The Old "Can I run Two Instances of BI" Question Put Differently

[molimelight]

I know this has been answered a bunch of times, but I was curious if it could be accomplished, with two different computers on the same network, running only one instance when the other computer is down, if care is taken not to mix the databases and storage folders? The reason being, I have my copy of BI3 running on my garage server which, right now, runs 24/7 with no problems. I have six cameras four of them 3MP cameras at at least 1080 at 15 fps without direct to disk. The processor is the AMD Phenom X3 Tri-core 8550 2.14GHz and it's running at about 27%. My office computer is off most of the day. It would be nice to be able to give the garage server a rest in the evenings and only run it and BI3 when I'm not here. It would also be nice to have BI running in the house without having to Remote Access the garage or run UI2 to check on something or record manually, etc. The office computer is the Intel Core i5-4460 Haswell Quad-Core 3.2 GHz 4600, so I think BI4 would run very well on it. It would also serve as instant redundancy if anything happened to the garage unit. Doable?

 

[fenderman]

@molimelight A pc does not need a rest. Doing this would create a disaster where some clips are on one system and some on the other.
I dont know how its possible to run your load on a weak processor like the 8550 with only a 27% load without using direct to disk, something is wrong with those numbers.

 

[molimelight]

I think that the idea of rest for things like a RAID array can be debated. MTBF is based on hours of use. It seems as though you could lengthen the life of hard disks by cutting 10 hours per day out of their use, and that's not taking into account the heat. The garage is not air conditioned and while the chip and MB temps are well within range, I think there is something to be said for not running it 24/7 in the heat. As regards the numbers, there is nothing wrong with them unless CPUID Hardware Monitor and the Windows Hardware Monitor are lying to me also. Does it always stay at 27%? No, sometimes it jumps to 47%, usually at night for some reason, maybe the infrared? But for the most part it remains at 25 to 35% and I've never seen it go above 50%. It was running at 27% when I made the original post. I check it all of the time with the Windows Phone app. I know from other posts you are an Intel fan but I've built computers using AMD CPUs for quite a while and found them to be a cost effective competitor to the Intel brand. I think with the newer i7 chips they are distancing themselves but for what I'm doing with BI the 8550 chip is doing just fine. I built the office computer with the i5 in case the AMD chip was taxed too much but it's done just fine so far. That build was the first Intel chip I've used in one since the 386! Does that give you an idea how long I've been doing it? As far as some clips being on one computer and some on the other, I don't need to save or keep track of many clips. Heck, half of them are bugs, spiders or birds that fly close to the lens. The system is in place mainly to monitor the property and the clips will only become important if there's a security concern or if my dog does something funny, and then I can access the clip directory of either computer from the network. I guess why I was fielding the question was to see if there was anything I hadn't considered in doing it. So, input is still welcome.

 

[fenderman]

I think that the idea of rest for things like a RAID array can be debated. MTBF is based on hours of use. It seems as though you could lengthen the life of hard disks by cutting 10 hours per day out of their use, and that's not taking into account the heat. The garage is not air conditioned and while the chip and MB temps are well within range, I think there is something to be said for not running it 24/7 in the heat. As regards the numbers, there is nothing wrong with them unless CPUID Hardware Monitor and the Windows Hardware Monitor are lying to me also. Does it always stay at 27%? No, sometimes it jumps to 47%, usually at night for some reason, maybe the infrared? But for the most part it remains at 25 to 35% and I've never seen it go above 50%. It was running at 27% when I made the original post. I check it all of the time with the Windows Phone app. I know from other posts you are an Intel fan but I've built computers using AMD CPUs for quite a while and found them to be a cost effective competitor to the Intel brand. I think with the newer i7 chips they are distancing themselves but for what I'm doing with BI the 8550 chip is doing just fine. I built the office computer with the i5 in case the AMD chip was taxed too much but it's done just fine so far. That build was the first Intel chip I've used in one since the 386! Does that give you an idea how long I've been doing it? As far as some clips being on one computer and some on the other, I don't need to save or keep track of many clips. Heck, half of them are bugs, spiders or birds that fly close to the lens. The system is in place mainly to monitor the property and the clips will only become important if there's a security concern or if my dog does something funny, and then I can access the clip directory of either computer from the network. I guess why I was fielding the question was to see if there was anything I hadn't considered in doing it. So, input is still welcome.

