ip cam LOL

oh BTW 24 cams, yup put the q6600 in

As stated, you "load" is not that bad. Anything at 2 and under is no wait. On your system 5 is still not bad.

As stated, you can tweak a lot to lighten load. Trim walls and ceilings out of your zone, for example. But your load may be the HD. If so, a good hardware RAID can help a lot. But it ain't cheap.

river100 wrote:i'm no expert at linux or zoneminder but i do know a few things that will increase your load.
with 25 cams and a dual core you're not doing too bad. 1.0 for dual core is = .50 ? every little change you make with 25 cams will make a big diff'

1- image size 640x480 or 320 x 240 ? it would be hard to believe its at 640, looks like 640 would be way up there with 24 cams.

just setting one of my 3 cams to 640 shoots my load
way up on my little northwood p4 2.8.

2 - high frame rates on cams really push it up, 5 seems to do way better than 15 to 25. you can still have 25 on alarm.

3- under options > config > ZM_CREATE_ANALYSIS_IMAGES if this is on... another biggie for load

4- set system to boot to prompt, no desktop

5- are you streaming cams while watching load ? another big load, and if firefox 3 then i think it holds streams till ALL browsers are closed.
so you could close a stream and still have the load of the stream.

6- like i said... not a Linux expert. but when your drive fills and starts getting purged it seems like ext3 puts more load on than ReiserFS.
so i have my events on seperate HD with ReiserFS.

7- if.... you have a 32 bit OS then the jpeg libs mod would help
i don't remember if it will work on 64bit OS

8- i think this is in the manual.... more zones per cam... more load, this one is not one I've spent much time looking into

**** the first 4 above will make a big difference along with any streaming

you could try it, set all at 5 fps, turn off ZM_CREATE_ANALYSIS_IMAGES, no desktop

if you dont have a purge when full filter, you're looking for trouble if its all on one HD

you may know most of this but i put it in just in case

hope this helps,

clay

ps: i just looked at a zm test install (i did it for free) 8 cams 320 x 240, 2 of them are at 15 fps others at 5 fps. 25 fps on alarm with modetect,
64bit ubuntu server 1.22.3 amd 5400, 4gigs ram full disk no motion and
it's at .20, (dark outside ) in the daytime at this place it goes to 2.0 or higher

my load sets at .07 with 3 cams motion detect, 320 x 240, PV-149 10 fps, 25 fps on alarm. zm 1.23.3
ubuntu 8.04 32bit 512m ram p4 northwood 2.8ghz ibm
i know that sounds high but one is an ip cam LOL

Quick answer for the above.
1. Cameras can do 640x480, capture cards do 320 x 240 so we're set for 320 x 240.

2. All inputs are locked to 5fps.

3. Yes options > config > ZM_CREATE_ANALYSIS_IMAGES is on, I will turn off.

4. System has been set to start at command prompt, run level 3.

5. Watching streaming not often, but the load goes up and down even when the streaming is viewed.

6. I may do the different file system after an upgrade to a larger hard drive.

7. I haven't tried the jpeg lib mod, a little afraid the system will become broken, it's in production now.

8. Typically there may be one or two zones per camera. It actually settled down a little after this was set.

The purge when full was set at one time, can it be deleted/removed?
I'm really doing this manually so I know when things are removed. Settling for 45 days presently.

Thanks for the input, sorry for the extremely long time for responding.
I do have another question but I have to run now.

Thanks