Table of Contents
Release Notes for Cisco Video Surveillance Manager , Release 7.8.0
Scheduled Copy of Connected Edge Storage Recordings
Rebooting Cameras Using the Operations Manager
Analog Camera Video Loss Alerts
Display or Hide Camera Health Information
Support for Custom Camera Ports
Audio Support for Connected Edge Storage for Cisco Cameras
ONVIF Cameras Support Motion Detection
Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series Servers (Release 7.7 and Higher)
Upgrading from Previous Cisco VSM Releases
Related Recovery Documentation
LTS Recordings May Not Automatically Copy after a Long Network Disconnect
Recreate Email Alerts After an HA Failover
Using Safari with the Web-Based Operations Manager
Medianet Metadata and Mediatrace Not Supported
Up to 9 Panes Can Be Synchronized
Turn off MediaFlow for Cisco Cameras
Supported Devices: Generic IP Cameras
Supported Devices: Analog Cameras
Device Models Validated in Cisco VSM as Generic IP Cameras
Clipping Support By Application
Obtaining and Installing Licenses
Understanding the Cisco VSM Software Types
Using the Software Bug Search Tool
Release Notes for Cisco Video Surveillance Manager, Release 7.8.0
This document provides important information for Release 7.8.0 of the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager (Cisco VSM).
What’s New in Release 7.8.0
The new features in Release 7.8.0 include the following:
- Support for New Servers
- Scheduled Copy of Connected Edge Storage Recordings
- Rebooting Cameras Using the Operations Manager
- Analog Camera Video Loss Alerts
- Create Custom Camera Fields
- Display or Hide Camera Health Information
- Support for Custom Camera Ports
- Audio Support for Connected Edge Storage for Cisco Cameras
- Support for Windows 10
- ONVIF Cameras Support Motion Detection
- Other Improvements
Support for New Servers
Two new Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series servers are available to support Cisco VSM Release 7.7 and higher, including Release 7.8.0. These servers are available in 1RU and 2RU configurations and include the following features:
Up to 24TB in four 3.5-inch large form factor (LFF) SAS hard drives
Up to 72TB in 12 3.5-inch large form factor (LFF) SAS hard drives.
- Cisco CSS UCS Platform Series User Guide, CPS-UCSM4-1RU-K9 / CPS-UCSM4-2RU-K9
- Cisco Video Surveillance Manager: Install and Upgrade Guide
Scheduled Copy of Connected Edge Storage Recordings
Connected Edge Storage recordings can be copied on a schedule. For example, you can create a schedule to automatically copy recordings from the camera to the Cisco Media Server between midnight and 6AM when trains are not in service.
See “Schedule Copy To Server” in the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide .
When a scheduled copy job is updated, the new schedule begins immediately. In some cases, this can result in duplicate recordings.
Rebooting Cameras Using the Operations Manager
If the firmware upgrade requires a device reboot, cameras can be manually rebooted using the Cisco VSM Operations Manager. Although this is not normally required, it may be necessary depending on the camera and firmware. See the release notes for your camera firmware for more information.
Single cameras can be rebooted using the camera configuration page. Multiple cameras can be rebooted using bulk actions. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Only supported cameras can be rebooted, such as Cisco, Axis, Iqeye, Mobotix and Onvif cameras.
Analog Camera Video Loss Alerts
An alert is generated if video loss occurs in analog cameras connected to Axis video encoders (firmware version 5.50 and higher), allowing operators to respond to the problem if necessary.
For example, if video loss occurs in an analog camera, the device is displayed in Critical state. To view the alert, click Status > Status History and view details for the alert “analog_videosignal_loss”.
Create Custom Camera Fields
Create custom camera fields to improve the searchability of the cameras in your deployment, and to restrict camera access to users.
For example, create a custom field for the countries or regions where cameras are deployed, then go to the camera configuration page and select this custom field to define where the device is installed.
Display or Hide Camera Health Information
Cisco VSM administrators can hide the device status icons and access to the health dashboard. For example:
- Camera health status icons such as critical
or warning icons is not displayed in the Operations Manager or Cisco SASD.This option prevents confusion for operators who are not impacted by device health information.
Support for Custom Camera Ports
If multiple cameras share a single IP address, the network router can be configured with Port Address Translation (PAT), allowing the cameras to be differentiated by a custom port number (using a static port address translation: ip-address: port-number).
Port numbers are added to the camera device configuration, and to the Cisco VSM camera configuration. Cameras using custom ports support all camera features, such as streaming, PTZ, motion detection, firmware upgrades, etc.
