Security Center System Requirements

Guide 5.9

Document last updated: May 25, 2020

Legal notices
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Document information

Document title: Security Center System Requirements Guide 5.9

Original document number: EN.500.100-V5.9.2.0(1)
Document number: EN.500.100-V5.9.2.0(1)
Document update date: May 25, 2020
You can send your comments, corrections, and suggestions about this guide to
[email protected].
Contents
Preface
Legal notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Chapter 1:  Security Center System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 client workstation requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Maximum number of cameras viewed per client type . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Security Center 5.9 server requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Maximum number of cameras and readers per server type . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Maximum number of Media Gateway camera streams . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Maximum number of Privacy Protector™ camera streams . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Maximum number of cameras supported in Unit Assistant Role batch operations . . . . . 11
Security Center 5.9 software requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Additional considerations for server specifications in Security Center 5.9 . . . . . . . 14
Virtualization design guidelines for Security Center . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 2:  AutoVu™ LPR System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 AutoVu™ LPR server requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 3:  Genetec™ Mobile System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Genetec™ Mobile 5.0 . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 4:  Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Web Client . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Software requirements for Security Center 5.9 Web Client . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Browser speeds for Security Center 5.9 Web Client . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Number of user connections per Security Center 5.9 Web Server . . . . . . . . . 27
Where to find product information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Technical support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

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 1
Security Center System Requirements
This section includes the following topics:
• "Security Center 5.9 client workstation requirements" on page 2
• "Maximum number of cameras viewed per client type" on page 3
• "Security Center 5.9 server requirements" on page 5
• "Maximum number of cameras and readers per server type" on page 7
• "Maximum number of Media Gateway camera streams" on page 9
• "Maximum number of Privacy Protector™ camera streams" on page 10
• "Maximum number of cameras supported in Unit Assistant Role batch operations" on
page 11
• "Security Center 5.9 software requirements" on page 12
• "Additional considerations for server specifications in Security Center 5.9" on page
14
• "Virtualization design guidelines for Security Center" on page 15

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 Security Center System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 client workstation requirements

To ensure optimal performance for your needs, client workstations must meet or exceed the minimum,
recommended, or high performance profile for Security Center 5.9.
The requirements for Security Center 5.9 client workstations are as follows:

Client profile Client characteristics

®
• Intel Core™ 2 X6800 @ 2.93 GHz
• 2 GB of RAM or better
• 32-bit operating system
Minimum • 80 GB hard drive for OS and Security Center applications
• 256 MB PCI-Express x16 video card
• 1280 x 1024 or higher screen resolution with 96 dpi
• 100 Mbps Ethernet network interface card

th ®
• 4 Generation Intel Core™ i7-4770 or better
• 8 GB of RAM or better

Recommended • 64-bit operating system

• 120 GB Solid State Drive for OS and Security Center applications
• GbE network interface card
®
• NVIDIA QUADRO K620 2 GB video card

th ®
• 4 Generation Intel Core™ i7-4770 or better
• 16 GB of RAM or better
High performance • 64-bit operating system
Video intensive configuration
• 240 GB Solid State Drive for OS and Security Center applications
• GbE network interface card
® ®
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB video card

GPU considerations
• Minimum of 2 GB of video RAM recommended.
® ®
• If your Intel processors support Intel Quick Sync Video, then this technology can also be used provided
the monitor is plugged into the motherboard. Laptops can also use Quick Sync Video.
• Two or more graphic cards can be used to support different monitors individually. To have the video
decoding done on the card, at least one monitor must be connected to each card.
®
• NVIDIA SLI™ bridge not supported.
® ®
• The decoding of H.265 HEVC video can be accelerated using an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 1070, or
GTX 1080 video card.
• Activating hardware acceleration can generate a slight video decoding delay.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Maximum number of cameras viewed per client type

To ensure optimal performance, do not exceed the maximum number of cameras that can be viewed on each
client workstation type in Security Center 5.9.
The maximum number of H.264 camera streams supported by each client workstation profile is as follows:

H.264 format

Resolution @ 30 fps CIF VGA HD Full HD Ultra HD

352 x 240 640 x 480 1280 x 720 1920 x 1080 3840 x 2160

1
Average bit rate per camera 350 Kbps 1,100 Kbps 2,300 Kbps 5,500 Kbps 50,000 Kbps

Minimum 14 6 2 1 0
2
Recommended 60 47 23 11 6
2, 3
High performance 78 58 50 26 8
(Video intensive
configuration)

1
These are estimates, and cameras from different manufacturers may vary in bit rate at the same resolution
and frame rate. Decoding performance can also vary from one manufacturer to another.
2
With hardware acceleration enabled.
3
Using one video card NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB of RAM.

