What camera for monitoring front of server racks

venture996

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
98
Reaction score
49
Here's the situation. We want to monitor the front of 3 full height server racks to keep an eye for warning lights.

Camera will be roughly 65" from the racks. From that distance, we'd like to see 72" wide and 76" tall. I'm sure there is a way to calculate what lens would work best, but its beyond my ability.

Also, I'm thinking we'd want a 4m or 8m sensor, but any input would be appreciated. I'm thinking it would make sense to mount at mid-rack height, roughly 36", but am open to suggestions (and we will certainly experiment)

We will have this connected to BlueIris, but just so current camera view can be easily accessed
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,690
Location
New Jersey
I'd say a 2.8mm would be the best choice, but even then, that close might not cover everything you want to see. Maybe consider two cameras both for redundancy and full coverage. If the lighting is good, any relatively inexpensive 8MP camera will work. If it's in a closet, you'll want to stick with 4MP because you'll need to rely on IR.
 

bug99

Pulling my weight
Joined
Dec 27, 2016
Messages
397
Reaction score
154
simple trig (tangent) tells you that to cover the larger dimension (76"), you need a FOV of 61 deg at 65 inches away and 58 deg in the narrow dimension. The narrow dimension is going to be your limiting factor on a rectangular aperture sensor (ex 1080x1920)
pixels). At that distance, you will have tons of pixels on target (more than 150 pixels per foot). To clearly see an LED on the servers, you probably want about 10 pixels per inch. Even with a 2Mp, you will have 20 per inch at 65 inches away. I would go with a 2M and a 2.8mm lens if you are going to be that close. Server rooms are typically lights out, but the LEDs are not, so any poor light camera will sort of work, but i like switching to IR when the lights go off in my server rooms to see the room situation. I try to get about 10 ft away to see what is up in the room, but that is me, not you.
 

DsineR

Getting comfortable
Joined
Mar 25, 2018
Messages
466
Reaction score
724
Location
FL
If you still want to see the equipment & LEDs, check out the Hik ColorVu series.
Camera's LEDs will light up your servers during dark conditions.
 

The Automation Guy

Known around here
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
1,377
Reaction score
2,738
Location
USA
According to the IVPM calculator, a Dahua IPC-HDW5442T-ZE camera (which is a 4mp camera) set 6' away from its target, set at a 58.3 degree view in portrait mode would cover a width of 6' and have a pixel per foot rating of 251.2. That would give just 1.7 pixels per inch (there are 144 sq inches in a sq ft). That's not enough IMHO and a camera with a greater resolution is going to be needed.

Even a Dahua IPC-HDW5831R-ZE model (which is a 4k camera) set 6' away from its target, set at a 54.2 degree view in portrait mode (to cover a width of 6') would have a pixel per foot rating of 383.9. This would give just 2.66 pixels per sq in which is still probably not enough resolution to see individual LEDs on equipment.

EDIT - well I don't know what resolution is going to be required to see individual LEDs. As a test, I took a 4k video my cell phone (a Pixel 6) standing about 6 ft away from a target set to see about 6' wide on the small side and I could clearly see an LED light on a speaker on my desk when I paused the playback and zoomed into the image. The detail around the LED wasn't great (ie you aren't going to be able to read a label next to the LED well), but I could clearly see the individual LED which is pretty small.
 
Last edited:

bug99

Pulling my weight
Joined
Dec 27, 2016
Messages
397
Reaction score
154
According to the IVPM calculator, a Dahua IPC-HDW5442T-ZE camera (which is a 4mp camera) set 6' away from its target, set at a 58.3 degree view in portrait mode would cover a width of 6' and have a pixel per foot rating of 251.2. That would give just 1.7 pixels per inch (there are 144 sq inches in a sq ft). That's not enough IMHO and a camera with a greater resolution is going to be needed.

Even a Dahua IPC-HDW5831R-ZE model (which is a 4k camera) set 6' away from its target, set at a 54.2 degree view in portrait mode (to cover a width of 6') would have a pixel per foot rating of 383.9. This would give just 2.66 pixels per sq in which is still probably not enough resolution to see individual LEDs on equipment.

