What are the technical specifications for EMBY server of 150 simultaneous users

[hooraah 5]

I would think even at 75 or 50 users at once it would be a bit much, so I'd say you could likely 'load balance' to 3 systems without any sort of back end syncing and still be fine.  Unless your users have wildly different use patterns, I'd do 2-3 systems with 50-75 users each and just have them be stand alone.  The only downside is that you'd have to give out 3 different server addresses and if one went down then 1/2 - 1/3 of your users would be out of luck with no failover.  

 

For storage, if you did it this way, you'd either have to triple your storage (and have the data copied to each server), which is wasteful, but may not be an issue depending on how big the media library is (3 x 4TB drives @ $99 each isn't going to be near as much as how much 3 high horsepower systems are going to cost).

 

Alternatively, you could put 1/3 of each library on each machine and share that location with the other two machines.  That would be a quick and dirty way of load balancing HDD transfer rates at the expense of network bandwidth.

[sebasmiles 8]

It seems more work needs to be done on clarifying the requirements. Number of active users, expected stream quality, remote vs network users, hard vs flexible requirements (ie is it ok if users get rejected when you hit max active allowed, or sacrificing stream quality, etc), what is the infrastructure available (ie power supply, internet upload/download available & price, etc). Then you can start mapping out the process completely, and even model it so you can determine how a couple of scenarios would affect or limit your internet connectivity (ie for each stream how much ram, internet bandwidth, network bandwidth, cpu, hdd load, cache load, transcode vs not [including the additional hdd usage], etc).

[lexisdude 133]

If the clients would be intranet/internet based - you are going to need a backbone service like a T1 or T3 right off the bat. LAN makes things easier because you don't have to be as concerned with incoming/outgoing bandwidth - and can focus more on the internals of your network. But that leads to a key point: Without knowing what type of network architecture you currently have - or how and where it will be utilized by the clients - it's extremely hard to answer that question. Having 150 concurrent users connected to look at pictures is one thing - to listen to music is another - to download and read offline documents another - and of course to watch streams another.

Software is the easier set of requirements; it's the hardware that deters most average people  (or the monthly backbone costs).

If you have an already established business - you should probably write a business case and/or list of equipment you already possess so that those who could help in this situation know how to address your request. Everyone is throwing out great ideas but you could have all of this stuff tucked away in your server room and we wouldn't even know it

Edited August 3, 2017 by lexisdude

[Jdiesel 1114]

I feel like we may have scared the OP away with our rational thinking

[JeremyFr79 228]

If the clients would be intranet/internet based - you are going to need a backbone service like a T1 or T3 right off the bat. LAN makes things easier because you don't have to be as concerned with incoming/outgoing bandwidth - and can focus more on the internals of your network. But that leads to a key point: Without knowing what type of network architecture you currently have - or how and where it will be utilized by the clients - it's extremely hard to answer that question. Having 150 concurrent users connected to look at pictures is one thing - to listen to music is another - to download and read offline documents another - and of course to watch streams another.

 

Software is the easier set of requirements; it's the hardware that deters most average people  (or the monthly backbone costs).

 

If you have an already established business - you should probably write a business case and/or list of equipment you already possess so that those who could help in this situation know how to address your request. Everyone is throwing out great ideas but you could have all of this stuff tucked away in your server room and we wouldn't even know it

I'm not sure you actually know what a T-1 or a T-3 Line are.....compared to modern home broadband you might as well have just said "you need a dial-up connection to serve 150 people" (actually you almost did really)  A T-1 line is only capable of 1.5Mbps a T-3 respectively 44Mbps both of these speeds are easily bested by current DSL/Cable/Fiber offerings etc.  I know it's fun to try to throw "technojargin" around to try to sound like you know what you're talking about, but in reality it just makes the rest of us laugh.

[Jdiesel 1114]

Back in the Napster days a T3 connection was god tier

[Guest asrequested]

I doubt that gigabit would even be enough for that amount of users.

[JeremyFr79 228]

I doubt that gigabit would even be enough for that amount of users.

Figure an average bitrate of 5-7Mpbs per stream and Gig would be fine (if it was a true gig line that could sustain that speed) but yes you'd be pushing it with Gig, and 10Gbps would be overboard unless you were pushing all 4k HDR streams then even 10Gbps probably wouldn't hold up much.

[Guest asrequested]

Figure an average bitrate of 5-7Mpbs per stream and Gig would be fine (if it was a true gig line that could sustain that speed) but yes you'd be pushing it with Gig, and 10Gbps would be overboard unless you were pushing all 4k HDR streams then even 10Gbps probably wouldn't hold up much.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Many of my movies are 30Mb/s. Factoring diversity (not all users online at once, streaming different content etc), there would be a lot of transcoding to squeeze it into a gig.

