Cisco Video Surveillance Manager User Guide, Release 6.3

System Management

This chapter describes how to manage events and schedules, generate reports, manage system settings, and view a snapshot of overall system operation. It includes these topics:

•About Events

•About Motion Detection in VSM

•Managing Schedules

•Configuring System Settings

•Generating Reports

•Displaying System Overview Information

•Using the Health Dashboard

About Events

An event specifies information about an action that VSOM takes in response to a change in conditions (the event trigger). For example, an event may specify that a notification is sent when a motion sensor detects motion. When the motion occurs, the event triggers and the notification is sent.

You can configure any of the following actions to notify operators and administrators when an event triggers:

•Trigger audible and visual alarms

•Switch monitor views

•Send PTZ preset commands

•Send email notifications to designated recipients with a custom subject and message.

•Post information to a URL

The event history is updated each time an event triggers.

Type of Event Triggers

VSOM supports the following types of event triggers:

•Device Trigger

•Soft Trigger

•Motion Trigger

Device Trigger

A device trigger occurs when external physical equipment such as a building fire alarm or outdoor motion sensor detects a change in the environment.

Soft Trigger

A soft trigger provides a connection between VSOM and an external program. VSOM generates a URL, which is supplied to the program. The event triggers when the external program sends the URL back to VSOM.

For example, the Cisco Physical Access Manager (CPAM) can sense when a door is forced open. You can set up a soft trigger to execute actions in response, such as panning the camera and sending and creating an archive. The process works as follows:

1. You configure the event in VSOM. When you submit the event, the soft trigger URL is automatically generated and displayed. See the "Structure of the Soft Trigger URL" section for information on the soft trigger URL.

2. You add the soft trigger URL to CPAM.

3. When the door opens, CPAM detects it and sends the URL back to VSOM.

4. When VSOM receives the URL, it sends an instruction to the VSMS to pan the camera and create the archive.

Figure 6-1 illustrates this example.

Figure 6-1 Soft Trigger Event

Structure of the Soft Trigger URL

The default soft trigger URL that VSOM generates for soft event triggers is of the form

http://<server>/vsom/service/event_notify.php?id=N 

where N is a unique numeric identifier that VSOM assigns to the event.

You can optionally embed additional information in the soft trigger URL. The information is added to the Description field for the event. To add additional information, append parameters to the end of the URL using the format "&paramX=value" where X is an numeric identifier for the parameter and value is the content that you want to add to the Description field. Use % to represent spaces.

For example, to add information about alarm activation and evacuation to an event (with id=1) that has "Fire Event" as the current description, you can use the following URL:

http://<server>/vsom/service/event_notify.php?id=1&param1=Alarm%activated&param2=Please%20Evacuate%20%Building

Then the event description on the Operator page Event inbox is

Fire Event

param1=Alarm activated

param2=Please Evacuate Building

Motion Trigger

A motion trigger occurs when the camera detects motion. For additional information about events with motion triggers, see the "About Motion Detection Events" section.

Using the Events Panel

The Events panel includes options that you can use to create and configure events. Click Events on the side menu in the Administrator pages to open the Events panel. Table 6-1 lists the tasks that you can perform from this panel.

Adding an Event

Adding an event is the process of specifying a name for an event and configuring the conditions and triggers that result in event notification.

Before You Begin

•Because events can affect many elements of your deployment, make sure that the devices for your deployment are fully configured and that you have set up archives, monitors, PTZ configuration, and views before defining events.

•Determine the types of events that you want to create, the associated actions, and a naming convention for the events. See the "Organizing Information in VSM" section on page 1-8.

•Set up the schedules to use for the events. See "Adding a Schedule" section.

•Determine the camera/encoder and VSMS that are involved in the event.

To add a new event, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the Administrator pages, click Event.

Step 2 Click Add a New Event.

Step 3 In the Event Name, enter a name to identify the event (up to 30 characters, including spaces).

