C5673M-C | 1/17SYSTEM DESIGN GUIDE

VideoXpertSystem Design Guide

Contents

Standard System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Media Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Recorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6VideoXpert Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6VSM/NSM5200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Digital Sentry (DSSRV2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Ops Center Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Enhanced Decoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Additional System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7VideoXpert Accessory Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7NTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Independent Backup Storage/Export Archive Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Load Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Load Balancer Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

System Design and Typical Deployments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Active-Active failover (Single CMG vs Multi-CMG Environments) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Clustering Core Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Configurations on Clustered Cores and Time Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11VideoXpert Storage Failover and Redundant Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Aggregating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Settings for Aggregated Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12LDAP Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Extended Workstation Topology and Enhanced Decoders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Advanced Workstation Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Network Traffic Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Traffic and System Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Secondary Stream Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Optera Camera Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Client-side Display Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Stream Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Ops Center Stream Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18MJPEG Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Media Gateway Communication Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Configuring Secondary Streams to Support VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Network Port Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Media Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21VSM / NSM5200 Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Enhanced Decoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Recording Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Additional Storage Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Camera Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Assigning Cameras to Recorders in VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Using VideoXpert Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Using VSM and NSM5200 Models as VideoXpert Recorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Using Digital Sentry Servers as VideoXpert Recorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Advanced VideoXpert Storage Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Checking VideoXpert Storage Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Storage Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Assigning an NTP Address to VideoXpert Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Using External NAS Storage (Archive Volume Group) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Configuring an External Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Database Backups and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Restoring the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Rebuilding the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

VideoXpert Storage Failover Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Configuring Failover Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Discovering, Adding, and Commissioning Devices in VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Adding Pelco Cameras and Devices or Third-Party Servers Running VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Adding Third-Party Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Ensuring Driver Support Using VX Storage Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

VideoXpert 3rd Party Edge Device Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Licensing the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Licensing Aggregated Video Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

SNMP Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Enabling SNMP Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Recommended Monitoring Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Software/Services to Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Hardware Conditions to Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Migrating from Endura to VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Migrating the Endura Database to VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Migrating from Digital Sentry to VideoXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Integrations and Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Mapping Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Event Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Event Types and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Camera Configuration Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Online/Offline Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Recorder Camera Assignment Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Recorder Diagnostics Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46User Actions Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Event History Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46VX Cluster Configuration Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Analytic and Other Video-Related Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Logs and Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Appendix: Network Operation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47PIM Dense Mode for Multicast Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47PIM Dense Mode Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Considerations When Using PIM-DIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47PIM Sparse Mode Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Considerations when using PIM-SIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Topology Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Layer 2 Network Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Layer 3 Network Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Static Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Unicast Routing Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Multicast Routing Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Standard System ComponentsYour system must possess at least one Core, one Media Gateway, and one storage server. In a basic system, a single server can host both the Core and Media Gateway applications, or you can host both applications on separate servers.

Figure 1: Basic System Topology

ServersVideoXpert requires both Core and Media Gateway servers. While you can leverage separate Core and Media Gateway servers for systems of sufficient scale, most systems can easily support servers running both the Core and Media Gateway services. A single CMG server provides the complete range of VideoXpert functionality that you would expect for systems with fewer than 2000 cameras and 100 simultaneous users.

However, for environments that are especially large, require exceptional redundancy, or incorporate a high number of low bandwidth and aggregated users, you may want to install individual Core and Media Gateway servers.

Core

The Core maintains the system database, manages user permissions, and hosts the Admin Portal, from which you can configure and manage your VideoXpert system. The Admin Portal also provides basic access to video streaming resources, ensuring that users with appropriate permissions can view video from the system even without access to a thick client.

You can add Core servers to your VideoXpert system modularly, to both expand the capabilities of your VideoXpert system and to build in redundancies that maximize system uptime.

LOCALOPERATORS

CORE/MEDIA GATEWAY

3RD PARTYSYSTEM

CUSTOMER FACILITIES

OPS CENTER CLIENT

LOCALADMINISTRATORS

ADMIN PORTAL

STORAGEeConnect

ULTIMATE SYSTEM

5

Media Gateway

The Media Gateway routes video traffic to users. When a user requests a video stream, the Core fields the request and determines whether the user possesses the appropriate permissions to view the video stream. If the user can view the stream, the Media Gateway connects the user with the appropriate device — camera, encoder, or recorder as necessary. The Media Gateway also transcodes MJPEG streams for low bandwidth connections (roughly, but not limited to, 20 at a time).

Like Core servers, Media Gateways can be added to VideoXpert modularly, to both expand the system’s capabilities or build redundan-cies within the system to maximize video availability.

RecordersVideoXpert supports multiple recording platforms. In general, traffic and video delivery operates much the same using any of the avail-able recording platforms. If building a new system, you would typically use VideoXpert Storage and VSM recorders; if migrating from an existing platform, you would typically use NSM5200 and Digital Sentry servers as recorders.

VideoXpert Storage

VideoXpert Storage is the native recording platform for VideoXpert, supporting all recorder and camera assignment functionality within VideoXpert. It supports 3rd-party cameras natively, eliminating the need for DSSRV2 storage or UDI5000-CAM units with NSM5200 and VSM recorders, and has a higher maximum capacity (up to 96 TB) than all other recording platforms for VideoXpert.

VSM/NSM5200

VSM and NSM5200 recorders support 3rd party cameras within VideoXpert using a UDI5000-CAM, and provide basic assignment controls from within VideoXpert, but require Pelco Utilities to perform some advanced configuration. Both can act as VideoXpert recorders while continuing to support an Endura environment, providing an easy migration path and a smooth transition from Endura into VideoXpert.

In addition to the native solution, VideoXpert supports VSM, NSM5200, and Digital Sentry servers as recorders. NSM5200 and Digital Sentry servers provide migration paths to VideoXpert; both can operate as recorders within VideoXpert while continuing to support within their respective Endura and Digitial Sentry environments.

However, these recording platforms may require additional setup outside of VideoXpert. For VSM and NSM5200 models, you may have to perform some configuration using Pelco Utilities.

Digital Sentry (DSSRV2)

DS recorders provide a migration path from DS to VideoXpert; when using a DS server as a VideoXpert recorder, the DS server will continue to run all DS operations and is still available to clients using DS ControlPoint. However, when using DS servers as VideoXpert recorders, users must perform all camera assignment and recorder configuration through the DS platform.

Ops Center ClientThe Ops Center client is the Windows-based client application, providing an optimal environment from which users can watch live and recorded video. With the support of Enhanced Decoders, Ops Centers can support up to six monitors, each capable of displaying up to 16 video streams simultaneously. Through the Ops Center, users can configure and recall complete workspaces, enabling operators to quickly log in and get to work.

The Ops Center supports modular plug-ins, exposing additional functionality for operators as required by your surveillance operations. Many plug-ins are configured directly through the Ops Center to the 3rd-party server feeding information into VideoXpert.

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Enhanced Decoder

The Ops Center supports up to six monitors: one connected directly to the workstation itself, and the other five driven independently by Enhanced Decoders. The Enhanced Decoders enable each monitor connected through a workstation to display up to 16 high definition video streams or independent plug-ins while maintaining a seamless user experience. Enhanced Decoder-driven monitors operate just like native monitors; users can move windows across monitors seamlessly. But, when the user requests a video stream or plug-in, the Enhanced Decoder communicates directly with VideoXpert servers to get and decode video. This enables operators to maximize the display-capabilities of the Ops Center without complicating the user experience.

Additional System ComponentsDepending on the shape and scale of your system, you may need one or more of the following components.

VideoXpert Accessory Server

The VideoXpert Accessory Server provides NTP, simple DHCP, and Load Balancing services for small to moderately-sized systems. The load balancer functionality within the accessory server is designed for dual CMG environments, providing failover monitoring services and acting as the dual-CMG cluster’s arbiter. For larger environments, you will want to consider an independent load balancer with a higher capacity.

NTP Server

VideoXpert requires NTP synchronization. If components within the system fall out of time synchronization, the system may experience recording gaps or inaccurate video retrieval. It is highly recommended that you have a dedicated NTP server for VideoXpert, like the Vide-oXpert Accessory Server.

DHCP Server

You should use a DHCP server to assign and manage addresses for the devices within your VideoXpert network. The VideoXpert acces-sory server acts as a simple DHCP server. For more advanced installations with multiple ranges and a need to edit address reservations, use a separate, dedicated DHCP server.

Independent Backup Storage/Export Archive Storage

For any system with more than one Core, you must backup to a network location. It is recommended that you perform backups from a server independent of other VideoXpert hardware, preferably containing its own RAID array, ensuring that your backups are safe from catastrophic failures.

Presently, VideoXpert has been tested using Pelco’s backupInteractive utility and Mongo Management Services (MMS).

You can also store exports in a network location off the Core. Storing exports off the Core saves Core bandwidth in the export process (both in creating and downloading), and ensures greater availability to exported video, especially in clustered environments. When storing exports on the Cores in a clustered environment, exports are not shared among Cores, nor are they a part of the backup process; each export is only stored on the Core server on which it was created. If the server storing an export fails, users lose access to the exported video; if the server fails and you have to restore from a backup, you will lose your exports on that Core server. Storing exports in a separate location ensures availability independent of any individual Core server, and allows you to easily backup video exports at whatever interval is most convenient for you.

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Load Balancer

In most cases, you should use the VideoXpert Accessory Server as your load balancer.

However, for systems with more than 3 CMGs or multiple independent Core and Media Gateway servers, you may need an independent load balancer. The load balancer provides the virtual IP address used to target clustered servers. For clustered systems, the load balancer may provide additional services assisting in device discovery. VideoXpert has been tested with the VideoXpert Accessory Server and Brocade ADX load balancers.

NOTE: When using a Brocade ADX load balancer, your VideoXpert environment must be configured for Multicast.

Load Balancer Requirements

If selecting a load balancer other than the Brocade ADX Series or the VideoXpert Accessory Server, your load balancer should meet the following requirements.

