Month: September 2021

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

Windows OS Servers Fail to Correctly Identify Non-DST Time Zones & Prevent Local Client Video Searches from Working

Issue:

Servers with Windows operating system (OS) fail to correctly identify non-Daylight-Savings-Time (DST) time zones and prevent the local client searches from working for time periods recorded during DST.

Symptoms:

  • Sporadic playback on the server using the (internal) local client and no issues with searching from the (external) client workstations. In other words: search works fine from workstations, but not on the server itself.
  • With direct search enabled, search shows timeline filled at the right side and playback works but doesn’t fill-in the left side of the timeline. Disabling direct search fills the timeline but playback is broken.
  • Recorded files are placed in the correctly labeled video folders.
  • Downgrade of the client does not fix this condition, but downgrade of the server to version 9.4 or earlier does.

Root Cause:

Server 9.7.27 introduced an issue with how the server software queries for the currently-configured time zone from the Windows OS. The Linux OS is NOT affected by this issue. When impacted systems are configured to a time zone that does not observe DST, like any of the “(UTC+/- xx:xx) Coordinated Universal Time +/- x” zones and others, the server will erroneously assume DST is observed, and relay that information to the client. As a result, the local client may fail to search video during the DST part of the year. Conversely, a remote client search will continue to work normally.

Workaround:

The options are (1) to search from the client workstations ONLY, or (2) to downgrade to server version 9.4.

Introduced In:

Server version 9.7.27

Fixed In:

Server version 19.05.18+ and Client version 19.03.9+

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Client exacqVision Server Categories

Setting the listed LDAP group on Exacq as the primary group for a specific user will not allow the user to log in

If you have an LDAP group that is listed on Exacq and set this group as the primary group for a specific user, this user will not be able to log in on Exacq Software.

The workaround for this issue:

  1. Setting another group as an admin for this user.
  2. Adding another group in which that user is a member.
  3. Adding this LDAP user to the ExacqVision users.

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Categories
Knowledge Support Configuration Documentation Support exacqVision Client Products

CSV Imports Exceeding IP Licenses

For the multi head camera when imported from a CSV file the client uses 4 camera licenses and not just one. This is true for all other manufactured multi head camera on the system in .CSV

Previously we did not support this in our client. Dev build 21.09.2294700.0 included the following fix:
Enhancement – Added support for importing cameras with multiple inputs.

This is the Licensing Miscalculation Referred to.

One problem you might encounter is that when adding the input to the CSV file it should not say INPUT 1, 2,3,4. to allow the Input Name to show up correctly.

The input name should only be 1,2,3,4.
See below example:

The reason why is that we convert that field to a number and when the camera comes back we match that number to the input number on the camera to determine if it’s the right input to set the name on.

Below is an example of what happened after we included the ability to import multi head cameras into the import of the CSV file.

Select the CSV file under “Camera Import” and it correctly identifies the columns (including Input) as shown in Fig 1.

The client correctly counts the camera as only one license. Though it says it imported 4 Cameras and confirmed it only used a single license shown in Fig 2.

The camera shows up only one time in the “Add IP Cameras” list. Fig 3.

The camera correctly shows four inputs under the “Camera Recording”. But it did not import the names. Fig 4.

As seen in Fig 3 The INPUT Column need to only add 1,2,3,4 and Not Input1,2,3,4.

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

How to Remove Unused Samba Services to Avoid Potentially Being Detected by a Vulnerability Scan

Summary:

This is a procedure to remove unused Samba services to avoid potentially being detected by a vulnerability scan. Unless the server is an S-Series, these services are most likely not being used and may be disabled.

More Information:

Samba is a collection of services that allow for file sharing across a network with other Windows systems. However, the default Samba configuration may lead to being flagged as a vulnerability with some security scanners, such as “null session/password NetBIOS access.“

Steps:

All versions of Ubuntu:

  • To verify whether smbd (SMB file service) and/or nmbd (NetBIOS name resolution service) are currently running:
    • admin@ER1234567890:~$ ps agux | grep mbd
    • root 1225 0.0 0.0 20416 1176 ? Ss Jun26 35:24 nmbd -D
    • root 25965 2.5 0.1 33284 6844 ? Ds 18:13 0:00 smbd -F
    • root 25967 0.0 0.0 31480 2388 ? S 18:13 0:00 smbd -F
  • A third related service is samba-ad-dc, which allows a Linux workstation to function as a Active Directory domain controller.
  • Confirm the installed version of Ubuntu with:
    • admin@ER1234567890:~$ sudo lsb_release -a
    • No LSB modules are available.
    • Distributor ID: Ubuntu
    • Description: Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS
    • Release: 16.04
    • Codename: xenial