EDIT - well I don't know what resolution is going to be required to see individual LEDs. As a test, I took a 4k video my cell phone (a Pixel 6) standing about 6 ft away from a target set to see about 6' wide on the small side and I could clearly see an LED light on a speaker on my desk when I paused the playback and zoomed into the image. The detail around the LED wasn't great (ie you aren't going to be able to read a label next to the LED well), but I could clearly see the individual LED which is pretty small.
divide ppf by 12 not 144 to get pixels per inch. not per square inch. 100 to 150 ppf is all that you would need for a very good view with adequate lighting.
 

venture996

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
98
Reaction score
49
Thank you all for the input. Based on everyone's feedback, I ran a test with an existing 4mp camera and it looks like that provides adequate resolution. I ordered 2.8 and 3.6 cameras and will see which works best. I'll try to remember to post the results.
 

venture996

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
98
Reaction score
49
We purchased 2 Loryta 4mp cameras, one 2.8 and a 3.6. The level of detail is way more than required, can even read labeling on the servers! Going to experiment with rotating the lens on the 3.6 by 90 degrees to see if we can get full height view of the rack while still getting adequate width. If that doesn't work, we'll go with the 2.8.

Here's a part of a snapshot, lights off in server room, lights on in main office (there is narrow window that lets some light in). Cameras are sitting on a cart, so obviously some view is obstructed...

1646750766070.png
 

SpacemanSpiff

Known around here
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
1,456
Reaction score
2,431
Location
USA
...

Here's a part of a snapshot, lights off in server room, lights on in main office (there is narrow window that lets some light in). Cameras are sitting on a cart, so obviously some view is obstructed...
DOT operations ctr?
 

biggen

Known around here
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
2,539
Reaction score
2,765
Is someone watching the camera 24/7 to see when these warning lights go off? Seems to me it'd be a hell of a lot better to have iDRAC just email or text you when a fault occurs.
 

adamg

Pulling my weight
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
250
Reaction score
129
Is someone watching the camera 24/7 to see when these warning lights go off? Seems to me it'd be a hell of a lot better to have iDRAC just email or text you when a fault occurs.
Seems like a very odd choice, I don't see any benefits and I see a lot of disadvantages, compared to just using normal techniques provided by the server hardware like iDRAC/iLO/IPMI monitoring via SNMP/email alert.
 

venture996

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
98
Reaction score
49
Seems like a very odd choice, I don't see any benefits and I see a lot of disadvantages, compared to just using normal techniques provided by the server hardware like iDRAC/iLO/IPMI monitoring via SNMP/email alert.
 

venture996

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
98
Reaction score
49
Have fun with Belt and suspenders... turn on the UID light from the admin console and enjoy the panic.
I honestly don't get the reason for dishing on the guys running this data center. Why random people get off stating that people don't know what they are doing, don't use server monitoring tools, and making fun of them for wanting to see the front panels of the servers. It was just a request for some help, which I appreciate receiving from those who contributed. You could have asked if they use server monitoring tools, instead you get off being a dick.
 

Teken

Known around here
Joined
Aug 11, 2020
Messages
1,521
Reaction score
2,747
Location
Canada
Having done the same thing in many large data centres and at home. I’ll add having thermal cameras installed with regular day / night systems offers a higher level of insight and protection.

More specifically the thermal cameras were tasked to monitor the UPS systems. In the past there were some APC systems that failed in a epic fashion where the system would over charge the batteries or a cell / cells would overheat and begin to expand.

All the while the internal thermal sensor which isn’t located in the correct location would not detect - said failure!

Regardless, the outcome was a serious toxic battery fire that caused more than five million dollars in damages.

Hence the deployment of the thermal cameras to detect out of band / in band temperatures not traceable via software monitoring.

Software monitoring offers probably 90% insight but misses the 10% edge cases that continue to persist in legacy environments that haven’t been upgraded.
 
Top