Audio Support for Connected Edge Storage for Cisco Cameras
Audio is included on Connected Edge Storage recordings (on-camera recording) for Cisco cameras. Audio is included when the Live and Recorded option is selected in the Record Audio field on the camera template page, and you also select one of the following:
- Copy Camera Recordings command is selected in the camera configuration page
- Continuous or Economical Mode is selected in Advanced Storage
- Only Cisco cameras are supported in this release.
- Axis cameras do not support audio with Connected Edge Storage recordings in this release (only video is supported).
- You must update and reapply existing camera templates to include Live and Recorded audio. When upgrading to Cisco VSM Release 7.8 from a previous release, you must manually update camera templates to include Live and Recorded audio, and then reapply the template to the cameras. This is required for audio to be included with the video recordings.
- Audio on Connected Edge Storage (audio recording on camera storage) is only supported with Cisco cameras in this release.
Support for Windows 10
Windows 10 is now supported on workstations for monitoring Cisco VSM video using the Cisco Video Surveillance Safety and Security Desktop (Cisco SASD) application or the browser-based Operations Manager.
See the Cisco Video Surveillance Monitoring Workstation Performance Baseline Specification for more information.
ONVIF Cameras Support Motion Detection
Hikvision and Samsung ONVIF cameras support motion detection in Cisco VSM release 7.8 and later, but the motion windows must be configured directly on the camera using the camera UI before the camera is configures using Cisco VSM.
Only ONVIF cameras manufactured by Hikvision and Samsung support motion detection in this release.
Complete the following steps in order:
See the camera documentation and the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Other Improvements
See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information about the following improvements.
- An user permission is now available to allow operators to access “Custom Camera Controls”, such as custom buttons in Cisco SASD to activate a lens wiper.
- You can change the severity level of alerts so they will have a higher or lower severity than the default. For example, alerts that were reported as Critical by default can be changed to Warning, and will follow the rules and actions that apply to Warning alerts. This allows you to change the importance of alerts if they should have less or more importance in your deployment.
- Improved firmware upgrade performance over slow network links, such as 64kbps.
- The Backup Now button for LTS servers was replaced by the ability to back up recordings to a long term storage (LTS) server from a single camera or multiple cameras. See the Backup Now feature in the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide .
- LDAP user groups can now be created for specific sets of LDAP user names. This in addition to the LDAP group filters.
- User password expiry date and the date that the password was last changed is displayed in the user configuration entry.
- Added a Fixed Duration Timeout setting to automatically log out users after a defined number of hours. For example, if this value is 8, users are automatically logged out 8 hours after they log in, even if they are still actively using the system.
– Users must log in again to restart the timeout.
– This setting is useful to ensure users log out at the end of a shift or work day, or to ensure users log out at designated times.
– See the User Timeout setting for more information.
- Each Cisco VSM Operations Manager now supports up to 500 Cisco Media Servers.
- Enhanced audio support:
– The Record Audio option is supported in templates where only On-demand Recording is configured, or where Advanced Events are used to trigger recordings, but no other recording options are configured.
– Virtual clips support audio in Cisco VSM r7.8.
- Cisco SASD users are now prompted to enter a new password using Cisco SASD when logging in for the first time or when their password expires.
- A new operator user permission was added for Display Health Status to show or hide device status in the Cisco VSM Operations Manager and Cisco SASD.
- Core file management is introduced in servers that maintains 3 maximum cores per process and deletes old core files after an upgrade.
- Automatic synchronization between the Cisco Media Server database and file system to provide access to all VSM video data present on attached and enabled file systems.
- Encoder bulk actions now supports the ability to Replace Configurations for multiple devices.
- Pan-tilt and zoom (PTZ) controls are now supported for the secondary video stream.
Operating System Requirements
Cisco VSM Release 7.8.0 is supported on servers running Red Hat 5.8 and 6.4 64 bit OS only (SUSE is NOT supported).
Getting Started
Cisco VSM Release 7.8.0 is pre-installed on new servers, can be installed as a virtual machine, or used to upgrade an existing deployment.
Release 7.8.0 is pre-installed in new installations on the Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series servers:
See Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series Servers (Release 7.7 and Higher) for more information.
Upgrades can be performed on Cisco VSM virtual machines (VMs) and on Cisco Video Surveillance servers.
- Cisco Physical Security Platform (CPS-MSP-1RU-K9 & CPS-MSP-2RU-K9)
- Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series (CPS-UCS-1RU-K9 / CPS-UCS-2RU-K9 or CPS-UCSM4-1RU-K9 / Cisco CSS UCSM4 2RU)
Note The CIVS platform is not supported and cannot be upgraded to VSM 7.7 or higher
For previous releases, upgrade to 7.6 or 7.7 first, and then upgrade to the latest release.