High-Level Requirements

HTTP

HTTPS

websocket support

RTSP support; alternatively, support for raw TCP/IP connections

Support for multiple sets of backend servers; necessary if using separate Core and Media Gateway servers

Support for application-level HTTP healthchecks

Support for application-level RTSP or TCP/IP health-checks

High Availability Requirements

Mut sbe able to configure load balancer appliances such that if an appliance becomes unavailable (e.g. power loss), the other appliance(s) can assume functionality of the unavailable appliance.

Recommended Features

Allow administrators to gracefully disable servers during upgrades

SSL offloading

Support for UDP (for auto-discovery spoofing)

Source IP stickiness (for auto-discovery spoofing)

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System Design and Typical DeploymentsThe total system capacity for VideoXpert is governed by Core and Media Gateway servers. Most customers and deployments should consider CMG servers (servers running both Core and Media Gateway services). In standard CMG deployments, you can add Media Gate-ways to the system when there are significant remote access requirements (transcoding/transcasting), or there are significant aggrega-tion requirements.

If your system grows to support additional users, cameras, sites, or you just want to provide redundancy within your VideoXpert system, you can separate your Core and Media Gateway servers, and increase system capacity by clustering servers. For Ultimate distributions of VideoXpert, you can also aggregate other VideoXpert systems.

You should consider separate Core and Media Gateway deployments when:

• There are an inordinately high number of simultaneous users.

• The system must scale to an extremely high number of cameras and users.

• You have extremely high expectations for availability and redundancy.

Table A: Basic Cluster Topology (left) vs Advanced Cluster Topology (right)

LOCALOPERATORS

CORE/MEDIA GATEWAY

3RD PARTYSYSTEM

CUSTOMER FACILITIES

OPS CENTER CLIENT(Hosting Arbiter)

LOCALADMINISTRATORS

ADMIN PORTAL

VSM5200

eConnect

ULTIMATE SYSTEM

Windows NLBService

LOCALOPERATORS

CORE

MEDIAGATEWAY

LOAD BALANCER

3RD PARTYSYSTEM

CUSTOMER FACILITIES

OPS CENTER CLIENT

LOCALADMINISTRATORS

ADMIN PORTAL

Storage eConnect

ULTIMATE SYSTEM

LOCALOPERATORS

REMOTEOBSERVER

CUSTOMER FACILITIES

REMOTE CLIENT

ADMIN PORTAL

E N T E R P R I S E

9

The table below lists typical deployment scenarios, with the maximum number of cameras and concurrent system users for each deploy-ment; these numbers represent the limits at which the system becomes unusable (high latency in control requests). You should build your system with leaving at least 10% additional capacity (in terms of cameras, users, or, preferably, both), to ensure that the system is both responsive and has additional capacity to take on new users or cameras.

NOTE: The table below shows absolute maximums for VideoXpert deployment scenarios. Your experience may differ based on your network configuration, network equipment, average video bitrates, and other criteria. When planning a VideoXpert deployment, contact Pelco to ensure that you get a system with the capacity to support your environment and needs.

Active-Active failover (Single CMG vs Multi-CMG Environments)While a single CMG can host nearly 2500 cameras and 100 concurrent users, the system is not at all fault tolerant; anything that could bring down the server will interrupt access to VideoXpert. It is recommended that even in ssmaller installations, you build a system with at least two CMG servers.

When using the VideoXpert Accessory Server with a dual CMG server, you are engaging both an active-active failover system, and increasing the system capacity. The Accessory Server acts as a load balancer between the two CMGs, keeping both servers active; in the event that either server fails, the other will shoulder the load.

Deployment Cameras Users AvailabilityAdditional Requirements

Single CMG 2500 100 Not fault tolerant N/A

Dual CMG 2500 100 Active-Active single failover

VideoXpert Accessory Server

Triple CMG 10000 500 High Availability VideoXpert Accessory Server

Single Core/ Gateway 3000 200 Not Fault Tolerant N/A

Multi-Core / Gateway >10000 >500 High Availability Independent load balancer (Brocade ADX); Pelco Services

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Clustering Core ServersIn your VideoXpert environment, Core (or CMG) servers host the database. Clustering your Core or CMG servers provides redundancy and enables VideoXpert to scale.

In a clustered environment, each Core or CMG server in the cluster hosts a complete copy of the VideoXpert database, and each server is assigned to a replica set – a group of servers organized to maximize the availability of VideoXpert. The number of replica sets in your cluster is equal to the number of servers divided by three. Individual servers or a dual-CMG environments represent a single replica set.

NOTE: VideoXpert itself performs much of the cluster configuration automatically during the setup process. This automatic configuration is based on a single database replica set. If configuring a system containing multiple replica sets or more than three servers, contact Pelco Professional Services.

Within each replica set, one server acts as the primary and the other servers operate as secondaries. The primary processes all write operations and pushes data to the secondaries. Secondary servers replicate the primary server’s database asynchronously and can, if necessary, process “read” operations. (By default, VideoXpert is configured to read from the primary server when available.)

If the primary server fails, the secondary servers elect a new primary; this election requires the remaining two servers in the replica set to be available and able to communicate with each other. If the primary server and a secondary server within the replica set fall offline, or the primary CMG in a dual-CMG cluster falls offline, the replica set becomes read only until at least one of the remaining servers is restored. In a read-only state, users can still call up video, but would be unable to apply bookmarks, export investigations, apply tags, and other similar operations within the system.

To prevent the cluster from falling into a read-only state, you can configure a single server as an arbiter. The arbiter does not host the database, but rather casts the deciding vote in elections determining which secondary server is promoted if a primary server fails. Any non-Core server in the VideoXpert environment, including VideoXpert Accessory Servers, can act as the arbiter. Typically, you should employ an arbiter to ensure that your cluster contains an odd number of servers.

VideoXpert automatically assigns three “config” servers, no matter the size of your installation. For VideoXpert installations with fewer than three servers, one of the servers will host multiple “config” servers. Config servers store the metadata information for the data-base, which takes up very little disk space. VideoXpert assigns config servers automatically when you configure your Core or a cluster of Cores.

Configurations on Clustered Cores and Time ConsiderationsYou cannot configure an Accessory Server to manage your cluster until you configure your Core or CMG servers to use the same virtual IP address.

When attempting to cluster CMG servers using an Accessory Server, you must at least perform basic configuration for one CMG servers, providing the IP address of the other CMG servers in the cluster and a virtual IP address. When you save the configuration on the initial server, including the virtual IP address, the additional CMG servers in the (not yet complete) cluster will copy configuration information and the system database from the initial server so long as the system time for all the servers in the cluster are within 30 seconds of each other. If the difference in the system time between servers is greater than 30 seconds, cluster setup will fail.

Primary CMG

Secondary CMG Accessory Server/Arbiter

Heartbeat

Database

Replic

ation

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VideoXpert Storage Failover and Redundant RecordingRecorders are not part of the standard Core/CMG cluster. However, typical deployments should arrange for some measure of redundancy to ensure that required streams and video never go unrecorded. VideoXpert Storage supports two methods for redundancy:

• Redundant recording: assigning the same camera to multiple recorders

• Failover monitoring: assigning a recorder to act as a hot standby for one or more recorders.

Redundant recording is a quick way to ensure video uptime and redundancy, but requires an equal amount of storage across each recorder set to record a stream.

Designating a VideoXpert Storage recorder allows you to assign the recorder to monitor and act as a hot standby for one or more recorders; if any of the recorders the failover unit is assigned to monitor fails, the failover unit will take over and continue recording the camera groups and schedules previously belonging to the failed recorder.You should not over-assign failover capacity. If the failover unit is already engaged and another recorder fails, those cameras will go unrecorded until you can correct the issue. Failover recording also doesn’t ensure access to historical data from failed recorders; it only ensures uninterrupted recording. If you want to maintain uninter-rupted access to recorded video, even when a recorder fails, then you should record cameras redundantly across multiple recorders.

A designated failover recorder operates one-to-one with the recorders it monitors; should a unit fail, it will take over for the cameras and schedules belonging to the failed unit; it cannot absorb additional capacity from any other failures within the group. So, while a single, designated failover recorder can monitor up to 8 active recorders, you should implement a failover strategy that ensures full time recording and video availability in your environment in the event of possible network, power, or hardware failures.

NOTE: During a failover, you may experience a recording gap of up to 30 seconds.

Aggregating SystemsVideoXpert Ultimate Core systems include an aggregation server, through which you can provide centralized access to a series of Vide-oXpert member systems. Through the VideoXpert Ultimate server acting as the aggregation host, you can access and control settings and video for distributed VideoXpert systems.

When adding a member to the aggregation server, you will select your connection speed to the aggregation server. Your connection speed determines both the performance of video within the VideoXpert Ultimate environment hosting the aggregation server and the number of video streams you can reasonably expect to get simultaneously from the aggregated site.

Settings for Aggregated Systems

At present, you cannot change settings for aggregated systems from the VideoXpert instance hosting the aggregation server. You must change settings for member systems from the member itself.

The aggregation server does not inherit permissions, roles, or users from aggregated members. If aggregating a VideoXpert Enterprise environment containing roles with restricted permissions, you must re-create these roles and permissions with resource restrictions with the Ultimate system acting as the aggregation server.

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LDAP AuthenticationYou can configure VideoXpert to validate user credentials from an LDAP server; VideoXpert supports LDAP for Microsoft Active Directory. While the system can validate credentials over LDAP, you must create corresponding users within VideoXpert to validate credentials against. You must also assign roles and permissions through VideoXpert; there are no analogs for VideoXpert permissions in Active Directory or LDAP.

NOTE:

• After changing a password in an environment using LDAP authentication, a user’s old password may still work for a short period of time (less than one hour). This is a Windows NTLM authentication behavior, designed to allow accounts logged in to multiple computers or network services to access the network while the password change propagates.

• LDAP Authentication does not affect restricted system users. When LDAP is enabled, you can still change passwords for admin, aggregator, and rule_engine_user accounts through the Admin Portal; these accounts are authenticated by VideoXpert no matter how you authenticate other users.

