High Density Environment / Many Simultaneous Streams

[stonekyle 0]

Has anyone experimented with many simultaneous streams from a single server?

I'm interested in being able to push 75+ simultaneous streams, each with different content, from a single server, I'm sure the system would have to be quite powerful.

Any candor is appreciated

 

[epayson85 72]

[Ponyo 22]

Has anyone experimented with many simultaneous streams from a single server?

I'm interested in being able to push 75+ simultaneous streams, each with different content, from a single server, I'm sure the system would have to be quite powerful.

Any candor is appreciated

 

Transcoding or direct streaming? Over WAN or LAN? What will the sourcefiles be like? BluRay rips or low bitrate content?

 

If all your clients are on the same LAN I'd go for direct streaming then what you need to make sure is that your network and access to your hdd's is fast enough to support 75 streams. That in itself could get pretty expensive if your source files are all BluRay because a single 1Gbit link won't be enough for that.

 

If you need transcoding and your source files are BluRay I don't think a single gpu or cpu solution is fast enough, probably need to look at multiple gpu/cpu setups.

 

Unfortunately system requirements are not very well documented (at least I never found much, the general rule of thumb seems to be 2000 passmark score per stream but I doubt that is for BluRay rips) so once you start talking about anything beyond a couple of streams I think you'll need to do your own testing with hardware that you have laying around. See what kind of performance you are getting and try to figure out how that would scale to faster hardware.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Ponyo

[legallink 187]

I'm going to agree with @@Ponyo here. I've dealt with multi-streaming services on the professional side as well as consumer. You'll want to limit/remove the need for transcoding on the fly, as its inefficient in that market u d that work load. Better to transcode in advance.

 

You'll want quick storage, although with a properly set up storage array you should be fine. You'll definitely need, not a maybe, a multi-socket system, but for only 85(ish) streams, if you pre transcode it doesn't have to be crazy.

 

Your hangup is going to be size of storage and bandwidth. You're talking, generally speaking, usually at least 4 to 20 mbs per stream. And enough storage to have 4 or more different versions of each file to limit transcoding for different use cases/streaming environments.

 

I've got a fairly meager system, and can support, without flinching, a solid 5 - 7 streams at any one time, and this is all on a residential basis (2500k CPU, 25TB storage array, 50/50 mbs network bandwidth). This is actually, at this point, limited by my internet connection, which I could upgrade if I felt the need.

 

@@pir8radio has a pretty beefy system and has done some load testing. I would speak to him.

 

This thread should give some idea of server requirements:

 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/28932-how-busy-is-your-emby-server/

Edited June 4, 2016 by legallink