Ubuntu v14.04:

System services are managed via initscripts:

/etc/init.d/samba (starts smbd, nmbd, and samba-ad-dc as a group)

/etc/init.d/smbd

/etc/init.d/nmbd

/etc/init.d/samba-ad-dc

  • First, STOP these services:
    • sudo service smbd stop
    • sudo service nmbd stop
    • sudo service samba-ad-dc stop
  • Then, DISABLE these services. The command will respond with a message resembling “system start/stop links for XXXXX do not exist.“
    • sudo update-rc.d samba disable
    • sudo update-rc.d smbd disable
    • sudo update-rc.d nmbd disable
    • sudo update-rc.d samba-ad-dc disable

Ubuntu v16.04:

System services are managed via a combination of initscripts and Upstart.

  • First, STOP these services in the same manner as listed above in the “Ubuntu v14.04” section.
  • Then, DISABLE these services in the same manner as listed above in the “Ubuntu v14.04” section.
  • Finally, these services should be set to MANUAL for Upstart:
    • sudo su
    • echo manual > /etc/init/smbd.override
    • echo manual > /etc/init/nmbd.override
    • echo manual > /etc/init/samba-ad-dc.override

Ubuntu v18.04 or newer:

System services are managed via systemd.

  • First, STOP these services:
    • sudo systemctl
    • stop smbd sudo systemctl
    • stop nmbd sudo systemctl
    • stop samba-ad-dc
  • Then, DISABLE these services from automatic startup at boot:
    • sudo systemctl disable smbd
    • sudo systemctl disable nmbd
    • sudo systemctl disable samba-ad-dc
  • For extra security, use the following commands to PREVENT these services from being manually started:
    • sudo systemctl mask smbd
    • sudo systemctl mask nmbd
    • sudo systemctl mask samba-ad-dc
Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

Servers imaged with OPS-21.06.1 Key or reimaged with RETAIL10-21.06.1 Key Break the boot manager after an “apt upgrade”

Issue:

Linux servers originally imaged with the manufacturing OPS-21.06.1 Key (which introduced 20.04 OS) or reimaged with the RETAIL10-21.06.1 Key break the “rEFInd” boot manager after running ‘apt upgrade’.

Root Cause:

The fundamental issue is that the apt upgrade is updating the grub bootloader and overwriting the “rEFInd” boot manager with a new default (“fallback”) boot manager.

Workaround:

To remediate an existing system:

PROCEDURE (A). If C-Series Standard or C-Series Pro Server:

1. Boot the system and watch for:

  • Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\grubx64.efi – Not Found
  • Failed to load image \EFI\BOOT\grubx64.efi: Not Found
  • start_image() returned Not Found, falling back to default loader
  • Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\grubx64.efi – Not Found
  • Failed to load image \EFI\BOOT\grubx64.efi: Not Found
  • start_image() returned Not Found

2. Press the “Enter” key.

3. Press the “Up Arrow” key three times (3x).

4. Press the “Enter” key again.

5. Wait approximately 10 seconds. The system should boot into the Linux OS as normal.

6. If for any reason you are unable to successfully perform the above instructions, you may be forced to re-image the system with the existing RETAIL2004-21.06.1 Key.

WARNING: The previous step WILL result in the LOSS of the system configuration.

PROCEDURE (B). All other models of servers:

1. Boot and watch for the “GNU GRUB version 2.04” menu to appear with the following choices:

  • Ubuntu
  • Advanced options for Ubuntu
  • EFI Firmware Settings
  • Boot rEFInd

2. Press the “Up Arrow” key three times (3x) to highlight “Ubuntu”

3. Press the “Enter” key. The system should boot into Linux as normal.

4. Install ​http://artifactory.exacq.org/artifactory/seg-local/exacqdeploy/21.09.x/master/103/exacqdeploy_21.09.103.0_all.deb

5. Reboot the system and the graphical boot menu should then be available.

Introduced In:

Version OPS-21.06.1 Key, RETAIL2004-21.06.1 Key

Fixed In:

Version OPS-21.06.2 Key

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

The Samsung Plug-in May Stop all Processing Because of Unexpected Data Received from Newer Hanwha Cameras

Description

When attempting to add a camera with the Samsung plug-in (SamsungPI), newer models of Hanwha cameras (having newer firmware versions) have been observed to cause the Samsung plug-in to stall.  This event will prevent the processing of the remaining (already-configured) Samsung and Hanwha cameras. The camera will sit on “Connecting” and no error message is displayed.