While VideoXpert may support other LDAP authentication schemes, this guide focuses on -- and the product has been tested against -- two common methods for LDAP authentication: simple (single bind) and two-stage bind with a service account:

• Simple (single-bind) authentication, which associates a user name and password with a distinguished name (DN) to validate user credentials.

• Two-stage bind authentication: which uses a service DN and a service DN password to establish the initial bind with the LDAP server. Upon a successful initial bind, a search is performed using the base DN, the first key from the Search Attributes box, and the user name. If the user’s information is found, the second bind is performed using the DN to authenticate user credentials.

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Extended Workstation Topology and Enhanced DecodersThe Ops Center supports up to six monitors: one connected directly to the workstation itself, and the other five driven independently by Enhanced Decoders. The Enhanced Decoders enable each monitor connected through a workstation to display up to 16 high definition video streams or independent plug-ins while maintaining a seamless user experience.

Enhanced Decoder-driven monitors operate just like native monitors; users can move windows across monitors seamlessly. But, when the user requests a video stream or plug-in, the Enhanced Decoder communicates directly with VideoXpert servers to get and decode video. This enables operators to maximize the display-capabilities of the Ops Center without complicating the user experience.

Because the decoders do not run the Ops Center application themselves, you may experience better performance in quantity and respon-siveness of HD streams on decoder-driven monitors over directly-connected monitors.

NOTE: Enhanced Decoders work best with Windows 8 or later. When using Enhanced Decoders with Windows 7, you should install the VF Mirage driver for best performance.

Ops Center

Monitor 5Monitor 4

Monitor 3Monitor 2Monitor 1

Monitor 6

LegendCAT5e HDMI

DVI-D

Enhanced Decoder

Enhanced Decoder

Enhanced Decoder

Enhanced Decoder

Enhanced Decoder

14

Advanced Workstation Controls

In addition to the standard keyboard and mouse, Ops Center workstations support an Enhanced Keyboard, and Enhanced Mouse, and the KBD5000.

The Enhanced Keyboard has 10 keys to which users can map tab and workspace shortcuts, enabling users to quickly recall their most-used layouts and cameras.

The KBD5000 and Enhanced Mouse are mapped to the full range of Ops Center controls. A user can perform any and all actions within the system using either item.

KBD5000 ENHANCED KEYBOARD SPACEMOUSE

15

Network Traffic FlowCommand and control traffic - user actions within the system, occur over HTTP or HTTPS depending on your system. You can configure workstations to operate over HTTP or HTTPS, and you can select the port for communications with VideoXpert Servers.

Video is delivered to clients either via RTSP or RTP, depending on the Media Gateway Communication method for which your system is configured. When configured for unicast delivery to clients, the Media Gateway re-streams video to the client. When configured for multicast delivery to clients, video streams directly from the camera or non-DS recording device from which the stream is requested.

Note that when using Digital Sentry systems as storage for VideoXpert, you must set the Media Gateway Communication Method to unicast.

Figure 1: Traffic in a VideoXpert System

MEDIA GATEWAY

OPS CENTER CLIENTADMIN PORTAL

VSM/NSM5200

LOAD BALANCER/NLB

CORE

HTTP/HTTPSRTSPRTPNSM

Pelco API

VX Storage

16

Traffic and System LimitationsVideoXpert systems were tested to determine how many users and cameras a system supports before performance degrades signifi-cantly. Testing determined degraded performance by command latency (opening cameras, executing PTZ commands, etc) of 6 second or greater, or failed commands. The systems tested represented environments with strong network connections using VSM models for storage.

For purposes of performance tests, “users” are simultaneous operators performing continuous, expected duties, including streaming video, receiving events, controlling (PTZ) cameras, and exporting video.

Figure 2: VideoXpert Performance

NOTE: Actual system performance is dependent on the speed and quality of network connections, network switch and router choices, and any non-VideoXpert traffic impacting the network.

Secondary Stream Settings

While the Ops Center employs step down behaviors when under heavy load, optimal camera configurations will ensure you always view the highest possible quality video and prevent the system from entering i-Frame only or disconnection step-down scenarios.

Set Secondary Streams to 640 x 352 at 5 images per second; these settings ensure secondary stream performance in a 4x4 layout.

Optera Camera Settings

While the Ops Center employs step down behaviors when under heavy load, optimal camera configurations will ensure you always view the highest possible quality video and prevent the system from entering i-Frame only or disconnection step-down scenarios.

For Optera Cameras, set the I-Frame interval to 6 and the bit rate to 10000 kbps. Optera cameras consume more system resources than other cameras. You should not expect to view more than 2 Optera cameras per decoder.

17

Client-side Display Limitations

As an Ops Center workstation uses an increasing amount of memory, users may experience “jittery” mouse controls on decoder-driven monitors. This problem is most likely to occur if users are running applications in tandem with the Ops Center client, or is viewing a large number of Optera or HD streams on locally-connected monitors.

For Ops Center workstations using Enhanced Decoders, install the Mirage driver for best performance. The driver is available from the Monitor Configuration screen, which you can access during initial setup or by logging in as the workstation’s local administrator.

Stream DeliveryStream delivery, largely the responsibility of the Media Gateway, is dependent on the communication method you select, your connec-tion to the system, and the connection of aggregated devices to the system. In general, you can receive a primary stream, a secondary stream, a primary stream in i-Frame only mode, or an MJPEG stream.

Because the system delivers secondary streams as a step-down adjustment, you’ll want to configure secondary streams accordingly, with reduced resolution and framerate by comparison with the primary.

Ops Center Stream Adjustments

By default, the Ops Center displays streams based on the size of the cells in a tab. Layouts at 2x3 or fewer cells display full resolution primary streams; layouts with more than 6 cells deliver secondary streams.

When CPU load on the decoding device (the Workstation or Enhanced Decoder) displaying streams crosses the 75% threshold, the Ops Center will begin requesting lower-quality streams in an attempt to reduce CPU load below 50% utilization. Stream quality is reduced from primary to secondary, and secondary to i-frame only mode until the CPU load drops below 50%. If the reduction in stream quality does not reduce the CPU load below the 50% threshold, the Ops Center will begin disconnecting streams citing limited CPU resources.

Stream Quality Ops Center or Admin Portal Factors

Primary Ops Center Bandwidth >100 Mbps; layout <2x3

Secondary Ops Center Layout >2x3; quality step-down when the Ops Center is under heavy load

i-Frame Only Ops Center Recording; quality step down (from secondary stream) when Ops Center under heavy load

MJPEG Ops Center/Admin Portal Admin Portal: Live View PageOps Center: Client bandwidth <100 Mbps; Aggregated System bandwidth <100 Mbps; Aggregated Cameras

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MJPEG Video

The system streams MJPEG video for users with connections under 100 Mbps, or cameras belonging to aggregated sites with connection speeds less than 100 Mbps. MJPEG Video includes the following limitations:

• PTZ controls for MJPEG streams are limited to click-to-center controls.

• MJPEG streams may not synchronize perfectly when in sync playback mode; this is due to the nature of the MJPEG pull mechanism. You can still use the sync playback controls to manipulate video, but synchronization may be noticeably affected.

• When the Media Gateway CPU utilization reaches its threshold, it will reject requests to transcode new MJPEG streams.

NOTE: The Media Gateway transcodes MJPEG video, and returns the full I-Frame rate requested by the camera. Cameras configured to deliver more than 2 I-frames per second will stress the performance of the Media Gateway and consume more bandwidth. It is recom-mended that cameras expected to return MJPEG video are configured to deliver no more than 2 I-frames per second to prevent cameras from taxing the Media Gateway.

Media Gateway Communication Method

You can set the communication method, unicast or multicast, from the Video Source to the Media Gateway, and from the Media Gateway to the client. The media gateway is capable of transcasting multicast from the source to unicast for the client. The transcasting feature will be updated in a future release to support unicast from the source to multicast for clients.

In general, when requesting video, the Media Gateway forwards multicast requests and proxies unicast requests.

Configuring Secondary Streams to Support VideoXpert

Because the system delivers secondary streams as a step-down adjustment to prevent Ops Center decoders from becoming overloaded, you’ll want to configure secondary streams accordingly, with reduced resolution and framerate by comparison with the primary. Secondary streams for cameras should be configured at 640 x 352 (or the corresponding 4:3 equivalent, depending on available aspect ratios) at 5 frames per second, or lower.

19

Network Port ReferenceThe tables below correspond to VideoXpert software components; in some cases, the same server can host multiple components. The ports listed must be open to ensure VideoXpert functions properly.

Core

TCP/UDP Port Service

TCP 80 HTTP, used for camera configuration as necessary

TCP 443 HTTPS

UDP 1900 SSDP discovery target on 239.255.255.250

TCP 5701 Hazelcast communications (default)

UDP 10000 Outbound SSDP traffic

TCP 27017 The MongoS service listens on port 27017 and is responsible for routing read/write requests for the database.

TCP 31001 The MongoD service implements the cluster’s primary/secondary hierarchy and is responsible for reading/writing data to/from the disk

TCP 31002-31004 The MongoDBConfig1, 2, and 3 servers store a small amount of metadata about shards for your VideoXpert cluster and correspond to TCP ports 31002, 31003, and 31004 respectively. No matter how many servers in your VideoXpert environment, there will always be three config servers (or services, even if hosted on the same physical server).

N/A 224.2.2.4 The server joins this multicast group for Hazelcast multicast discovery.

UDP 54327 Hazelcast multicast discovery

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Exports

The Exports service is hosted by your Core server.

Media Gateway

Storage

If recording via multicast, the required UDP port range is determined by cameras.

TCP/UDP Port Service

TCP 5901 Hazelcast communication (default)

TCP 8101 Apache Karaf SSH server

N/A 224.2.2.3 The server joins this multicast group for Hazelcast multicast discovery.

UDP 54327 Hazelcast multicast discovery

TCP/UDP Port Service

UDP All By default, the Media Gateway tries to send RTP/RTSP video streams to the client on a random pair of UDP ports in the 41950-6100 range. However, the client can request that the Media Gateway send streams to any UDP port. Thus, all UDP ports must be available (not blocked by firewall) if streaming over RTSP.

