VideoSpider Installation Guide
49
domain controller site. [
This manual makes no attempt to describe Windows Server domain
creation and management. Consult the corresponding Windows documentation or third party
literature on how to create network domain and add computers and users account to it
]
As an added service, the same Windows Server machine may act as DHCP and WINS
server for other computers in the network to simplify their configuration. The same
machine may also perform as a
Spider Storage Server
.
Refer to section 3.1.1 on page 13 for details specific to Spider software installation, or to the relevant
Windows XP documentation for general information on user accounts and access rights management.
7.1.3 Network bandwidth considerations
The Spider network architecture does not impose any technical limitations on the number of server and
client computers participating in the network. The only issue to be considered is network bandwidth.
This section is intended to help Spider administrators and users in understanding the means of
communication used within the Spider network and to achieve optimal performance for any network
bandwidth.
Typically, a stream of compressed video data sent by Spider server occupies
0.5
to
3 Mbps
of network
bandwidth. This amount of network traffic will
increase proportionally
to the number active video
channels in use. In addition, the network traffic
may
or
may not
increase with expansion of the number of
receiving client stations, depending on the data transmission method (
protocol
) in use.
When a
Spider Client
requests the
live video feed
from any
Spider Server
for real time monitoring, the
server will transmit data using one of the following methods (
protocols
) depending on the client's
preference. Each of these protocols has its advantages and disadvantages. The selection can be made at
any time by
Spider Operator
or
Spider User
using the
SpiderAdmin
program on client side (see
Spider Online Help
guide for more details) depending on the network type. The supported protocols are
as follows:
TCP
– is a guaranteed delivery, one-to-one data transmission protocol. With this protocol, data is
being sent to
each client separately
. The error-free delivery is ensured by re-transmission of the
missing or corrupted portions of data. The network bandwidth occupied by this protocol is
proportional
to the number of active clients since similar amounts of data need to be sent to
every
client
. Also, additional bandwidth may be occupied by large number of re-transmissions in case of
unreliable network connection. Nevertheless, a high performance 100 Mbps Ethernet network should
be able to sustain about
50
clients using TCP protocol. The point-to-point nature of the protocol
allows Spider servers to provide "personalized service" to each client by sending only selected
channels of video that the client is actually interested in thus conserving network bandwidth.