For suggestions about naming conventions, see the "Naming Conventions" section on page 1-9.

Step 4 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description of the event (up to 1,024 characters, including spaces).

Step 5 In the Server field, choose the VSMS that manages the devices that are involved in the event.

Step 6 In the Status drop-down list, verify that the status is Enabled. An event can only be triggered if it is enabled.

Step 7 In the Default Flag field, choose a flag to represent the severity of the event.

The flag is presented with the event in the Operator page.

The information bubble represents the lowest severity and the exclamation symbol represents the highest severity.

Step 8 Choose one of the following options to trigger the event:

•Device Trigger—Choose to trigger the event based on an external device (such a building fire system or outdoor motion sensor). When you click Submit to add the event, the following options appear on the Details tab:

–Encoder/IP Camera—Choose the encoder or camera that triggers the event from this drop-down list.

–Channel—Enter the number of the contact closure input on the device that triggers the event.

–Default State—Choose whether the event triggers based on a rising state (increase in power) or falling state (decrease in power).

•Enable Soft Trigger—Check this check box if the trigger is a soft event. A soft event triggers when an external program requests a URL. When you click Submit, the link is generated and displayed.

•Enable Motion Configuration—Check the check box to trigger the event based on motion detection from a camera and choose the feed from the drop-down list. Feeds appear in the list only if they have motion detection enabled. See the "About Motion Detection Events" section.

Step 9 Click the Setup Rights tab if you want to change the default roles that are permitted access to this event record. For more information, see the "Setting Up Roles" section on page 7-12.

The default settings are Manage rights for the Administrator role and View right for the Operator role.

Step 10 Click the History Rights tab if you want to change the default roles that are permitted access to the notifications that are triggered by this event. For more information, see the "Setting Up Roles" section on page 7-12.

The default settings are Manage rights for the Administrator role and View right for the Operator role.

Step 11 Click Submit.

Step 12 The new event is created, and the panel reopens to show additional tabs that allow you to specify additional details about the event (see Table 6-2).

Editing and Deleting Events

To edit settings for an even, click the Edit icon for the event in the Actions column on the Events panel and make changes on any of the tabs.

To delete an event from the VSOM database, click the Delete icon and then click Yes to confirm. When an event is deleted, notifications are no longer triggered. However, the event is still listed in the event history.

Order of Event Execution

Events may involve multiple actions. When an event triggers, VSOM executes the actions in the following order:

1. Clip selected archives (as specified on the Archives tab for the event).

2. Log the event history. Operators are notified on the Operator page within two seconds.

3. Send any event trigger commands to VSMS, which clips the archive that is created for the event (as specified under Feeds in the Archives tab for the event).

4. Execute PTZ functions on a specified cameras (as specified on the PTZ Presets tab for the event).

5. Seed the monitor views (as specified on the Monitors tab for the event).

6. Send URL and e-mail notifications (as specified on the Alerts tab for the event).

About Motion Detection in VSM

The ability to detect motion is a camera function. A camera identifies motion based on pixel changes within an image. A camera must support motion detection for you to be able to set up and use the motion detection functionality in VSM.

Note Cisco recommends that you do not configure both PTZ and motion detection on the same camera.

For cameras that support motion detection, you can configure any of the following types of responses when is motion is detected:

•Change Operator page layout—Change the layout of the Operator page.

•Start archive—Start recording an archive when motion occurs and stop recording when motion stops. This function allows you to create archives that contain video segments of interest while avoiding the archiving of unneeded video.

•Send notification—Send a URL or an e-mail message, or notify the operator by way of a message on the Operator page.

•PTZ preset—Move the camera to a specified PTZ preset position.

•Monitors—Change the monitor that displays the video that the event triggers, along with the associated monitor view.

Detecting motion and taking actions based on motion detection is a distributed process in VSM:

•The motion detection rules and algorithms reside in a camera, and the overall functionality for motion detection is constrained by what a camera can do.