TCP 554 RTSP

TCP 6001 Hazelcast communications (default)

TCP 8090 Internal API HTTP (MJPEG)

TCP 8101 Apache Karaf SSH server

N/A 224.2.2.5 The server joins this multicast group for Hazelcast multicast discovery.

UDP 54327 Hazelcast multicast discovery

TCP/UDP Port Service

TCP 1900 HTTP

TCP 9091 HTTPS

TCP 5544 RTSP

UDP 41950-61000 Video recording (unicast)

TCP 8090 Internal API HTTP (MJPEG)

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VSM / NSM5200 Storage

Enhanced Decoder

Enhanced decoders operate on Xubuntu 14.04 and communicates over the following protocols.

TCP/UDP Port Service

TCP 22 SSH

UDP 68 DHCP Client

TCP 80 HTTP

UDP 161 SNMP

UDP 162 SNMP-trap

TCP 199 SMUX

UDP 1781 NSTERM Search

UDP 2900-2901 UPNP Discovery

TCP 4343 HAL

TCP 10000-10008 Private services for NSM5200/VSM

TCP 1605 NSTERM Server

TCP 25556 DB Replication service for redundant recorders

UDP 32768-61000 UPNP Communication

TCP 49152 UPNP Communication

Protocol/Port Service/Description

FTP Used for firmware updates, snapshot downloads, etc

TCP / 43241 Proprietary control protocol

NTP Time synchronization

VNC Allows the decoders to operate in concert with the workstation as a single desktop/workspace.

RTSP/RTCP/RTP Audio, video, and data streaming.

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Recording SupportVideoXpert supports the following recording platforms:

NOTE: Digital Sentry servers (DSSRV and DSSRV2) operating on version 7.9 or later with the DSFrameServerService, DSPelcoAPI, and DSNSMRest services installed.

Additional Storage LimitationsOptera cameras, or cameras supporting high framerates and resolutions require an increased amount of storage (mostly due to increased bitrates, but, in some cases, increased processing load may become a factor.

For example, Digital Sentry servers are limited to 8 simultaneous Optera streams.

Camera SupportWhile VideoXpert Storage is the highest capacity recording platform for VideoXpert, and is entirely configurable through the Admin Portal, it is still being actively developed and does not yet support the stable of cameras that the VSM/NSM5200 and DS platforms support. Use the following table to determine which recording platform is right for you. Links under 3rd Party Support open the list of supported cameras for the VSM/NSM5200 (UDI5000-CAM) and DS platforms.

Platform Max Capacity RAID LevelConfigure Using: Bandwidth 3rd Party Support

VideoXpert Storage96 TB RAID 6 Admin Portal

350 Mbps In; 167 Mbps Out

Requires driver packages for Storage; driver support is actively developed.

VSM48 TB RAID 6

Admin Portal/Pelco Utilities

250 Mbps in; 32 streams out (per pool)

Requires UDI5000-CAMNSM5200 (2.4.3 or later)

Digital Sentry (requires additional services)

36 TB RAID 5 Digital Sentry 350 Mbps (in/out) Included via DS

Platform ONVIF Optera Evo 3rd Party Support

VideoXpert Storage Profile S x x Axis and Hikvision

VSM

Profile Sx (requires UDI5000-CAM)

Requires UDI5000-CAMNSM5200 (2.4.3 and later)

DSSRV2 (7.13 and later)Profile S x x

Digital Sentry Edge Device Support List

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Assigning Cameras to Recorders in VideoXpertYou can assign Pelco Cameras to VideoXpert Storage and VSM/NSM5200 models directly through the Admin Portal.

From the Recording page, you can create recording groups and assign cameras to schedules. Cameras assigned to VXS, VSM, or NSM5200 models will record based on the schedule and recording triggers you configure through the Admin Portal.

Using VideoXpert StorageVideoXpert Storage is the native recording platform for VideoXpert, and does not have its own interface; you will fully configure Storage through the Admin Portal. VideoXpert Storage hosts the drivers for 3rd-party devices. So, when adding a 3rd-party camera to VideoXpert for use with VideoXpert Storage, you will specify the recorder that will both host the driver and record the camera.

NOTE: You can perform advanced VideoXpert Storage configuration by going to the address of the recorder on port 9091 (ex 1.2.3.4:9091).

When you select a VideoXpert Storage recorder on the Recording page the Admin Portal will expose additional, relevant options.

• Maximum Retention Period allows you to set the maximum time for which the recorder stores video; the recorder discards video older than the number of days you specify. Set to zero if you want the recorder to discard the oldest video when it reaches maximum capacity.

• Transmission Method determines whether the recorder will get unicast or multicast streams from the cameras you assign to it. The recorder’s transmission method is in no way related to or dependent on the Media Gateway transmission method.

Using VSM and NSM5200 Models as VideoXpert RecordersThrough the Admin Portal, you can set camera associations. However, you must configure other aspects of your recording devices through other interfaces. You can configure storage pools through the VSM/NSM5200 Web interface. You can configure recording schedules through Pelco Utilities.

To record third-party cameras on VSM or NSM5200 models, you must connect the cameras through a UDI5000-CAM. The UDI5000-CAM is a 1 RU, half-width server that is preloaded with drivers for third-party IP cameras and encoders. Each UDI5000-CAM unit supports up to 16 cameras depending on the third-party camera resolutions, image rates, and bandwidth.

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Using Digital Sentry Servers as VideoXpert RecordersTo fully support VideoXpert as a recording solution, your DS server must operate on version 7.9 or later and have the DSFrameServer-Service, DSPelcoAPI, and DSNSMRest services installed (in that order) and running; installers for the specified services are available on www.pelco.com. These services should be set to an Automatic (Delayed Start); the DSPelcoAPI service cannot start unless the DSFrameServerService has started first.

To stream video from DS servers through VideoXpert, the Media Gateway Communication Method option, within the Admin Portal, must be set to unicast/unicast. Your DS server must be configured for continuous recording for users to retrieve recorded video from DS servers through VideoXpert.

It is highly recommended that you install Meinberg NTP client on your DS server and use the same NTP server as your VideoXpert system; synchronized time for VideoXpert components ensures accurate video delivery and prevents errors within the system.

While Digital Sentry servers will appear as recorders within VideoXpert, and you can retrieve recorded video from them through Vide-oXpert, you cannot configure Digital Sentry recorders through the Recording page within the Admin Portal. You must add or remove cameras directly from the DS Admin application on the DS server.

Cameras belonging to Digital Sentry servers are named in the format DS System Name - Camera Name and display the IP address of the DS server through which they are connected, rather than the source IP address. When using Optera cameras through Digital Sentry systems operating as VideoXpert recorders, set the camera’s connection speed to 100 Mbps to ensure the best possible viewing and recording experience

Digital Sentry returns search results for recorded video in 15-minute intervals. If the DS server acting as a VideoXpert recorder recorded any video within the 15 minute interval covered by your search, the VideoXpert will report that recorded video is available for the entire 15 minute period; the timeline displaying recorded video in the Ops Center will be green for the 15-minute period, even if a point in time contains no recorded video. When searching for video from Digital Sentry, you may have to browse the timeline to find video within the 15 minute period you searched.

Advanced VideoXpert Storage ConfigurationWhile you can perform basic storage assignments and configuration through the VideoXpert Admin Portal. The Storage Web portal provides access to advanced settings and status that can help you fine-tune and monitor your VideoXpert Storage devices. Access the Web interface by opening a browser and pointing to the IP address of your recorder on port 9091 (example: 1.2.3.4:9091).

At a minimum, you must use the Storage page to assign an NTP address to the Storage server.

Checking VideoXpert Storage Status

The Status page provides basic status information about your recorder, including the assigned bit rate of the recorder, retention period, and the number of events you are recording per hour. Use this page to determine whether you are underutilizing or over-burdening your recorder.

Storage Assignments

You can check the status of individual streams and whether or not they are recording from the Assignments page in the Storage Inter-face.

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Assigning an NTP Address to VideoXpert Storage

1. Connect to your recorder at <ipaddress>:9091.

2. Go to the Configure page.

3. Provide the IP address of your NTP server.

4. Click Save.

Using External NAS Storage (Archive Volume Group)

By connecting an external volume (network storage/NAS), you can extend your retention time for VideoXpert Storage recorders. When your VideoXpert Storage recorder achieves its maximum capacity and would normally begin to delete the oldest video, it will send video over to the NAS instead. Video will still adhere to retention parameters, even when moved over to external storage. The experience in accessing video is the same, whether a recording is served from a the VXS recorder or an external server.

To use external storage, the external storage server reside on the VideoXpert network, and should not have login credentials. If the server requires login credentials, VXS will not be able to transfer video to the external server.

As video transfers from a VXS recorder to an external storage server, bandwidth of your incoming cameras is equal to the bandwidth out to external storage. When using external storage, you should plan storage distribution to ensure bandwidth availability for incoming cameras, storage overflow, and user impact in viewing recorded video.

NOTE: While each VXS recorder can only have a single archive group, multiple VXS recorders can use the same NAS server. In this case each VXS must point to a different path/folder on the NAS server; pointing multiple VXS recorders to the same archive group network path will cause video to expire earlier than expected and without warning.

Configuring an External Volume

1. Connect to your recorder at <ipaddress>:9091.

2. Go to the Volumes page.

3. Click to add a new Volume Group.

4. Provide a name for the group and select the Designate this Volume Group as the Archive Volume Group option.

5. Click to add a new Volume.

6. Provide the address and folder location where you want to store data in the format //1.2.3.4/folder1/folder2.

7. Click Save.

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Database Backups and Recovery

VideoXpert Storage takes database recovery points daily, and stores recovery points for 8 days. If your database enters an error state, you can restore to one of the available points from the Database page. If you have performed some maintenance or made changes to your recorder, you can click Create Database Backup to initiate a manual restore point.