Upgrading from Previous Cisco VSM Releases for more information.
An .OVA template file is used to install a new virtual machine (VM) instance of the server.
After an .OVA virtual machine is installed, you can use the Cisco VSM Management Console to perform future upgrades of the system software.
See Cisco Video Surveillance Virtual Machine Deployment and Recovery Guide for UCS Platforms for more information.
See the following for more information:
- Cisco Video Surveillance Manager: Install and Upgrade Guide
- Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series Servers (Release 7.7 and Higher)
- Upgrading from Previous Cisco VSM Releases
- Recovery/Factory Image
Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series Servers (Release 7.7 and Higher)
Cisco VSM Release 7.8.0 is pre-installed on new installations of the Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series when ordered with the Cisco VSM software installed.
- Cisco CSS UCS Server User Guide — supported features, physical installation and setup instructions
- Release Notes for the Cisco CSS UCS Servers
- After the server appliance is installed, see the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager: Install and Upgrade Guide to perform the initial Cisco VSM setup.
- For additional server hardware documentation, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Server Documentation (Roadmap) .
Upgrading from Previous Cisco VSM Releases
Cisco VSM can be upgraded using a
.zip
upgrade file that includes all required software packages. Installing the.zip
file upgrades all components and ensures that all packages are running the required versions.For complete instructions, see the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager: Install and Upgrade Guide .
- Release 7.6 and later—Use the Software Management page on the browser-based Operations Manager to upgrade all of the servers in your deployment.
- Release 7.5 and earlier—Upgrades to release 7.8 are supported only from releases 7.6 or 7.7. To upgrade from an earlier release, you must first upgrade to 7.6 or 7.7, and then upgrade to 7.8.
Note Upgrades from Release 7.2 and earlier are performed using the Management Console. See Cisco Video Surveillance Management Console Administration Guide for your release.
- Clear the cache in each user’s web browser after upgrading Cisco VSM. If not cleared, the browser may attempt to use outdated content and display the error message “Operation failed: Authentication failed, this request is not allowed” until the page is refreshed.
- Always upgrade using the Cisco VSM user-interfaces. Do not perform the upgrade using the Linux CLI.
- Release 7.0 was pre-installed on the Cisco Multiservices Platform (Cisco MSP) servers, including the CPS-MSP-1RU-K9 and CPS-MSP-2RU-K9.
- Release 7.2 to Release 7.7 was pre-installed on the CPS-UCS-1RU-K9 and CPS-UCS-2RU-K9 Cisco CSS UCS series servers.
– The CIVS platform is not supported and cannot be upgraded to VSM 7.7 or later.
– CPS-UCS-1RU-K9 / CPS-UCS-2RU-K9
– CPS-UCSM4-1RU-K9 / Cisco CSS UCSM4 2RU
Note Virtual Machine (VM) installations can also be upgraded using the Cisco VSM Management Console.
Recovery/Factory Image
You can also create a bootable USB flash drive that can be used to recover an installation or perform a a factory installation of Cisco VSM 7 on a supported physical server that shipped with Cisco VSM 7 pre-installed. This includes:
– CPS-UCS-1RU-K9 / CPS-UCS-2RU-K9
– CPS-UCSM4-1RU-K9 / Cisco CSS UCSM4 2RU
- Release 7.2.0 and higher—Cisco CSS UCS series servers (CPS-UCS-1RU-K9 and CPS-UCS-2RU-K9).
- Release 7.0.0—Cisco Physical Security Multiservices platform servers (CPS-MSP-1RU-K9, CPS-MSP-2RU-K9) shipped with Cisco VSM 7.0.
- Release 6.3.2—Cisco Physical Security Multiservices platform servers (CIVS-MSP-1RU, CIVS-MSP-2RU and CIVS-MSP-4RU)
Related Recovery Documentation
For more information, see the following documents:
Important Notes
- LTS Recordings May Not Automatically Copy after a Long Network Disconnect
- Unknown Recordings
- Recreate Email Alerts After an HA Failover
- Using Safari with the Web-Based Operations Manager
- Medianet Metadata and Mediatrace Not Supported
- Up to 9 Panes Can Be Synchronized
- Turn off MediaFlow for Cisco Cameras
LTS Recordings May Not Automatically Copy after a Long Network Disconnect
If both Zero Video Loss (ZVL) and Long Term Storage (LTS) are configured, LTS may not back up video that was recovered from ZVL in the following situation:
1. If both ZVL and LTS are configured on the camera (ZVL is enabled using Auto-Merge Recordings )
2. A network disconnect occurs for a long span of time (more than 24 hours)
In this situation, the following can occur:
1. When an automatically scheduled LTS job occurs, any video that is not available will not be copied
2. When the camera’s network connectivity is restored, ZVL recovery is triggered
3. LTS may not back up video that was recovered from ZVL
In this situation, you must manually copy the video to the LTS server using the Device Settings > Backup Now command.