Performance benchmark for HEVC (H.265)

The following benchmark illustrates the average bit rate of a camera streaming at 20 fps using HEVC (H.265)
video format.
th
The viewing workstation has a 4 Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4770 @ 3.5 GHz processor, with 16 GB RAM, an
SSD hard drive, and runs Windows 8.1. The video card used is an NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with 6 GB of
RAM connected to a 4K monitor.

H.265 format

Resolution @ 20 fps VGA HD UXGA Full HD

640 x 480 1280 x 720 1600 x 1200 1920 x 1080

Average bit rate per camera 115 Kbps 445 Kbps 730 Kbps 3,000 Kbps

Maximum number of 77 51 31 24
cameras

Encryption impact on workstation performance

Video encryption can increase the CPU usage by up to 40% when viewing low-resolution video (CIF). The
impact becomes less noticeable as the resolution of the video increases, because much more processing
power is spent on decoding the video than on decrypting the video. The impact on performance becomes
unnoticeable when viewing HD and Ultra-HD video.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Watermark impact on workstation performance

Video watermarks are rendered by the client workstation. This extra load reduces the maximum number of
live and playback video streams that can be displayed simultaneously. On average, the maximum number
of tiles that can be displayed when hardware acceleration is enabled is reduced by 10%. This reduction
reaches 30% on machines without hardware acceleration. The performance impact increases with the video
resolution.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 server requirements

To ensure optimal performance for your needs, servers must meet or exceed the minimum, recommended,
or high performance profile for a Security Center 5.9 Directory, Archiver, and Access Manager.
The requirements for Security Center 5.9 servers are as follows:

Server profile Server characteristics

®
• Intel Core™ 2 Duo E6850 3.0 GHz or better
• 4 GB of RAM or better
• 80 GB hard drive for OS and Security Center applications
1
Minimum • Separate storage disk from OS primary disk for Archiver storage
• 32-bit operating system
• 100/1000 Mbps Ethernet network interface card
2
• Standard SVGA video card

® ®
• Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 2.10 GHz or better
• 16 GB of RAM or better

Recommended up to • 64-bit operating system

300 Mbps • 80 GB SATA II hard drive or better for OS, Security Center applications, and
Archiver database storage (when using a local Archiver database)
• GbE network interface card
1
• Standard SVGA video card

® ®
• Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 2.10 GHz or better
• 16 GB of RAM or better
• 64-bit operating system
• 80 GB SATA II hard drive or better for OS and Security Center applications
Above 300 Mbps, up
to 500 Mbps • Dedicated video disks of at least 12 drives in RAID 5 or 6
• GbE network interface card
1
• Standard SVGA video card
3
• Pre-event recording values set to the default value of 4 seconds
4
• Playback or Archive transfer should not exceed 100 Mbps

• Streamvault™ rackmount appliance

The Streamvault™ 2000, 4000, and 7000 Series offer high performance for video
5
High performance intensive archiving. Starting from 500 cameras or 500 Mbps, and 150 Mbps of
Video intensive configuration video redirection, up to 1000 cameras or 2000 Mbps, and 400 Mbps of video
redirection.
To find the right Streamvault™ model for your project, contact Genetec™ Sales at
[email protected], or call 1-866-684-8006 (option #2).

1
For the minimum server profile, the Maximum server memory of SQL Server must be limited to 512 MB.
2
Config Tool requires a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768. Not required for virtual servers.
3
To increase this value, you must proportionally reduce the Archiver's maximum bitrate.
4
For cases that exceed 100 Mbps, subtract the equivalent bandwidth from the maximum archiving
bandwidth.

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 Security Center System Requirements

5
The intended throughput requires specific hardware and software configurations.

GPU considerations
The decoding, privacy
®
protection,
®
and encoding of H.264 Privacy Protector video streams can be accelerated
using an NVIDIA Quadro video card.

KiwiVision™ deployments
For the deployment of KiwiVision™ modules, use the KiwiVision™ Hardware Calculator.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Maximum number of cameras and readers per server type

To ensure optimal performance, do not exceed the maximum number of cameras and readers supported by
each server type in Security Center 5.9.

Server type Minimum Recommended

Directory & Archiver 50 cameras or 50 Mbps 100 cameras or 200 Mbps

(Video only)

1
Standalone Archiver 75 cameras or 75 Mbps 300 cameras or 500 Mbps
(Video only)

Directory & Access

• One of the following for readers: • One of the following for readers:
Manager
• 100 HID Edge readers/V2000 • 300 HID Edge readers/V2000
(Access control only)
• 150 readers on HID V1000 • 1000 readers on HID V1000
• 150 readers on Synergis™ • 1024 readers on Synergis™
Cloud Link Cloud Link
• 10 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud • 100 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud
Link Link
• 10,000 cardholders • 250,000 cardholders

