Server Requirements

[CoryG]

Hello everyone, I'm looking to offload some of the stuff that isn't work related on a company storage server to other machines, and the MP3s people keep in their personal folders seems a great place to start. I'm wondering what the server requirements are for an environment of about 20 active users at a given time, streaming MP3s (no video to worry about, though I have another thread opened about an LDAP issue). I'd be interested to hear the specs and load on other people's multi-user subsonic installations (ideally for the Linux version, this will be a dedicated Linux box when it is up and running) whether it is more or less than 20 users, as well as any issues that have arisen as the result of overloading the server (and at what approximate number of users it reached an overloaded state). Thanks for taking the time to read/post

[GJ51]

Server load for just hosting mp3's is very minimal as there is no transcoding involved. Upload bandwidth is your primary concern. If 20 people are listening to 320kbps mp3's at the same time you'd need the bandwidth to output 6400kbps out from the server without running into traffic problems if you're all on the same lan.

This shouldn't be a problem on gigabit lan as long as there isn't any additional heavy load that pushes the limits of the network.

It would be interesting to see just how low powered you can go in this environment. My bet is that an old Celeron PC with 1gb of ram would be more than enough. I'd probably go for a low powered atom if it's going to be a new build and dedicated to just serving mp3's. I'd at least want to test it. I've set up Subsonic on atom powered netbooks before and it ran fine, but I never tested with 20 users at the same time, so I'd be interested to see if others have more experience with this. If you don't get enough information from this post, let me know and I'd be happy to set up an atom netbook on my network and let your group bang away on it to see if you can overload it. Just send me a PM and will do back channel communications if you want to go that route.

[CoryG]

Gary,
Thanks for the quick response - I just ordered 3 of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/190677320825?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (part of an effort to free up a beefy server in a dedicated spam server, but the server itself is serious overkill for the task - going to re-purpose it for the CCTV monitor and security system via zoneminder - but will have 2 to play around with - at the price I had to order more than one). The company is running gigabit cat-6 connections to all the PCs with a 10gigabit fiber backbone connecting the two halves of the building - though at any time it would likely be streaming 7-9 PCs via gigabit ethernet and 11-13 portable devices via 802.11N - the ebay page says that particular server has 2 gigabit connections, so I might tie one directly to the LAN and the other to a firewall directing traffic from the WiFi routers directly to media server in order to take strain off the LAN connections and the firewall separating the WiFi from LAN and server DMZs.

[GJ51]

You'll be golden.

Keep us posted regarding the results once you get it up and running.

I'm setting up SS 4.7 b1 on my netbook again just for fun. I'll PM you a link once I get it done.

[lovebags]

Check out my post about the technical set-up of our server and the issues we have been having with our institutional set-up....viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9552
We run with LDAP and have a potential user base of around 65,000. Thankfully the most at one time that have connected recently has been around 30-35 but has caused all sorts of CPU issues with our Windows Server. I'm not sure if it's a subsonic software or VM issues we are having but one of things we have to try and keep testing.

[GJ51]

Check out my post about the technical set-up of our server and the issues we have been having with our institutional set-up....viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9552
We run with LDAP and have a potential user base of around 65,000. Thankfully the most at one time that have connected recently has been around 30-35 but has caused all sorts of CPU issues with our Windows Server. I'm not sure if it's a subsonic software or VM issues we are having but one of things we have to try and keep testing.

If your library is all mp3 and you don't do any downsampling or transcoding you should be able to handle a pretty large userbase without too much CPU load. AT some point you'll have to monitor lan load depending on how many users are on at the same time. You may also need to look at disk load as well once the active user base increases the load. I'd love to see the environment just to get a feel for some of the resources used as the number of connections increases. I would think eliminating any transcoding would be your first priority with that many users or you'll need to ramp up CPU power before too long.

You may also see performance improvements once 4.7 final is released. The beta is much faster than 4.6.

[lovebags]

I'm already using the latest 4.7beta in production due to the improved playlist features. There will be a two week period later in the year when the server gets punished with up to 10,000 hits per day. Am planning to increase CPU on the VM as required if I see that is the bottleneck. Though 4.7 might just handle the extra load better as it is. Will report on how it goes but let me know if you want any other info.