File Transfer

Description

Illustra Essential cameras were manufactured by Topview and do not include scp (Secure Copy Protocol). As a result, files cannot be easily transferred to or from the device. The debug.sh script can be used to temporarily install scp onto the device enabling up/downloading of files. While scp will not survive a reboot the debug script, debug.sh does and can be used to quickly add scp as needed.

Product

Illustra Essential
Cloudvue C2C

Prerequisites

Confirm the device is a Topview manufactured camera
Verify that debug.sh does not already exist in /home/smartvue
Download the debug.sh script from the support portal HERE
Open the debug script in Notepad++ on your machine
Establish an ssh session via the Cloudvue Tunneling server to the camera

Solution

Identifying a Topview Camera

The most common ways to identify Topview manufactured cameras are:

In Cloudvue Manager (Device Details > Firmware Version) look for “Essentials”
Check the architecture, Topview cameras use the MIPS architecture which can be found using the uname command on the device.
</code># uname -a Linux Essentials4-T10A212700003131 4.1.0 #6 PREEMPT Thu Nov 24 09:54:36 CST 2022 mips GNU/Linux</code>

Creating the Debug Script

Since there is no way to initially transfer the debug script to the device it will need to be manually created. This is done by cutting and pasting the contents of the script from your machine to a new debug script file on the camera. Please note the only text editor available on these devices is vi.

On the camera launch vi with the name of the script
<code># vi debug.sh</code>
Paste from Notepad++
- Within vi
- Press lowercase letter “o” to insert a line below the current line and go into edit mode
- Press the up arrow key to move to the 1st line
- Paste the entire contents of the debug.sh file from notepad++ on your machine to vi
- Note: It will take some time for the paste to complete and it will occasionally pause.
Verify Accuracy
- When the paste has completed verify that the last lines from Notepad++ match those pasted in vi
- Failure – Last Line Does Not Match
  - Press the “esc” Escape key to exit “insert Mode”
  - Type “:q!” and press enter to force quit without saving any changes ‘
  - Attempt creating the debug script again
- Success – Last Lines Match
  - Press the “esc” Escape key to exit “insert Mode”
  - Type “:wq” and press enter to open a vi command prompt, write the changes to file and quit vi

Running debug.sh

Before running the first time debug.sh must be made executable using the chmod command.

<code># chmod +x debug.sh</code>

Now Launch the script by proceeding the file name with “./”. If all went well with the creation process debug.sh will run and a menu of choices will be displayed.
<code> # ./debug.sh CHOICES: 0. print [h]elp 1. debug [m]essaging 2. debug [r]ecorder 3. [R]estart camera or services 4. [i]nstall scp on Essentials 5. [q]uery iAPI 6. print/update [e]nvironment 7. [o]pen firmware logs 8. run [v]ideo sync 9. pretty-print [j]son 10. query camera re[b]oots 11. query local [d]atabase 12. bundle [l]ogs Please select an option: 4 #</code>

Select option 4 and press enter to install scp on Essentials.
When successful no message is returned and debug.sh will terminate.
If scp is already installed the message “”scp already exists in path. Cancelling scp install…”” will be displayed and debug.sh will terminate.
Installation of scp can be confirmed using the which command.
<code># which scp /bin/scp</code>

scp has now been successfully installed and files can be transferred using scp or other tools such as MobaXterm.

Description

At times it may be necessary to move files to a Cloudvue Gateway and while other tools such as SCP or MobaXterm can usually manage the job, rsync can track progress and resume after an interruption which can be particularly useful when transferring large files like the latest Cloudvue software or on slow or unstable connections.

Solution

The command structure is:

rsync -p -e ‘ssh -p [PORT]’ [PATH/FILENAME] smartvue@[IPADDRESS]:/home/smartvue

-P option will force rsync to show a progress bar and keep partially transferred files.

-e option allows you to specify a different listening port on the remote host

‘ssh – p [PORT]’ Specifies that ssh be used through a specific port number, use 7627 if local or whatever port was assigned in Cloudvue Manager when setting up the tunnel

[PATH/FILENAME] The local path and file name to be transferred

[IPADDRESS] The IP address of the Cloudvue Gateway, the LAN IP if local or localhost when tunneling

:/home/smartvue The smartvue home folder on Cloudvue Gateways

Note: When tunneling you must first establish the tunnel. You will then need to open a 2nd instance of WSL or terminal to run the rsync commands.

Examples

In the following examples a file named “22.9.2-smartvue-x64-production.tar.bz2” located in “/home/joakest/tunneling/” is transferred to the gateways smartvue users home folder.

Local Connection

$ rsync -P -e 'ssh -p 7627' /home/joakest/tunneling/22.9.2-smartvue-x64-production.tar.bz2 smartvue@192.168.1.180:/home/smartvue

smartvue@localhost's password: 22.9.2-smartvue-x64-production.tar.bz2 200,493,957 100% 390.99MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=0/1)

When prompted enter the SSH password found in Cloudvue Manager.

The progress of the file transfer will display, and the prompt will return when completed.

Tunnel Connection

$ rsync -P -e 'ssh -p 8346' 22.9.2-smartvue-x64-production.tar.bz2 smartvue@localhost:/home/smartvue

The authenticity of host '[localhost]:8346 ([127.0.0.1]:8346)' can't be established. ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:nw6P03KIwsjiKfy2fkJJjRUSi4dJA6gwLyd7/+0Fz0Y. This key is not known by any other names Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes Warning: Permanently added '[localhost]:8346' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts. smartvue@localhost's password: 22.9.2-smartvue-x64-production.tar.bz2 200,493,957 100% 249.79kB/s 0:13:03 (xfr#1, to-chk=0/1)

Since this is the first time a ssh connection has been established to this NVR from the local machine the authenticity warning will appear.

Continue by typing in “yes” and pressing enter.