MediaCentral Platform Services v2.10 Hardware Guide Important Information For the latest information on MediaCentral Platform Services, see the documentation available from the MediaCentral Documentation page of the Avid Knowledge Base. Updates are occasionally issued after initial release. This document is intended for people who either need to advise on or directly make purchase decisions for hardware on which MediaCentral Platform Services (MCS) will be installed and configured.
Contents Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Operating System Requirements and Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Memory Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Caching and HDD Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overview Overview Before getting into the details of buying hardware, take a moment to understand what MCS is, and why it is important to make the right hardware purchasing decisions.
Overview Server Requirements at a Glance Determining the number of required servers depends on a number of factors: 1. Deployment Type: The type of deployment is the primary influence on server requirements. An iNEWS only deployment without video playback has the lowest processing needs. MediaCentral UX and Interplay MAM deployments require more CPU resources, due to the media transcoding requirements. 2. Media Formats: The next biggest consideration is the source media format.
Overview Number of Deployment Servers Model 3+ Description Master, Slave and Adds increased peak-usage and media transcoding capacity. Load Balancing Deploying multiple servers in a cluster is particularly important for sites with many users and/or resource-hungry media formats. For example, a single server can support the simultaneous playback of over 100 Avid JFIF media streams, but only 15 streams of AVC Intra 50 to MediaCentral UX.
Operating System Requirements and Support Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell Consult the manufacturer’s web site for the most up-to-date for resources for researching and configuring the servers supported for MediaCentral Platform Services. • HP (Enterprise) website (US): https://www.hpe.com/us/en/home.html • Dell (Enterprise) website (US): http://www.dell.
Operating System Requirements and Support HP provides other RHEL support options (subscription periods, support for more server sockets and/ or virtual guests), but the two options listed above are the most appropriate selections for MCS deployments. For more information, visit: https://h41380.www4.hpe.com/red-hat-product-selector/ Direct RHEL Support Price-sensitive customers may prefer to provision RHEL support subscriptions directly from Red Hat. In this case, they order the server with no OS.
Memory Requirements Memory Requirements The following table summarizes the MCS memory requirements: RAM Description 64 GB Minimum RAM required for MCS v2.1 and earlier deployments 96 GB Minimum RAM required for all current deployments (MCS 2.2 and later) 128 GB Minimum RAM required for deployments with high-quality streaming and/or Media | Index To optimize RAM configuration and slot usage, it is helpful to understand how the Intel Xeon processor addresses memory.
Memory Requirements 96 GB Memory Configuration When configuring the server with 96 GB RAM, the following illustration shows acceptable DIMM placement: In the above illustration, note that the first configuration (12 x 8 GB DIMMs) indicates best use of the CPU’s capabilities, since it populates each memory channel. Although the second configuration achieves the desired amount of RAM (96 GB), it is a suboptimal configuration as two memory channels remain unused.
Caching and HDD Requirements Adding Memory to Accommodate Higher-Quality Playback In MediaCentral 2.0 a feature was introduced where you can add users to a group with the ability to set a maximum JPEG stream image size of up to 960px wide (as opposed to the default maximum width of 480px).
Caching and HDD Requirements Deployment Comments MCS for Interplay | MAM • The cache is populated with FLV files when a file-based playback request is made of any non-MP4 (H.264/aac) format proxy. • The Remote Playback workflow introduced with MCS v2.5 caches JPEGs and audio media for frame-based playback. • The cache is not used when playing back MP4 (H.264/aac) browse proxies. For hard drive specifications and the number of drives required, see Media Cache Drive Configuration below.
Supported Network Adapters for Avid Shared Storage Supported Network Adapters for Avid Shared Storage MCS provides playback of video assets registered in Interplay | Production and residing on Avid shared storage over a Zone 1, Zone 2, or Zone 3 (recommended) through a 1 Gb or 10 Gb connection. The following tables list the network adapters that are supported with Avid MediaCentral Platform Services for an Avid shared storage connection.
Over-Specifying and Under-Specifying the Hardware Over-Specifying and Under-Specifying the Hardware In some cases a price-sensitive customer looking to set up a smaller deployment may want to provision more cost effective servers because they do not need the capacity of the server specified in this document. This is supported in some cases. In other cases, a customer may be provisioning for a very large number of users, or looking to support high-density media formats (e.g. AVC-I 50/100).
