👨‍💻Installation and Configuration Guide

Step 1: Provide SLCs to Vega

Provide the Milestone XProtect SLCs to Vega for all sites requiring offline activation, and specify the number of RMF channels to license for each SLC. Email: [email protected]

Step 2: Export a License Request file for each SLC

For each SLC:

• In the Management Client, in the Site Navigation pane, expand Basics and select License Information.

• At the bottom of the main workspace, click Activate Licenses Manually, then Offline, and then click Export License for Activation.

• Save the license request file to a portable storage device.

Step 3: Wait for Confirmation from Vega Systems

Wait for Vega to confirm plugin activation for your SLCs.

Step 4: Upload the license request file to the Milestone Customer Dashboard

For each SLC:

• Connect the portable storage device to a computer with Internet access and log in to the Milestone Customer Dashboard.

• Click Customers & Licenses, then Upload License Request.

• Click Select .lrq file, then find the license request file on the portable storage device.

• Optional: Add additional email recipients in the Additional email recipient (optional) field to receive the activated license file.

• Click Upload.

Step 5: Receive an email from Milestone with the activated license file

After you receive an activated license file for each SLC, import each file into the corresponding Management Client to update your software license information.

Step 6: Import this into the corresponding Management Client for each SLC

For each SLC:

• Copy the activated license file from the email to your portable storage device and connect it to the computer with the corresponding Management Server.

• In the Management Client, click Activate License Manually, Offline, and then Import Activated License.

• Find the activated license file on the portable storage device and click Open.

• The plugin should be activated with the licensed number of channels.

Step 1: Install SureStream

Install SureStream on the Management Server machine.

Step 2: Provide SLC

Provide your XProtect Corporate SLC (Software License Code) to [email protected]. Wait for an email from Vega confirming the license activation.

Step 3: Activate

• Ensure the XProtect installation can access the internet.

• In the Management Client, click on the License Information tab.

• Click Activate License Manually.

• Choose Online.

• Enter the Username and Password and click OK.

• Upon successful activation, the Expiration Date will show a Demo license date (for demo) or be blank for a perpetual license.

Begin

• Open the Management Client application on the Management Server Machine.

• Navigate to the MIPS-Plugin tree and expand it.

• Click Configuration.

Start from a Clean Slate

Select the option "Start From A Clean Slate.”

Import Cameras from Milestone

• Click the "+" button to import all cameras.

• All cameras configured in the Management Server are displayed in the list. Redundantly Recorded Devices are shown only once.

Cameras may appear in different colors. While Green stands for 'All OK,' other colors indicate various issues as listed below. These need to be mitigated before SureStream can use the camera.

• Green - ONVIF compliant, supporting both Multicast and Unicast.

• Red - Cameras that are unreachable (ping failed).

• Gray - Cameras that do not support ONVIF multicast or unicast.

• Orange - ONVIF compliant, but no streaming profile is set up (SureStream automatically adds one, but may fail).

• Blue - Camera date/time is not synchronized with the Management Server. See Set Camera Time

• Cyan - Camera HTTP port issue. HTTP port not accessible; could indicate network or firewall blocking.

Set Camera Time

Blue cameras have an unsynchronized date and time with the machine running the Management Client. If any cameras are listed in blue, and these are needed for livestreaming within SureStream, fix these first:

• First, check and correct the date and time on the Management Client machine (if incorrect) and fetch the camera list again.

• Next, if the Management Client date and time are correct, update the cameras' date and time by clicking 'Set NTP to Camera', entering NTP server details, and, if "Validate NTP Server" is checked, optionally validating the NTP server.

  • This step configures the camera to synchronize its time with the NTP server.

Camera to Smart Client Streaming Mode

After fetching and reviewing the camera list, proceed to configure the stream from the cameras listed in green color, by clicking the '>' button:

We see:

This step allows selecting the streaming mode for a direct stream from the camera to each Smart Client. Available options: Unicast, Multicast, or Either.