Standalone Access
• One of the following for readers: • One of the following for readers:
Manager
• 400 HID Edge readers/V2000 • 700 HID Edge readers/V2000
(Access control only)
• 400 readers on HID V1000 • 2000 readers on HID V1000
• 400 readers on Synergis™ • 2048 readers on Synergis™
Cloud Link Cloud Link
• 20 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud • 100 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud
Link Link
• 100,000 cardholders • 250,000 cardholders

Directory, Archiver &

2 • 50 cameras or 50 Mbps and 64 • 100 cameras or 200 Mbps and 200
Access Manager
readers readers
(Unified) • 5 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud Link • 40 HID V1000/Synergis™ Cloud
• 5,000 cardholders Link
• 40,000 cardholders

1
For high performance Archivers (500 cameras and up), see Security Center 5.9 server requirements on page
5.
2
If the server is configured with the minimum requirements, SQL Server must be hosted on a separate
machine.

Encryption impact on Archiver performance

The first encryption certificate enabled on the Archiver reduces the capacity of the Archiver by 30%. Each
additional encryption certificate applied to all cameras further reduces the Archiver capacity by 4%.
For example, on an Archiver that supports 300 cameras without encryption:

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 Security Center System Requirements

Number of certificates enabled Number of supported cameras

0 encryption certificates (no encryption) 300 cameras

1 encryption certificate 210 cameras

5 encryption certificates 178 cameras

10 encryption certificates 145 cameras

20 encryption certificates 96 cameras

BEST PRACTICE: Do not exceed 20 encryption certificates per Archiver.

For more information on fusion stream encryption, see the Security Center Administrator Guide.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Maximum number of Media Gateway camera streams

To ensure optimal performance, do not exceed the maximum number of camera streams supported by a
Media Gateway in Security Center 5.9.
Media Gateway agents provide video streams to the Security Center Web Client, Genetec™ Mobile app, and
external RTSP connections. The maximum number of camera streams supported by a dedicated Media
Gateway server in Security Center 5.9 is as follows:
NOTE: The following benchmark shows the maximum number of Media Gateway camera streams on a
server with the Recommended hardware profile.

H.264 format VGA Full HD

Input resolution @ 15 fps 640 x 480 1920 x 1080

Maximum streams without transcoding 350 150

1 1
Maximum streams with MJPEG transcoding 100 40

Maximum stream with MJPEG transcoding + 130 54

Nvidia P2000 GPU

1
Video watermarking requires extra processing of transcoded video frames. If watermarking is applied to all
streams, the maximum number of Media Gateway camera streams is reduced by 30%.
Video stream transcoding is determined by the requesting application, as follows:

Requesting application Transcoded?

External RTSP connections Never

Genetec™ Mobile Always

Web Client Only in the following situations:

• Requesting user has video watermarking enabled
• Requesting user is streaming a PTZ camera and
moving it (PTZ widget)
• Browser does not support H.264 decoding
through Media Source Extensions
• Original stream is not H.264

When transcoding, output is resized to resolutions of 640x480 (VGA) or less, maintaining the aspect ratio.

Media Gateway impact on performance

CAUTION: Do not host Media Gateway on the same server as an Archiver. The Media Gateway role can
use significant processing power. High CPU usage on the Archiver server can result in Archiving queue full
situations that might lead to data loss.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Maximum number of Privacy Protector™ camera streams

To ensure optimal performance, do not exceed the maximum number of camera streams supported by
Privacy Protector™ in Security Center 5.9.
The maximum number of camera streams that can be processed by Privacy Protector™ on a dedicated server
in Security Center 5.9 varies depending on the graphics processing unit (GPU) or any CPU capping that is
used in your configuration.
TIP: Encoding and decoding H.264 video streams can be accelerated by an NVIDIA® Quadro® video card.
th
The following benchmark was performed on a server with a 4 Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6770, and an
NVIDIA® Quadro® P2000 with 5GB of RAM:
NOTE: Output is resized to a maximum resolution of 640x480 (VGA) at 12 frames per second.

H.264 format VGA Full HD

Input resolution @ 15 fps 640 x 480 1920 x 1080

Maximum number of camera streams 10 6

(Without hardware acceleration)

Maximum number of camera streams 25 25

(With hardware acceleration)

Privacy protection impact on performance

CAUTION: Do not host Privacy Protector™ on the same server as an Archiver. The Privacy Protector™ role
can use significant processing power. When CPU usage on the Archiver server is high, Archiving queue full
situations can occur and data can be lost.
For the best performance, use NVIDIA® Quadro® video cards. Alternatively, you can also use an Intel® CPU
(Quick Sync chip set) that supports Intel® Quick Sync Video, such as Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v5 Family.
IMPORTANT: You cannot achieve the benchmark performance figures using the Quick Sync chip set.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Maximum number of cameras supported in Unit Assistant

