Runs Great - 8 Network Cams on Laptop

Post here to ask any questions about hardware suitability, configuration in ZoneMinder, or experiences. If you just want to know if something works with ZoneMinder or not, please check the Hardware Compatibility sections in the forum, and the Wiki first. Also search this topic as well.
Post Reply
AnotherBrian
Posts: 112
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:36 am

Runs Great - 8 Network Cams on Laptop

Post by AnotherBrian »

Just reporting on experiences I've had with hardware.

I'm using a Dell Latitude e7450 system with i7-5600u (5th generation Intel processor) with 16gb ram. I have 7 wired network cams driven by poe switch which also hosts the e7450 (thereby keeping traffic off my main router) plus one wifi cam (which feeds through my main router). All cams run at full HD (1920x1080) at 4 frames per second.
There is no internal drive and instead I boot up on usb 3.0 sata drive.

Load reported by zoneminder on main screen goes down to under 1 but sometimes is hgher like 10. Linux system monitor summary screen shows 4 cores (5600u is actually 2 cores with total 4 threads) at around 40% for each of 4 threads although it can peek up to 100% at times. Response time of montage review is fast, like 1 second from click to all cams being displayed.

Not sure on best bios configuration but I have wake on AC and I removed the battery. That way when I have a power hit, laptop shuts off and external drive power off. When power comes on, the hard drive will already be powered up. The issue here is that I don't want the laptop on if the external drive is not there and so might post and wait but no hard drive to boot off of. Maybe there is a better way to do this.......ups?

Maybe I will get a disk array as using one drive isn't enough. i have 3 usb ports but using separate ports but using multiple maybe not advisable as that begets the situation where one of the 3 drives isn't powered up. ideas for best way to go here?

But main point here is that this has a very low profile and runs great.
Post Reply