ZMLarch partitioning and suggested filesystems?

Support and queries relating to third party Live CDs and DVD, VM images and other packaged distributions
Post Reply
synack
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:14 am

ZMLarch partitioning and suggested filesystems?

Post by synack »

We are setting up a test system using the latest ZMLarch livecd.
512MB's DDR 266 memory, 20Gig HDD, Intel Celeron 2.2GHz proc with BlueCherry PV-143 - 4 port video capture card (30FPS).

Is it safe to assume that the "Install Arch Linux" icon on the Openbox desktop is going to copy this LiveCD environment to the HDD? Or is this going to install ARCH without the functionality that the LiveCD gives?

If it does create the same environment as the LiveCD we are curious as to what is the best partitioning scheme to use/size and which file systems. IE....

Boot-Ext2 = 128MB
Root-Ext3 = Remaining HDD space
Swap = 1GB

For some reason when we click on the Install Icon it wants to set UP a home DIR that's huge. This is going to be a server that only allows the owner to login over the internet if alarms are triggered or emails sent.

Would ReiserFS be better suited for ROOT?
Should we add a /VAR partition as well?

Just trying to get a general idea for a more effecient HDD setup.

Thanks for your input.
troyy0206
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:54 am

Post by troyy0206 »

See my post here:

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... highlight=

I am getting very good results using a 25GB ext3 for root partition, 1.4TB reiserfs for /var and a 6GB swap partition. I have five servers that are dual 3.2GHz XEON, 4GB with a single 1.5TB SATA drive. The drive is connected with an adapter because the board only has a PATA controller and it's 1U so no room for an add-in controller. I was amazed at the difference from the previous config which was the same server with 1.4TB ext3 root and 25gb ext3 /home and a 6gb swap. I had read some posts that reiserfs was extremely fast with regards to disk I/O compared to ext3 & ext4. As I recall, the tests someone had posted was deleting the same data from the same drive configured with the different file systems and it took like a minute and half to delete the data on ext3 & 4 and it was like 11 seconds on reiserfs.

The servers I have are running between 10-20 cameras each. The one with 20 cameras is running about half record and half motion detection at 3-5 fps and the load varies between about 1 and 3.5 depending on the activity. One server has about 10 cameras and the load is typically under 1. With the previous config, the load was 6-10 and was so slow it was not accessible most of the time.

I'm not a Linux guru but I know what I'm getting ;)
synack
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:14 am

Post by synack »

Thanks for the info troyy0206. I did read your posting before I started this thread. It helped.

I've possibly got a chance to install ZM for a client that has 16 cameras and a dvr box that is acting up on them. They are unable to login over the internet and view video feeds so they are excited about that.

Your posting helped me figure out what kind of hardware, partitioning scheme, and file systems to use for that job, if I get it.

I'm using the LMarch livecd and for some reason it errors out when I try to do a custom partitioning scheme. If I let it do the auto partitioning for me then it installs just fine.

I've used Gentoo quite extensively in the past. So I think I'll give that a shot.

Which LiveCD did you go with? You mentioned a few but I wasn't really certain as to which one you went with. I'm using the latest 1.24.2

Thanks.
troyy0206
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:54 am

Post by troyy0206 »

I'm using the latest zmlarch cd, 1.24.2, I believe. I had some issues with partitioning and figured out if I use gparted it works good to do them at install time. I typically use it to delete all the partitions and do it fresh. If I'm reinstalling on one that I had previously set up, I have to at least go into gparted and turn off the swap and choose to format on the screen where you select to install / and /var in the appropriate locations. As long as I do that, it all seems to work fine. Once it's installed you have to fix the host name in /etc/hosts and /etc/rc.conf. I prefer to also install telnet for admin purposes. With those things all configured and working, I haven't had a bit of trouble and performance seems great.

I looked at the ZMLive DVD but it installs a ton of stuff and I wanted simplicity, which ZMLarch gives me.
synack
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:14 am

Post by synack »

Sweet. Thanks for the reply.

I'll try your suggestions and see If I can get this working. I'll let you. Thanks for your help troyy0206.
synack
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:14 am

Post by synack »

That worked out great. Thanks.

But for some reason now when I go to add my other cam/monitor, both cams are tied to the same view.. IE.. when I goto view cam_1 I see our front door. When I pull up cam_2, which should be the garage view, it shows the same view as cam_1.

I know I've got the channels specified correctly.. Oh well. New thread for that issue.

Thanks for your input troyy0206. That helped cut down on some frustration big time.

Cya.
troyy0206
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:54 am

Post by troyy0206 »

synack wrote:That worked out great. Thanks.

But for some reason now when I go to add my other cam/monitor, both cams are tied to the same view.. IE.. when I goto view cam_1 I see our front door. When I pull up cam_2, which should be the garage view, it shows the same view as cam_1.

I know I've got the channels specified correctly.. Oh well. New thread for that issue.

Thanks for your input troyy0206. That helped cut down on some frustration big time.

Cya.
I take it you're using traditional video cameras with a capture card? I can't help much there, I've only worked with network ip cameras.

Also, you're welcome. With my limited Linux skills, it's hard to believe I've actually helped someone ;)
Post Reply