Role batch operations
To ensure optimal performance, do not exceed the maximum number of cameras supported in Security
Center 5.9 Unit Assistant Role (UAR) batch operations.
Some operations, like camera password change, introduces camera reconnection. It is recommended to plan
these operations to occur during non-critical periods.
By default, the role runs on the server hosting the Directory and into Video Unit Control agents running on
Archiver servers. It mainly uses CPU resources along with some network and disk resources.
IMPORTANT: Monitor server CPU usage if normal usage is already high to ensure UAR operation does not
introduce undesirable impacts.
The maximum number of cameras supported by each server type in Security Center 5.9.1.0 and later is as
follows:

Server Type Recommended High Performance

Directory & UAR 5.9.2.0 5.9.2.0

• Batch of 10,000 cameras • Batch of 10,000 cameras
• CPU usage increased by over • Low CPU increase
80% during operation • Tested duration 35-65 seconds
• No impact on system
• Tested duration 110 seconds

5.9.1.0 5.9.1.0
• Batch of 3000 cameras • Batch of 7000 cameras
• CPU usage increased by over • Low CPU increase
80% during operation
• No impact on system
• Tested duration 20 seconds

Archiver & UAR Agents Same as maximum number N/A

of camera recommended for
(VideoUnitControl)
Archivers.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 software requirements

To ensure that your system runs optimally, it is important to know the software requirements for Security
Center 5.9.
NOTE: If you plan on running antivirus software on any machine running Security Center, you must also
configure the required exceptions. For more information, see "Best practices for configuring antivirus
software for Security Center" in Security Center Best Practices - Enterprise.
The requirements for Security Center 5.9 software are as follows:

Category Supported software

® 1
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro/Enterprise
® 1
• Microsoft Windows 10 Pro version 1607 and later
® 1
• Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB version 1607 and later
5 ®
Operating systems • Microsoft Windows Server 2012
2,3
® 2,3
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
® 2,3
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016
® 2,3
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019

• SQL Server 2012 Express/Standard/Enterprise

• SQL Server 2014 Express/Standard/Enterprise
4
Database Engines • SQL Server 2016 Express/Standard/Enterprise
3

3
• SQL Server 2017 Express/Standard/Enterprise
3
• SQL Server 2019 Express/Standard/Enterprise

• Internet Explorer 11
• Microsoft Edge 25 or later
Browsers for Security
Center Server Admin • Chrome 46 or later
• Firefox 42 or later
• Safari 9 or later

• Internet Explorer 11
Browsers for Synergis™ • Microsoft Edge
Appliance Portal • Chrome
• Firefox

• Internet Explorer 11 or later

• Microsoft Edge for Windows 10
Browsers for Security
Center Web Client • Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari (desktop version)

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 Security Center System Requirements

Category Supported software

• VMware ESXi 5.x

Virtualization (Server) • VMware ESXi 6.x
®
• Microsoft Hyper-V with Windows Server 2012/2012 R2/2016/2019

®
Clustering • Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2012 R2/2016/2019
• NEC ExpressCluster X R3 WAN/LAN Editions for Windows v.3.0.0.1

1
Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported.
2
Only Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions are supported.
3
Only 64-bit versions are supported.
4
For the minimum server profile, the Maximum server memory of SQL Server must be limited to 512 MB.
5 ® ®
Microsoft Windows 7 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate SP1 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 are no
longer supported because they are no longer supported by Microsoft.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Additional considerations for server specifications in

Security Center 5.9
To ensure your system runs optimally, there are additional things to consider for server specifications in
Security Center 5.9.
Note the following additional considerations for server specifications in Security Center 5.9.
• When video streaming is not in multicast from the camera, the maximum throughput calculation must
include camera streams being redirected by the Archiver.
• Software motion detection can reduce the maximum capacity by as much as 50%. When enabling motion
detection, use hardware motion detection to ensure maximum capacity.
• Systems above 300 cameras or doors must isolate the Directory on a dedicated server.
• A more powerful server than the recommended specification will not necessarily increase the maximum
capacity.
• A virtual machine with the exact same specifications as its physical counterpart has 20% less capacity.
• A dedicated Network Interface Card (NIC) should be assigned per instance of the Archiver role or Access
Manager role when using virtualization.
• VMware ESXi must be installed on a clean computer; that is, no operating system is installed on the
computer.
• The Genetec™ Server service cannot be installed on the same machine as the domain controller.

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 Security Center System Requirements

Virtualization design guidelines for Security Center

When designing a virtual environment for Security Center, follow these best practices to ensure that the
system is properly dimensioned for your needs.
IMPORTANT: Contact your Systems Engineer if your system does not follow the virtualization design
guidelines.
Virtual machines have a small decrease in performance when compared to real hardware. The performance
loss due to virtualization is typically under 20% of the overall machine performance, but can vary depending
on the selected hardware and the hypervisor configuration. The following recommendations are based on
internal testing and field experience, and will help minimize the performance impact.
For more information about virtualization, refer to Archiver Redundancy Performance in Security Center.