Unknown Recordings
An event is created when recordings are imported into Cisco VSM. The recordings will appear as an unknown device in the Operations Manager. A warning alert is displayed “Unknown camera with recordings is added to server”. The recordings can be viewed in the Cisco VSM Operations Manager, and you can either keep or delete it. These recordings will expire and be automatically deleted if not acted upon.
Recreate Email Alerts After an HA Failover
If emails stop after a failover occurs, you must delete and re-add the email alert notification policies.
See “Sending Alert Emails (Notification Policies)” in the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide .
Using Safari with the Web-Based Operations Manager
When using the Safari web browser to log in to the Cisco VSM Operations Manager, the following security warning appears:
To make sure the Safai browser works with Cisco VSM, always select the following settings:
1. Launch Safari and go to the IP address or hostname of the Operations Manager.
2. In the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL field, select Always Trust from the drop-down menu.
4. Log in to the Operations Manager.
This stores the necessary certificate in the Apple keychain so you will be able to access the Operations Manager. This security prompt appears on the first time you attempt to access the Operations Manager.
Note If you do not select this option, you will not receive this alert again and the Operations Manager will not be trusted by Safari.
Medianet Metadata and Mediatrace Not Supported
Medianet Metadata and Mediatrace are not supported in this release.
Medianet camera discovery and auto-provisioning are still supported.
Up to 9 Panes Can Be Synchronized
Up to 9 panes can be synchronized (such as a 3x3 layout) when viewing video with Cisco VSM Operations Manager or Cisco SASD.
Turn off MediaFlow for Cisco Cameras
Metadata flow can cause audio recordings to be out of sync (ahead) of the video in Cisco cameras. We recommend that metadata be disabled for all Cisco cameras using the camera configuration UI.
Step 1 Log in to the camera web-based configuration tool.
Step 3 Deselect Enable Flow metadata.
Note See caveat CSCuy43427 for more information.
Released Versions
Cisco VSM Release 7.8.0 is released with 7.8.0-13i. The component package versions are:
- Cisco_VSBase-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_MPClient-7.8.0-2.noarch
- Cisco_VSMUpgrade-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_MetaDataService-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_VSF-7.8.0-189.noarch
- Cisco_AMQBroker-7.8.0-2.noarch
- Cisco_VSOM-7.8.0-189.i386
- Cisco_VSMS-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_SASD-7.8.0-2.noarch
- Cisco_CDAF-7.8.0-189.noarch
- Cisco_VSRecorder-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_GeoServer-7.8.0-1.noarch
- Cisco_Tomcat-7.0.55-3.noarch
- Cisco_VSTools-7.8.0-146d.i686
- Cisco_VSDrivers-7.8.0-146d.i686
Supported Devices
The following sections provide information about the devices that this version of Cisco VSM supports:
- Supported Devices: Cisco
- Supported Devices: Arecont
- Supported Devices: Axis
- Supported Devices: IQinVision
- Supported Devices: Mobotix
- Supported Devices: Panasonic
- Supported Devices: Pelco
- Supported Devices: Sony
- Supported Devices: Generic IP Cameras
- Supported Devices: Analog Cameras
- Device Models Validated in Cisco VSM as Generic IP Cameras
Supported Devices: Cisco
Table 5 through Table 10 provide information about Cisco devices supported in this release:
- Cisco 2400/2500, 2600, 2800, and 2900 Series
- Cisco 3000 Series
- Cisco 4000 Series and 5000 Series
- Cisco 6000 Series
- Cisco 7000 Series
- Cisco CIVS-SENC-4P and CIVS-SENC-8P
FW Version for Release 7.7 Compatibility12Additional Notes on Cisco Devices
- Cisco 4500 and 4500E support video analytics.
- Redundancy is supported for all Cisco devices some exceptions for the 2400, 2500, 2900 and 5000 series. The 2400, 2500, 2900 and 5000 series do not support sending events to the redundant server such motion detection and contact closure events.
