Howdy, Lurker and geek looking for advice.

Sfair

n3wb
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
United States
Howdy,

I have been a lurker for a while but I figured I should join an introduce myself. I'm a geek and a IT generalist. I apologize in advanced for the wall of text. I should probably break this into separate posts.

I purchased my first IP camera less than a year ago. I haven't made the time to fully implement most of my camera plans yet.

I have some question and could use some advice. For most of my purchase decisions it's probably too late. On the other hand I could maybe be persuaded to purchase additional gear.

I have purchased several Hikvision 8MP cameras and was planning to use a home server as a NVR. All cameras from the same Pro Series Easy IP 3.0. For the most part I have 2CD2385FWD-I 4k 4mm turrets. I have a couple 2.8mm domes, one with audio connections. I have the cameras running H.265+ currently. I purchased 32GB micro SD cards for them but have used several as friends and family have needed SD cards for their phones. I currently have 8 4k cameras and may expand up to 12.

My intention of setting up IP cameras is to make our lives easier keeping track of the kids and the dogs. I have two separate use cases for security cameras. For the security use case I want to monitor key location of the house such as entrances, and parking areas for general security, theft prevention, ect. These cameras are all planned to be on the exterior and to be recorded. The other use case is nanny cam duty. I have 2x 27" WQHD monitors setup in our kitchen with a mini form factor computer with a i3-6300T processor. I'm running Hikvision IVMS as a client to view the live stream for the two indoor nanny cams. These cameras are just for live viewing and not recording. I also have cameras I have yet to install on the exterior of the house to monitor the yard. These are planned to be nanny cams to keep track of the kids/dogs. They don't have to be used for identification just a good overhead view of who is where and doing what. I'm thinking I may want to record the outdoor nanny cams.

I have a self built home server that I came across a great deal on most of the components. It's a bare metal install of Microsoft Server 2016 Essentials. I was originally planning to run Hyper-V Free edition then run Server as a VM with other VMs. I was ignorant of the need for a Microsoft VDA license for running Server in a hypervisor. I am not willing to pay the yearly cost for a VDA license from Microsoft so bare metal it is.

Due to my intentions of running the system as a home server hyper-visor It's overspeced on RAM and pretty lacking on CPU. The components are below:

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 (Kaby Lake 3.5 GHz 2/4 core, MC CPU Mark 4872, SC 1986, ECC Support)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X150M-Pro ECC LGA 1151 mATX
RAM: 32GB DDR4 ECC Memory
OS Disk: Samsung PM981 512GB
Case: Norco 230 2U *Fans upgraded to Noctua with 5.25" to quad 2.5" drive tray and fans
Storage Pool disks: 2x 1TB 2.5” WD Black and 4x HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 3TB
GPU: Nividia NVS 300
Network card: DELL X3959 Intel Pro 1000PT Dual Port Gigabit

The big question I have is my processor has iGPU but my motherboard has no output for the integrated GPU. Can I still leverage Intel quick sync even tough my MB doesn't support iGPU output? I'm thinking in reference to running Blue Iris.

My home network consists of a Cisco WS-C3560-48PS-S. The IOS has been upgraded to layer 3 but it's still a 10/100 switch and only has 4x 1Gig uplink ports. I have noticed occasional issues with the cameras when running 20 FPS at the full 8MP. Switching to the secondary stream appears to resolve the issues at the cost of picture quality. From what I'm reading I should probably switch the cameras to a lower FPS. As of today I switched them from 20 FPS to 10 FPS. Also one of the two was still running H.264 that I switched to H.265+.

Is fast Ethernet (10/100) ok for 4K IP cameras? Most access layer Cisco switches are oversubscribed 4:1. I don't recall off the top on my head but there is a command to run to see what switch ports share the same fabric. In that case with 48 ports I should be ok with a 12 camera limit. I will just have to keep camera ports segregated on the switch fabric. I also have 3 Ubiquity UniFi AP Pro WAP that I may need to account for when segregating devices. I also have a layer 2 Cisco 2960 24 port with 8 POE that could be used if needed.

If 10/100 Ethernet is an issue I should be able to upgrade to 10/100/1000 in a similar switch for around $200.

I have also tossed around the idea of just buying a HikVision NVR. I feel it's a pretty meh compromise vs a dedicated Blue Iris server. If my system isn't enough to drive my intended

Sorry for the wall of text. I will probably post a few more target threaded in the more appropriate sub forums.

Thanks,
 
Top