Provisioning
• Virtual Machine (VM): Do not exceed 6 total VMs per host and a maximum of 4 video-intensive VMs per
host (Video-intensive VMs run Archiver, Auxiliary Archiver, Media Gateway, or Privacy Protector roles).
Make sure Security Center is installed on a dedicated host.
• CPU: Do not assign more vCPUs to your VMs than the number of physical cores on the host machine.
Hyperthreaded virtual cores should not be provisioned.
• Memory: Assign at least 16 GB of RAM to each VM and keep 16 GB of RAM unallocated for the hypervisor.
The total amount of memory allocated to the VMs and the hypervisor should not exceed the total amount
of physical memory available from the host.
• Storage: Storage configurations depend on the hardware vendor’s best practices and the system
environment.
For the operating system:
• Install Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL databases on a dedicated, high performance drive,
usually on an SSD or a Storage Area Network (SAN) with SSD or hybrid storage.
• Do not use the OS drive for archived video.
• Make the OS partition at least 120 GB.
For archived video, configure Archiver video disks inside one of the following:
• a data store (VMDK or VHD)
• Raw Device Mapping (RDM) for fiber channel
• In-Guest iSCSI
NOTE: Other configurations might result in degraded performance.
• Network:
• Send video traffic on a different VLAN from storage traffic.
• Preferred configuration is at least one 40 GbE or 10 GbE network card for shared traffic (management,
video and storage) with a Virtual Switch. Otherwise, dedicate a 1GbE network card per VM for video
traffic.
NOTE: Alternate network configurations might result in multicast traffic being sent to all hosted VMs
simultaneously. Depending on the host or its configuration, this might impact the overall performance.

Security Center
• Archiver: When provisioning multiple archiving VMs on a host, do not exceed the following data
transmission rates:
• 300 Mbps for incoming and outgoing video on each VM.
• 1200 Mbps for incoming video and outgoing playback on each host.

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 Security Center System Requirements

• Directory: Use static MAC addresses when installing a Directory on a VM. Changing this value will
invalidate the system license.

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 2
AutoVu™ LPR System Requirements
This section includes the following topics:
• "Security Center 5.9 AutoVu™ LPR server requirements" on page 18

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 AutoVu™ LPR System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 AutoVu™ LPR server requirements

To ensure that your system runs optimally, it is important to know the minimum, recommended, and high
performance requirements for a Security Center 5.9 AutoVu™ LPR server.
1
The requirements for a Security Center 5.9 server hosting the LPR Manager role are as follows:

Server profile Server characteristics

®
• Intel Core™ i5-3550 equivalent processor or better
• 8 GB of RAM (minimum 4 GB dedicated to SQL Server)
• Separated storage disk from OS primary disk
2
Minimum • 50 AutoVu™ units (Sharp or Genetec Patroller™ combined)
• SQL Server Express database server containing up to 6 000 000 LPR Events
(Reads and Hits combined)
• Maximum of 5 simultaneous user connections

®
• Intel Core™ i7-3820 equivalent processor or better
• 16 GB of RAM (minimum 6 GB dedicated to SQL Server)
• Dedicated RAID5 storage with 4 enterprise grade disks or better
Recommended • 100 AutoVu™ units (Sharp or Genetec Patroller™ combined)
• SQL Server Standard database server containing up to 25 000 000 LPR Events
(Reads and Hits combined)
• Maximum of 20 simultaneous user connections

® ®
• Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 equivalent processor or better
• 32 GB of RAM (minimum 8 GB dedicated to SQL Server)
• Dedicated RAID5 storage with at least 8 high performance enterprise grade
High performance disks or better
3
• Up to 300 AutoVu™ units (Sharp or Genetec Patroller™ combined)
• SQL Server Standard database server containing up to 80 000 000 LPR Events
(Reads and Hits combined)
• Maximum of 80 simultaneous user connections

1
These requirements are for installation on a single server. For higher performance, you can distribute the
load on several servers.
2
For the minimum server profile, the Maximum server memory of SQL Server must be limited to 512 MB.
3
Must be distributed between three LPR Manager or Archiver roles on the machine.