- Cisco 5000 series does not support motion detection at video bit-rates above 4,000 (4 Mbps). The “H” video preset in Templates has been chosen to not exceed this, so motion detection will work.
- The Cisco 5000 and 2900 camera series do not allow changes to the authentication settings (username/password) or networking settings (DHCP/Static, DNS, etc.) through Cisco VSM. These values can only be changed using the camera web interfaces.
- Focus, Auto Focus and Zoom support are not available for Cisco 6000P, 3421V, 3520, 3530, 3535, and 3050 camera models.
- When Cisco VSM manages a Cisco 6930, 2830, or 2835 camera, it automatically enables the HTTP protocol on the camera and uses this protocol to send PTZ commands to the camera. Other configuration commands continue to use the HTTPS protocol.
- The Cisco 2830, 2835, 3000 series, 6000 series and 7030 cameras now support MJPEG primary streams.
- Cisco 3421V and 6050 cameras does not support Contact Closure, Cisco 7030 camera supports 3 input ports. All other Cisco 3000, 6000 series cameras support 1 input port.
- In PTZ Tour Configuration, the configured transition time configured includes the time that it takes the camera to move from the one preset position to the next preset position in addition to the time that the camera is expected to stay in the preset position. If the transition time is configured to a value that is less than the time that it takes the camera to move from one preset position to the next, the camera moves between the first and second presets positions only, instead of touring between all preset positions that are configured in the tour.
- The minimum firmware version required to support camera applications is 2.5.0-10.
- The minimum firmware version required to support connected edge storage is 2.0.
Supported Devices: Arecont
Table 11 provides information about Arecont devices that this Cisco VSM release supports.
Additional Notes on Arecont Devices
- AV20185, AV20365, AV12186, AV8365 and AV8185 are 4-channel IP cameras. In order to support multiple video channels from a single device, Cisco VSM 7 models these devices as “Encoders”.
- Arecont devices have not yet been qualified to support redundancy in Cisco VSM 7.
- Secondary streams are not supported in H, M, L template settings for Arecont Devices. However secondary stream can be configured using Custom templates.
- Arecont cameras divide the Maximum FPS the camera supports by the number of streams. This could result in lower FPS when both primary and secondary streams are configured for these cameras.
- Arecont AV10XX5, AV5115, AV2115 support VBR and multicast streaming.
- There is a restriction with motion detection for Arecont multi-sensor cameras. False motion events are generated if both half and full resolution size images are requested simultaneously using Cisco VSM or Arecont Camera Web Interface or a third party Media Player.
Supported Devices: Axis
Table 12 provides information about Axis devices that this Cisco VSM release supports.
Additional Notes on Axis Devices
- Axis P3301 IP camera and Q7401, Q7404, and Q7406 encoders have been qualified to support redundancy in Cisco VSM 7.0.1.
- Axis 233D supports contact closure configuration and events.
- Support for 0.1fps MJPEG stream for all supported Axis models.
The following table documents the various Field-Of-Views supported for the Axis M3007 panoramic cameras and support for PTZ and Motion Detection for these Field-Of-Views.
The Axis M3007 camera allows the user to configure various mounting options directly in the camera web interface that affects the possible values for Field-Of-Views that can be configured on the camera. The table below provides this mapping:
Supported Devices: IQinVision
Table 15 provides information about IQinVision devices that this Cisco VSM release supports.
Supported Devices: Mobotix
Table 16 provides information about Mobotix devices that this Cisco VSM release supports.
Supported Devices: Panasonic
Table 17 provides information about Panasonic devices that this Cisco VSM release supports.
Additional Notes on Panasonic Devices
- Panasonic devices have not yet been qualified to support redundancy in Cisco VSM 7.
- Only same field of views can be configured on primary and secondary streams on Panasonic cameras SW458/SF438.
- The following table documents the various Field-Of-Views supported for the Panasonic SF 458 and SF 438 panoramic cameras and support for PTZ and Motion Detection for these Field-Of-Views.
Supported Devices: Pelco
Table 19 provides information about Pelco devices that this release supports.
Additional Notes on Pelco Devices
- Pelco devices have not yet been qualified to support Redundancy in Cisco VSM 7.
- Audio volume controls are not supported for NET540XT
- For Pelco NET540xT PTZ to work, the analog camera should be chosen as Pelco Analog Camera (pelco_sarix) in Operations Manager and not as Pelco D.
- The user needs to directly configure the Serial protocol on the Pelco NET540XT encoder outside of Cisco VSM.
