Category: Highlighted

Cloud drive is a subscription plan available from an Exacq dealer for offsite, cloud based archiving of recorded video.

Contact an authorized dealer to discussing pricing and plans.

Minimum Client/Server Versions:
Client: 22.03.1
Server: 22.03.0

The following instructions detail the steps to be performed in sequence. These steps are also detailed in our Video Library. Steps performed in Cloudvue Manager must be performed by a dealer with login access and a valid Partner Code. Steps within ExacqVision may be performed by a customer or integrator onsite with Client access.

Step 1 – Customer Account Creation (Cloudvue Manager)

If the customer does not already have an account created, you will need to create one.

1. Click the plus/add icon in the top corner and select ‘Add Account’.
2. Enter the account name and contact information.
3. Enter an assigned partner name.
4. Leave the Customer ID and Site ID fields empty, these are reserved for other uses.
5. Save your changes.

Step 2 – User Account Creation (Cloudvue Manager)

One or more user accounts will need to be added to the customer’s account. User accounts are used to bind the server’s uploaded data to their Cloud Drive storage.

1. Click the plus/add icon in the top corner and select ‘Add User’.
2. Add the user’s email address and optionally a phone number for contact.
3. Change the Role to Enterprise.
4. If an integrator/dealer is performing the entire setup on behalf of the user, create a password to use.
5. If an integrator/dealer is working with the customer, check the box below for ‘Reset Password and accept EULA/TOS’. This will remove the password field. The customer will receive an email at the address entered and will use it to validate their email address and set a custom password.
6. Enter a partner name.
7. Assign the user to an account, created earlier.
8. Leave the device and timeout fields alone.
9. Two-factor authentication should not be checked for use with Exacq Cloud Drive accounts at this time.
10. Save your changes.

Step 3 – User Validation (Email and ExacqVision Client)

If ‘Reset Password and accept EULA/TOS’ were checked in Step 2. The user will need to click the link in the email received.

The page that opens will prompt the user to create a new, custom password.

NOTE: The user MUST click the links to open the EULA and TOS before the ‘Agree’ checkbox below can be checked.

1. Open the ExacqVision Client and navigate to the Archiving page.
2. Create a new archiving profile by clicking the ‘New’ button towards the bottom.
3. Change the archiving Type from ‘SMB’ to ‘Cloud Drive’.
4. Enter the email address and password.
   a. If the password was set by the integrator/dealer, enter this here.
   b. If the password was customized by the user via the validation email, the customer will enter this new password here.
5. Enter the Partner Code provided by the dealer/integrator.
6. Select the Instance Region as directed by the dealer/integrator.
7. Click ‘Apply’.

The status message will change to read ‘Step 1 of 4: Add the user to the NVR’. The next steps will be taken by the dealer in the Cloudvue Manager.

Provide the dealer/integrator with the system’s MAC address. This may be found by clicking ‘Configure System’ on configuration tree to the left, and clicking the System tab. The MAC address is located in the top-right corner beneath the license key.

Step 4 – Add User to NVR (Cloudvue Manager)

1. Click the search icon in the top corner, and select ‘Search Video Devices’.
2. Use the filters on the left to search for the system’s MAC address, do not use colons or dashes.
3. Once the system has been located, double-click it to open the device details.
4. Towards the top of the device details page, click the ‘Add Existing User’ button.
5. Select the user account created earlier.

Confirmation that this step has been completed will appear on the Archiving page in the ExacqVision Client when the status changes to read ‘Step 2 of 4: Apply subscriptions to cameras’.

Step 5 – Add Subscriptions to Cameras (Cloudvue Manager)

1. On the device details in Cloudvue Manager, click Subscriptions to expand this section.
2. The system’s cameras will be listed. A Service Plan MUST be selected for each camera in the list, even if archiving no data from it. If the camera will not be archiving, select ‘TCVMSEXQA – VMS Only Exacq Annual’.
   
   The plans are displayed dynamically based on the recording settings for the camera in the customer’s ExacqVision server. Therefore you cannot set a camera recording 4K video to a plan for 720p video.
3. Select the Storage Retention and Quality settings.
4. The price displayed will update as the settings are changed.

NOTE: If cameras are added/removed or recording settings are changed in the client, the Enable checkbox on the Archiving profile will need to be disabled, then re-enabled to send the changes to Cloudvue Manager. Re-load the page and the camera list and available plans will update accordingly.

Once the subscriptions have been saved. The status in the ExacqVision Client will update again, to read ‘Step 3 of 4: Create an archiving schedule’.

Step 6 – Set the Archive Task (ExacqVision Client)

The Archiving Target created tells the system WHERE to archive data. A Task Schedule must be created to the right, which tells the system WHEN to archive data.

1. Click ‘New’ under the Task Schedule panel.
2. Give the task a descriptive name. More than one task may be created if, for example, you wish to perform archiving on different hours for different days.
3. Set the Start Time, when the system will begin this task.
4. Set the End Time.
   – Continuous; will begin archiving when the start time is reached and check for new content every five minutes
   – Until Finished; will begin archiving when the start time is reached. When it finds no new data to archive the task stops until the next start time is reached and begins again.
   – User Defined; will begin archiving when the start time is reached and stop when the end time is reached. This may be useful for environments where network bandwidth or system resources are in higher demand during certain hours of the day. An example is an office where staff work from 9am to 6pm and during those hours network bandwidth is in high usage and servers are recording more data due to increased activity. After normal work hours there is less activity to record and lower bandwidth usage after most people have left for the day. In such cases an admin may choose to schedule archiving to take place during the off hours to use the systems and network more efficiently.
5. Click ‘Apply’.

Step 7 – Set the Archive Schedule (ExacqVision Client)

After telling the system WHERE and WHEN to archive data in the previous steps, you must tell the system WHAT to archive.

1. Click the Schedule tab at the top of the Archiving page.
2. You should only see the cameras with Cloud Drive subscriptions applied available.
3. Select the ‘Days’ tab to schedule one or many cameras by day, or select the ‘Sources’ tab to schedule one camera on one or many days. If using the Days tab, you may apply your settings to other days utilizing the Copy Current Configuration region below the schedule panel.
4. Highlight the hours you wish to set a schedule for, then select from the Settings above.
   You may choose to archive All data, Motion data, Alarm data, or no data for each specific hour.
   Record settings and archive settings to not have to be configured for the same type of data. As an example, you could record free run video on a system at a certain time, but then choose to archive only the motion video recorded during the same period to the Cloud Drive.