preparing for BI install - requesting review of the proposed configuration

[xmfan]

Below are some of my own thoughts as well as what I have read on this forum. I probably missed many things so requesting the experts and novices here who have been running BI for a long enought to know its strenghts and tricks to work around any hurdles. I am looking at the WiKi as well.

The wait is over. I received my to be the 'BI machine' today. Its a dell optiplex i5 - 7th gen 8GB RAM and 500GB standard spinning drive storage. Love the SFF, it fits perfect on the shelf. I am amazed at what Dell calls an "A" quality refurb. They sent a brand new keyboard, mouse, powercord along with a drivers CD. The optiplex itself looks very clean. Upon turning it on, windows 10 pro got installed from an image similarly to when you buy a brand new Dell machine. If I didn't know it was a refurb, it could be confused as a brand new machine. Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase.

In the next couple of weeks, I am planning to somewhat re-configure the optiplex so it is tuned for BI usage

End goal:
--install SSD as C drive. Put OS (Win 10 pro) and BI clips
--install Purple drive.
--Deploy 6 - 8 high MP (4K, etc) cams - probably mostly turrets. A couple of specialized cams (for example, dual cams in one package) where applicable if they deem to be the best option for the location.
--Not planning to expand the RAM at this point.
--Not planning to install a dedicated gpu. Down the road (around 3 or so monthis later), looking to deploy deepstack. Add nVidia gpu if necessary and beneficial.

Questions:
For me, it would take some time to learn Blue Iris so initially planning to install it on the optiplex as delivered to get familiarized with it. OS, BI, clips, recording footage, all will on the C:\ drive. When it is time, I would install an SSD and put OS, BI and BI clips on it. The camera recording with go on purple drive.

Q1) How would I handle the BI install/license if I formatted the drive it was installed on initially.

Q2) Once BI is operational, is all the configuration done on that box where BI is running or can I manage it through a console using another machine? Ideally once BI is running, I would like to put the optiplex with my networking gear and manage it remote.

Q3) Similar to Question 2, to view the camera streams, can I see the live (or recordings) from another machine, or do I need to come back to the BI machine? how is that done? I recall reading somthing about a web server that gets installed when BI is installed so I am guessing I would use a URL to access it.

Q4) What would be recommended: 1) install purple drive in optiplex or install in my synology NAS ? Is a single WD purple sufficient or by mirroring or putting some RAID configuraiton beneficial?

Q5) Install the BI, cams, storage in a VLAN. Need to learn to configure how the NAS can be accessed through multiple VLANS. Any pointers for this would be very helpful.

thanks !!

 

[sebastiantombs]

Q1 - Export the license from BI BEFORE formatting the drive. Then uninstall the license from the machine. Then you can format, reinstall and use the license on the new machine.

Q1-A - Don't put clips, alerts, on the C: drive. Find another home for them.

Q2 - You can RDP into the BI machine and run the console that way. That wiil leave the BI machine "headless" and it may be a good idea to get an HDMI dummy plug to emulate a monitor.

Q3 - You can view the cameras using UI3, the webserver built into BI, from any machine on your local LAN that can access the BI machine.

Q4 - I'd use a surveillance rated drive rather than a NAS. NAS and USB can have problems handling the constant writes of multiple streams of data produced by cameras. You could move the files off the purple drive and onto the NAS on a regular basis, but I don't think writing directly to it is a good idea.

Q5 - Need a full diagram of network topology and equipment at each node. Even then I'll leave that to others.

 

[Swampledge]

The learning curve for BI is not that steep. Yes, there is a lot to it, but you can set it up with one or two cameras very quickly and then worry about tweaking it and taking advantage of its finer points. I say this because I was a newbie to BI in July and found it pretty easy to start taking advantage of its capabilities and learning how to review footage, etc.

You’ll actually make it easier on yourself if you install and configure your drives before installing and setting up BI. And don’t forget that you’ll probably want to make sure you get a UPS for your machine.

 

[xmfan]

@sebastiantombs - your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Q1 - Export the license from BI BEFORE formatting the drive. Then uninstall the license from the machine. Then you can format, reinstall and use the license on the new machine.
excellent !! thank you. After reading the suggestion by @Swampledge, I am now leaning towards setting it up appropriately from the start. I will order the WD purple (8TB) and SSD from Amazon tonight.

Q1-A - Don't put clips, alerts, on the C: drive. Find another home for them.
Agreed, clips and alerts should go on purple drive. I was going to keep on C:\ temporarily as I 'play' with BI. With Purple and SSD arriving on Monday, I'll set everything up accordingly.

Q2 - You can RDP into the BI machine and run the console that way. That wiil leave the BI machine "headless" and it may be a good idea to get and HDMI dummy plug to emulate a monitor.
I forgot about RDP, thanks for that reminder. To be honest, I was also considering a KVM switch. I have 3 machines and 1 keyboard/monitor/video monitor. using KVM (three in, one out) would work out. I'm not following your comment about the HDMI dummy plug, can you please elorate further on it?

Q3 - You can view the cameras using UI3, the webserver built into BI, from any machine on your local LAN that can access the BI machine.
Ah yeah...I suspected as such. Thank you for that confirmation. Will read further regarding UI3

Q4 - I'd use a surveillance rated drive rather than a NAS. NAS and USB can have problems handling the constant writes of multiple streams of data produced by cameras. You could move the files off the purple drive and onto the NAS on a regular basis, but I don't think writing directly to it is a good idea.
Great tip, thank you. I will do the following: Remove the internal drive, altogether. Get the SSD and 8TB purple. The OS, BI application and anything else BI related that requires fast acess will go on the SSD. Rest will point to purple drive.

Q5 - Need a full diagram of network topology and equipment at each node. Even then I'll leave that to others.
after posting, I did wonder about my question being too broad and generic - no worries. Thank you for your input. I have my homework cutout to create a network topology diagram. Given that, if I'm putting the purple drive directly in the optiplex, I won't have to worry about putting NAS into the VLAN. The internal purple drive will host the cam footage.

 

[sebastiantombs]

When you format that 8TB use a block size of 1024, not 4K. Video files are large, as in multiple megabytes. That cuts seek times down and cuts the wear on the head arm.

 

[xmfan]

The learning curve for BI is not that steep. Yes, there is a lot to it, but you can set it up with one or two cameras very quickly and then worry about tweaking it and taking advantage of its finer points. I say this because I was a newbie to BI in July and found it pretty easy to start taking advantage of its capabilities and learning how to review footage, etc.

You’ll actually make it easier on yourself if you install and configure your drives before installing and setting up BI. And don’t forget that you’ll probably want to make sure you get a UPS for your machine.

thank you for that feedback regarding BI's learning curve. I am encouraged. Your tip about setting it appropriately from the start makes perfect sense. I will go that route. I will order the necessary SSD and the purple hard drive tonight. Once it arrives, reinstall windows and BI then start setting it up. I have two 2MP Dahual turrets. This is more than enough to get started with. Funny that you mentioned getting a UPS. I saw one on a deal about three months ago and bought it for future use. Well, looks like the future is now

 

[xmfan]

When you format that 8TB use a block size of 1024, not 4K. Video files are large, as in multiple megabytes. That cuts seek times down and cuts the wear on the head arm.

Interesting..very interesting....This is identical to when you prepare a hard drive for a database (Microsoft SQL) server. thank you for this tip.