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 3
Genetec™ Mobile System Requirements
This section includes the following topics:
• "Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Genetec™ Mobile 5.0" on page 20

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 Genetec™ Mobile System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Genetec™

Mobile 5.0
The number of video streams and amount of traffic that Security Center 5.9 can deliver vary depending on
the camera stream settings, the Mobile Server role settings, and the performance of the server that hosts the
Media Gateway and Mobile Server roles.
The Media Gateway role is used by Genetec™ Mobile and Web Client to get transcoded video from Security
Center. The Media Gateway role supports the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), which external
applications can use to request raw video streams from Security Center.
The stream settings are configured in Config Tool. For more information, see the followings topics in the
Security Center Administrator Guide:
• "Configuring Mobile Server roles"
You can configure different video settings for WiFi and cellular connections. Mobile Server always uses
the WiFi connection when it is available. You can find these settings in Config Tool under Mobile Server >
Properties > Video > Video settings.
• "Configuring video streams of cameras"
The Mobile Server sends the video stream that most closely matches the stream requested by the
Genetec™ Mobile app to minimize the transcoding work done by the Media Gateway.
NOTE: Genetec™ Mobile does not support H.264. The Media Gateway converts all H.264 streams to MJPEG
before sending them to the mobile device. If the requested video resolution is lower than the source video
resolution, the Media Gateway requires more CPU to downscale the image, which reduces the number of
streams that the server can handle.
The following sets of test results indicate the maximum number of video streams, for each server type and
various streaming scenarios, without diminished performance. In each scenario, the server hosts the Mobile
Server and the Media Gateway roles, and the CPU usage is maintained between 75% to 80%.

Streaming capacities on a recommended server

The following tests were conducted on a server with an Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 Quad-Core Processor at 3.50
GHz with 16 GB RAM, running Windows 10 64-bit Enterprise Edition.

Source streams Requested Max number Outbound Outbound network

(H.264) @ 15 fps streams (MJPEG) of streams network traffic traffic per stream

320 x 240 (0.2 Mbps) 320 x 240 75 63.0 Mbps 0.84 Mbps

640 x 480 (0.5 Mbps) 640 x 480 60 60.0 Mbps 1.00 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 1280 x 720 40 45.8 Mbps 1.15 Mbps

640 x 480 (0.5 Mbps) 320 x 240 50 52.6 Mbps 1.05 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 320 x 240 40 40.4 Mbps 1.01 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 640 x 480 40 40.6 Mbps 1.02 Mbps

1920 x 1080 (3.0 Mbps) 320 x 240 20 22.0 Mbps 1.10 Mbps

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 Genetec™ Mobile System Requirements

Streaming capacities on a high performance server

The following tests were conducted on a server with two Intel Xeon Silver 4110 processors at 2.1 GHz with
32 GB RAM, running Windows Server 2016 64-bit Standard Edition. These specifications conform to the high
performance server requirements.

Source streams Requested Max number Outbound Outbound network

(H.264) @ 15 fps streams (MJPEG) of streams network traffic traffic per stream

320 x 240 (0.2 Mbps) 320 x 240 160 158.0 Mbps 0.98 Mbps

640 x 480 (0.5 Mbps) 640 x 480 110 139.0 Mbps 1.26 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 1280 x 720 70 145.0 Mbps 2.07 Mbps

640 x 480 (0.5 Mbps) 320 x 240 90 161.4 Mbps 1.79 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 320 x 240 80 60.0 Mbps 0.75 Mbps

1280 x 720 (1.0 Mbps) 640 x 480 80 70.0 Mbps 0.87 Mbps

1920 x 1080 (3.0 Mbps) 320 x 240 40 18.0 Mbps 0.45 Mbps

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 4
Security Center Web Client System
Requirements
This section includes the following topics:
• "Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Web Client" on page 23
• "Software requirements for Security Center 5.9 Web Client" on page 25
• "Browser speeds for Security Center 5.9 Web Client" on page 26
• "Number of user connections per Security Center 5.9 Web Server" on page 27

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 Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Security Center 5.9 streaming capacities for Web Client

The number of video streams and amount of traffic that Security Center 5.9 can deliver vary depending on
the camera stream settings, the Media Gateway role settings, the dimensions of the requested video, and the
performance of the server that hosts the Media Gateway and Web Server roles.
The Media Gateway role is used by Genetec™ Mobile and Web Client to get transcoded video from Security
Center. The Media Gateway role supports the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), which external
applications can use to request raw video streams from Security Center.
The stream settings are configured in Config Tool. For more information, see the followings topics in the
Security Center Administrator Guide:
• "Configuring the Media Gateway role"
The Media Gateway streams video to the Web Client in either Low quality or High quality, based on
the resolution of the viewing tile in the browser. If the resolution of the viewing tile is lower than the
Minimum resolution requested for high quality setting, then the Low quality stream is used. Otherwise,
the High quality stream is used.
• "Configuring video streams of cameras"
The Web Server sends the video stream that best fit the size of the video tile in the Web Client requesting
the video.
The following tests were conducted on a server with an Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 Quad-Core Processor at 2.10
GHz with 16 GB RAM, running Windows 10 64 bit, the Web Server role, and the Media Gateway role.
NOTE:
• In our tests, the Web Client streams MJPEG at 8 fps.
• The calculation for the transcoded outbound network traffic bit rate includes an additional 15% overhead,
but also depends greatly on the content of the video (the encoder targets 80% quality factor). For
example, if the table indicates a transcoded outbound network traffic bit rate of 65 Mbps, the calculation
is as follows:
New bit rate (325 Kbps) x 180 streams = 58500 Kbps or 57 Mbps + 15% overhead = approximately 65 Mbps
• To save system resources, you can cap the transcoded resolution. For more information on limiting Media
Gateway connections, see the Security Center Administrator Guide.

