SCN-00000012 – Cloud Drive

SCN #	SCN-00000012
Title of SCN	Cloud Drive
TRAC #
Effective Version	9.8
Products Affected	Server, Client, Mobile
Reason for Change (Summary)	New Feature

Change

The Cloud Drive feature was officially added in 9.8, however we expect its use to grow with the release of the G-Series Micro. This document is intended to explain how the feature functions and what you’ll need to know to troubleshoot.

Upon upgrade or installation of 9.8 and above, a new directory is created in the Server’s installation folder called ‘cloud-drive’. All executables, libraries and logs for Cloud Drive functioning are found here. When the service starts, ‘exacqd.exe’ starts first, which then starts ‘core.exe’ and ‘evclouddrive.exe’. You can verify that the integration loaded on the ‘System Information’ page:
NOTE: The version will not match the currently running Server version.

After the dealer/integrator purchases the service, the end-user will receive the following email from Exacq Orders:

After registering, the customer will then add an Archive target using the drop-down box to select ‘Cloud Drive’ with the credentials created. Server credentials need to be Power User level, or a Custom User Group with the following Privileges:

Allow Live Viewing:
- Available in Live Cameras
Allow Searching:
- Available in Search Cameras
- Export
Configuration:
- Case Admin

No ‘Task’ is scheduled for Cloud Drive functioning as the integration runs in real-time and uploads video on the fly. After clicking “Apply”, the credentials are verified, and the Status should show “Connected”. (May show “Integration Not Connected” for up to 30 seconds on first connection.) Users will then go to the ‘Schedule’ tab to select which streams will upload video (similar to setting up a regular Archive target).

Upon successful configuration, the following elements are added to the Archive XML:

Currently, Cloud Drive runs as an executable along-side the Server service as if it were an integration. This is because we are relying on a library from Smartvue that we don’t have control over (smv-cloud.dll or .so). It is expected that Cloud Drive will eventually be a plug-in within the Server itself. This library is used to upload video clips to Smartvue’s cloud service. Aside from this library, Cloud Drive was written entirely in-house. It’s important to remember, for the purposes of supporting this feature, that ‘Cloud Drive’ is an exacqVision feature, and not to be referred to as a ‘Smartvue’ or ‘Tyco Cloud’ product.

The Archive plug-in only logs that the Cloud Drive integration has launched, all functioning logs are separate from the Server’s logs and stored in …/cloud-drive/logs/ and will follow the Server’s model of a text file named YYYYMMDD.txt. The Client is not yet able to access and search these logs, so they will need to be grabbed from the Server manually. Even if the Client shows “Connected” on the Archive page, this only verifies that the integration has successfully connected to the cloud. The only reliable way to verify that the integration is functioning as expected is to check the log and look for the following line:

2019-02-22T23:59:02.000Z 14067365159 INFO successfully uploaded clip for uuid /tmp/4719360_1550879897563.mp4:

Video clips are stored in the Server’s TMP directory (Windows: C:\Windows\Temp – Linux /tmp/). Clips will be a maximum of 30s and are named as follows: <CameraID>_<EpochTimeClipStarted>.mp4

Pending uploads are queued and will be sent to Smartvue’s Azure service limited by the customer’s ISP allowed bandwidth, as well as Azure’s bandwidth capabilities. Once the clip is successfully uploaded, the clip is deleted from Temp.

A maximum of 3 clips per enabled device will be queued to avoid filling up Temp space. If the queue is full, the integration will discard new video until the queue lowers. (This does not impact local video recording, only what is sent to the Cloud)

Clips sent to the Cloud are not ever deleted by the integration. The customer’s subscription will define how many clips can be stored and will roll them off on a First-In-First-Out basis.

When the exacqVision Server service starts, any previous clips that remain in the queue are deleted.

Once the exacqVision Client successfully connects to a Server with Cloud Drive enabled, that Client is able to search video seamlessly pulling from the Server, any Archive targets, or video uploaded to Cloud Drive utilizing the Client’s ‘Direct Search’ feature. All video is “stitched” together in the Search timeline. You can determine the location of the searched video by right-clicking the meta-data and checking the ‘Location’:

The Client uses its own Curl executable to download the .mp4 cloud video via HTTPS (port 443), then holds the frames for viewing and exporting to any of the regular supported formats.

Direct Search Enabled – Prefer System Video:
Video will be pulled from the Server, then the Archive and Cloud will be searched to fill in any gaps.

Direct Search Disabled:

Only video stored on the Server’s local and extended drives will be searched.

Direct Search Enabled – Prefer Archive Video:

Video will be pulled from the Archive, then the Server and Cloud will be searched to fill in any gaps.

Direct Search Enabled – Prefer Cloud Video:

Video will be pulled from the Cloud, then the Server and Archive will be searched to fill in any gaps.

Additional Documentation

KB 61359 – Configuring Cloud Drive

KB 46560– Troubleshooting Cloud Drive

https://trac.exacq.com/DVR/wiki/ServerCloudDrive

https://trac.exacq.com/DVR/wiki/MobileSmartVueIntegration

Other information

Supported with Start, Professional and Enterprise licenses.
Audio is not currently supported for upload to Cloud Drive.
Only H.264 cameras are supported.
“Pre-record” video is not uploaded, but “post-record” is.
Azure upload speeds can be tested with the following link:
http://azurespeed.com/Azure/UploadLargeFile
- The service should be stopped during test.
- You can use one of the mp4 files in Temp for the test.
Bookmarked video sent to the Cloud is never deleted.