Restoring the Database

Restoring the database restores camera associations (provided the camera still exists within the VideoXpert environment) and Storage settings; restoring the database will not affect video directly; you will not lose video when restoring to an earlier time. However, if you have added cameras to the recorder after a backup was taken, and restore to that backup, you will lose access to video for any cameras the database restore process removes from the database.

Rebuilding the Database

If there are no suitable restore points, and your database or recorder are not in working states, you can click Rebuild Database to recover the recorder. Clicking Rebuild Database will attempt to restore the recorder to a working state bu creating an empty database and restoring all available files from the present database instance. While rebuilding the database should restore functionality to the unit, you should not expect to regain your lost video or camera associations.

Rebuilding the database takes significantly longer than restoring the database.

VideoXpert Storage Failover Recording

Putting a recorder in Failover mode allows you to assign the recorder to monitor and act as a hot standby for one or more recorders; if any of the recorders the failover unit is assigned to monitor fails, the failover unit will take over and continue recording the camera groups and schedules previously belonging to the failed recorder.You should not over-assign failover capacity. If the failover unit is already engaged and another recorder fails, those cameras will go unrecorded until you can correct the issue. Failover recording also doesn’t ensure access to historical data from failed recorders; it only ensures uninterrupted recording. If you want to maintain uninterrupted access to recorded video, even when a recorder fails, then you should record cameras redundantly across multiple recorders.

A designated failover recorder operates one-to-one with the recorders it monitors; should a unit fail, it will take over for the cameras and schedules belonging to the failed unit; it cannot absorb additional capacity from any other failures within the group. So, while a single, designated failover recorder can monitor up to 8 active recorders, you should implement a failover strategy that ensures full time recording and video availability in your environment in the event of possible network, power, or hardware failures.

NOTE: During a failover, you may experience a recording gap of up to 30 seconds.

Configuring Failover Recording

1. Open a Web browser and connect to the IP address of the Storage recorder you want to configure as a failover unit.

2. Go to the Failover page.

3. Click Designate this VxStorage as a Failover.

4. Click and provide the IP address for each unit you want the recorder to monitor.

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Discovering, Adding, and Commissioning Devices in VideoXpertThe Devices page provides an interface add and remove devices in your VideoXpert system. VideoXpert does not automatically discover devices. You can prompt the system to search for, add, and automatically commission Pelco devices. You must manually add third-party video sources for use with VideoXpert Storage.

You must commission a device to use it within VideoXpert; VideoXpert commissions devices automatically when you add them to the system. Devices with a next to them consume a license when you commission them. The License Summary on the Devices page lists the number of licenses you have for each type of device. You can reclaim licenses by decommissioning devices, or add additional licenses by applying license packs to the system.

Adding Pelco Cameras and Devices or Third-Party Servers Running VideoXpertWhen adding Pelco devices to VideoXpert, the system issues a discovery message and then listens for Pelco devices for up to 5 minutes. VideoXpert automatically adds and commissions your VideoXpert devices and Pelco cameras.

If your installation requires licenses, the discovery process will consume the necessary licenses to commission discovered devices. If you do not have the necessary licenses to commission the discovered devices, VideoXpert will add the devices it discovers but leave them decommissioned. You must then manually commission devices when you either add more licenses or decommission devices of a similar type to reclaim the necessary licenses.

The discovery process also discovers and adds third-party devices connected through Digital Sentry-based recorders and third-party devices connected through UDI5000-CAMs to VSM or NSM5200-based recorders

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Adding Third-Party CamerasYou must manually add third-party cameras to the system when using third-party cameras with VideoXpert Storage.

When adding a third party camera or video source directly through VideoXpert, you must also associate it with a VideoXpert Storage recorder; the recorder hosts the driver for the camera, and begins recording continuously. You can add the camera to recording groups, set a schedule, and configure recording triggers, but you cannot add the camera to another recorder without repeating the process to add a third party device.

Third-party cameras connected through Digital Sentry or to VSM/NSM5200 models using a UDI5000-CAM are discovered through the simple discovery process. You cannot reassign cameras connected through DS recorders within VideoXpert. You can only reassign third party cameras connected through a UDI5000-CAM from one VSM/NSM5200 recorder to another within VideoXpert; you cannot assign them to other recorders.

Ensuring Driver Support Using VX Storage FailoverDrivers for third-party cameras added directly through VideoXpert (not using a UDI5000-CAM or Digital Sentry) are hosted by VideoXpert Storage. If your Storage recorder does not use a failover scheme, then a failure of the Storage recorder hosting a third-party camera will prevent access to the driver for that camera; this may prevent operators from using the camera as normal while the recorder is in a failed state. A failover scheme is important not only to ensure uninterrupted recording, but continued access to video and live video function-ality for third-party cameras.

Though drivers for Optera cameras are hosted by VideoXpert Storage as well, driver support will failover to a Core server, should the Storage recorder(s) driving an Optera camera fail. This ensures that Optera cameras are always available, even if recorders fail.

VideoXpert 3rd Party Edge Device SupportThe following lists drivers supported by VideoXpert and the cameras Pelco used to verify each driver. If your camera is not listed below, that does not mean that it isn’t supported; it simply means that Pelco did not use your camera model to verify the driver. If adding a model not listed below to VideoXpert, it is recommended that you try the native driver first. If you find functionality lacking, you can try the ONVIF driver.

3rd-party drivers are hosted by VideoXpert Storage recorders; when adding 3rd-party cameras to VideoXpert, you will select both the driver you want to use and the VX Storage recorder to which you want to assign the camera. To ensure the best possible 3rd-party support and driver availability, it is recommended that you keep your VideoXpert environment up to date.

Driver Verified Model Live

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Axis P1347 ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

Q1755 ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

Q6034 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

P5512 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

P3364 ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

M5014 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

M1054 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

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Hikvision DS-2DF5284-AE3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2CD2642FWD-IZS ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ N/A ✔ ✔

DS-2CD2132F-I ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ N/A ✔ ✔

DS-2CD4332FWD-IZHS ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ N/A ✔ ✔

DS-2DF5276-AE ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ N/A ✔ ✔

DS-2CD4024FWD-A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ N/A ✔ ✔

Arecont AV2155 ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A N/A ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV3246PM-W ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A N/A ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV5555DN Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

AV3155DN Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

AV2255PM Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

AV10225PMIR Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

AV1255PMIR Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

AV1145 Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ N/A ✔ ✔

ONVIF Axis P1347 ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

P5512 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

Q6034 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

ONVIF Arecont

AV5555DN Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV3155DN Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV2255PM Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV10225PMIR Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV1255PMIR Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

AV1145 Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

ONVIF Bosch

Autodome IP Dynamic 7000 HD

✔ ✔ ✔ N/A N/A N/A ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

Autodome IP Starlight 7000 HD

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Dinion IP Ultra 8000MP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Dinion IP Starlight 8000MP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Flexisdome Starlight 700VR

✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Driver Verified Model Live

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ONVIF Hikvision

DS-2CD2642FWD-IZS Fixed

✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2CD2132F-I Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2CD4332FD-IZWHS Fixed

✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2DF5276-AE3 PTZ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2CD4024FWD-A Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2DE4220-AE3 PTZ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2CD4585F-IZH Fixed ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

DS-2DF6236-AEL PTZ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✔ ✔

ONVIF Panasonic

WV-SC588 ✔ ✔ ✔ PT Only

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✔

Driver Verified Model Live

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Licensing the SystemWhen purchasing VideoXpert hardware solutions from Pelco, you do not need to purchase license packs to use VideoX-pert. VideoXpert Enterprise hardware solutions do not require licensing to use. VideoXpert Ultimate hardware solutions require licenses to expose certain features, but the cost of licenses is included with the Ultimate hardware solution.

VideoXpert software distributions that you can install on your own, off-the-shelf hardware, come with a 30-day grace period during which you can setup, configure and test your system. Before the 30-day grace period ends, you must apply a license pack – a group of licenses – to the system to continue using VideoXpert.

Your license pack determines your VideoXpert distribution – Ultimate or Enterprise (U1 or E1) – and the number of Core, Media Gateway, and Recording devices you can commission within your VideoXpert environment. If aggregating systems, your license pack also deter-mines the number of aggregated video sources you can commission within your VideoXpert Ultimate environment. This information is exposed in a License Summary, available on both the Licensing and Devices pages within the Admin Portal.

NOTE: Client workstations and non-aggregated video sources do not require licenses. You can commission as many workstations and non-aggregated video sources within your VideoXpert system as are supported by your licensed servers and recording infrastructure.

Figure 1: An Example of the License Summary

Table A: Do I need licenses for my VideoXpert products?

Device Licensing Requirements

Pelco VideoXpert E1 Hardware N/A

Pelco VideoXpert U1 Hardware Requires U1 licensing to expose Ultimate/aggregation functionality; licenses are included with the purchase of U1 hardware.

Third-Party Hardware running VideoXpert

Requires license packs purchased from Pelco to operate beyond the 30-day grace period.

Aggregated Cameras Consumes U1-AGG-1C license per aggregated camera.

Cameras recorded to VXS Consumes E1/U1-1C license per recorded camera. (Redundant recording does not require duplicate licenses for the same camera.

Upgrade subscription (1 or 3 years) 1C-SUP1 or 1C-SUP3 license

License Type/SKU Description

U1- Ultimate License; entitles you to all VideoXpert features, including aggregation.

E1- Enterprise License; entitles you to all VideoXpert features, except aggregation.

-COR Core license; allows you to commission Core servers.

-MGW Media Gateway license; allows you to commission Media Gateway servers

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You will commission devices for use within VideoXpert from the Devices page of the Admin Portal. Commissioning a device with a next to it consumes a license of the corresponding type. When you run out of licenses of any particular type, you will not be able to commission any additional devices of the same type until you either apply a new license pack to the system or decommission devices of the corresponding type to reclaim licenses.

NOTE: When you apply a license pack to a VideoXpert system, it will automatically apply licenses to any devices operating within their grace period, ending the grace period immediately.