Security Center cameras configured to H.264 (320 x 240) 15 fps @ 250 Kbps

Requested dimensions Max number Outbound Outbound network

of streams network traffic traffic per stream

1
MJPEG (320 x 240) 180 65 Mbps 0.36 Mbps

H.264 (320 x 240) 150 42 Mbps 0.28 Mbps

Security Center cameras configured to H.264 (640 x 480) 15 fps @ 500 Kbps

Requested dimensions Max number Outbound Outbound network

of streams network traffic traffic per stream

1
MJPEG (320 x 240) 80 40 Mbps 0.5 Mbps

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 Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Requested dimensions Max number Outbound Outbound network

of streams network traffic traffic per stream

1
MJPEG (640 x 480) 110 125 Mbps 1.14 Mbps

H.264 (640 x 480) 150 90 Mbps 0.6 Mbps

Security Center cameras configured to H.264 (1280 x 720) 15 fps @ 2.5 Mbps

Requested dimensions Max number Outbound Outbound network

of streams network traffic traffic per stream

1
MJPEG (320 x 180) 45 30 Mbps 0.67 Mbps

1
MJPEG (640 x 360) 40 60 Mbps 1.5 Mbps

1
MJPEG (1280 x 720) 55 190 Mbps 3.45 Mbps

H.264 (1280 x 720) 135 120 Mbps 0.89 Mbps

Security Center cameras configured to H.264 (1920 x 1080) 15 fps @ 2.5 Mbps

Requested dimensions Max number Outbound Outbound network

of streams network traffic traffic per stream

1
MJPEG (320 x 180) 23 12 Mbps 0.52 Mbps

1
MJPEG (640 x 360) 20 28 Mbps 1.4 Mbps

1
MJPEG (1280 x 720) 16 65 Mbps 4.1 Mbps

1
MJPEG (1920 x 1080) 16 140 Mbps 8.75 Mbps

H.264 (1920 x 1080) 60 260 Mbps 4.33 Mbps

1
The Web Server automatically transcodes the video stream when required, which can result in a different bit
rate than the original stream.

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 Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Software requirements for Security Center 5.9 Web Client

Before using Web Client, familiarize yourself with the operating systems and browsers that are supported
with Web Client.
The software requirements for Security Center 5.9 Web Client are the following:

Operating system Supported Browsers

®
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 or higher
(32-bit or 64-bit) • Microsoft Edge for Windows 10
®
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional and Enterprise • Google Chrome 68 or later
(32-bit or 64-bit) • Mozilla Firefox 61 or later

® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 or higher
SP2, R2 (32-bit or 64-bit) • Google Chrome 68 or later
® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition • Mozilla Firefox 61 or later
SP2, R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition
and R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard Edition
and R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2017 Standard Edition
and R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
® ®
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition
and R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Mac OS X 10.9.1 Apple Safari (desktop version)

NOTE: If you are not seeing high-quality (H.264) video in your Firefox browser, make sure that H.264/avc3 on
the media source extension is enabled.
NOTE: Apple Safari for iOS and Google Chrome for Android devices are not supported by Security Center
5.9 Web Client. To access Security Center videos and data from your smartphone, you should use Genetec™
Mobile.

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 Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Browser speeds for Security Center 5.9 Web Client

How quickly video loads and PTZ cameras respond depends on many factors, including the decoding latency
of your web browser. In addition, not all browsers support high-quality H.264 video. So to ensure that your
videos load in Web Client as quickly as possible, choose a browser that supports H.264 and that has the
lowest latency.
Browser latency is the average amount of time it takes a browser to decode and display a video frame.
The latency of a browser is just one of the factors that affects how close to real-time a live video plays;
how quickly video loads in a tile when you play, rewind, fast forward and play in slow motion; and how
responsive PTZ cameras are to commands. Other factors that affect the speed at which video loads include
the processing power of your computer and the Security Center servers, and the latency of the network
between you, the Security Center system, and the cameras.
Typically, most browsers decode MJPEG streams within 300 ms. However, only some browsers can decode
H.264 streams, and the latency of these browsers varies.
The following table compares the time it takes some common browsers to load H.264 video in a single tile of
the Web Client Monitoring task.