- The Pelco Spectra IV TXB-N (H.264 capable model) run Pelco Sarix firmware and can be supported in Cisco VSM as a Pelco Sarix Generic IP camera (additional details in the Generic IP camera section).
Supported Devices: Sony
Table 20 provides information about Sony devices that this release supports.
Additional Notes on Sony Devices
- Sony devices have not yet been qualified to support redundancy in Cisco VSM 7.
- These Sony devices do not support motion detection with the H.264 media type.
- The Sony SNC-RX5x0 cameras stop streaming video when the Object Detection window is opened in the camera’s web interface.
- For Sony HM662 Panoramic camera, only the 360 degree view is supported. De-warped views are not supported.
Supported Devices: Generic IP Cameras
Cisco VSM Release 7.8.0 provides the following device drivers to support IP cameras from various vendors. The functionality they support will depend on the particular device that they are used with. They are intended to provide a quick and easy way to support devices for which there isn’t yet a specific driver available for Cisco VSM. Since these drivers may not be tested with a specific device, some issues may be encountered. When using these drivers with a device, failover and redundancy are not supported.
Note The vendor specific generic driver should always be used before a non-vendor specific driver such as ONVIF.
Yes13
13.See ONVIF Cameras Support Motion Detection for important information.
- Supports only IP Cameras, no support for Encoders
- No Motion Detection support
- No contact closure support
- Multicast streaming is supported only for the primary stream
- Multicast port must be an even number within the range 16000:19999
- Audio Multicast issues are observed on most of the ONVIF cameras. Hence do not enable audio when multicast is enabled for video.
- Capture Mode on the camera cannot be changed using ONVIF APIs. So, it is assumed that the camera is in the desired capture mode before adding it to VSOM using ONVIF
- This ONVIF driver has been tested with a limited number of camera models from Axis, Sony, Panasonic, Bosch, Pelco, Samsung, J2000IP, Hikvision and Cohu. We have found that these cameras have some variations in how they have implemented the ONVIF specification. Hence there may be compatibility issues when using this ONVIF driver with a particular device that is ONVIF compliant.
- Some of the known caveats are listed below:
- ONVIF user account—Some Axis cameras require a special ONVIF user account, which can be created on the camera's web interface before adding an AXIS ONVIF camera to the VSOM. This page is at Setup --> System Options --> Security --> ONVIF --> Add
- Camera and VSMS (Media Server) Time Synchronization—ONVIF camera and VSMS server to which ONVIF camera is being added should have their time synchronized ideally using NTP.
- Codec Change through VSOM—Hikvision camera requires a reboot after the codec is changed from VSOM.
- The Minimum Firmware Version of Hikvision cameras supported is V5.3.0, to be added as ONVIF camera in Cisco VSM.
- Megapixel Mode setting on the camera SND-7080
- To support the resolutions (1600*1200) and (2048*1536), change the Megapixel Mode to 3-Megapixel in the following page on the camera browser: Settings -> Audio & Video -> video profile -> Megapixel mode
- Enable Authentication on the camera before adding it to VSOM In the camera browser, go to Camera Setup -> Configuration -> User Settings. Select User and enable “Require Password” field.
- Media Transport Type— Only UDP is supported. Streaming fails if TCP is selected.
- Unsupported Resolutions —Streaming fails for the resolutions 176*144, 176*120, 160*120
- Codec Change through VSOM— Switching from H264 to JPEG or vice-versa requires a camera reboot. And camera needs to be deleted and added in VSOM after camera is up.
- Support for Audio— Camera does not support ONVIF Audio
- Frame rate— Only Framerate 30 is supported
- Dual Streaming— Secondary configuration overwrites the primary configuration. So, dual streaming is not supported on Bosch cameras using ONVIF.
- Capture Mode Setting— If the camera is added in VSOM using Multicast, changing the capture mode on the camera browser manually causes the streaming to fail. After this, only the unicast streaming works
- User Authentication— User Authentication should be enabled in the camera browser as follows - Setup -> User mng -> User auth. Choose ON for User auth.
- Media Transport Type— Only UDP is supported. Streaming fails if TCP is selected
- Support for Audio— Camera does not support ONVIF Audio
- Set Configuration Issues — Camera returns success even if one or more of the parameters are not valid for that camera/video stream. ONVIF profile gets updated with values but Camera still uses the previous correct value. Recommend to configure only the values as allowed in the camera browser.
- Support for Password change on the camera— Camera does not support password change for the administrator users using ONVIF API.
Supported Devices: Analog Cameras
This Cisco VSM release provides support for the following analog cameras.