Figure 2: The Devices Page

Licensing Aggregated Video SourcesYour VideoXpert Ultimate site uses a “U1” license; the remote sites you aggregate require enterprise or “E1” licenses. The Ultimate environment requires U1-AGG-1C licenses for each camera belonging to an aggregated “E1” site that you want to use within your Ulti-mate environment.

Any decommissioned or otherwise un-licensed servers belonging to an aggregated system will appear offline in the Ultimate (aggrega-tion) environment. If an aggregated Core server is not licensed or the license expires, the aggregated system and all its video sources will appear offline.

-VXS VideoXpert Storage license; allows you to commission VXS recorders

-NSM Storage license; allows you to commission NSM5200/VSM recording servers.

-DSS Storage license; allows you to commission DS recording servers.

U1-AGG-1C Aggregated Video Source license; allows you to commission video sources belonging to an aggregated system.

License Type/SKU Description

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SNMP MonitoringUsing VideoXpert SNMP services, you can configure your VideoXpert hardware to send SNMP traps informing you of health risks to your hardware and VideoXpert services.

Enabling SNMP SupportYou must repeat this process for each VideoXpert component you want to monitor.

1. Download and run VideoXpertSNMP.msi.

2. Go to the Control Panel and select Administrative Tools.

3. Select Services.

4. Right click SNMP Service and select Properties.

5. Select the Security tab and enter the community name you want to assign to your VideoXpert environment under Accepted community names.

6. Go to the Traps tab and enter the addresses of the SNMP manager(s) to which you want to send traps.

7. Click Apply.

Recommended Monitoring StrategyWhether using native VideoXpert hardware or not, if you intend to monitor your VideoXpert environment using an SNMP manager, you should monitor the same events as the VideoXpert Front Panel Service (available on native hardware).

Software/Services to Monitor

At a minimum, you should subscribe to -- or send traps for -- the following services:

Service Description

VideoXpert Core Core service; runs on COR and CMG models.

VideoXpert Exports Provides the ability to export video; runs on COR and CMG models

VideoXpert Media Gateway Media Gateway service; runs on MG and CMG models.

Ops Center Communications Ops Center Workstation service. Runs on OPS models.

MongoD Database daemon; manages requests, access and management for system database

MongoS Database shard routing service.

MongoLogRotator Log rotation service; failure of this service could cause logs to take excess space on the system.

VideoXpert Storage Storage service; runs on VXS models

VideoXpert Storage Database Storage database service; runs on VXS models

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Hardware Conditions to Monitor

You should subscribe to or send traps for the following hardware events:

• Running software (executable name, path, status).

• Processor load

• Storage/memory statistics

• Hard disk failures

• Power failures

• System uptime

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Migrating from Endura to VideoXpertIt’s possible to migrate from Endura to VideoXpert in a way that enables you to reuse your Endura hardware and minimize downtime. You can run both systems in tandem allowing for a transition at whatever pace makes administrators and users comfortable. In Typical Migration Scenarios, you would install a Core/Media Gateway server (CMG) in parallel with your SM5200. Your WS5080 workstations would become your Ops Center client workstations. Assuming your NSM5200 is operating on version 2.4.3 or later, you would experience no interruption in video delivery, and would carry all of your video into VideoXpert.

Migrating the Endura Database to VideoXpertIt is highly recommended that you perform an SM backup from Endura Utilities before migrating to VideoXpert.

If your Endura environment contains an SM5200 operating on version 1.5 or later, you can migrate your entire Endura database from Endura to VideoXpert to ensure a relatively seamless transition between video management systems using the sm_export and sm_im-port utilities. However, due to the differences between the Endura and VideoXpert databases, the migration process translates some aspects of your Endura database for use with VideoXpert.

The migration process transfers user names, roles, permissions and the associations for all three items. Passwords for accounts in Vide-oXpert must be 8 characters or more; if an Endura user’s password was less than 8 characters, their password will be appended with 1s until it reaches 8 characters. For example, a password of “ABC” would become ABC11111. Users with a password appended in this way will have to change their passwords upon logging into VideoXpert.

The migration process transfers all camera names, numbers, groups, and locations to VideoXpert. Locations and Groups are converted to VideoXpert tags during the migration process. For example, a camera that was assigned to the “PTZ Cameras” group in the “Parking Deck” location in your Endura environment becomes a camera that is assigned “PTZ Cameras” and “Parking Deck” tags in your VideoX-pert environment.

The migration utility does not import cameras. Your VideoXpert system must have access to cameras – they must appear in the Admin Portal’s Devices Tab – for the migration tool to successfully import their data.

1. Go to the Devices page in VideoXpert and discover your Pelco cameras and devices or manually add third-party devices to Vide-oXpert. The migration process only migrates groups, locations, and other information (as tags) for cameras that are already recog-nized by VideoXpert.

2. Run the sm_export utility.

SM5200Failover

NSM52002.4.3 or Later

VideoXpertDual-CMG Cluster

Migrate Endura Database

WS5080 Running WS5200and VideoXpert Ops Center

SM5200

CMG

CMG

Support Appliance

Ops Center

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3. Provide the address of your primary system manager, in the format sm_export -s 192.168.0.1.

• By default, the backup utility will attempt to use the default administrative account to export the database. If necessary, you can specify another user account using the -user and -password arguments in the format: sm_export -s 192.168.0.1 -user username -password password.

• The utility outputs a SQL file in the formatexport_192.168.0.1.sqland a JSON file in the format migrate_192.168.0.1.json. You can change the name of the JSON file with the -o argument in the format: sm_export -s 192.168.0.1 -o outputFileName.json

4. Run the ve_import utility providing the IP address of the system to which you want to import a database, the credentials of an administrative user, and the name of the file exported in previous steps. Use the format: ve_import 192.168.0.2 user password migration_192.168.0.1.json.

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Migrating from Digital Sentry to VideoXpertYou can re-purpose DSSRV models as recorders for your VideoXpert environment. When operating as VideoXpert recorders, your original DS environment is still available, enabling you to keep using DS as you migrate to VideoXpert. Using Digital Sentry as a VideoXpert recorder requires an E1/U1-DSS license.

To fully support VideoXpert as a recording solution, your DS server must operate on DS version 7.9 or later and have the DSFrameServer-Service, DSPelcoAPI, and DSNSMRest services installed (in that order) and running; installers for the specified services are available on www.pelco.com. These services should be set to an Automatic (Delayed Start); the DSPelcoAPI service cannot start unless the DSFrameServerService has started first.

DS-CPPC models, or any other client running DS ControlPoint that meets VideoXpert’s minimum system requirements, can become Vide-oXpert Ops Center clients.

DSSRV2 7.9 or Later as VideoXpert Storage

Ops Center

VideoXpert CMG

DS-CPPC Running DS ControlPointand VideoXpert Ops Center

Integrations and Plug-insYou can download VideoXpert integrations and plug-ins from partnerfirst.pelco.com.

VideoXpert supports integrations both through the Ops Center and directly to the Core. Integrations through the Ops Center function as plug-ins: applications that a user can add to the Ops Center interface either operating in conjunction with or overlaying video. Integra-tions through the Core typically inject events into VideoXpert, extending the functionality of the system and issuing events to Ops Center users when the third party system records them. Through integration, you can add incident reporting, analytics, license plate recognition, and other features to VideoXpert.

Pelco offers integration tools and SDKs to help you extend the functionality of your VideoXpert system through the Pelco Developer Network at http://pdn.pelco.com. Pelco’s Partner First site http://partnerfirst.pelco.com provides information about and access to a number of ready-made integrations and plug-ins for VideoXpert.

Figure 1: Analytic activity overlay integration using SavVi by Agent VI

Figure 2: Card shoe reader overlay integration with Casino Connect by eConnect

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Mapping Plug-inThe Mapping plug-in is included with the Ops Center provides an interface to import and arrange cameras on a map, enabling you to generate a visual representation of your surveillance environments. Maps are stored on the Core, along with all camera arrangements and associations. You can export maps containing maps on their own layer, either to backup or update the map outside of the VideoXpert system.

The mapping plug-in supports map files in DWG, PNG, and JPEG formats.

Figure 3: Mapping Plug-in

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Event Viewer

The Event Viewer is a content plug-in providing access to events and alarms in a format similar to the Events page in the Admin Portal, including filters allowing you to find events relevant to you. However, within the event viewer – unlike in the Admin Portal – you can open cameras or recorded video associated with an event.

Events requiring acknowledgment will allow you to acknowledge or mark them in progress.

Click the for any event to open video associated with an event in a new tab; drag the icon to any cell in your current layout to open video in a current tab.

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Event Types and ReportingYou can pull reports (in CSV format) containing events and configuration information to audit your system and VideoXpert users. Reports requiring a start date and time include an event history; reports that do not require a start date and time provide current configuration information only. Depending on the date and time range you set, some reports may take several minutes for the system to process.

Event types typically refer to who or what is the cause of an event, and do not necessarily determine the report in which an event will appear:

• Admin events typically occur at the administrative level.

• Analytic events are the result of software analytics.

• Client events that are reported by the client.

• External events, which are injected into the system by a third party.

• Hardware events resulting from physical hardware issues and sensor readings.

• System events are typically the result of normal operator actions.

The system holds events for 30 days. You cannot obtain reports past the 30 day threshold.

