[mythtv-users] Master backend/storage, 1 or 2 machines?

Jim Minihane MythTV at minihane.tzo.com
Wed Aug 16 22:43:56 UTC 2006


You said it. Start with the questions...
The "Master" is a small desktop. No room for PVR-500s. The slave backends
are 1GHz P-IIIs with 5 PCI case slots. Each PVR-500 requires 2 case slots
becaue of the secondary S-Video input. I also have to add a serial port
card to each so that each slave has 4 S-Video inputs and 4 serial ports.
I was thinking about the network traffic issue. I could add a NIC to the
Master and have the slaves connected to it and the onboard NIC connect to
the frontends.
So...
Would an additional NIC aleviate traffic issues? 8KBps*8 encoders.
I'd start with a 4 disk array of eSATA drives RAID-5. If that proves to be
too much I could add another 4 drive array. Although I doubt it would fail
to be enough.
The reason for the dedication of duties is that all the tuners, encoders,
master/slaves will be in the basement. I only want a frontend at each TV.

Thanks for the tip on the network. But my real concern is...
Will a 1.8GHz P-4 be enough to serve as master backend (no encoders) AND
as file storage as well?
Thanks again.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Steven Adeff" <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:27:40 -0400
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Master backend/storage, 1 or 2 machines?

> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> > > bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Steven Adeff
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 1:51 PM
> > > To: Discussion about mythtv
> > > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Master backend/storage, 1 or 2
> machines?
> > >
> > > On 8/16/06, Jim Minihane <MythTV at minihane.tzo.com> wrote:
> > > > I'm building a system with 2 slave backends (2 PVR-500s each, 8
> DirecTV
> > > > D10-100s), one master backend and currently 2 frontends. The
> master and
> > > > frontends have no decoders. I was going to use network storage
> via NFS
> > > to my
> > > > file server, but things have changed. The master is a 1.8GHz
> Compaq EVO.
> > > > Would it be sufficient to serve as storage as well if I add eSATA
> > > storage?
> > > > My network is 100Mbps. I also have a second EVO 1.8GHz machine
> that
> > > could be
> > > > used as NAS, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. What would
> it take
> > > for
> > > > a machine to serve as master backend AND storage for an 8 encoder
> > > system?
> > >
> > > confused...
> > >
> > > and how are you going to connect 8 DirecTV units to only 2
> PVR-500's?
> > >
> On 8/16/06, Jim Minihane <MythTV at minihane.tzo.com> wrote:
> > 2 slave backends, have 2 PVR-500s each which have 2 encoders per
> card.
> > 2x2x2=8
> 
> 
> ah, ok. I also assume you meant the "master and frontends have no
> *encoders*"?
> Any reason you don't want to use the master as a recording machine?
> 
> I would be hesitant to run all 8 encoders and 2 frontends over 100bT
> network as well.
> 
> If your master backend has 5pci slots you would have room for all 4
> PVR-500's and an additional SATA card. One would have to assume as
> well that the PCI bus can handle all this data transfer...
> 
> Since the PVR-500's don't require much CPU, one of the 1.8GHz Compaq's
> should be fine.
> 
> I would suggest a RAID5 array for the recording drive using software
> RAID ( http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/RAID ), low CPU usage and
> quite reliable with no hardware dependency. How many drives in the
> array and what size depends on how much space you need and how much
> your willing to spend. 250-320GB drives are relatively cheap now. The
> more drives the faster the array.
> 
> another option is to use one machine as your Master with the recording
> array and as many PVR-500's as you can fit and have a Slave handle the
> rest of the PVR-500's. This would minimize the network traffic. You
> could even use one of the Slave's as a frontend if you wanted to.
> 
> start with the questions =)
> -- 
> Steve
> Before you ask, read the FAQ!
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions
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