Device Models Validated in Cisco VSM as Generic IP Cameras
The camera models listed in Table 23 have been tested with VSM 7.7 as generic IP cameras.
Clipping Support By Application
You can create and view video clips using the following Cisco VSM applications:
Note When converting a virtual clip to an MP4 file, only the entire duration of the virtual clip can be saved, not a segment.
Obtaining and Installing Licenses
To install a license, purchase the license and obtain the license file, then upload the file to the Operations Manager.
Table 25 lists the part numbers for the Cisco VSM licenses. Multiple camera and VSMS licenses can be included in a single license file. For example, a single license file might include support for 25 additional cameras and two additional VSMS devices.
- A license for 10,000 Cisco cameras is included by default (you do not need to purchase and install an additional license for Cisco cameras).
- You can add 1 Media Server and 10 non-Cisco cameras without a license for initial setup purposes only. This feature is removed when you add any permanent license.
Step 1 Purchase additional licenses:
a. Determine the part number for the license you want to purchase (see Table 25 ).
b. Purchase the license by contacting your Cisco sales representative or any Cisco reseller. For more information, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/ordering/index.shtml .
c. When the purchase is complete, you are issued a Product Authorization Key (PAK) in paper form, or in an e-mail message.
Step 2 Obtain the license file:
a. Locate the Product Authorization Key (PAK) that was created with the purchase.
b. In a web browser, open the Cisco Product License Registration web page.
http://www.cisco.com/go/license/
c. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the form and enter the Product Authorization Key (PAK). When you are done, a license file with the extension
.lic
is sent to your e-mail address.d. Transfer the file to the drive of the PC used for the configuration.
Step 3 Install the license file in Cisco VSM:
a. Log in to the Operations Manager.
b. Select System Settings > Software Licensing .
c. Click Add and select the license file located on your local drive.
d. Click Save to install the file and activate the additional capacity.
The additional capacity is available immediately. You do not need to restart the server or take additional steps.
See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Understanding the Cisco VSM Software Types
Table 26 describes the different types of software and firmware that are installed on servers, cameras, and encoders.
System software denotes the Cisco VSM software, including Media Server, Operations Manager, Cisco VSM Management Console, Safety and Security Desktop and Multipane clients. All servers running the Operations Manager and associated Media Server services must run the same software version.
Use the Operations Manager to update the System Software on all servers (such as Media Servers) associated with the Operations Manager. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for instructions.
- The Operations Manager and all associated servers must run the same system software version.
- To update a Federator server, log in to the Federator server Management Console. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for instructions.
- To repair or restore the Cisco VSM system software, see the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager: Install and Upgrade Guide for your hardware platform. For VM installations, see the Cisco Video Surveillance Virtual Machine Deployment and Recovery Guide for UCS Platforms ).
OVF template files are used to install the system software as a virtual machine (VM) on a supported Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) platform.
- OVA template files are downloaded from the Cisco website.
- The file format is
.ova.
For example:Cisco_VSM-7.2.0-331d_ucs-bc.ova
- See the Cisco Video Surveillance Virtual Machine Deployment and Recovery Guide for UCS Platforms for instructions to install the .ova image and perform the initial VM setup.
- After the VM setup is complete, use the Management Console to complete the configuration.
Use the USB Recovery Disk image to create a Cisco VSM 7 Recovery Flash Drive (for example, on a USB stick). The recovery disk can be used do the following:
- Repair: reinstalls the Operating System files and partitions without erasing video files stored on the server. You must backup the Cisco VSM database before using the recovery image, and then restore the database after the recovery process is complete. This action also preserves the RAID configuration.
- Factory Restore: Restores the server to its factory default settings, reinstalls the operating system, and clears and reconfigures the RAID. This action deletes all data, configurations, software and video files from the appliance, and then reinstalls the operating system and Cisco VSM software. Perform this procedure only if necessary.
See the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager Recovery Guide (Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series) for more information.
Device firmware is provided by the device manufacturer. The firmware for Cisco devices can be upgraded using Operations Manager. Firmware for other manufacturers is upgraded using a direct connection.
See the “Upgrading Camera and Encoder Driver Firmware” section of the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for instructions to upgrade Cisco device firmware, or refer to the device documentation.
Device driver packs are the software packages used by Media Servers and the Operations Manager to interoperate with video devices, such as cameras. Driver packs are included with the Cisco VSM software, or may be added to a server at a later time to add support for new devices or features.
- Install new driver packs to add support for additional devices.
- Upgrade existing driver packs to enable support for new features.