Browser that supports H.264 Browser latency for H.264 stream

Google Chrome 300 ms

Mozilla Firefox 300 to 800 ms

NOTE: If you are not seeing high-quality (H.264)
video in your Firefox browser, make sure that H.264/
avc3 on the media source extension is enabled.

Microsoft Edge 3 seconds

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10 3.3 seconds

Some browsers, like Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7, cannot decode H.264 video. If Web Client
detects that your browser does not support H.264 streams, it displays the video anyway, but as a lower
quality MJPEG stream. So, if you need to display high-quality video in Web Client, choose a web browser that
supports H.264.
NOTE: Web Client always switches from H.264 to MJPEG in the following cases:
• When controlling a PTZ camera
• When playing video in slow motion, rewind, and fast forward.

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 Security Center Web Client System Requirements

Number of user connections per Security Center 5.9 Web

Server
When planning for Security Center Web Client 5.9, consider how many different users will connect to the
same Web Client URL at the same time. Knowing how many users and approximately how much traffic they
will generate will help you plan a deployment that ensures your users have the best possible experience in
Web Client.

How many users can a Web Server serve?

As additional streams are requested simultaneously, more load is placed on the server. If the server becomes
overloaded, users will notice that the Web Client pages are slow.
When planning how many Web Servers you need, figure out the maximum number of users that will log
on at one time and the maximum amount of traffic expected during peak hours. Then choose the server
hardware that will best manage that load.
The following table will give you an idea of how many users can view a single video stream in Web Client at
the same time. The results are based on tests performed in our lab on a server that meets the recommended
hardware configuration.

User activity Number of concurrent Camera video quality setting

user connections

Monitoring one live MJPEG 60 H.264 (640 x 480), 15 fps @ 500 Kbps
(640 x 480) video

Monitoring one live H.264 (640 100

x 480) video

Generating reports and 100 No cameras in system. Access Control only.

managing cardholders only.

What is a user connection?

A user connection is any user account that logs on to Web Client. Even if 50 users log on using the exact same
user account, that is 50 user connections.

How can I increase the number of concurrent user connections?

To add more users to your system, you can do any of the following:
• deploy high-performance server hardware
• reduce the video quality of cameras
• add more Web Servers

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Where to find product information
You can find our product documentation in the following locations:
• Genetec™ TechDoc Hub: The latest documentation is available on the TechDoc Hub. To access the
TechDoc Hub, log on to Genetec™ Portal and click TechDoc Hub. Can't find what you're looking for?
Contact [email protected].
• Installation package: The Installation Guide and Release Notes are available in the Documentation folder
of the installation package. These documents also have a direct download link to the latest version of the
document.
• Help: Security Center client and web-based applications include help, which explains how the product
works and provide instructions on how to use the product features. To access the help, click Help, press
F1, or tap the ? (question mark) in the different client applications.

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Technical support
Genetec™ Technical Assistance Center (GTAC) is committed to providing its worldwide clientele with the best
technical support services available. As a customer of Genetec Inc., you have access to TechDoc Hub, where
you can find information and search for answers to your product questions.
• Genetec™ TechDoc Hub: Find articles, manuals, and videos that answer your questions or help you solve
technical issues.
Before contacting GTAC or opening a support case, it is recommended to search TechDoc Hub for
potential fixes, workarounds, or known issues.
To access the TechDoc Hub, log on to Genetec™ Portal and click TechDoc Hub. Can't find what you're
looking for? Contact [email protected].
• Genetec™ Technical Assistance Center (GTAC): Contacting GTAC is described in the Genetec™ Lifecycle
Management (GLM) documents: Genetec™ Assurance Description and Genetec™ Advantage Description.

Additional resources
If you require additional resources other than the Genetec™ Technical Assistance Center, the following is
available to you:
• Forum: The Forum is an easy-to-use message board that allows clients and employees of Genetec Inc. to
communicate with each other and discuss many topics, ranging from technical questions to technology
tips. You can log on or sign up at https://gtapforum.genetec.com.
• Technical training: In a professional classroom environment or from the convenience of your own office,
our qualified trainers can guide you through system design, installation, operation, and troubleshooting.
Technical training services are offered for all products and for customers with a varied level of technical
experience, and can be customized to meet your specific needs and objectives. For more information, go
to http://www.genetec.com/support/training/training-calendar.

Licensing
• For license activations or resets, please contact GTAC at https://gtap.genetec.com.
• For issues with license content or part numbers, or concerns about an order, please contact Genetec™
Customer Service at [email protected], or call 1-866-684-8006 (option #3).
• If you require a demo license or have questions regarding pricing, please contact Genetec™ Sales at
[email protected], or call 1-866-684-8006 (option #2).

Hardware product issues and defects

Please contact GTAC at https://gtap.genetec.com to address any issue regarding Genetec™ appliances or any
hardware purchased through Genetec Inc.

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