VoIP Insider

IP Video Surveillance Storage – Best Practices

The previous post talked about the different methods for IP video surveillance storage. When selecting the right kind of storage for your IP surveillance system, you’ll need to review your current server set up and ask yourself what you’re aiming to accomplish from your surveillance video information.

Keep in mind that once your IP cameras capture images you need a system that handles all of these video functions:

Monitoring
Recording
Managing
Archiving

Those factors are an important consideration when determining server configuration and the amount of storage that you will need.

Company-Wide Standardization

For companies that have their server band and operating system of choice already set, the IT department should use the same types for the video management serve so that the IT department can manage it the same as the other servers.

Centralized or Decentralized System?

In a centralized system all video storage is done by a central server. A decentralized system relies on storing the video in the on-board camera memory (SD cards or USB flash drive) which is then distributed later to a more centralized location.

This choice depends on:

The size of the system
The number of cameras used
Available bandwidth between the different locations

System Reliability

How reliable do you need your storage system to be? Is video loss unacceptable? If so, quality servers with SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) drives are the way to go.

System Redundancy

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) based recording systems are a good choice to ensure no data is lost if one of your hard disks fail.

Size and Scalability

How many cameras are you be using now and how many might you use in the future? Always plan for growth. For example, from the outset your server shouldn’t be maxed out nor should 90% of the storage space be used up.

Plan ahead for the need to scale up your security system.

System Performance

Monitoring, recording, and storing the highest resolution video puts a strain on your system and the amount of servers and storage needed for doing so will be expensive.

Consider reducing the video resolution and use motion-based recording at nighttime. Compare different fps (frames per second) and you may be surprised to see that there isn’t much difference between high and low for your application.

Length of Video Storage

How long will you need to store your video? Weeks, months? Storage costs go up and up the longer you hold your surveillance video.

Consider having different storage lengths for different cameras if your application calls for some longer term video records.

Separate Monitoring Server

In IP surveillance systems with 30 plus cameras it is recommended to have a stand alone server, separate from the recording server, that is used just for real-time and video playback monitoring.