- When updating or installing a driver pack, you first install the file on the Operations Manager, and then on the Media Servers that support the cameras or encoders. You can install the new version on all Media Servers, or only the Media Server(s) that support the affected devices. If the driver pack version is different on the Media Servers in your deployment, a driver pack mismatch error can occur.
– A warning message is informational only and the cameras and encoders can be configured normally.
– A critical message appears if the driver pack mismatch will impact the functionality or compatibility between the Operations Manager, Media Servers, and the video device. The upgrade is not allowed. Camera and encoder templates cannot be revised until the same driver pack version is installed on all Media Servers.
Note We strongly recommend upgrading driver packs using the Operations Manager interface (see the “Driver Pack Management” section of the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide). This allows you to upgrade multiple servers at once.
Language packs can be added to display the Cisco VSM user interfaces in non-English languages.
Language packs are added using the Operations Manager (release 7.6 and higher). See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for instructions.
Obtaining Cisco VSM Software
Complete the following procedure to obtain software and other information for the Cisco VSM products and components:
Step 1 Go to the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager product page .
Step 2 Click Download Software .
Step 3 Select a product category. For example:
- Video Surveillance Device Driver
- Video Surveillance Manager Stand-alone Tools
- Video Surveillance Media Server Software (including system software)
Step 4 Select the release for your server, device, or deployment (Figure 1).
Step 5 Click Download or Add to Cart and follow the onscreen instructions.
Figure 1 Download Software Page
You can also navigate the Cisco Physical Security product pages to download software updates and other information:
Step 1 Go to the following URL.
http://www.cisco.com/go/physicalsecurity
Step 2 Click View All Physical Security Products.
Step 3 Click IP Video Surveillance.
Step 4 Click Cisco Video Surveillance Manager.
Step 5 Click Download Software for this Product .
Step 6 Click a Software Type and follow the onscreen instructions.
For example: Video Surveillance Media Server Software (Figure 1).
Step 7 Select the release for your server, device, or deployment.
Step 8 Click Download or Add to Cart and follow the onscreen instructions.
Caveats
This section includes the following topics:
Using the Software Bug Search Tool
You can use the Bug Search Tool to find information about most caveats for Cisco VSM releases, including a description of the problems and available workarounds. The Bug Search Tool lists both open and resolved caveats.
To access Bug Search Tool, you need the following items:
To use the Software Bug Search Tool, follow these steps:
Step 1 To access the Bug Search Tool, go to https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/
Step 2 Log in with your Cisco.com user ID and password.
Step 3 To look for information about a specific problem, enter the bug ID number in the Search for field.
Step 4 For more information, go to the Bug Search interactive tour .
Open Caveats
Table 27 lists caveats that are open in this release.
Failed to create clip w/err Cannot determine history of parent recording.
Note Although resolved for release 7.8, recording history may still be impacted for data from previous releases.
Incorrect playhead position when go through archive and change timespan
Sometimes SASD Light crashes during failover/failback(vsmc70Rt.dll)
SASD: Sync, all cams play recording although some 2nd stream has no recording
SASD exposes un-permitted options to the user, causing errs & exceptions
Video display area goes blank in sync mode after pausing for longtime
Economical streaming: Multiple bursts of event may delay record on event
Smooth video does not work in saved view when secondary stream option is selected
Missing playhead &stopped Clock after getting 'no prior events' message
Thumbnails/create Clip w.long name fails: MS unable to parse ingress XML
Merge: After updating stream A and B, reverse play during update stops playing
MergeRec: Step reverse through jpeg stream1 thru' 2 rec, stops playing
No Rec for selected stream at SeekTo time, but timeline painted in Green
ES+Merge: Clip failure.Cannot determine recording history for recording
Events in alert Unknown camera shows one entry for each rec
When upgrading to release 7.8 and any previous smd file recordings are copied to the system, a single alert “Unknown camera with recordings...'" is shown for all cameras (instead of an alert for every camera). See also Unknown Recordings.
When you select LTS jobs after camera copy jobs, the LTS jobs do not return the most recent jobs. To see the most recent LTS job, refresh the page.
Related Documentation
See the following locations for the most current information and documentation:
Cisco Video Surveillance 7 Documentation Roadmap
Descriptions and links to Cisco Video Surveillance documentation, server and storage platform documentation, and other related documentation.
http://www.cisco.com/go/physicalsecurity/vsm/roadmap
Cisco Physical Security Product Information:
www.cisco.com/go/physicalsecurity/
Cisco Video Surveillance Manager Documentation Website
www.cisco.com/go/physicalsecurity/vsm/docs
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks . Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)
Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.