Dutchsea
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Minimize CPU and RAM load, increase performance - 2009/01/30 11:00
In this topic I like discuss how to minimize the CPU and RAM load used in combination with Swisscenter. This may not be very relevant for most of you but I run SC on a NAS with limited CPU speed and RAM size.
This NAS is the central data centre in my home which runs 24x7. Using the NAS as the central system, including SC, instead of running SC on my PC (850 Watt) 24x7, saves a lot of energy.
I would really appreciate to hear if more people are interested to investigate if and how the load of SC can be decreased. But as important, I really like to know if the developers of SC want to support this topic. It may not be in line with their view on how SC should be used.
Below the factors that I can think of right now that may influence the load/performance. Its very high level for the moment and hope others can add their ideas here.
All suggestions are very welcome.
1. Type of Mediaplayer used
Maybe the type of media player such as Pinnacle Showcenter, Popcorn Mediatank etc, makes a difference on the performance?
2. Disable Swisscenter Modules that are not used
Maybe it can help to disable certain functionality that is not used. Though this option may not be liked much., because many of us like to have the option to have all functionality available (for me this is the case)
So are there functions that can be disabled resulting in a lower CPU and/or Memory load?
3. Limit the size of the database
One thing I can think of myself is that to exclude the media locations you are not really using.
I guess that should decrease the database size which probably increases performance.
In my example I mainly use Swisscenter for video so I could exclude the music location.
This makes a difference of about 3600 files in my case. Same for the picture media location.
4. Resize images and banners to the optimal size for the used screen resolution
I understand that there is a resize command within the code of SC in order to set the right size for images & banners. It seems to me that it would save time/processor load if all pictures & banners are resized already to the size that can be used for the screen resolution used.
Maybe a function in SC can do his automatically during the media search.
Or else maybe some external software can do this but how to determine the right size for the screen resolution that is used?
The file size must be important so its not just the size but also the resolution & number of colours of the image that should be reduced to an optimal size.
5. Increase RAM and/or CPU (if possible)
This is probably the easiest way but in my case this is not possible. The NAS I use has a fixed CPU & RAM
6. Style used
I understand that the KDE is one of the styles that is very efficient. But maybe a style can be made which is even more efficient.
For example the “background.jpg” image seems relatively large (131kB ).
But maybe this background image is only used for the PC interface, not for the media player interface? This because I also see a “ntsc_background.jpg” and a “pal_background”. But in that case, what process determines which background image is used?
7. Use an alternative web server
I saw a number of topics in which a alternate webserver, lighttpd, is suggested.
I assume that for this to have an effect I must disable the apache server or not.
Has anyone tried this on a NAS such as the Synology CS/DS series.
8. Change the Swisscenter version
Can an earlier version of SC result in a lower load. (similar to the disabling certain SC modules)
9. Database clean up
Maybe renewing the database could have an effect? (reorganising the data, similar to something like disk defragmentation does)
10. Parsers
Do the parsers use much CPU / RAM capacity continuesly or is that just during the media search?
QNAP TS-509 (1.6 MHz, 4 GB ) – Linux - PHP 5.2.11, MySQL 5.1.36 & Apache ??? – Swisscenter SVN [1405]
Custom PC (2.8 MHz, 4GB ) – Windows 7 Pro - PHP 5.2.9-1, MySQL 5.1.32 & Simese v2.5.10 - Swisscenter SVN [1376]
Synology CS407 (0.5 MHz, 128 ) – Linux - PHP 5.2.10, MySQL 5.1.34 & Apache |
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