NVR IP+ Software Performance

[3RDIGLBL 0]

So I got (2) 4 cam licenses on a customers video server that we built. We built a 3TB (RAID 5) Core 2 Quad, 4GB mem (only ~3GB usable NTFS limitations). DVD burner, XP PRO all in a 3U rack mount Antec case.

 

PC kicks butt right? WRONG!! NUUO seems to bog it down really bad and I'm not sure exactly why. We had 4 and now 5 Acrecont 3130 cameras attached to it and that is all going through a gigabit Cisco switch. Performance was sluggish with 4 so now you can imagine 5 cameras. I have a full Gigabit connection to the switch and the max BPS I've seen was a bit over 100mbps according to the NUUO software as I was looking at it. It may spike well over that at times but STILL it's a gigabit switch.

 

By sluggish I am speaking of when selecting any feature such video playback will result in an extremely long processing time before the playback window will pop up. So slow in fact that you are tempted to push the playback button again.

 

What can I do to the operating system or PC to improve performance? The customer does have AVG running in the background and demands that it stay there. We've disabled auto updates and what not but just can't get the performance to improve. I just setup an auto PC reboot for once a week in hopes to clear cache etc.

 

How are people running so many MP cameras on a DVR if just using 4 is bogging down this Core 2 QUAD? Maybe decrease recording quality (right now set to HIGH) or decrease FPS (right now set to 10)?

 

Please offer me up some suggestions as this is buggin me. I quoted out some good size projects with NUUO hardware and software but if performance is this bad on a power house PC I'm afraid to see larger setups. This current customer will be expanding this setup to about 9 cameras (not all MP) in the future.

 

Thanks

[thewireguys 3]

Somethings not right. I had the Arecont DN5105 and the 3130 with to 1.3 megapixel ACTi's on the Nuuomini 4 channel version and I wasn't experiencing anything that you are. What raid controller are you using?

[3RDIGLBL 0]

The RAID card is a HighPoint RocketRaid 1740

 

Thanks for the reply. The Mini is built specifically for for this though and I don't think it is comparable but I could be wrong. Mini doesn't have microsoft services in the background running for nothing probably and a slew of other microsoft back ground junk to bog the system down if that is the case with me.

 

Nothing else is loaded on this system just the NUUO Software and the Arecont configuration software oh and the AVG.

[Soundy 1]

So I got (2) 4 cam licenses on a customers video server that we built. We built a 3TB (RAID 5) Core 2 Quad, 4GB mem (only ~3GB usable NTFS limitations). DVD burner, XP PRO all in a 3U rack mount Antec case.

 

Just for accuracy, the ~3GB RAM limit is a function of running a 32-bit operating system, not NTFS.

 

PC kicks butt right? WRONG!! NUUO seems to bog it down really bad and I'm not sure exactly why. We had 4 and now 5 Acrecont 3130 cameras attached to it and that is all going through a gigabit Cisco switch. Performance was sluggish with 4 so now you can imagine 5 cameras. I have a full Gigabit connection to the switch and the max BPS I've seen was a bit over 100mbps according to the NUUO software as I was looking at it. It may spike well over that at times but STILL it's a gigabit switch.

 

By sluggish I am speaking of when selecting any feature such video playback will result in an extremely long processing time before the playback window will pop up. So slow in fact that you are tempted to push the playback button again.

 

I'm not familiar with the NUUO, but I have seen similar symptoms with Vigil DVRs. In their case, you have to allocate an amount of RAM to the MSSQL database that it stores all its search tables in... if the size of that database grows beyond the allocated memory, it has to swap it to disk, and that REALLY bogs down searches. The solution there is to allocate more RAM to the database (and add more to the system, if necessary).

 

Of course, if you've JUST put this machine together, something like that SPECIFICALLY shouldn't be the case... but it's an avenue to look at: memory and resource allocation to certain processes?

 

What can I do to the operating system or PC to improve performance? The customer does have AVG running in the background and demands that it stay there.

 

Have you tried adding exceptions to AVG, for the video data drives, video file types, or anything else related to the NVR software? I have a home PVR built around SnapStream's BeyondTV software, and one of the first things they recommend to improve performance is to set exceptions in your antivirus for the video folders and video file types (*.AVI, *.MPG, *.WMV, etc.). I found it didn't have much effect for SDTV, but making those tweaks to Avast! Antivirus made a HUGE difference when recording HDTV.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

So I got (2) 4 cam licenses on a customers video server that we built. We built a 3TB (RAID 5) Core 2 Quad, 4GB mem (only ~3GB usable NTFS limitations). DVD burner, XP PRO all in a 3U rack mount Antec case.

 

Just for accuracy, the ~3GB RAM limit is a function of running a 32-bit operating system, not NTFS.

