IPfocus IT Integration - The Challenge part 2 Maintenance
A well run IP based VMS should include a maintenance plan. This can either be run in-house by a well trained customer, or could involve a contract with the installer or integrator. A regular and well planned maintenance schedule can prove vital in detecting problems early. Not include a plan for maintenance will lead to problems.
In this the second in a two part article, the guys from Codestuff explain what is involved in real- life integration projects and how to deal with
the unexpected. (previous part available at
www.ipfocusonline.com)
Preparation and Deployment If practical, carrying out as much preparation prior to deploying a system at a site can be a good idea. It is an opportunity to test the equipment, saving the costs of spending significant time at the site. Many VMSs allow for pre-configuration of the databases. Adding users, devices and maps to the system is ultimately a data entry exercise. Again the choice of VMS can simplify this exercise – those that provide a spreadsheet style interface and batch updates can save time and reduce errors. An example of a product that provides this is Bosch Vidos.
A strategy for small to medium sized systems that could take place at deployment is auto- configuration. First of all DHCP is used to assign an IP address to the device, then an industry standard discovery mechanism e.g. UPnP, Bonjour, WS Discovery will find the devices and add to the VMS.
Taking the auto-configuration route does have it's drawback. The auto-configured system does not necessarily reflect the physical layout of the site and the installer will still have to identify which device represents each physical location. The VMS may also need to employ a strategy for device identification independent of the IP address – as the IP address may change over time.
Setting up device parameters is also something that
can take place off site, and is an area for consideration for the choice of devices and the VMS. A typical strategy employed by a multi-vendor VMS is to provide access to the device web page to offload the complexity of a device integration. This does reduce the costs involved when creating drivers for the devices, but it does not allow for batch system updates – unless a batch tool is also provided by the camera manufacturer. A built-in manufacturer's VMS is more likely to include built in support for device configuration. Device configuration is available in both the ONVIF and PISA standards and if adoption of these standards grow the incentive will be there for the multi- vendor VMSs to provide a unified tool for system set-up and configuration.
The licensing model can play a significant part in the options available for deployment. A typical component of VMS licensing is to license based on number of cameras. This may seem overly restrictive, but it can provide very useful feedback to the software supplier - in particular identifying the scale of the final installation. Milestone operates such a model that identifies cameras by their MAC address. This can make it difficult to reconfigure the system (e.g. replacing a faulty unit).
Licensing being available for virtual machines can be a great benefit to a customer, as it allows for a separation of the physical hardware from the running software. A customer can then upgrade faulty hardware, or follow an upgrade program without having to re-install the same software package again. Some form of site licensing being available with a VMS would typically be required to support Virtualisation.
The maintenance program can include applying system updates and patches, to regularly checking the integrity of recordings and backing up when necessary, to checking for poor configuration or emerging problems with hardware components. These last may only become apparent over an extended period of monitoring. Codestuff's purchased maintenance package provides a bi- weekly remote check up schedule along with a planned software update schedule. Milestone offers a comprehensive maintenance plan, and similar packages are likely to be offered by other vendors.
From CBC to Codestuff
John Downie, formerly National Sales & Marketing Manager at leading surveillance systems provider CBC (Europe), has left to join IP video integration specialist Codestuff. John becomes Codestuff's new Commercial Director - a newly created post for this Scottish based IP video Management company.
John brings commercial expertise to accompany Codestuff's existing and well established technical support and market-leading IP CCTV video expertise.
"I will be retaining links with a number of my existing contacts including CBC, to help Codestuff grow and be a success in the IP CCTV markets."
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