gilgha Posted July 9, 2014 Share #1 Posted July 9, 2014 Hi, I have set up an HP N54L Microserver with VMware ESXi and installed Xpenology following this guide: http://cyanlabs.net/tutorials/how-to-in ... gy-on-esxi During the installation process, I allocated only one core to the VM thinking that it will not need more. Then, I installed Plex Media Server to transcode videos in order to stream to my chromecast. After that, I powered off the VM and allocated it one more core but it seems that Xpenology does not see it. Does Xpenology support multicore CPU? How can I check in the DSM web interface? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnapps Posted July 9, 2014 Share #2 Posted July 9, 2014 Hi gilgha, DSM sees and works with more than 2 cores but the Synology developers hardcoded 2cores in the DSM GUI. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted July 9, 2014 Thanks for your answer. Ok but I only see one CPU entry in my GUI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnapps Posted July 9, 2014 Share #4 Posted July 9, 2014 Hmm that's strange... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share #5 Posted July 9, 2014 Here is what I see: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnapps Posted July 9, 2014 Share #6 Posted July 9, 2014 Uh not here, look in control panel in system info Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted July 9, 2014 Nothing here neither.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnapps Posted July 9, 2014 Share #8 Posted July 9, 2014 Login via ssh and type cat /proc/cpuinfo Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share #9 Posted July 9, 2014 Ok, here is the result: NAS> cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 16 model : 6 model name : AMD Turion(tm) II Neo N54L Dual-Core Processor stepping : 3 microcode : 0x10000c8 cpu MHz : 2196.342 cache size : 1024 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 2 core id : 0 cpu cores : 2 apicid : 0 initial apicid : 0 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 5 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc pni cx16 popcnt hypervisor lahf_lm extapic abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw bogomips : 4392.68 TLB size : 1024 4K pages clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 1 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 16 model : 6 model name : AMD Turion(tm) II Neo N54L Dual-Core Processor stepping : 3 microcode : 0x10000c8 cpu MHz : 2196.342 cache size : 1024 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 2 core id : 1 cpu cores : 2 apicid : 1 initial apicid : 1 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 5 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc pni cx16 popcnt hypervisor lahf_lm extapic abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw bogomips : 4392.68 TLB size : 1024 4K pages clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: It seems that it has detected the second core but how can I make sure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted July 9, 2014 Share #10 Posted July 9, 2014 Couple of points... 1. The N54L will struggle with realtime transcoding, especially if it's 1080p content. 2. My Chromecast plays pretty much all of my 720/1080p content via DirectPlay (without transcoding). Have you checked out the Plex forum for tips on how to optimize playback to ChromeCast? https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/forum/ ... hromecast/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share #11 Posted July 10, 2014 In fact, I have noticed that the N54L CPU is at 99% of usage while transcoding 1080p content. That's why I wanted to add a core to the VM. Thank you for the advise, I'll check the forum now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnapps Posted July 10, 2014 Share #12 Posted July 10, 2014 Transcoding is pretty intensive. More cores means more processing power, and less time to process not 50 or 25% lower core usage Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spammy Posted July 10, 2014 Share #13 Posted July 10, 2014 The N54L will struggle with realtime transcoding, especially if it's 1080p content. I humbly disagree with this. The CPU will max out, but my N40L transcodes at 3-4x - the poor bugger managed to serve three streams over the web anyway (although I think that they were 720p). But yes, use direct play when you can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share #14 Posted July 10, 2014 I don't really understand how can I optimize the Plex Media Server for the Chromecast... Should I re-encode every file I have to H.264 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted July 10, 2014 Share #15 Posted July 10, 2014 I don't really understand how can I optimize the Plex Media Server for the Chromecast... Should I re-encode every file I have to H.264 ? The Plex Chromecast forum would be a more appropriate place to ask that question. See the link I posted previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted July 10, 2014 Share #16 Posted July 10, 2014 The N54L will struggle with realtime transcoding, especially if it's 1080p content. I humbly disagree with this. The CPU will max out, but my N40L transcodes at 3-4x - the poor bugger managed to serve three streams over the web anyway (although I think that they were 720p). But yes, use direct play when you can! Maxing the CPU out for prolonged periods is 'struggling' in my book! But you're right, the N54L will handle some transcoding work. My N36L was sometimes OK with 720p, but 1080p was out of the question - although I must admit that generally my media has a fairly high bit rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilgha Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share #17 Posted July 11, 2014 (edited) Now the Plex Media Server service just stopped working on my Xpenology/DSM VM... and it does not want to start again. I think I'm gonna run a Cent OS VM dedicated to Plex and lower the CPU ressources of the Xpenology/DSM VM. Edited July 12, 2014 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spammy Posted July 11, 2014 Share #18 Posted July 11, 2014 Maxing the CPU out for prolonged periods is 'struggling' in my book! Hmm, I assumed this was just how Plex worked and it would use as much resources as it could. What CPU do you hit on your current set up? But you're right, the N54L will handle some transcoding work. My N36L was sometimes OK with 720p, but 1080p was out of the question - although I must admit that generally my media has a fairly high bit rate. I guess I should test this. I'm pretty sure I have a few 1080ps that transcode okay - perhaps they're the low bitrate stuff you allude to though. Will check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berwhale Posted July 11, 2014 Share #19 Posted July 11, 2014 Hmm, I assumed this was just how Plex worked and it would use as much resources as it could. What CPU do you hit on your current set up? I think it depends if you're transcoding to stream or transcoding to sync. If it's for syncing, then you'd want Plex to do it a quickly as possible and max out the CPU, if it's for streaming, you'd want Plex to work fast enough to keep the buffer full - if it has to max the CPU to keep the buffer full, then you've got no headroom for multiple streams or higher bit rate conversion in the future. As for my own requirements, I really don't need to transcode. I have a fairly long commute by train, so I copy MKVs to USB drive and play them directly on my phone or tablet (I have a double ended USB drive which make this pretty painless: http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDDD-06 ... ndisk+dual) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spammy Posted July 14, 2014 Share #20 Posted July 14, 2014 I only stream, so it's not that. I DO have 8GB ram, so maybe it pessimistically fills up as much as possible? Oh well, I'm too old to think about this stuff now, so if the results work then I'm all good. Thanks for the tips anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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