Surveillance cameras, collectively, generate more data than any other use case or application today. Let that sink in for a minute. More than all the cat videos. More than all the teenage text messages. It’s beyond huge.
At the same time, surveillance storage is growing exponentially based on increasing numbers of cameras, higher resolution and frame rates, and longer retention periods. Storing more surveillance footage for longer periods of time creates bigger headaches for system administrators, who must deliver this video storage without blowing up the budget.
To reduce those headaches and simplify system design, Quantum published a reference architecture for scalable large-scale shared surveillance storage. It includes configuration details for mission-critical systems supporting hundreds to thousands of cameras, and retention periods of 30 days to a year. These are examples, not hard limits – smaller and much larger systems are possible.
In terms of componentry, Quantum’s VS1110-A application servers are used in HA pairs, running the recording servers as virtual machines supporting recording server failover. A Quantum StorNext file system (the fastest file system for video ) running on Xcellis appliances with QXS storage delivers the shared storage and data protection. Validation was performed with common industry tools to ensure maximum performance without dropping frames.
Every customer’s needs are different, so this reference architecture leverages a building block approach to create flexible, scalable video storage systems of any size. Quantum’s cold storage options, including ActiveScale , public cloud, or even tape can be used to reduce storage costs, and GPU-enabled servers are available for running high-performance analytics applications.
With over 20 years of experience helping customers store, manage, and protect video assets globally, the addition of the shared storage solution to Quantum’s already extensive surveillance portfolio ensures we have the right solution for every project size and scope. Whether you have 50 cameras or 50,000 cat videos, we can help.
Visit the Primary Shared Storage for Surveillance web page to learn more.