Fine-tuning & best practices
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FortiRecorder 2.4.2 Administration Guide
Improving performance
When configuring your FortiRecorder appliance and its features, there are many settings and
practices that can yield better performance.
Video performance
Video performance is a combination of the video input (from the cameras) and the video output
(to the browser for live views and playback).
Input performance factors
• Peak number of cameras streaming to the NVR simultaneously
• The camera recording type (motion detection only or continuous)
• The camera resolution, frame rate, and image quality
Output performance factors
• Number of administrator/operator sessions
• Number of live camera views per administrator/operator session
• Peak number of simultaneous administrator/operator live views
has the largest impact on the overall NVR performance.
• Low resolution —
n
MB/s
• Medium resolution — 2
n
MB/s
• High resolution — 6
n
MB/s
In other words, high resolution video will generate 3 times as much raw data as the default,
medium resolution. Depending on how efficiently a specific raw stream can be compressed,
higher resolutions can multiply the bandwidth and/or disk space required per camera,
and per login session
. For example, assuming a FortiCam 20A camera, the NVR can store on
its local hard drive about 36 days’ worth of high resolution video, but about 240 days’ worth of
low resolution video.
Degree of motion in the camera’s field of view also affects video performance. Constant and/or
extreme motion will result in larger files/streams, because the compression method cannot
encode it as efficiently. To improve compression, exclude areas of irrelevant motion such as
fans or blinking lights from the camera’s field of view.
For sizing guidelines and estimates on the amount of video that you will be able to store,
contact your reseller. Alternatively, expand your storage by configuring a network storage
location (see
System performance
• Delete or disable unused cameras. FortiRecorder allocates memory with each camera,
regardless of whether it is actually in active use. Configuring extra cameras will
unnecessarily consume memory and decrease performance.
• To reduce latency associated with DNS queries, use a DNS server on your local network as
your primary DNS. See
