When sizing a VxRail cluster for implementation of our solution, it is important to first allocate the capacity that is needed to run any management VMs for the VMS and CV applications. The following management node types should be carefully designed for the proper scale and HA requirements of the deployment.
- Genetec
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- Redundant SQL Server Databases
- Redundant Directory Servers
- Backup Archivers (optional)
- BriefCam
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- Redundant Web Services Consoles
- Redundant Databases
- Ipsotek
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- Redundant Web consoles
- Redundant Databases
This design does not include recommendations for every VM and service that could add benefit from an HA implementation in a mission-critical environment. Our design should give a reasonable starting configuration for each type of VM. We note the sizing specifics for each application in the sections below.
System sizing
Each VxRail node has the same configuration as described in the Physical architecture section.
Storage sizing
In all solutions, it is necessary to have additional storage to archive videos for analyzing historical event. The retention period varies per customer and can be multiple PB in scale.
The technology used for VMS recording during this testing was the PowerScale platform. PowerScale has previously been validated with the Genetec VMS and shown to provide flexible, scale-out file storage with the performance needed by large-scale camera networks. . PowerScale is easily configured in Genetec as a disk group for archiving video.
For more information about Dell Storage with Genetec, see Sizing Guide-Dell EMC storage with Genetec Security Center.
Cameras per node
Each VxRail node in the cluster was validated with the following simulated camera workloads:
- 225 camera simulators streaming at 3.7 Mb/s bit rate.
- 50 camera simulators streaming from a recorded video file showing people moving through a building hallway suitable for Face Recognition and or object detection that can generate real-time alerts.
- All Management VMs spread across the cluster.
As shown in the Performance validation test running 225 cameras across 3 archives, the total server bandwidth consumed is < 900 Mb/s. If a scenario arises where it is necessary to add additional cameras to the system another 75 cameras can be added while keeping within the limits of 1200 Mb/s per node as defined by Genetec.
Similarly, if fewer Analytic cameras are needed it is possible to remove one Nvidia A40 GPU from the VxRail node.