Event Event Type Online/Offline User Actions Event History

Core DB Backup Failed Admin ✔

Core DB Backup Halted Admin ✔ ✔

Core DB Backup Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Core DB Backup Restore Admin ✔ ✔

Core DB Backup Started Admin ✔ ✔

CoreDB Backup Success Admin ✔

Device Added Admin ✔ ✔

Device Commissioned Admin

Device Decommissioned Admin

Device Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Device Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Added Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Image Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Image Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Image Retrieved Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Marker Added Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Marker Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Marker Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Drawing Removed Admin ✔ ✔

License Expired Admin ✔

Notification Added Admin ✔ ✔

Notification Added Role Admin ✔ ✔

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Notification Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Notification Removed Role Admin ✔ ✔

Privilege Added Admin ✔ ✔

Privilege Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Privilege Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Role Added Admin ✔ ✔

Role Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Role Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Schedule Added Admin ✔ ✔

Schedule Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Schedule Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Situation Added Admin ✔ ✔

Situation Modified Admin ✔ ✔

Situation Notification Added Admin ✔ ✔

Situation Notification Removed

Admin ✔ ✔

Situation Removed Admin ✔ ✔

User Added Admin ✔ ✔

User Modified Admin ✔ ✔

User New Password Admin ✔ ✔

User Removed Admin ✔ ✔

User Role Added Admin ✔ ✔

User Role Removed Admin ✔ ✔

Abandoned Object Analytic ✔

No Abandoned Object Analytic ✔

Adaptive Motion Analytic ✔

No Adaptive Motion Analytic ✔

Directional Motion Analytic ✔

No DIrectional Motion Analytic ✔

Loitering Analytic ✔

No Loitering Analytic ✔

Object Count Analytic ✔

No Object Count Analytic ✔

Object Removal Analytic ✔

No Object Removal Analytic ✔

Sabotage Analytic ✔

No Sabotage Analytic ✔

Event Event Type Online/Offline User Actions Event History

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Stopped Vehicle Analytic ✔

No Stopped Vehicle Analytic ✔

Motion Detected Analytic ✔

No Motion Detected Analytic ✔

User Logged Off Client ✔ ✔

User Logged On Client ✔ ✔

Client Snoozed Event Client ✔ ✔

Saved View Accepted Client ✔ ✔

Saved View Recieved Client ✔ ✔

Saved View Sent Client ✔ ✔

Client Tab Added Client ✔ ✔

Cliented Tab Modified Client ✔ ✔

Cliented Tab Removed Client ✔ ✔

Client Workspace Added Client ✔ ✔

Client Workspace Modified Client ✔ ✔

Client Workspace Removed Client ✔ ✔

CPU Load Hardware ✔

Disk Failure Hardware ✔

Fan Failure Hardware ✔

Input Loss Hardware ✔

Input Restored Hardware ✔

Link Speed Changed Hardware ✔

Memory Load Hardware ✔

Packet Loss Hardware ✔

Power Supply Failure Hardware ✔

Temperature Issue Hardware ✔

UPS Low Hardware ✔

Volume Full Hardware ✔

Alarm Active System ✔

Alarm Inactive System ✔

Bookmark Added System ✔ ✔

Bookmark Modified System ✔ ✔

Bookmark Removed System ✔ ✔

Client Push System ✔

Client Push Acknowledged System ✔

database_fault System ✔

Event Event Type Online/Offline User Actions Event History

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Camera Configuration ReportThe Camera Configuration report provides the address, name, and number (if set) for cameras in the system (appearing on the Devices page in the Admin Portal), and the recorders to which each camera is assigned.

Online/Offline ReportThe Online/Offline report provides a list of all device_online and device_offline events happening in the time frame you specify with relevant details for devices associated with each event.

Recorder Camera Assignment ReportThe Recorder Camera Assignment report contains the complete list of recorders and the video sources assigned to each recorder. It contains similar information to the Camera Configuration report, but is sorted by recorder.

Device Offline System ✔ ✔

Device Online System ✔ ✔

Export Deleted System ✔ ✔

Export Download System ✔ ✔

Export Failure System ✔

Export Started System ✔ ✔

Export Successful System ✔

Fault System ✔

PTZ Lock System ✔ ✔

PTZ Pattern Triggered System ✔ ✔

PTZ Preset Triggered System ✔ ✔

PTZ Unlock System ✔ ✔

Quick Report Downloaded System ✔ ✔

Retention Low System ✔

Stream Loss System ✔

Stream View Denied System ✔

Stream View Started System ✔ ✔

Stream View Stopped System ✔ ✔

Stream View Timeout System ✔

Tag Added System ✔ ✔

Tag Linked System ✔ ✔

Tag Merged System ✔ ✔

Tag Modified System ✔ ✔

Tag Removed System ✔ ✔

Tag Unlinked System ✔ ✔

Event Event Type Online/Offline User Actions Event History

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Recorder Diagnostics ReportThe Recorder Diagnostic report provides the current status and health of your VideoXpert recorders, including hard drive status.

User Actions ReportThe User Actions report lists the events in the system for which users are directly responsible within VideoXpert. For example, the report would not show a device_offline event, but would show a device_decommissioned event, listing the user responsible for decom-missioning the device. The complete list of events in the User Actions report is available in the table above.

Event History ReportThe Event History report provides a complete list of all events that occurred within the time frame you specify, including the source of the event (device, user, etc) and the state of the event (acknowledged, in progress, etc.).

VX Cluster Configuration ReportThe Cluster Configuration report provides a list of the Core and Media Gateway servers in your VideoXpert system and their online or offline status.

Analytic and Other Video-Related EventsAnalytic events generated by cameras are associated with video in VideoXpert. Within the Ops Center, you can use the Event Viewer and video-associated events to drive to relevant video.

Logs and TroubleshootingEach individual VideoXpert product produces and stores its own logs, which roll over every 30 days; the Core event log can store events for up to 90 days based on your settings. You can use the logs to troubleshoot issues, or to help Pelco troubleshoot issues you may encounter in the field. Logs are available in the following location.

Product Location

Core C:\ProgramData\Pelco\Core\core\vxcore.log and also the zipped files

Media Gateway C:\ProgramData\Pelco\Gateway\data\log

Exports C:\ProgramData\Pelco\Exports\data\log

Storage C:\ProgramData\Pelco\Storage\logs

Ops Center C:\ProgramData\Pelco\OpsCenter\Logs; logs are available within the application by navigating to, About Ops Center and clicking Get Logs.

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Appendix: Network Operation ModesPIM Dense Mode for Multicast Routing

Protocol Independent Multicast routing operates in either Sparse Mode, Dense Mode, or Sparse Dense mode. Before selecting a PIM operating mode, the system architect or network engineer should consider the impact the protocol selection will have on the network. This appendix provides an overview of PIM Dense Mode and identifies considerations related to its use.

PIM Dense Mode OverviewPIM-DM is easier to install than PIM-SM. The network engineer will enable PIM-DM on each network router that is required to route multicast traffic. PIM-DM operates in what is referred to as a push model. Traffic is initially flooded to all neighbors that have formed a PIM neighbor relationship. Downstream routers will then determine if the traffic is necessary and either forward the traffic appropriately or send a prune message to an upstream router to suppress the flow of multicast traffic. Keep in mind that although the traffic has been suppressed, the (S,G) state is still maintained in the multicast routing table. One of the major drawbacks to PIM-DM is that multicast routing switches that are not actively transmitting a multicast flow may still be required to maintain that state. Maintaining this state can lead to the consumption of additional resources on the switch even though no active client on that router has requested the multicast traffic. During the flood and prune cycle (S,G), states are flooded to every multicast router on the network and every multicast router will maintain the (S,G) state as long as the multicast source is actively transmitting. The resulting traffic flow for multicast will follow the shortest path tree (SPT) from source to receiver.

Considerations When Using PIM-DIMDetermine if the Layer 3 routing devices support state refresh.Since PIM-DM will flood traffic throughout the network to build (S,G) states in each downstream multicast router, careful consideration must be given to the support of state refresh. Multicast routing devices that support state refresh will prevent periodic flooding. PIM-DM operates in a flood and prune cycle. The multicast routing tree is flooded every three minutes and relies on pruning mechanisms to determine whether or not downstream routers require the multicast traffic. Periodic flooding of the network can be a major concern for networks for which bandwidth is limited. Layer 3 devices that support state refresh prevent the countdown timer on the (S,G) entry from expiring. If the countdown timer never expires, the multicast source will no longer flood the network periodically after the initial flood cycle.

Determine the multicast table routing table entry limitations of each switch on the network.There is a finite limit for each switch concerning the number of multicast routing table entries the switch can handle. If the available multicast routing table entries are exhausted, further entries may fail to be allocated to the table resulting in a multicast group that can no longer be routed. As a network engineer, you must ensure that the switch that is being used is not exceeding its capacity for the multicast routing tables. Pelco has a list of recommended switches that have been tested with respects to its multicast routing table capacity. It is the responsibility of integrators or network engineers to contact the switch manufacturer to assess the capabilities of the switch and any limitations with respect to multicast routing table entries.

Select recommended network switches or test nonrecommended switches. In addition to the multicast routing table, a selected switch must be able to handle an adequate number of IGMP entries. Switch manufacturers specify the number of IGMP entries a switch can handle. When switches exceed these limits, they typically will either flood or block multicast traffic. Pelco maintains a list of recommended switches that have been tested for their maximum recommended IGMP entries. If an integrator or network engineer selects a switch that is not from the recommended switch list, it is the responsibility of the integrator or network engineer to contact the vendor to determine the IGMP limitations of the switch selected.

Verify network limitations associated with wireless connections. Due to the limited bandwidth associated with wireless connections, PIM-DM may not be an appropriate selection. The flood and prune cycle may result in a wireless network link that becomes saturated.

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PIM Sparse Mode OverviewWhile PIM Sparse Mode requires careful consideration during the design process, there are major benefits associated with using PIM-SM as opposed to PIM-DM. Unlike PIM-DM, PIM-SM has a dedicated rendezvous point to send messages to build both the shared (*,G) and source (S,G) sides of the tree. The end result is that PIM-SM will not perform flood and prune cycles to build trees for forwarding multicast traffic. When the multicast traffic is not flooded to all PIM enabled devices, devices not in the path of transmission will not maintain entries in the multicast routing table. This will result in lower utilization of switch resources that are not in the SPT.