Option A: Unicast

• Selecting Unicast initiates a unicast stream from cameras to clients via an HTTP tunnel.

• If this is what is needed:

  • Select Unicast and click Next.

  

  • Select "Select All," then click Add to move all green cameras that support unicast to the Selected Cameras list.

  

  • You can move or remove cameras individually. Each camera consumes one license.

Option B: Either (Unicast/Multicast)

If 'Either' is selected, the Smart Client fetches multicast video if supported by the camera; otherwise, it defaults to unicast.

• Select 'Either' and click Next.

• Enter Multicast IPs (From and To) (Range: 239.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255). SureStream assigns multicast addresses to cameras within the specified range. Make sure there are enough addresses for all listed cameras.

• Enter the Multicast RTP Port Number (an even number between 1024 and 65534). All cameras will be set to use this port number.

• Check Select All and click Add.

• SureStream moves all green cameras if the IP/Port range is sufficient.

  • You can move or remove cameras individually. Each camera consumes one license.

  

Option C: Multicast

Selecting the 'Multicast' option configures only cameras that support ONVIF multicast.

• Select Multicast and click Next.

• Enter Multicast IPs (From and To) (Range: 239.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255). SureStream assigns multicast addresses to cameras within the specified range. Make sure there are enough addresses for all listed cameras.

• Enter the Multicast RTP Port Number (an even number between 1024 and 65534). All cameras will be set to use this port number.

• Check Select All and click Add.

• SureStream moves all green multicast-capable cameras if the IP/Port range is sufficient.

  • You can move or remove cameras individually.

Stream Mirroring and Rotation

Next, set stream mirroring and rotation, if any, for each camera.

Because SureStream streams video directly from the camera, the footage it fetches will not preserve stream mirroring and rotation settings configured in Milestone. To resolve this, adjust mirroring and rotation for each camera by selecting it and setting its orientation.

• For PTZ cameras, PTZ movement is automatically corrected based on stream mirroring and rotation.

• Users can also override PTZ mirroring and rotation using the controls on the page.

Smart Client Overlay

• Check "Enable Overlay" to display the overlay in the Smart Client. The overlay displays resolution, codec type, and camera FPS.

Smart Client Token Timeout

Smart Clients periodically authenticate with the Management Servers. If the Management Server is offline, Smart Clients will automatically log out after a 'token timeout' duration. This will result in a loss of surveillance monitoring in the facility.

• Extend the 'token timeout' based on the expected repair time for the Management Server to avoid automatic logouts.

Complete and Save Configuration

This concludes the stream setup in the Management Client.

Set Up Smart Client Views

Steps from here need to be performed by an admin who sets up views for each role. Once set up, users in these roles who have SureStream installed on their client machines can use SureStream views during catastrophic data center outages to maintain security.

Create View

• Open the Smart Client application.

• Click Setup.

• Go to Views and click New Group.

• Click Create New View and select a view layout.

Add SureStream to the View

• Go to the SureStream Plugin in the System Overview tab.

• Drag and drop the SureStream plugin to a new view.

• Repeat for each window in the view (e.g., for a 2x2 view, drag the plugin into each of the four windows).

Select Cameras

• Click the Camera Icon button in the top-left corner of a view window.

• A SureStream camera list will appear, showing the cameras available for streaming.

• Double-click a camera to select it.

• Repeat this process for the remaining views.

• Click Setup to switch to live view; you should now see live video streams directly from the cameras.

PTZ Support

If the selected camera supports PTZ, SureStream will show a PTZ control. Using buttons in this PTZ control sends PTZ commands directly from the client to the camera, bypassing all XProtect services.

Toggle Streaming Modes

A toggle switch in the toolbar allows switching streaming between Unicast and Multicast for cameras configured with the Either mode that support both methods.

Playback Support

In the playback mode, SureStream fetches the playback video from the recording server.