Deploying Multiple Servers MCS & iNEWS on the Same Server MediaCentral Platform Services and Avid iNEWS can be installed on the same physical hardware in a virtualized environment. In other words, a single VM server can host separate MCS and iNEWS virtual machines. Co-installing MCS and iNEWS under a single instance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (physical or virtual) is not supported.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral UX for iNEWS Only Determining Scale: MediaCentral UX for iNEWS Only iNEWS-only workflows do not include a video playback component. In this situation, a single MediaCentral server is sufficient. A single server includes power and operating system HDD redundancy, but minimal redundancy for service failures. For additional redundancy, a second server can be added to create a two-node cluster configuration.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral UX - Mixed Workflow Media Format and Stream Count Assessment To determine the number of servers you need to support your deployment of MediaCentral, you need to know which media formats are in use, as each server can support a certain number of concurrent playback streams per format. Some notes about the following tables: • The HP DL360p Gen8 server is used as an example in both tables.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral UX - Mixed Workflow Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge (v2) CPU MCUX Users Mobile Users Format 1 Gb 10 Gb 1 Gb 10 Gb AVC Intra 50 NS 15 10 10 AVC Intra 100 NS 14 NS 10 Avid JFIF 2:1/20:1 NA 110 NA 50 DNxHD 145 NS 20 NS 16 DNxHD 220x NS 16 NS 16 DNxHD 100 NS 22 NS 16 DNX 45 12 24 12 24 DV 25 30 85 20 42 DV50 12 53 12 50 XDCAM EX 35 16 40 16 42 IMX 30/40 28 68 20 42 IMX 50 28 70 16 42 XDCAM HD 17.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral UX - Mixed Workflow * Frame rate not guaranteed. Frame rate might temporarily be reduced during playback. Panasonic AVC Ultra Server Type 12 25 50 12 25 50 12 25 50 1080i / 1080i / 1080i / 1080i / 1080i / 1080i / 1080p / 1080p / 1080p / 59.94 59.94 59.94 50 50 50 29.97 29.97 29.97 HP DL360 Gen8, v2 7 E5-2670 / 2.5ghz / 10 core, 10gige 5 3 15 10 6 12 10 5 HP DL360 Gen9, v3 4 E5-2650L / 1.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral for Media Composer | Cloud Remote Overhead Assessment To determine the number of servers you need, some overhead must be accounted for: • There is a constant overhead of 0.25 servers to run non-playback services, followed by the servers needed to run the total number of users for each format. • If high-availability is required, add one (1) additional server. Final Assessment You make the final assessment by bringing in all previous assessments together.
Determining Scale: MediaCentral for Media Composer | Cloud Remote Sequence Complexity Similar to the scale assessment for MediaCentral UX, the number of streams and users has a direct effect on the number of servers required to support the workflow. Additionally, as sequences created in Media Composer are often more complex than those created in MediaCentral UX, you must also account for this added complexity when determining scale for Media Composer Cloud Remote workflows.
Determining Scale: Interplay | MAM Deployments Determining Scale: Interplay | MAM Deployments MCS for Interplay | MAM provides playback of different video asset formats registered as a browse proxy by Interplay | MAM and residing on standard file system storage or proprietary storage that provides a standard system gateway. For each playback request, MCS does one of the following: • File-based playback (native). MCS serves the proxy file as is to the remote web-based client.
Determining Scale: Interplay | MAM Deployments 3. Will known servers (HP or Dell) be utilized or are custom servers from a specific vendor be procured? If so, attach a detailed specification of the target server with the questionnaire. 4. On which storage solution and/or file system are the proxies stored? If the storage system is proprietary, please indicate the standard file system gateway through which MCS will mount it (e.g., Omneon MediaGrid via CIFS).
Qualified Servers Qualified Servers The following sections cover the Avid qualified servers for use with MediaCentral Platform Services. Product descriptions and part numbers have been added (where available). n This document provides HP and Dell part numbers for each item as a reference. Prices are not provided, and may differ, depending on your geography and the customer’s relationship with HP or Dell. Part numbers may change without notification.
Qualified Servers Item Qty Part Number Component Description 726718-B21 Memorya HP 8 GB (1x8 GB) Single Rank x4 DDR4-2133 CAS15-15-15 Registered Memory Kit 5 766205-B21 Storage controllerb HP DL360 Gen9 Smart Array P840 SAS Card with Cable Kit 6 -- -- Drive cage HP 8-Bay Small Form Factor Drive Cage 7 764630-B21 Additional drive cage HP DL360 Gen9 2SFF SAS/SATA Universal Media (optional, but Bay Kit recommended) 652745-B21 1st and 2nd hard drive HP 500 GB 6G SAS 7.2K rpm SFF (2.
