RE: Standalone CCTV DVRs

[Paul Gordon <paul_gordon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right, I *think* I have decided on a solution - for now anyway....



I will rebuild the server with Windows 2008 Enterprise edition, 32-bit.
This uses PAE and can support up to 64GB RAM - I will have 8GB installed,
which is enough to allocate a decent amount to running a couple of VM's. It
will have no RAID card in it (potential point of failure), and will not use
RAID5 at all. It will have a mirrored pair for the OS (2 x 120GB) and
another mirror pair for the data (2 x 1TB). Thus any disk failure is
mitigated, and any disk can be simply pulled & mounted in any other
windows PC & the data will be readable. the 120GB OS volume will be
partitioned into 3 x 40GB volumes, and the OS will be installed TWICE -
once into each of the first 2 partitions (I'll install it once, then back
it up & restore it into the other volume). Once in production, I'll
backup the OS onto the 2nd partition on a regular basis (probably weekly) -
this isn't the main backup solution - that will be via a daily backup over
the LAN to another physical machine, this is more of
an emergency "get up & running real quick"  fallback. so if
for example a windows update manages to balls up the server config, I can
either wait for a restore, or I could just boot straight into the other
build. The 3rd partition will be either a recovery partition, or another
build of possibly another OS.



Because the host is 32-bit, Geovision is supported (I already tried
installing the GV software on a test 2008 server VM, and that worked fine,
although the card obviously wasn't available to the software). Therefore
the sole PCI slot in the new mobo will have the GV card in it, and I will
stick with Geovision for now, running it natively on the host OS.



Also because the server version is 32-bit, it does not include the Hyper-V
hypervisor. I will therefore run VMWare server 2.0.1 on top of Windows 2008
instead. This product supports running 64-bit guests on top of a 32-bit
host (so long as the hardware is 64-bit capable, which all of mine is).



To support the requirement for lots of COM ports into a VM, I've ordered
the Avocent RS232-over-IP box I linked to earlier on.



I'll then run a 32-bit XP VM for Homeseer, running the virtual COM port
driver for the Avocent box, to present as many ports as I need to Homeseer,
- which at the last count, was getting on for about 8 of them anyway!
Obviously, becaue the ports are no longer dependent on a PCI card in the
host PC, that VM can be moved around to other hosts and the ports will
still be available and functional - thus accomplishing one of the main aims
of the excercise!



I'll also run a couple of Windows 2008 64-bit guests with various Exchange
2007 roles installed. - I may look at creating a CCR clustered mailbox
server, although I'll have to think about where the other node could run. I
also plan to look at running some of the newer Microsoft management apps,
such as SCOM, SCCM, DPM, and so on.



This kinda fits better with my overall virtualisation platform preference
anyway, - I've long preferred VMWARE's products over Microsofts
virtualisation offerings, and I already run VMWare workstation on my
desktop, and ESXi for my test/dev lab server, so the ability to move VM's
around between any of these 3 platforms will be a bit of a boon.



Of course, when 2008R2 comes along, I'll have to think it all out again,
since that platform is going to be 64-bit only, and the Hyper-V is supposed
to be *much* improved...



Anyone see any major holes in my plan?



Cheers.



Paul G.



> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> From: paul_gordon@xxxxxxx
> Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 11:16:23 +0100
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Standalone CCTV DVRs
>
>
> Which one is it Mark? - if you don't mind me asking. And what,
specifically, about it don't you like?
>
>
>
> All this would be moot if only Geovision would keep up with the times
& release their software in a form that would run on 64-bit operating
systems.. - even WOW64 support would at least enable it to run there, even
if not actually 64-bit software...
>
>
>
> Cheers.
>
>
>
> Paul G.
>
>
>
> > To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> > From: lists@xxxxxxx
> > Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 09:57:48 +0100
> > Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Standalone CCTV DVRs
> >
> > My tuppenth - we have a dedicated CCTV HD recorder box in work
and it's
> > utter pants!
> >
> > M.
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------