•In addition to providing the communications link between a camera and VSOM, VSMS can perform some processing functions, such as smoothing to reduce the level of noise in motion detection.

•Settings in VSOM determine the specific window within a camera feed where motion detection is recognized, schedules for motion detection, and the archives and events that are created based on detected motion. The camera saves the windows that you configure in VSOM and uses these settings for motion detection.

About Motion Detection Events

The goal in setting up motion detection events is to detect and record everything of interest while excluding everything that is not of interest. There are several aspects involved:

•Motion detection window—The motion detection window is the area within a video where motion detection is considered. For example, if a camera feed shows a room with a door and the goal is to detect when the door opens, the window should be specified to include the smallest area within the feed that shows movement if the door opens or closes. The window could be a small area at the top of the door that shows the movement of the hinge or the opening of a space between the door and door jamb. See the "Setting Up Windows for Motion Detection" section.

Identifying a larger area risks capturing motion that may not be of interest (such as a person walking in front of the door) and can add unneeded data to the VSOM database.

•Scheduling—For a given camera feed, you may be interested in motion detection only during certain hours or days, such as evenings or weekends.

•Actions—VSOM allows you to specify the type of action to take in response to a motion detection event.

For motion detection events, video is stored in chunks (typically five minutes each) as smd files on the VSMS host. When a motion event triggers, the recording video is marked so that the clip is not deleted. By default, the video clip starts 30 seconds before the event (pre) and ends 30 seconds after the event (post).

The amount of video recorded for a motion event depends upon the timing of the event relative to the standard (5 minute) chunks used for video storage. If the event with the pre and post intervals falls within one of the chunks, a total of 5 minutes of video is associated with the event. However, if the event with the pre and post intervals crosses the time boundary between two storage chunks, a total of 10 minutes (two video chunks) is stored for the event (see Figure 6-2).

Figure 6-2 Video Storage Chunks and Motion Events

If a motion detection event occurs while a continuos loop archive is recording, the video containing the event is retained. If you view the archive at a later time, you see the video segment containing the motion detection event followed by the most recent continuous loop segment. See "Managing Archives" section on page 5-26 for more information on continuous loop archives.

Best Practice

•Experiment to determine the optimal camera placement, motion detection window, and sensitivity to avoid false positives (detected motion that is not of interest) and false negatives (motion that is not detected). Have two people available, one to adjust the camera placement and direction, and one to modify settings in VSOM.

Setting Up a Motion Detection Event

To create a motion detection event, use the Enable Motion Configuration option when creating the event.

Before You Begin

•Add your motion detection cameras to VSOM and enable motion detection on them. See the "Adding a New Analog Camera" section on page 3-27 or the "Adding a New IP/Network Camera" section on page 3-33.

•Set up any schedules that you want to use to trigger the events. See the "Managing Schedules" section.

To create and enable a motion detection event, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the Administrator pages, click Events.

Step 2 Choose Add a New Event.

Step 3 Choose the Enable Motion Configuration button and choose a feed from the drop-down list.

Step 4 Configure the event settings as described in the "Adding an Event" section, and click Submit.

The event is saved, and the panel reopens to display additional tabs.

Step 5 To set up active and inactive windows for motion detection, click the Motion Config tab and configure the settings described in the "Setting Up Windows for Motion Detection" section.

Step 6 Configure settings on the Motion Start and Motion Stop subtabs, as described in Table 6-3.

Step 7 Click Submit.

Setting Up Windows for Motion Detection

For cameras that support motion detection, you can configure motion detection windows within a video pane to determine how VSOM interprets motion that the camera identifies. Motion detection windows are specified windows (mask and non-mask) within the video pane:

•Motion in a mask window within a video pane is ignored (cannot trigger an event).

•Motion in an active or non-mask window within a video pane can trigger an event.

A video pane can have multiple mask and non-mask windows defined, and the windows can cover some or all of the same area in the pane.

Window creation order is important. Create your active windows first and then add any mask windows on top.