There is zero benefit of "rest". Turning the machine on and off is likely to "stress" it more. Intel is the only smart choice for a vms. Its much more power efficient than amd. Additionally at this time blue iris support hardware acceleration for intel only. AMD is not cheaper. Building a machine makes no sense when you can buy an hp/dell business machine with intel haswell i5-4590 for 300 dollars. Includes a 3 year next business day warranty. 200 if you go to ivybridge.
Again, you can certainly run two instances, why not? I dont even understand the question.
But you are wasting your time and now splitting the recordings across two different machines simply to provide some "rest".

 

[chaycock]

In my experience, hard drives do much better if you just leave them running. I have some that have been running over 10 years now. The drives that were in computers that were not left on all the time seemed to fail a lot more frequently than the one's in machines that just stayed on all the time. There is a lot to be said about the impact of thermal stress (heating/cooling repeatedly) on electronics and even the mechanical components.

 

[molimelight]

There is zero benefit of "rest". Turning the machine on and off is likely to "stress" it more.

Do a Google search on this topic and you'll find that this is a myth based upon the very early years of personal computers. Modern systems are no more stressed by off and on than remaining on. Benefits include reduction of wear on fans, power supplies and hard drives. As well as less dirt and dust sucked into the machine, fewer cleanings required. Less wear on components from heat. There is benefit to be gained by daily rebooting. And last but not least, there is the energy savings.

Building a machine makes no sense when you can buy an hp/dell business machine with intel haswell i5-4590 for 300 dollars. Includes a 3 year next business day warranty. 200 if you go to ivybridge.

Did you ever stop to consider I like doing it? Or that I prefer to use motherboards that I like and have had success with, Like Asus? Probably not, because from your comments on this board, if it's not within your world view then it's wrong.

Again, you can certainly run two instances, why not?

Thanks for answering my question.

But you are wasting your time and now splitting the recordings across two different machines simply to provide some "rest".

As I said, there is a solution to the recordings being on two machines, it's called the network. I could even utilize a backup program to copy them to one location, even in the cloud, so how is this a problem? As far as wasting my time, isn't that an entirely subjective opinion? If what I want to do satisfies my needs then it's not a waste of time. If I were to ask you to do it, it might be a waste of your time, but that's not what I'm asking here, is it? While I think you offer a great deal of useful advice here, some perspective would probably save you some time and energy. Speaking of which, I'm done here and I'm hoping you are also. If anyone else who has some experience in doing what I'm inquiring about still wants to chime in after wading through this, please do.

 

[fenderman]

Do a Google search on this topic and you'll find that this is a myth based upon the very early years of personal computers. Modern systems are no more stressed by off and on than remaining on. Benefits include reduction of wear on fans, power supplies and hard drives. As well as less dirt and dust sucked into the machine, fewer cleanings required. Less wear on components from heat. There is benefit to be gained by daily rebooting. And last but not least, there is the energy savings.



Did you ever stop to consider I like doing it? Or that I prefer to use motherboards that I like and have had success with, Like Asus? Probably not, because from your comments on this board, if it's not within your world view then it's wrong.



Thanks for answering my question.



As I said, there is a solution to the recordings being on two machines, it's called the network. I could even utilize a backup program to copy them to one location, even in the cloud, so how is this a problem? As far as wasting my time, isn't that an entirely subjective opinion? If what I want to do satisfies my needs then it's not a waste of time. If I were to ask you to do it, it might be a waste of your time, but that's not what I'm asking here, is it? While I think you offer a great deal of useful advice here, some perspective would probably save you some time and energy. Speaking of which, I'm done here and I'm hoping you are also. If anyone else who has some experience in doing what I'm inquiring about still wants to chime in after wading through this, please do.

