ZoneMinder Forums

Hi all.

Im new to this forum and is great to have a big commutity to handle any solution for this great piece of Software.

Im looking for some advice about using ZM for building a Test System that can handle 64Ch at 720p.
I understand that ZM needs a good and powerfull platform to manage this amount of Cameras.

The reason im looking for this solution is to replace a DAHUA NVS model SVR3016H wich has served very well at D1 Resolution. The only funtion it does is Recording the cameras directly to 4 groups of 4 HDD in Raid 5, for a total of 16 Disk. This is done for Backup of DAHUA NVRs.

The other thing about this is because this unit its only capable of Recording DAHUA Branded Cameras, NVRs or DVRs, so there is no way to configure Other ONVIF Compliant Cameras.

I really apreciate any advice, im able to test this as soon as you gave me some tips to start this test.

Here are the Computer Specs of DAHUA NVS SVR3016H for your concern:

1 x Intel Dual Core E5800 (Can be Upgraded to Quad Core XEON or Core 2 Quad)
1 x Supermicro X7SBE
2 x 2Gb kingston DDR2 ECC (4Gb Total)
2 x Marvell SATA/SAS Raid Controllers (PCIx 133mhz) (Dont Know the Brand or Chipset) (I need to investigate)
16 x Seagate Constellation 2Tb Drives
1 x Triple Redundant PSU
1 x RACk Enclosure with 16 HotSwap 3.5 Bays

I hope this request serves as a Start for building Hi-End ZM Devices.

Thaks in Advance.

Daniel

Hello Daniel,

I am not an expert at all but I would bet that if you want to handle 64 or more IP cameras at 720p, dual core or quad core processor will not be enough. Also the amount of ram (probably) you will have to increase.

Regarding memory you will find relative good information in
http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ

So, for example:
384x288 capture resolution, that makes: 110 592 pixels
in 24 bit color that's x24 = 2 654 208 bits per frame
by 80 frames ring buffer x80 = 212 336 640 bits per camera
by 4 cameras x4 = 849 346 560 bits.
Plus 10% overhead = 934 281 216 bits
That's 116 785 152 bytes, and
= 114 048 kB, respectively 111.38 MB.
If my shared memory is set to 134 217 728, which is exactly 128MB,
that means I shouldn't have any problem.
(Note that 1 byte = 8 bits and 1kbyte = 1024bytes, 1MB = 1024 kB)

This calculation was for low resolution cameras. You can make the right calculation for your purposes and then you will notice that you need more DRAM memory.

Regarding CPU usage, in our experience, if you want a good performance then for each 5 HD cameras we have to consider 1 CPU core. Notice that information regarding CPU is not an official one, it is only based in our own experience.

Hope this info will be useful for you.

Regards,
Giuseppe

djstrauss wrote:Hi all.

Im new to this forum and is great to have a big commutity to handle any solution for this great piece of Software.

Im looking for some advice about using ZM for building a Test System that can handle 64Ch at 720p.
I understand that ZM needs a good and powerfull platform to manage this amount of Cameras.

The reason im looking for this solution is to replace a DAHUA NVS model SVR3016H wich has served very well at D1 Resolution. The only funtion it does is Recording the cameras directly to 4 groups of 4 HDD in Raid 5, for a total of 16 Disk. This is done for Backup of DAHUA NVRs.

The other thing about this is because this unit its only capable of Recording DAHUA Branded Cameras, NVRs or DVRs, so there is no way to configure Other ONVIF Compliant Cameras.

I really apreciate any advice, im able to test this as soon as you gave me some tips to start this test.

Here are the Computer Specs of DAHUA NVS SVR3016H for your concern:

1 x Intel Dual Core E5800 (Can be Upgraded to Quad Core XEON or Core 2 Quad)
1 x Supermicro X7SBE
2 x 2Gb kingston DDR2 ECC (4Gb Total)
2 x Marvell SATA/SAS Raid Controllers (PCIx 133mhz) (Dont Know the Brand or Chipset) (I need to investigate)
16 x Seagate Constellation 2Tb Drives
1 x Triple Redundant PSU
1 x RACk Enclosure with 16 HotSwap 3.5 Bays

I hope this request serves as a Start for building Hi-End ZM Devices.

Thaks in Advance.

Daniel

You definitely need more ram than that I would estimate 16-32GB

See the gnocera post at: http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... 32&t=23187

They have a beast of a system!

bb

We have 50 IP cams on a 64 core system with 64G ram. We're pretty unhappy with it not in terms of raw performance but motion detection. Tried numerous things and can't get it right. Docs aren't much help. I was running it at home as well but my capture card died and I replaced it with a 16 channel Samsung DVR for $300. Works very well. Beware if you are going to use motion detection.

Hello,

For Motion Detection in ZM you have to understand how the zone filter configuration works + make some little calculations.
Basically it depends on:
1- if your camera is for closed / near zones (like a room or short view of the objects)
or
2- if the camera is for open areas (like i.e. a road view or a stadium)

Normally for the 1st. scenario the current ZM configuration work pretty well.

No detection problem happens typically on the 2nd. scenario when the camera was installed so far and up (5-6 meters high), because I bet that if you have a 2.8mm or 3.6mm lens, then a person may represent less than 1-2% of a snapshot. So in that case you definitively must change the zone configuration for motion detection to trigger.

These links may be good to read
http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Defining_Zones
http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.ph ... _detection

Regards.

freak wrote:We have 50 IP cams on a 64 core system with 64G ram. We're pretty unhappy with it not in terms of raw performance but motion detection. Tried numerous things and can't get it right. Docs aren't much help. I was running it at home as well but my capture card died and I replaced it with a 16 channel Samsung DVR for $300. Works very well. Beware if you are going to use motion detection.