Need Hardware Recommendations for FMS2

[Steve Strickland]

I am having a FMS2 enabled site and application built and would like ideas on
the best server setup/specs to run the site smoothly. I expect maximum users at
any one time on the site at about 600 with about 400 concurrent FMS2 users. I
will have 4 "rooms" with one way video and audio feeds (1 to many) and as many
as 100, (1 to 1) connections. Although I am more familiar with xServe, I would
prefer to use Linux servers if possible. I have 100 megs of local bandwidth for
serving out the content. Am I better to go with fewer, more robust servers or
more servers with less individual processing power? How much memory per server
works best in your experience? Although Adobe's materials do dot suggest that
load balancing is needed at my size, should I look into load balancing hardware
anyway? All suggestions are most welcome.

[briiiiin]

Ok search whitepaper or something like that anyway on this site. Adobe have got
just what you need.
Basically itll tell you the best processor u need is a Intel Xeon atleast 1
memory card good motherboard, internet card etc but it also goes into details
how to calculate exaclty the amount of money youll pay for licence etc etc
Check it out

[Steve Strickland]

I had seen the general recommendations on the white paper. I hoped to hear
greater detail as to how far above that level of server might be enough. I
especially am suprised to hear that a single server is sufficient.

[JayCharles]

To come up with some working numbers, let's assume you'll have the following
application instances running, and all of your audio/video streams are set at a
bitrate of 128kbps:

A) 4 rooms with 1 to many broadcast, each with a single broadcaster being
viewed by 100 people -and-

B) 100 2 way chat rooms, each having two users both sending/receiving audio
and video

For part A, we'll have a total of 404 streams (400 receiving and 4
broadcasting). At 128kbps, your 404 streams will consume about 50Mbps of
bandwidth.

For part B, we'll have a total of 400 streams (100 rooms each with two
broadcasting streams and two receiving streams), so, there's another 50Mbps.

So, we have a total of 804 streams consuming 100mbps... assuming you stick
with 128kbps. If your video will be sized at 160x120, you might get away with
that bitrate, but if you want a larger image, you'll likely want to increase
the video rate to 265kbps or better.

Given the volume, I'd opt to deploy the app across two, or maybe even three
servers if the budget allows (single processor Xeon machines with 2gb of RAM
should do nicely).

For you OS choice, FMS is rock solid on RHEL 3.

[Steve Strickland]

Thanks Jay,

Your suggestions seem much more what I needed. I am glad to see that I don't need 16 or 32 gigs of ram per server. Again, thanks.

-Steve