When motion is detected, an event is listed in the events table in the Operator page. If you specified a feed, the display shows the associated archives on the side menu.

Before You Begin

•Add motion detection cameras to VSOM and enable motion detection on them. See the "Adding a New Analog Camera" section on page 3-27 and the "Adding a New IP/Network Camera" section on page 3-33.

•Set up a motion detection event, as described in the "Adding an Event" section.

To set up motion detection windows, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Make sure that the camera is configured.

See the "Adding a New Analog Camera" section on page 3-27.

Step 2 In the Administrator pages, click Events.

Step 3 Click the Edit icon in the Actions column for the event and then click the Motion Configuration tab.

Step 4 To create a new motion detection window, click and enter the new window name. Only alphanumeric characters are permitted, and there can be no spaces.

The number of supported motion detection windows depends on the camera model. Create active windows first and then add any mask windows on top.

•For an active (non-mask) window, leave the This is a mask window check box unchecked.

•For a mask window, choose the This is a mask window check box.

A window with a green border (for non-mask) or a red border (for mask) is added to the video preview image. The window border displays the window name. To resize the window, drag the borders of the window. To move the window, drag and drop the window.

Step 5 Create additional windows as needed.

Step 6 Use the information in Table 6-4 to complete the motion configuration.

Step 7 Click Submit.

Managing Schedules

Schedules allow you to enable and disable specific events, user accounts, and roles on predetermined days and times. Each schedule can control multiple entities, and you can change the schedule that is assigned to an entity at any time.

The following schedule types are supported:

•Simple schedule—A simple schedule becomes active and feeds are recorded when the current date and time falls between the start and end dates and times. Simple schedules are useful for defining one-time control of an entity status or a list of exceptions (such as holidays). You can also use simple schedules for a one-time or loop archive.

•Recurring schedule—A recurring schedule becomes active and feeds are recorded when the current day is defined in the recurring schedule and the time falls within one of the start and stop intervals for that day. The schedule is considered inactive during all other dates and times.

When a scheduled entity has no active schedules, it returns to its default state.

Simple schedules takes precedence over recurring schedules. If simple and recurring schedules are active simultaneously, the simple schedule becomes active and the recurring schedule becomes inactive. When both become inactive, the entity returns to its default state.

Click Schedules on the side menu in the Administrator pages to open the Schedules page. Table 6-5 lists the tasks that you can perform on this panel.

Adding a Schedule

When you create a schedule, it becomes available to apply to users, roles, and events.

Before You Begin

•Decide whether you want to restrict user access according to time of day or days of the week and whether the restrictions are for individual users or user roles. For example, you may want to restrict access for your operators only to the times that they are scheduled to be at work, or you may want to restrict access for individual employees with the Installer role only to certain maintenance periods.

•Decide whether you want to be able to define events based on schedules. For example, you may want to set up motion detection events only for nights and weekends.

•Choose a naming convention for the schedules that you are creating. For example, you may want to include a recognizable prefix for schedules that apply to events (such as event_sched_A, event_sched_B), to periods of time (such as vacation_xmas, vacation_july4th), or to employee classifications (such as operator_A, installer_2).

To add a new schedule, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the Administrator pages, click Schedule.

Step 2 Click Add a New Schedule.

Step 3 In the Name field, enter a name for the schedule (up to 30 characters, including spaces).

Step 4 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description (up to 1024 characters, including spaces).

Step 5 In the Status field, determine if the schedule is to be enabled or disabled.

Enabled schedules are available for use. Disabled schedules remain on the Schedules list but are not available for use.

Step 6 Create simple schedules, recurring schedules, or both:

•To create a simple schedule, click the Simple tab and specify the following:

–Click the This is a Simple Schedule check box.

–Click Enable to active the settings on this tab.

–Enter a start and end date in (mm/dd/yyyy format), or click the calendar icons to choose the date.

–Choose the start and end times from the drop-down lists.

