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What sort of server spec do I need to run 15 cameras? I have two currently running on an old laptop which runs between 1.3 and 1.7 on a dual core machine.

Some of the cameras will be in alert mode most of the time as they will be in a showroom with customers coming and going all the time so I suspect they will take more resources than those in the warehouses.

I am happy calculating the disk space required but what method should I be using to calculate the server power needed?

Thanks

Matt Houldsworth
Digitalquill

It really depends on what video format you'll be using. Zoneminder isn't terribly processor intensive. It's more about throughput and bandwidth.

Example:

Personally, I'm running 34 cameras that see a lot of action during the day. While I am running an 8-core AMD processor, it's running at about 30% max. I've got 4 - 2TB SATA 6 drives running in RAID 10 formation and that runs at about 30% as well. This is with 8 gigs of memory and running on Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS.

Each camera is running at a resolution of 640 x 400 using H.264 at 10 FPS for about 1-Mbit per sec.

Remember that the Hard Disks are going to take the most abuse here, so try getting some industrial grade drives if you want them to last a good long time. Ensure your case has adequate cooling for that same reason.

For a similar setup using only 15 cameras, you could get away with a 4 core processor with ease. A two core might do it if it's high end enough.

Thanks captainarcain, that really helps

I am currently running two cameras into a dual core laptop and it is running at 2.84, the cameras can do full HD but I am like you running at 640 x 360 due really to space.

We want to keep 30 days worth of footage where some areas have virtual constant movement so it is a good call on higher grade disks.

Thanks

Matt

Digitalquill wrote:I am currently running two cameras into a dual core laptop and it is running at 2.84, the cameras can do full HD but I am like you running at 640 x 360 due really to space.

Digitalquill wrote:laptop

Digitalquill wrote:laptop

Unless that laptop is equipped with an SSD, that laptop's disk is almost guaranteed to be the cause of your high load. I've never seen a 2.5" spinning disk that wasn't molasses-in-january slow. And when ZM is recording it's doing tons of file access! I'm willing to bet most your CPU is spending most of its time in IOWAIT!

My current specs:
Core i7-3770 quad core 3.4GHz
16G memory
4x WD 2TB drives set up as RAID5
Scientific Linux 6.5

4x IP cameras putting out 1920x1080 video
3x Analog cameras being pulled off a remote system, 640x480

The IP cameras and the zoneminder system are all plugged into a POE switch, so the camera network traffic is mostly isolated from the rest of my network.

Here's a graph of the load average over the last week on the zoneminder system. Mostly under 2.0

I got a couple more cameras to get mounted and hooked in, but from what I see so far, it looks like I shouldn't run into any issues just by added two more IP cameras.

Thanks all, agreed the current setup is not ideal, it was an emergency to catch a thief! It worked but now looking to implement a more permanent solution so thanks for the help and input.

Matt