Zoneminder hardware requirement

[Zolcsi]

Hi folks,

I would like to use ZoneMinder for my home. I am planning to have 4-5 IP cameras with at least 720p resolution and a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as a server for Zoneminder, with an attached external HDD. The cameras should record continuously and perform motion detection as well. Is the Raspberry enough for this or should I use a normal computer?

Thanks!

[PacoLM]

Nope, I believe your RpiB will not be able to handle that HW setup, I bet you will have RAM problems and the CPU load pretty high.
Just as a comparison, I have a micro-ITX server with a quad processor and 8Mb of RAM running a ZM system with 5 cameras and the board is almost at the limit of performance (even some cameras are old and have lower resolution than 720p).

Hope it helps!
PacoLM

[Zolcsi]

Thanks, that was really helpful. I guess I'll look into some used server hardware.
What do you think about this one:
IBM x235 server with 2xIntel Xeon 2.8GHz, 6GB RAM
Or a Fujitsu siemens primergy econel 200 s2, with 2x4 core CPU (8x1.6 GHz) with 8GB RAM

I've bought a camera with a higher resolution, so this is what I'm thinking now:
5 cameras with 2592x1020 px resolution, continuous recording and motion detection for all of them.

Any HW recommendations for that?

Thank you!

[marcopete87]

Hello, i have an NUC5i7RYH with 120GB ssd, 16GB ram.
1x maxtor 4TB external usb3 drive (running 24/7 for 6000hrs)
1x maxtor 1TB external usb3 drive (new, to lower load on 4TB drive)

this setup is set up for
mocord:
3x 1280x720 ip cam 15fps
2x 1920x1080 ip cam 15fps

record:
1x1280x720 ip cam 15fps

Night consumption of
- nuc
- access point
- managed switch
- 1x fast ethernet poe unmanaged switch
- 1x gigabit ethernet poe unmanaged switch
- 4x foscam ip camera (1280x720)
- 2x hikvision ip camera (1920x1080)
- eaton 650va ellipse ups

during night is ~100W

before you can continue, be careful of hard disk: you can get any capacity you want, but if you have an slow hard disk, you'll get only buffer overrun errors (this is why i use 1 disk for 2 full hd camera and one for other 4).

is 5MP ip camera useful for your need?

[Zolcsi]

Looks like I managed a good deal with our companys server provider, so I'll get a used server with the following parameters:
DELL T310
4x1TB Raid 10
32GB RAM
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X3440 @ 2.50GHz

I guess this will be enough

marcopete87: Thanks for your info! I'm not sure with the 5MP camera, I've only bought one to see how it works. I need to buy 3 more, so if it is an overkill, than the other ones will be standard HD cams (probably this one will look further away from the house, and the ones that look closer, i.e the side of the house, will have only 2MP).

[marcopete87]

This system seems to have enought power, but can raid support raid 5? You will get more space and some performance increase.

However, my opinion is to get a newer system (7 years old architecture is prehistoric, newer have a lot of more cpu capabilities, which are useful in encoding and decoding tasks)

[Zolcsi]

Yes, it does support Raid5, so I can convert the Raid array to it. I guess I should test out which one is going to work out better for me.

[marcopete87]

(probably this one will look further away from the house, and the ones that look closer, i.e the side of the house, will have only 2MP).

however, be careful with privacy laws, usually, you cannot record everything isn't in your property.

[Zolcsi]

I know, I think I will black out the areas that are outside of my property.
Also, 1 of the 4 drives was faulty, so I had to fall back to Raid 5, at least I didn't have to decide...

[iconnor]

uh raid5 is SLOWER than raid10.

[marcopete87]

uh raid5 is SLOWER than raid10.

really?
however, what about capacity?

[iconnor]

Yes. In raid5, write speed is the same as 1 drive. Read speed is equivalent to the # of drives, which is great.
In raid 10, the write speed is equal to the # of stripes. So in a 4 drive raid 10, the speed is 2xspeed of 1 drive.

In terms of capacity.. with a 4 drive raid 5... you have the choice of capacity=3 drives, with a single drive failure tolerance. Or capacity=2 drives with a drive failure capacity. With raid 10.. you have at best a 2 best drive failure tolerance.. but only 2drives worth of capacity.

Honestly... a lot more thought needs to be put into this before a choice can be made.
For this case, a raid 5 may be fine.

For my systems I actually like to do a bunch of raid1's... or even bare drives