Time ranges in schedules cannot cross midnight, so for a schedule to run past midnight, you must split it into a range from midnight to the end time, and from the start time until 23:59.

–To add an additional start and end date and time, click Add Date(s). To remove a start and end date and time, click the Remove link for that entry.

•To add a recurring schedule, open the Recurring tag and choose the This is a Recurring Schedule check box.

–Choose whether to enable the schedule from the Action drop-down list.

–Enter a start date (in mm/dd/yyyy format), or click the calendar icon to choose the date.

Time ranges in schedules cannot cross midnight, so for a schedule to run past midnight, you must split it into a range from midnight to the end time, and from the start time until 23:59.

–Choose one or more days of the week, and choose the start and stop times from the drop-down lists.

–To add an additional start and stop time, click Add Time Range. To add additional days of the week and associated times, click Next Weekdays. To remove an entry, click the Remove link for that entry.

–Choose one of the following options to end the schedule:

–End After—End after a specified number of occurrences

–End By—End after a specified date

–No End Date—Do not end the schedule

Step 7 Click the Rights tab and verify the access designations.

Step 8 Click Submit.

The Schedules panel reopens to display the events, roles, and users to which you can assign the schedule.

Step 9 Check the check boxes to specify the entities.

Click + to expand a category, or - to hide the category. If there is a schedule active on an entity, the manual enable/disable is overridden by the enable/disable that the active schedule applies. If there is no currently active schedule, the manual enable/disable works as expected. However, when a schedule becomes active again, the active schedule determines the state of the entity and when the schedule becomes inactive; the entity is returns to the default state of the entity, not to the state of the manual enable/disable.

Step 10 Click Submit.

Editing or Deleting a Schedule

To edit schedule settings, click the Edit icon for the schedule in the Actions column on the Schedules panel and make changes as described in the "Adding a Schedule" section.

To delete a schedule from the VSOM database, click the Delete icon and then click Yes to confirm. The schedule is removed from the user, role, and event records to which it was assigned.

Configuring System Settings

Use the Settings panel to configure system-wide settings and display license information. For most deployments, it is not necessary to modify these settings.

Before making changes on the Settings panel, verify that modifications are necessary. The default settings on this panel are appropriate for most deployments.

To configure system-wide settings, click Settings in the Administrator pages and configure the items listed in Table 6-6, and click Submit.

Generating Reports

VSOM includes the reports listed in Table 6-7.

To generate a report, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Reports in the Administrator pages.

Step 2 Click the link for the report type to generate (see Table 6-7.)

Step 3 If prompted, specify a time interval, and click Submit to display the report.

You can sort information in a report in ascending or descending alphanumeric order by any column. To do so, click a column name as needed to toggle the sort order.

Most reports include a search option. Enter search text and click Search to display matching entities.

Displaying System Overview Information

You can display information about disk space use on VSMS hosts that VSOM manages, and about user login sessions. To do so, choose Overview in the Administrator pages.

Table 6-8 describes the System Overview panel.

Using the Health Dashboard

The Health Dashboard provides a summary of the overall operational health of your video surveillance system and a detailed list of health event messages that are sent from VSMS hosts. VSOM processes and stores the messages and presents pertinent information on the Health Dashboard page.

Health events are generated automatically and do not require any user configuration. You can, however, adjust the health event settings on the Settings page. See the "Configuring System Settings" section.

Note•Health events are not related to the events that you can create in VSOM to capture video surveillance occurrences. See the "About Events" section for a information about creating video surveillance events.

•The Health Dashboard can only report the NIC Health for the Eth0 port because bandwidth monitoring is supported only on the Eth0 port. Bandwidth monitoring is not supported for other ports.

The main Health Dashboard page is divided into the System Health Summary and Health Events table. Click the refresh icon on your browser at any time to update the display with the latest health events. See Table 6-8.