[JeremyFr79 228]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Many of my movies are 30Mb/s. Factoring diversity (not all users online at once, streaming different content etc), there would be a lot of transcoding to squeeze it into a gig.

I've been shifting over to h.265 as of recent which saves quite a bit in space and bandwidth, unless of course its 4k lol

[Guest asrequested]

I've been shifting over to h.265 as of recent which saves quite a bit in space and bandwidth, unless of course its 4k lol

I haven't changed any of my existing, yet. But h.265 HWA was a big factor in getting the kaby lake. I may start testing that. Does handbrake support the kaby lake h.265, yet? I need to test that.

[JeremyFr79 228]

I don't do any transcode/encode on mine, all that work is done by the servers.

Edited August 3, 2017 by JeremyFr79

[Guest asrequested]

I don't do any transcode/encode on mine, all that work is done by the servers.

And you do have a lot of resource. I'll have to see if they've got it working, correctly.

[JeremyFr79 228]

Actually I am thinning out the herd, I'm selling the beast so to speak. Brought everything to one box ok 2 boxes, save some money on electricity.

Edited August 4, 2017 by JeremyFr79

[Guest asrequested]

Actually I am thinning out the herd, I'm selling the beast so to speak. Brought everything to one box ok 2 boxes, save some money on electricity.

Downsizing eh? You'll miss it lol

[JeremyFr79 228]

Nah it all still meets my needs and that's all that matters. I still have all the storage but I don't have a use for a 32core system at this point. And my system that it's all running on now isn't exactly a slouch by any means lol.

[lexisdude 133]

I'm not sure you actually know what a T-1 or a T-3 Line are.....compared to modern home broadband you might as well have just said "you need a dial-up connection to serve 150 people" (actually you almost did really)  A T-1 line is only capable of 1.5Mbps a T-3 respectively 44Mbps both of these speeds are easily bested by current DSL/Cable/Fiber offerings etc.  I know it's fun to try to throw "technojargin" around to try to sound like you know what you're talking about, but in reality it just makes the rest of us laugh.

If anything I showed my age; nothing more. And I said a backbone like - which could equate to any range of technologies. Being arrogant doesn't help your image - friend.

[pir8radio 1292]

If anything I showed my age; nothing more. And I said a backbone like - which could equate to any range of technologies. Being arrogant doesn't help your image - friend.

 

Yea I was thinking the age thing, but didn't want to be rude. lol  I remember when I had the fastest internet connection with a bonded 2 channel ISDN line..  dual 64k!  I was super cool the hard part was finding an ISP that supported bonded ISDN.  

Edited August 4, 2017 by pir8radio

[Dibbes 431]

Yea I was thinking the age thing, but didn't want to be rude. lol  I remember when I had the fastest internet connection with a bonded 2 channel ISDN line..  dual 64k!  I was super cool the hard part was finding an ISP that supported bonded ISDN.  

 

I had a 256k Cable connection in 1996, I was killing it with multiplayer games at the time... lol

[lexisdude 133]

Yea I was thinking the age thing, but didn't want to be rude. lol  I remember when I had the fastest internet connection with a bonded 2 channel ISDN line..  dual 64k!  I was super cool the hard part was finding an ISP that supported bonded ISDN.  

Lol - I predate you a little.. I was rocking on a 300 baud modem ; before there was even an internet and the only fun thing to do was search for carrier signals. Or dial into library access and use their gopher systems 

Edited August 4, 2017 by lexisdude

[pir8radio 1292]

[d00zah 128]

Enter boot loader by hand, instruction, by instruction, in order to read the paper tape containing the program you actually want to run? Core memories? Ain't technology grand?

[Guest asrequested]

You guys are old lol

[lexisdude 133]

No I think we're right around the same I wrote one of the early war dialer programs and I used to have my own BBS. Lol

Yep - that sounds around right . I was a co-sysop to several BBS's back in the day .. Never had more fun than I did back then - copy parties; ham-ventions ; making fun of ppl answering the phone during wardials ... all on a 8 bit machine 

 

I still have my Vic-20 packed away - with the scott adams adventure games .. It belongs in a museum; like me.. lol

Edited August 4, 2017 by lexisdude

[JeremyFr79 228]

I remember having an acoustic coupler on an 8088, was good friends with a couple that ran the largest BBS in Washington, they eventually turned it into an ISP and of course like all good things eventually went underground.  Nothing like Teletrivia and the such.  Or accessing "CD Libraries" lol.