PC Upgrade needed? & Rack mount questions

John Joseph

John Joseph

Young grasshopper
Jul 6, 2018
33
8
Birmingham
Hi,

I am currently running BI 5 off the following;

HP Elitedesk 800 G2 SFF
  1. I5-6500 @ 3.20Ghz 4 Core
  2. 4GB DDR4 RAM 2133MHz
  3. OS HDD - Western Digital 500GB (WD5000AZLX-60K2TA0)
  4. Cam recordings HDD - Seagate Skyhawk
I have 2 cams running currently (Starlight Varifocal Turret IPC-HDW5231R-ZE @ 15fps) - which will probably be expanded but won't be more than 6 in total.

So reason for my post is - I am going to have in a few weeks some cat6 running through the house as we are doing a refurb and figured it would be a good time to do so. Everything will be centralised in a downstairs cupboard (3200m x 1100mm) and ideally I'd like to get it all in a data cabinet - so patch panel, a switch (+ a PoE switch), router, and then the BI server/box.

First question is ... can I just stick the Elitedesk on a rack mount shelf in the cab ? I'm a bit of a noob at this sort of stuff and I'm not really sure how much U in the rack it will take up (and how much it might need for clearance for airflow etc). Or, at this point of install of stuff is it worth spending a bit more money on getting something like a 2U case, transferring over my 2 HDDs, getting a new motherboard (micro ATX?) and processor to save some space within the cabinet? I obviously wouldn't want to spend £££ only to save a bit of space in the rack as I could just get a bigger cabinet, but just wondering if the PC needs an upgrade anyway whether it might be worth doing it all now than say in a years time or in the short term.

Second question was about the switches ... again might be a silly question but is it better to have say, a single 24 port switch, and a PoE injector for each camera off that single switch (or a single PoE switch for all cams), or is it better to have a smaller main switch (5 port) connected to the router, and say another small switch (5 port or so) for each room/camera area so each room has it's own switch ? or, doesn't it really matter that much?

Thanks in advance :)
 
I would recommend that a single switch be connected to the router. The BI computer connected to the switch.
You need to answer the question , "do you want your cameras to have direct access to the internet" ?
If the answer is NO than add a second NIC card to the BI computer and set up a second network for the cameras.
The Home camera traffic should NEVER run through the router.

If NO I would add a simple switch to the second NIC and run multiple POE switches off of that switch. I have multiple POE switches around the house, it cuts down on long wire runs.

On your computer, upgrade to 16GB memory. Up grade the system disk to a least a 120GB SSD. If the BI computer is the only addition program on the system, you do not need a big SSD. Keep recording to the Seagate Skyhawk , junk the WD 500GB drive.
 
Thanks for your reply! The upgrades above are coming in at £100 or so so probably 4 times cheaper than a new build. These upgrades should also bring the power consumption down at a guess.

On the second network for the cameras - just so I have this right, would it map out like the following:

Router -> Main Switch -> BI PC (into ethernet #1 port) -> PoE Switch (into ethernet #2 port via an additional PCI express card with an ethernet port) -> Cameras
?
 
For the 2nd NIC in the BI PC simply connect that to the POE switch and then connect all your cams to that switch.

You can do the above either by using a separate POE switch or if you get a managed switch then you could create VLANs to keep the traffic separated.
 
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IAmATeaf said:
For the 2nd NIC in the BI PC simply connect that to the POE switch and then connect all your cams to that switch.

You can do the above either by using a separate POE switch or if you get a managed switch then you could create VLANs to keep the traffic separated.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I can get this for a decent price (£165) - if it's worth it
www.dlink.com

26-Port PoE Gigabit Smart Managed Switch DGS-1100-26MP

Powerful and flexible networking solution for small, medium, and enterprise businesses.
www.dlink.com www.dlink.com
 
if running only 2mp cameras, try ebay for 2nd hand stuffs... those non-gigabit (10/100) POE+ enterprise level switches are good value.
i've got myself a 48 port one... didn't have to worry about running out of ports.
 
a second NIC costs less that $22.
I use multiple small POE switches so I do not need to have long Ethernet run across the house. The second NIC plugs into a simple dumb switch, which then runs out to 4 small dumb POE switches spread around the house..

When picking a switch think about failures, If a 24 port switch fails you loose all your cameras, if a 4 port switch you loose 4 cameras..... I use dumb equipment there is less to configure, less to learn and less to screw up. Also the bigger the switch, the more power, and the more heat in one location.
 
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The larger switches will probably have a slightly higher quiescent power usage as they’ll normally have fans, the overall power usage will off course vary according to what is plugged in.

I also suspect that their power supply will be more efficient than the smaller switches with their power bricks.
 

My new PC build for Blue Iris. Hopefully, my final build!

My first dedicated Blue Iris PC was a eBay bought mid-tower Optiplex 9010 i7-4770 for $200. Served it's purpose for my initial 4x2MP Dahua cameras wonderfully. Somewhere along the line, I wanted to downsize the footprint of the PC. I went out and bought a USFF Optiplex for $200. Great for...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

you can see a picture of a wall mounted cabinet which may give you an idea of what fits on post #7 or maybe it was post #8
 
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