Figure 6-3 Health Dashboard

System Health Summary

The System Health Summary appears as a panel of icons and numbered links near the top of the Health Dashboard (see Figure 6-3). The panel provides a count of health related information for the following components (shown as icons from left to right in each section of the System Health Summary):

	VSMS server
	Endpoints, including cameras and encoders
	Camera feeds
	Archives (not including shelved archives)

The counts are shown as links under the critical error and warning icons.

•Critical errors are health events that render a component unusable (for example, a server that is down or archives that are unable to record). Components in the critical error remain out of operation ("down") until another event restores them to normal operation ("up"). Critical errors also affect other components that depend upon the component that is in the error state. For example, if a camera is in the critical error state, all feeds and archives for that camera also are in the critical error state. If there are no critical errors, the link is green; if there are critical errors, the link is red.

•Warnings are based on activity that occurs without incapacitating a component, for example, interruptions in operation due to packet losses in the network. These activities do not change the overall state of the component, and are not associated with paired "up" and "down" health events.

The icons on the Health Summary show the types of components that have critical errors and warnings. The numeric links below the icons indicate the number of components of that type that are affected. Click a numeric link to display the associated messages in the Health Events table. If there are no warnings, the link is green; if there are warnings, the link is yellow.

If there are multiple errors associated with a condition, the count that appears under the icon does not match the number of messages. For example, if a server has three errors that are associated with its critical error state, the number below the icon is 1, and the Health Event table lists three critical errors for that server.

To reset the current health information, click Reset Health States. The Health Events table is cleared, and the warning and critical event counts are set back to 0. Health history is not affected; only the current health table and counts are reset.

Health Events Table

The Health Events table lists information about each health event (Table 6-8). You can sort the table and apply filters. See the "Sorting and Filtering the Health Tables" section.

To display the health history for a component, click the underlined link for that component in the Name or the Media Server column. See the "Health Event History" section for a description of the Health Event History page.

Health Event History

An event specifies information about an action that VSOM takes in response to a change in conditions (the event trigger). The Health Event History panel provides detailed information about the events that are associated with a selected component.

The panel includes a details area at the top of the page and a Health History table at the bottom of the panel.

The Health History table includes the same columns that are described in Table 6-8. See the "Sorting and Filtering the Health Tables" section for information about sorting and filtering the table.

You can access the Health Event History page in either of the following ways:

•Click an underlined link in the Name or Media Server column in the Health Events table.

•Click the Go to Health History link on the Health Summary page of the Health Dashboard. If you access the page by using this method, you must then click an underlined link in the Name or Media Server column of the Health Event History table to display the details.

The details that are presented for a selected component depend on the component type.

•Servers—Displays the same server details that are presented on the System Overview page. See the "Displaying System Overview Information" section.

•Cameras and encoders—Displays the component configuration and the associated camera feed configuration.

•Feeds—Displays feed information and media settings.

•Archives—Displays the archive configuration, video settings, and schedule

Note To view the details for an item, you must be assigned a role that allows you to view that item. For information on role, see the "About Role Settings, Permissions, and Rights" section on page 7-2.

Sorting and Filtering the Health Tables

You can sort information in the Health Events table or the Health History table in ascending or descending alphanumeric order by any column. To do so, click a column name as needed to toggle the sort order.

To filter Health Events or Health History events in the table, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose a column from the drop-down list at the top of the table.

Additional drop-down lists appear for matching categories and value or range.

Step 2 Choose a matching category from the second drop-down list and specify the value or range.

For Name, Media Server Name, or Description, the match criteria include the following:

•Equals—Displays entries that exactly match the value.

•Not Equals—Displays entries that do not match the value.

•Like—Displays entries that contain the value. For example, the value "elco" matches all "Pelco" entries.

Step 3 Take any of these actions:

•To add filters, click the icon to the left of the filter area

•To remove a filter, click the icon.

•To clear all filters, click the icon.

Step 4 To filter the table based on the specified criteria, click the icon.

The table is updated to match the filters that you entered.