Estimating Bandwidth and Storage Requirements

Objective

Determine the bandwidth and/or storage required for a group of cameras.

Procedure

The Arecont Vision Bandwidth calculator has been replaced by the Contera System Configurator — a general purpose app that helps determine bandwidth and storage required over time based on camera resolutions, activity, recording methods, etc.

NOTE: While the System Configurator can help estimate your bandwidth and storage needs, you should discuss your network and system needs with an Arecont Vision technical representative to finalize plans for your surveillance system and related network infrastructure.

The system configurator determines the bandwidth and storage required to record a set of cameras. It does not account for bandwidth consumed by surveillance personnel viewing live or recorded streams.

1. Go to the Contera System Configurator
2. Click + Add Camera.
   • Select the Camera Type.
     • Single Sensor
     • Multi Sensor
3. Select the Recording method.
• Continuous
• Continuous + Motion
• Motion
4. Select the Camera Model.
   • Higher resolution models (single or multi-sensor) consume more bandwidth.
5. Set the Hours that the camera will record per day.
• The hours of activity affects storage requirements only; your network must account for the maximum bandwidth load at any time.
• If using a Continuous recording schedule this must be set to 24.
6. Select the Activity.
   • Low
   • Average
   • High
   • More active scenes require more bandwidth and trigger recording more often (if Recording Type includes motion).
7. Select the FPS.
   • Higher frame rates consume more bandwidth.
   • This number can adjust depending on the camera model selected.
8. Set the Qty.
   • This is the number of cameras that will use these settings.
9. If you have other camera models, repeat steps 2 - 8.
10. Under the System tab, click SELECT YOUR RECORDER SOLUTION.
    • Select Arecont Vision Hardware.
    • Select your Server Software.
      • Click Compare Software Versions to determine the differences.
    • Select the Operating System.
      • Windows
      • Linux
    • Select Recorder Options (If no options are selected, all applicable models will be displayed. If any of the below are selected only the models matching those criteria will be displayed).
      • RAID 5
      • Removable HDD
      • Embedded PoE (Must select Linux as the Operating System)
    • Select the Minimum Recording Days.
      • Input the required number of days here.
11. The recommended models will be displayed. Click Select Recorder and it will display a summary on the upper right.
    
    Note: If there are too many models displayed, you can sort by Storage size to select the model closest to your requirements.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. When you're done, click My Unsaved Project and export your project as an excel spreadsheet.

NOTE: If you add multiple recorders, you can figure out your total network load by adding up the bandwidth from each recorder.

The System tab on the right shows the retention time for the selected recorder in days. If your retention time is too low, you can add recorders and move cameras to better fit your needs or select a different recorder.

You can also go to the Storage tab and provide the days-worth of retention you need to determine your storage requirements in TB; use this tab as a quick reference to determine your recording needs.