Qualified Servers • Items 9 and 10: The first two drives are configured in RAID 1 and host the operating system and MCS software installation. All remaining drives are configured in a RAID 5 as a media file cache. For more information, see “Caching and HDD Requirements” on page 10.
Qualified Servers 6. Power Supply 1 Status LED 7. Power Supply 1 C13 Connection 8. Video Connector 9. Embedded 4x1 Gb 331i Network Adapter (not supported for Avid shared storage) 10. Dedicated iLO 4 connector 11. Serial Port Connector (Optional) 12. USB 3.0 Connectors (2) 13. Unit Identification LED 14. Flexible LOM bay (Optional, 4x1 Gb shown) Top View 1. Five standard fans ship for 1P and 7 standard fans ship for 2P. High performance fans are also available as an option. 2.
Qualified Servers HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 Avid has qualified the HP DL360P Gen8 server for use with MCS. This 1U form factor server provides enough expansion for NICs and drives to suit all MCS deployments. Although no longer available for purchase, this server continues to be supported. • “QuickSpecs” for detailed specifications, including up-to-date options and part number: http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx%2Fc04123167.pdf • HP Support Center for this model: http://h20565.www2.hpe.
Qualified Servers Item Qty Part Number Component Description 14 HP 1U Small Form Factor Ball Bearing Gen8 Rail Kit 1 663201-B21 Rail Kit a. To configure 8x8 GB RAM (for a total of 64 GB RAM), HP online server configuration requires the following selection (select once for each of the two CPUs): HP 32 GB (4x8 GB) Single Rank x4 PC3-14900R (DDR3-1866) Registered CAS-13 Memory Kit. Before provisioning memory, see “Additional Note: Item #4”, below. b.
Qualified Servers HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 Overview Front View 1. Optional optical drive 2. Slide-out System Insight Display (SID) 3. Video connector (requires Front Video Adapter Kit) 4. USB ports (2) 5. Unit Identification Button & LED 6. Power On/Standby button and system power LED button 7. Health LED 8. NIC Status LED 9. Hard Drive Bays Back View 1. PCIe 3.0 Full-height / half-length x16 expansion slot (Myricom 10 Gb / HP NC365T 1 Gb NIC card goes here) 2.
Qualified Servers Dell PowerEdge R630 Avid has qualified the Dell PowerEdge R630 server for use with MCS. This 1U form factor server provides enough expansion for NICs and drives to suit all MCS deployments. The Dell PowerEdge R620 is also supported, but is no longer available for purchase. • Dell PowerEdge R630 product page: http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/poweredge-r630/pd • Dell Support Center: http://www.dell.
Qualified Servers Item Qty Part Number Component Description 15 -- -- Additional PCIe cards No additional PCIe cards 16 1 I8EXP Embedded Systems Management iDRAC8 Express, integrated Dell Remote Access Controller, Express 17 -- -- Internal SD module None 18 -- NODVD1 Internal Optical Drive No internal optical drive 19 -- NOBEZL Bezel No bezel RRCMA Rack Rails ReadyRails™ Sliding Rails With Cable Management Arm 20 21 -- HPBIOS Performance BIOS Setting Performance BIOS Setting
Qualified Servers Item Qty Part Number Component Description 40 -- -- Proactive Systems Management None 41 -- NOINSTL Installation Services No installation 42 -- -- Proactive Maintenance Proactive maintenance declined 43 -- NORCS Remote Consulting Service 44 -- -- Additional Installation No additional installation services Services 45 -- -- Keep Your Hard Drive None Declined Remote Consulting Service a.
Qualified Servers Rear View 1. System identification button 2. System identification connector 3. iDRAC8 Enterprise port 4. LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 1) 5. Serial connector 6. LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 2) 7. Video connector 8. USB connectors (2) 9. LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 3) 10. Ethernet connectors (4) 11. Power supply (PSU1) 12. Power supply (PSU2) Top View 1. Control panel assembly (not indicated) 2.
Qualified Servers 3. Processor 1 4. DIMMs (6) 5. PSU connector 6. Power supply (2) 7. Riser card 8. Network daughter card 9. Riser card 1 10. Riser card 2 11. DIMMs (6) 12. Processor 2 13. DIMMs (12) 14. Expander board 15. Hard drive Dell PowerEdge R620 Although no longer available for purchase, this server continues to be supported. • Dell PowerEdge R620 product page: http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/poweredge-r620/pd • Dell Support Center: http://www.dell.
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