Turning off your computer to let it rest is a myth. Its so ridiculous that I cant believe its being suggested. I have many blue iris machines running nonstop for years. The notion is completely ludicrous. Modern systems run nonstop-no issues. I have many office desktops running again for years non stop.
As far as building systems, if you like wasting money for the joy of building your own system then knock yourself out. Most others prefer to save their cash.
Networking will not solve the problem of having to login to two different machines to review video. Backup wont help since you will lose the ability to review video in blue iris. (if you had BI4, you would see how useful the multi-cam sync playback can be).
No one in their right mind does this, because the idea is simply silly.
I maintain 50-100pc at any given time. I cant remember the last time I had a component failure other than a hard drive, which I think was 1-2 times in the last 5 years.
I honestly believe this question is simply trolling. You can build a pc but cant figure out that you can run two separate instances of blue iris? Makes no sense.
One final note, in your op you state you are running a tricore 8550, however in this thread you indicate that its an

AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core. ​

https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/4848-i5-VS-i7-Processor-For-New-BI-Build?p=46443&viewfull=1#post46443
Which one is it?

 

[Q™]

...The notion is completely Ludicrous...

Apparently I need to point out that a notion can be ludicrous...or not ludicrous. But stating that a notion is "completely ludicrous" implies varying degrees of ludicrousity, which of course defies the definition, as I understand it.

Now that I've cleared this up please carry on...

 

[molimelight]

Talk about trolling, you appear to thrive on running this board by doing so. Like I said, if it doesn't fit your world view, rather than leave each to it's own you appear compelled to run them down about it with your superior knowledge. (If someone enjoys doing something, how is it wasting their money?) The benefits of turning a machine off are as I stated. While those benefits may be negligible, and not worth bothering with in your opinion, there is no opinion or myth in that, only fact. As I stated before, I was asking the question about running a separate instance to gain the experience of anyone who had done it or who had ideas about any practical difficulties in doing so, not so you could make yourself feel better by excoriating my reasons for doing so. Part of the reason I posted it with the title and explanation that I did is that any time anyone mentions this you jump on them with both feet as you are doing here and the idea never gets any discussion outside of that. It's a form of geek bullying. "No one in their right mind does this, because the idea is simply silly." "You can build a PC but cant figure out that you can run two separate instances of blue iris? Makes no sense." How does that contribute to a discussion? I was hoping for a different result, silly me. I believe this is a discussion board for all, discussion being the operative word here, not just a place designed for you to impose your view and demean those whose opinions differ. BTW, sorry for the misinformation, it is the FX-8350 Eight Core, and for $169.00 popped into the Asus motherboard, memory and RAID array that I already had in the machine it was much cheaper than trying to duplicate that with a new Intel machine. Well, I thought I was done here before, but now I am. I hope this was a learning experience for you. I know it was for me, just not in the way I had hoped.

 

[fenderman]

Talk about trolling, you appear to thrive on running this board by doing so. Like I said, if it doesn't fit your world view, rather than leave each to it's own you appear compelled to run them down about it with your superior knowledge. (If someone enjoys doing something, how is it wasting their money?) The benefits of turning a machine off are as I stated. While those benefits may be negligible, and not worth bothering with in your opinion, there is no opinion or myth in that, only fact. As I stated before, I was asking the question about running a separate instance to gain the experience of anyone who had done it or who had ideas about any practical difficulties in doing so, not so you could make yourself feel better by excoriating my reasons for doing so. Part of the reason I posted it with the title and explanation that I did is that any time anyone mentions this you jump on them with both feet as you are doing here and the idea never gets any discussion outside of that. It's a form of geek bullying. "No one in their right mind does this, because the idea is simply silly." "You can build a PC but cant figure out that you can run two separate instances of blue iris? Makes no sense." How does that contribute to a discussion? I was hoping for a different result, silly me. I believe this is a discussion board for all, discussion being the operative word here, not just a place designed for you to impose your view and demean those whose opinions differ. BTW, sorry for the misinformation, it is the FX-8350 Eight Core, and for $169.00 popped into the Asus motherboard, memory and RAID array that I already had in the machine it was much cheaper than trying to duplicate that with a new Intel machine. Well, I thought I was done here before, but now I am. I hope this was a learning experience for you. I know it was for me, just not in the way I had hoped.