Considerations when using PIM-SIMDue to the operation of PIM-SM, placement of the rendezvous point can be a critical decision in Endura network design. If a centralized rendezvous point is selected for all traffic in the Endura network, that switch must be able to handle the appropriate number of multicast routing table entries for all traffic traversing the Endura network. As an alternative, you can use multiple rendezvous points that serve as candidates for multicast routing. Filtering can be implemented to distribute the multicast routing load across multiple rendezvous points. This type of application allows you to distribute the multicast routing load across multiple PIM-SM routers and, if designed prop-erly, isolates multicast traffic to intended segments of a network. For example, if a multicast recording network storage pool is imple-mented and the rendezvous point also serves as the local designated router, multicast recorded traffic would use its local designated router as the rendezvous point and isolate the majority of the multicast flows to the local router. Since the SPT is local to the switch, multicast recording traffic would be contained within a segment of the network.

In an implementation using PIM-SM, only the initial video packets are sent to the rendezvous point. If a single rendezvous point is used in an Endura network, after the encapsulated video in the register message is sent, all remaining video packets use the SPT from source to destination.

An SPT threshold can be configured to force a multicast flow to bypass the SPT. Care should be taken if SPT thresholds are to be modi-fied.

If a single RP is used in PIM-SM, it is critical that the multicast routing switch have enough resources to handle all (*,G) and (S,G) entries that will be created in the multicast routing table. Even though the traffic is traversing the SPT, resources must be allocated to handle all existing multicast routing table entries, and any processing of joins and prunes throughout the network. Packet replication, RPF recal-culation, state maintenance, and register processing all create memory and CPU loads on the rendezvous point. Depending on the size of the Endura network and scalability requirements, different Layer 3 devices might be selected as rendezvous point based on their resources.

The default response of PIM on some switches is to fall back to PIM-DM in the event that a rendezvous point cannot be found. Based upon the network topology this may or may not be a desired effect. Always take into account the effect that reverting to PIM-DM may have on the network. This response is present on Cisco systems.

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Topology RequirementsLayer 2 Network Requirements

Layer 2 Snooping on IGMP Version 2 Networks: Proper implementation of IGMP snooping at Layer 2 is critical to the success of a VideoXpert installation. IGMP snooping is designed to prevent hosts on a local network from receiving traffic from a multicast group they have not explicitly joined. The host explicitly uses IGMP join and leave messages to control membership to multicast groups it wants to receive. IGMP join and leave messages provide the switches with a mechanism to prune multicast traffic from links that do not contain a multicast subscriber (IGMP client). A switch that does not perform IGMP snooping may flood multicast traffic to all ports in a broadcast domain (or the VLAN equivalent). Multicast can cause unnecessary or even crippling load on host devices by requiring them to process packets they have not solicited. IGMP snooping is therefore especially useful for bandwidth-intensive applications like VideoXpert that use multicast transport. Each switch has a different capacity for IGMP handling within its tables and response to tables becoming over-loaded. Switches that block traffic when the IMGP table is overloaded will drop video streams from the network resulting in data loss for live or playback video. Switches that flood multicast traffic when IGMP tables are overloaded will create unnecessary traffic across the network, possibly degrading the quality of video.

Layer 2 Link Aggregation: The implementation of link aggregation in a VideoXpert network is designed to overcome two problems commonly encountered in IP video surveillance installations: bandwidth limitations on uplinks and an absence of fault tolerance or redun-dancy on critical network resources. Combining two or more physical Ethernet links into one logical link through channel bonding helps distribute some of the network load across multiple links while creating redundancy in the links themselves. The IEEE standards for link aggregation are well defined, but the algorithms used by switch manufacturers cause variations in load distribution across trunk links. These variations lead to saturation of critical network resources that appear to have adequate bandwidth.

Depending upon the algorithm used by the switch manufacturer, the introduction of multicast traffic across aggregated trunk links can sometimes cause an unbalanced load distribution across the link. Network engineers should perform careful analysis of load distribution across aggregated trunks to ensure that individual links in a trunk are not being saturated.

Most switch manufacturers assume traditional packet payloads when determining aggregation algorithms. Since video traffic has a larger packet size and is transmitted at a higher packet per second rate, network engineers must pay special attention to link utilization across trunks. It is recommended that any bonded member of an aggregated trunk link should not exceed 50 percent utilization. Aggre-gated links that have bonded members that exceed 50 percent utilization tend to exhibit higher latency and potential data loss for live and recorded video.

NOTE:

• Some aggregation algorithms can take an extended period of time to redistribute the load across bonded members. Network engi-neers should take these values once the system has initialized and the system has been running for at least 24 hours.

• NSM5200 or VSM storage pools consume two unicast streams of a high resolution video stream. When aggregating links from switches that serve cameras to switches that serve the storage pool, pay close attention to the aggregate bandwidth being used. Consider creating VLANs that can manage the bandwidth across a given aggregation link.

Layer 3 Network Requirements

Static Routing

Smaller networks employ static routing tables to forward data across a network by way of fixed paths. Static routing cannot adjust to changing line conditions in the same way as dynamic routing.?

Unicast Routing Protocols

VideoXpert provides unicast or multicast transmission options for video. Unicast transmission is best employed in networks that cannot support multicast traffic and that tightly limit the number of operators who can view the same video simultaneously. When using unicast for both recording and Media Gateway transmission, ensure that the system does not exceed the number of simultaneous unicast streams that a given camera or encoder can support. Keep in mind that the NSM5200 storage pool will use two unicast streams for load balancing. Use one of the following interior gateway protocols (IGP) for unicast routing:

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Routing Information Protocol (RIPv2): RIPv2 is a simple routing protocol that is part of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suites. It determines a route based on the smallest hop count between source and destination. Though mostly obsolete by newer, more flexible routing protocols, RIP is still found on some networks. RIPv2 replaced the more restrictive RIPv1 and supports variable length subnet masking (VLSM) for more efficient subnetting, authentication for security, and multicast routing updates instead of broadcasting them to all hosts on the network. RIPv2 has a limit of 15 hops. If a route is advertised as having 16 hops, it is flagged as unreachable. One limitation of RIP is the need to replicate the entire routing table to active neighbor periodically. This period update occurs through broadcast or multicast, and it can cause additional load to be placed on network resources.

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF): OSPF is a routing protocol that determines the best path for routing IP traffic over a TCP/IP network based on the distance between nodes and several quality parameters. OSPF is a link state protocol that provides less router-to-router update traffic than the RIP protocol (distance vector protocol) that it was designed to replace. OSPF has several key advantages. First, OSPF only propagates changes that have occurred to the routing table to its neighboring routers. By not forwarding the entire table, utili-zation of network resources by the routing protocol is diminished significantly. Second, OSPF only replicates the changes to the routing table when an actual link state has changed. By using event triggered LSA updates, periodic updates to the routing table can be avoided lowering network utilization for routing protocol overhead.

Multicast Routing Protocols

In a Layer 3 VideoXpert network, multicast routing provides critical intra-system communications such as device discovery. It is also the preferred transmission method for digital video to viewing stations uses network bandwidth more efficiently. If your network encom-passes one or more subnets or VLANs, you can use one of the following multicast routing protocols.

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM): PIM is a multicast routing protocol that is used in conjunction with an existing unicast routing protocol. PIM is available in two versions: Dense Mode (PIM-DM) and Sparse Mode (PIM-SM).

Sparse Mode (recommended) is most useful in the following instances:

• There are few receivers in a group; switches send multicast traffic only to the devices that request it.

• The flood and prune cycle depletes PIM routing device resources significantly.

• You want to use multiple rendezvous points to segment the multicast routing traffic load.

• The flood and prune cycle saturates network links.

• You want to isolate multicast routing table entries to a segment of the network.

PIM-SM is optimized for environments containing many multipoint data streams. Each data stream is sent to a relatively small number of the LANs in the internetwork. PIM-SM works by defining a rendezvous point. When a sender wants to send data, it first sends to the rendezvous point. When a receiver wants to receive data, it registers with the rendezvous point. As the data stream begins to flow from sender to rendezvous point to receiver, the routers in the path optimize the path automatically to remove any unnecessary hops. PIM-SM assumes that no hosts want the multicast traffic unless they specifically ask for it.

Dense Mode is most useful in the following instances:

• All PIM routing switches have the resources available to handle flooded entries in the multicast routing table.

• There are a few senders and many receivers diversely spread throughout the network topology.

• The multicast traffic volume is high; Dense Mode forwards multicast data everywhere and lets switches prune out traffic that is not requested. (PIM routers maintain a state in the multicast routing table even after traffic is pruned.)

• Multicast data is periodically flooded everywhere. (State refresh on switches will suppress periodic flooding.)

• The multicast traffic stream is constant.

PIM-DM uses reverse path forwarding and looks a lot like Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP). The most significant difference between DVMRP and PIM-DM is that PIM-DM uses the existing routing table to build multicast routes, and DVMRP builds its own routing table independent of the unicast routing table. By building its own routing table, additional switch resources are depleted. Both PIM and DVMRP work with either RIP or OSPF; neither requires a particular unicast routing protocol for operation.

Some implementations of PIM simultaneously support Dense Mode for some multipoint groups and Sparse Mode for others.

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DVMRP: DVMRP is a routing protocol supporting multicast transmission. Stemming from RIP and used in the Internet’s multicast back-bone (Mbone), DVMRP allows for tunneling multicast messages within unicast packets. It also supports rate limiting and distribution control based on destination address, and it is responsible for the following tasks:

• Routes multicast datagrams

• Periodically floods multicast traffic (similar to PIM-DM)

• Allows use of non-multicast aware edge devices

NOTE: Take care when choosing PIM-DM or DVMRP as a multicast routing protocol. On systems including wireless devices or requiring remote access to the system, these protocols have bandwidth limitations that are negatively affected by periodic flooding of data streams.

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Pelco, the Pelco logo, and other trademarks associated with Pelco products referred to in this publication are trademarks of Pelco, Inc. or its affiliates. © Copyright 2015, Pelco, Inc. ONVIF and the ONVIF logo are trademarks of ONVIF Inc. All other product names and services are the property of their respective companies. All rights reserved.Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice.

Pelco, Inc.625 W. Alluvial Ave., Fresno, CA 93711 USA (800) 289-9100 Tel (800) 289-9150 Fax+1 (559) 292-1981 International Tel+1 (559) 348-1120 International Faxwww.pelco.com