The Samsung plug-in stall is the result of the server receiving unexpected information in some of the configuration responses from the newer Hanwha cameras.  This issue was observed with but not limited to Hanwha model numbers XNV-9082R and XNF-9010RV and multiple camera firmware versions.

Sample log file entries:

10/30/2020 09:39:07.714 AM SamsungPI Warning The processing loop<br>has taken too long 60 times. The longest time was 1001ms for 60 passes.
10/30/2020 09:40:07.717 AM SamsungPI Warning The processing loop<br>has taken too long 60 times. The longest time was 1002ms for 60 passes.
10/30/2020 09:41:07.730 AM SamsungPI Warning The processing loop<br>has taken too long 60 times. The longest time was 1003ms for 60 passes.
10/30/2020 09:42:07.732 AM SamsungPI Warning The processing loop<br>has taken too long 60 times. The longest time was 1002ms for 60 passes.
10/30/2020 09:42:39.015 AM SamsungPI Verbose 192.168.0.1 Network<br>error 28 from request stw-cgi/system.cgi?msubmenu=deviceinfo&action=view<br>using scheme https.
10/30/2020 09:42:39.016 AM SamsungPI Warning HTTP processing took<br>21ms
10/30/2020 09:42:39.499 AM SamsungPI Verbose 192.168.0.1<br>Connected using http.
10/30/2020 09:42:39.500 AM SamsungPI Verbose 192.168.0.1 -<br>CGI version number string is 2.5.7.
10/30/2020 09:42:40.251 AM SamsungPI Warning HTTP processing took<br>21ms

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Product

  • exacqVision Server 9.2.0 to 20.09.9.0

Solution

Update exacqVision Server to 20.12.0 or higher

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Categories
exacqVision Enterprise Integrations exacqVision Integrations

C-Cure Integration License

In order to fully integrate with C-Cure 9000 Versions 2.80 or later an additional license is required.  The license can be requested from the CCURE’s licensing system via part number CC9WS-EXACQMON.  After proper application, this license will show up in the CCURE “Licensing” application as “Exacq Analytics for CCURE 9000”.

Here is an example:

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

The IP Camera Detect Plugin Doesn’t Load on Server v20.06.4 if Installed on Ubuntu 18.04 Systems

Issue:

The IP camera detect plugin does not load on server software version 20.06.4 if installed on servers with the Ubuntu 18.04 operating system.

Description:

On the server software 20.06.4/18.04 OS combination, IPCamDetectPI fails to load, and in turn, IP camera detection is not available in the exacqVision Client interface. The “Add IP Cameras” page does not display the “Find IP Cameras” and “Address IP Cameras” tabs on the bottom half of the page.

Logs show the following:

Core     Critical     Core: Failed to load plugin 'IPCamDetectPI.so': /usr/local/exacq/server/plugins/IPCamDetectPI.so: undefined symbol: _ZTIN7testing4TestE

Introduced In:

Version 20.06.4

Fixed In:

Version 20.06.5+

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Client Categories Products

eDVR Video Playing Frames Out of Order Causing Stuttering

Issue:

With live stream or playback video generated by the eDVR board set to MPEG4, the Client plays frames out of order resulting in stuttering video.

Description:

The video stutters — playing new frames, then older frames, creating a very jerky display effect. The video clip was MPEG4 with B frames. This seems to be caused by the specification of “low delay” with ffmpeg. With H.264 they still detect if B frame re-ordering is required and will delay the video when necessary. They don’t seem to do this with MPEG4 so we can’t specify that option with it. This is a pre-existing issue for Linux x64 and macOS x64 because these always used ffmpeg to decode MPEG4. However, this issue was new to Windows because IPP was used to decode MPEG4 prior to version 19.06.

Introduced In:

Version 19.06

Fixed In:

Version 19.08.8+

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Products

The Smartctl Copyright Notice May Be Unintentionally Inserted into the Server Logs

Issue:

The Smartctl copyright notice may be unintentionally inserted into the server logs.

Description:

Smartctl is a utility program used to control and monitor the storage device’s Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) mechanism that provides advanced warning of disk degradation and failure. Smartctl‘s copyright information is being unintentionally inserted into the server logs.

Example:

2/20/2019 12:32:10 PM SysMgmtPI Warning Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net​

Workaround:

There is no need for a workaround since this issue is purely cosmetic in nature.

Introduced In:

Version 19.03

Fixed In:

Version 19.08.6