I will always point out silly notions and ideas. The reason is I dont want other user to be mislead. Some users like yourself dont cant handle blunt truths. You need to be coddled. This forum is not an internet safe zone. That fx-8350 is not a cheaper solution than an intel based machine. The power consumption of that processor and the requisite video card is very high negating any savings over a 300 dollar intel machine.
The relevance of your alleged technical ability to the silliness of your question is pertinent. Though someone who confuses an old weak tricore with an eightcore is likely a novice. That misinformation alone could cause readers grief.
If you need to be coddled and told everything you do is correct then this is not the place for you. Dont let the door hit you on the way out.
Once again, there are no benefits to turning your machine off for a portion of the day. None whatsoever. Accept it. I dont think I have read a more silly idea on this forum.

 

[molimelight]

I will always point out silly notions and ideas. The reason is I dont want other user to be mislead. Some users like yourself dont cant handle blunt truths. You need to be coddled. This forum is not an internet safe zone. That fx-8350 is not a cheaper solution than an intel based machine. The power consumption of that processor and the requisite video card is very high negating any savings over a 300 dollar intel machine.
The relevance of your alleged technical ability to the silliness of your question is pertinent. Though someone who confuses an old weak tricore with an eightcore is likely a novice. That misinformation alone could cause readers grief.
If you need to be coddled and told everything you do is correct then this is not the place for you. Dont let the door hit you on the way out.
Once again, there are no benefits to turning your machine off for a portion of the day. None whatsoever. Accept it. I dont think I have read a more silly idea on this forum.

I don't need to be coddled, just treated with a certain amount of respect which you apparently don't have the ability to do with anyone on this board. All of your answers reek of condescension. The above is clear evidence of that. It must be tough having to come here every day to support your weak ego by demeaning others. Sort of like the emotionally deficient cop who has to put on his uniform and abuse others to feel good. I don't think I'll let the door hit me because, aside from your preening, there's good information here. I just wish I had the special forum ability to put a moderator/administrator on my ignore list.

 

[Q™]

Stop. This is getting more and more ludicrous.

 

[Smitty Blackstone]

Stop. This is getting more and more ludicrous.

Ludicrous-er?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[fenderman]

I don't need to be coddled, just treated with a certain amount of respect which you apparently don't have the ability to do with anyone on this board. All of your answers reek of condescension. The above is clear evidence of that. It must be tough having to come here every day to support your weak ego by demeaning others. Sort of like the emotionally deficient cop who has to put on his uniform and abuse others to feel good. I don't think I'll let the door hit me because, aside from your preening, there's good information here. I just wish I had the special forum ability to put a moderator/administrator on my ignore list.

You have not earned respect. I dont need your physiological analysis which seems to be on par with your technical skill or lack thereof. On any other forum you would have already been banned. Think about that for a minuet. This forum is a platform for discussion and debate, however, if you post a nutty idea or misinformation you will be told as much. I know its difficult to accept it but your idea is stupid. Its really that black and white.
IF you would take the time to actually read my posts you will find that those who are respectful get respect. You will also find the thousands of hours I have devoted to helping others. I guess that kind of thinking is way over your head.

 

[Q™]

Ludicrous-er?

Yea; a veritable plethora of ludicrousiosity.