 

That's right the limit with NTFS was the 2TB partition size I believe. I had considered going 64 bit with the OS but that would not have added any value with the partition size so I left it at the 32 Bit as I figured 3GB would be plenty. I didn't install a separate drive for the OS as I probably should have because the 3U chassis only held 3 drives so I opted to put (3) 1TB drives and RAID 5 them. Having the swap and video recording all on one drive probably is not helping matters as hindsight seems to be showing me. The customer is supposed to be adding a SAN shortly and I told him to allocate space for video as the 2TB only hold about 2 weeks with the 5 cameras. The cameras are on motion record with a 5 second pre-event and 10 second post-event. He had it set to 60 second post and we just lowered that to 10 this past week so I'm anxious to see what adds to the recording time.

 

PC kicks butt right? WRONG!! NUUO seems to bog it down really bad and I'm not sure exactly why. We had 4 and now 5 Acrecont 3130 cameras attached to it and that is all going through a gigabit Cisco switch. Performance was sluggish with 4 so now you can imagine 5 cameras. I have a full Gigabit connection to the switch and the max BPS I've seen was a bit over 100mbps according to the NUUO software as I was looking at it. It may spike well over that at times but STILL it's a gigabit switch.

 

By sluggish I am speaking of when selecting any feature such video playback will result in an extremely long processing time before the playback window will pop up. So slow in fact that you are tempted to push the playback button again.

 

I'm not familiar with the NUUO, but I have seen similar symptoms with Vigil DVRs. In their case, you have to allocate an amount of RAM to the MSSQL database that it stores all its search tables in... if the size of that database grows beyond the allocated memory, it has to swap it to disk, and that REALLY bogs down searches. The solution there is to allocate more RAM to the database (and add more to the system, if necessary).

 

Of course, if you've JUST put this machine together, something like that SPECIFICALLY shouldn't be the case... but it's an avenue to look at: memory and resource allocation to certain processes?

 

I'll let it ride a bit as I'm not sure if this will help but it will be on my list of things to look at in the future. As you stated it is a new install (about 3 weeks now) and it has been like this since day one.

 

What can I do to the operating system or PC to improve performance? The customer does have AVG running in the background and demands that it stay there.

 

Have you tried adding exceptions to AVG, for the video data drives, video file types, or anything else related to the NVR software? I have a home PVR built around SnapStream's BeyondTV software, and one of the first things they recommend to improve performance is to set exceptions in your antivirus for the video folders and video file types (*.AVI, *.MPG, *.WMV, etc.). I found it didn't have much effect for SDTV, but making those tweaks to Avast! Antivirus made a HUGE difference when recording HDTV.

 

I haven't thought about exceptions. That's a great idea to try and I'll try to remote in this week when the customer is in the office in order to try this out.

 

Funny, I've used SnapStream in the past. I really liked that piece of software!

 

Maybe I'll get a NUUO rep to respond to this issue as well. They hopefully have some ideas for me also.

 

Thanks

[Soundy 1]

So I got (2) 4 cam licenses on a customers video server that we built. We built a 3TB (RAID 5) Core 2 Quad, 4GB mem (only ~3GB usable NTFS limitations). DVD burner, XP PRO all in a 3U rack mount Antec case.

 

Just for accuracy, the ~3GB RAM limit is a function of running a 32-bit operating system, not NTFS.

 

That's right the limit with NTFS was the 2TB partition size I believe.

 

I think you're thinking of the 2GB limit for a single file. I have a 6.5TB NTFS partition on an 8x1TB RAID-5 array.

 

I had considered going 64 bit with the OS but that would not have added any value with the partition size so I left it at the 32 Bit as I figured 3GB would be plenty.

 

Well, there's always the chance that the software won't work right on a 64-bit OS as well... or that there won't be drivers for the capture card. Better not to take the risk for this sort of application.

 

I didn't install a separate drive for the OS as I probably should have because the 3U chassis only held 3 drives so I opted to put (3) 1TB drives and RAID 5 them. Having the swap and video recording all on one drive probably is not helping matters as hindsight seems to be showing me.

 

No, I would imagine not. And there's always the outside chance that a RAID failure will kack the entire system, rather than just some video data. With the Vigils, there's typically a small (80GB these days) base drive with about a 10GB system partition (OS and software), and the rest allocated to an "exports" partition as well as "alternate" record space in case your data drive(s) become unavailable. Once built and running, the system partition is then imaged (DriveImage) to the included data drive (it can also be burned to DVD for safety). If your system drive fails then, you just pop a new one in and restore the image.

 

What can I do to the operating system or PC to improve performance? The customer does have AVG running in the background and demands that it stay there.

 

Have you tried adding exceptions to AVG, for the video data drives, video file types, or anything else related to the NVR software? I have a home PVR built around SnapStream's BeyondTV software, and one of the first things they recommend to improve performance is to set exceptions in your antivirus for the video folders and video file types (*.AVI, *.MPG, *.WMV, etc.). I found it didn't have much effect for SDTV, but making those tweaks to Avast! Antivirus made a HUGE difference when recording HDTV.

 

I haven't thought about exceptions. That's a great idea to try and I'll try to remote in this week when the customer is in the office in order to try this out.

 

Funny, I've used SnapStream in the past. I really liked that piece of software!

 

Maybe I'll get a NUUO rep to respond to this issue as well. They hopefully have some ideas for me also.

 

Thanks

 

Just imagine if AVG is running shield operations on all the writes to the video drive... *shudder*