VSOM/VSMS over population

[dean-lamb]

Hello,

I am starting to learn the Cisco camera system and jumped into this half way through the vendor install so I am limited in skills.  My question is this, We currently have four 4U servers running, we can call them VS1,VS2, VS3, and VS4.  VS1 has VSOM and VSMS running and is the central point for all users to contact.  It has 75 cameras most of those using 30day loop archives and MPEG4 768. VS2 is handling 85 cameras same configuration on cameras and archives. VS3 is doing the same except wit 90 cameras.  VS 4 is only handling 40 cameras.  Our problem is that the system is dog slow.  some days it taked 4 to 5 minutes to log in.  We get alot of complaints that cameras are down but when it is checked the camer is up and the system just took to long to bring up the session.

What is the best practice for cameras per server?  Is 90 too many and is 75 too many on a server that is working to handle all sessions( that is how I understand it.  Also we have 33 users accessing the system.  Now on a average day only 20 may login regularly.

I can give more detial if you need them but what I want to do is budget money to buy extra hardware if needed, and I think it is, and also find out what hardware you would recomend,  We will be adding another school in the next few years and that will probably have 90+ cameras.  Would a 2 or 4U server that just ran VSOM for client access help?

THanks for helping the lost guy in the camera world                  

[Vance Krier]

Hey Dean,

Couple things:

1) The 4U servers are no longer orderable.  The replacement is the 2U w/ 2TB drives. 

2) A dedicated VSOM would be advisable in your situation.  I'd do a dedicated 2U or better yet, go virtual on a Cisco C220 or Blade if you already have them.

3) Co-resident VSOM / VSMS is generally limited to about 20 clients.  Dedicated is targeted for 80 clients.

4) As for feeds per server, it depends on the feeds and speeds.  You can technically run 250 streams per server, but generally disk capacity is the issue.  It is also recommended to keep network throughput at 200Mbps or less for the feeds on a MSP.

If you are budgetting for a seperate VSOM, I would also highly recommend you budget for an upgrade to 7.0.  It is night and day better.  7.0.1 will be out within about 30 days and many of the current 7.0 issues are resolved there.

Good luck!

Vance

[dean-lamb]

Thank you very much for your help and insight on this.  Do you know if the CIVS-MSP_4RU servers will support version 7 or 7.0.1?  I also see that i have to update the camera firmware since I am on version 4.2.1 on all my cameras.  Again, thank for any help you can give me.  I am trying to see what our budget looks like so I can plan on upgrading.

Thanks,

[Vance Krier · Accepted solution]

Hi Dean,

Yes, that is my understanding.  The 4RU servers will support 7.0 on top of the current SUSE Linux install.  They do not support a rebuild with the Redhat OS / install disks.

Cheers!

Vance

[dean-lamb]

Thanks Vance!

I can go into the meeting with a little more confidence.  I really appreciate the help.