Ubuntu’s unattended-upgrades commands and package features may not work as expected when using an Exacq Ubuntu image on ExacqVision hardware. By default on Ubuntu Exacq images, unattended-upgrades package features are purposely disabled from running due to the potential of losing video – and how the use of this feature cannot guarantee uptime of the ExacqVision Server software host.
This unattended-upgrades package is usually intended to install security updates automatically, by default, so that machines that are not proactively maintained do not become a liability.
Notes: The unattended-upgrades package is over a decade old, and is enabled by default on all currently supported versions of Ubuntu offered directly from Ubuntu. The ExacqVision image is configured differently, with this disabled as to prevent loss of video.
Expected Results
Unattended-upgrades package features should work as expected when scheduled.
Actual Results
Unattended-upgrades package features fail without dialogue.
NVRs built and sold by Exacq with Ubuntu Linux use the Ubuntu Desktop release.
Ubuntu is also released in a Ubuntu Server format. The primary difference being that Ubuntu Server does not have a graphical desktop environment and may not include many applications and packages that are installed by default with Ubuntu Desktop.
Ubuntu Server is primarily used in enterprise environments on headless systems and interaction with the operating system is done via CLI. It is possible for exacqVision to be installed on third-party systems running the Ubuntu Server operating system.
IMPORTANT: Ubuntu Server should not be considered for use by those unfamiliar with Linux operating systems. Exacq Support will not provide troubleshooting help with these installations.
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Downloading
As Ubuntu Server does not have a GUI, the simplest method of obtaining the installer is the use of the wget command.
Using a separate system with a web browser, navigate to the Exacq.com Software Downloads page.<br><br>
Hovering the cursor over the link for your desired installer, or right-clicking and selecting Copy Link Address will provide you with the URL to use in the following process.<br> *Note that the path and the installer file include the version number.<br><br>
Using the CLI of your Ubuntu Server system, use the wget command to download this installer to your system. In the example below, replace the URL with that from your intended link as mentioned in Step 2, above. wget <URL> --no-check-certificate<br><br>
After install, you may then connect to and manage the exacqVision Server using the exacqVision Client software installed on another machine on the same network. The Client software may be installed on Linux, Windows, or Mac operating systems.
exacqVision G-Series Micro units may fail to write Exacq’s custom image of Ubuntu OS versions back to drive if the version is above Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
Product
G-Series Micro
Steps to Reproduce
Re-image a G-Series Micro Unit to an Ubuntu OS image above 18.04 LTS
Expected Results
The sysprep process should not fail
Actual Results
The sysprep process fails
Solution
Re-image to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS from sysprep USB key instead of using 20.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS image.
Run the following commands to step up in OS versions: sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade sudo apt dist-upgrade sudo apt autoremove sudo do-release-upgrade -f DistUpgradeViewGtk3
If you are unable to login to the ExacqVision software and need to reset the password, perform the following:
WARNING: This will remove ALL user accounts from the configuration, not just the admin locked out.
Windows OS
1. Visit the following page and download the server version you need. https://www.exacq.com/reseller/legacy/?file=Legacy/index.html 2. On a Windows machine, open the Services panel or run services.msc. 3. Locate ExacqVision Server in the services list. Right-click on it and choose ‘Stop’. 4. Browse to C:\Program Files\ExacqVision\Server or in the case of a legacy 32-bit system, C:\Program Files (x86)\ExacqVision\Server 5. Find the file named ‘useraccounts.xml’, right-click on it and choose ‘Delete’. 6. You will now run the ExacqVision Server installer file that you downloaded. Locate the file where you saved it, double-click on it to run it. 7. Go through the install process, it will ask you to create a new password (Make a note of this) 8. Once it is finished, open the ExacqVision Client software and click the Configuration (gear) icon from the top-left toolbar. 9. Go to ‘Add Systems’, highlight the system under ‘System List’. Enter your new Username and Password and click on ‘Apply’ to connect.
Linux OS
1. Visit the following page and download the server version you need. https://www.exacq.com/reseller/legacy/?file=Legacy/index.html 2. On a Linux machine, stop the ExacqVision Server service. 3. Open up terminal, by pressing CTRL+ALT+T 4. Type sudo service edvrserver stop and press Enter. 5. Depending on what system you have you will type one of the following, if it says it cannot find NAUTILUS try CAJA 6. Type sudo nautilus(Ubuntu 10.04-16.04), or try sudo caja(Ubuntu 18.04 and above) 7. When the file explorer opens, go to ‘File System’ and then browse to the following directory \usr\local\exacq\server\ 8. Find the file named ‘useraccounts.xml’, right-click on it and choose ‘Delete’. 9. Locate the ExacqVision Server installer file that you downloaded. Right-click on it and choose ‘Open with GDebi Package Installer’. 10. Wait for GDebi to initiate and click ‘Install Package’. 11. Go through the install process, it will ask you to create a new password (Make a note of this) 12. Once it is finished, open the ExacqVision Client software and click the Configuration (gear) icon from the top-left toolbar. 13. Go to ‘Add Systems’, highlight the system under ‘System List’. Enter your new Username and Password and click on ‘Apply’ to connect.
•This procedure applies to replacing the first non-RAID storage drive (mechanical SATA hard disk drive) on an Ubuntu Linux-based exacqVision server. If the operating system ROOT partition is 8GB or smaller, the replacement primary storage drive will need to have the “Linux swap”, “export”, and first “storage” partitions created on it. •These instructions assume that the Linux operating system is installed to an on-board solid-state drive (SSD) and can be successfully logged into with an administrator account. •This procedure is not intended for simply adding a new storage drive to a fully functional system.
Product
exacqVision Ubuntu Linux non-RAID Servers
Solution:
A. Verifying the size of the Root partition is 8 GB or smaller
The root partition size will need to be verified before completing the replacement task properly. Open Terminal and specify the command: df -h
In this example, the root directory “/” is located on the “/dev/sda3” partition which has a size of “55 GB.” If the root partition is 8 GB or less, continue with this document.
If, however, the root partition is 20 GB or greater, please obtain Support Portal Knowledge Base Number 10048 – “Replacing the First Storage Drive using GParted on a Non-RAID exacqVision Ubuntu Linux Server having a 20 GB or larger ROOT partition.”
B. Temporarily Disabling the Original Drive Mount Point Listed in the fstab File
Type the command sudo gedit /etc/fstab in Terminal and press the enter key to edit the file.
# /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use ‘blkid’ to print the universally unique identifier for a # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5). # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> # / was on /dev/sda3 during installation UUID=36a8d968-7e63-4859-a91b-0fdfcc319d3a / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1 # /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation UUID=DDF2-8CC6 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1 # /home was on /dev/sda2 during installation UUID=bc7b3ed7-7dfd-4530-972a-9c3269ea624b /home ext4 defaults 0 2 # /mnt/export was on /dev/sda4 during installation UUID=e4638d65-fbe8-407c-a9e8-6c3da0bed19c /mnt/export ext4 defaults 0 2 /swapfile none swap sw 0 0 LABEL=/mnt/edvr/1 /mnt/edvr/1 ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
2. Locate and add a “# ” remark character and a space to the beginning of the line for “/mnt/edvr/1”. Save the file.
3. Type the command sudo reboot in Terminal to restart the exacqVision Server.
C. Partitioning the First Non-RAID Storage Drive using GParted
Open a Terminal session. Type the command sudogparted and press the enter key. If prompted for a password, use the admin account password.
Select the empty hard drive from the drop-down list in the top-right corner. Note that the drive is unallocated, which indicates that you have selected the correct hard drive. Select Create Partition Table from the Device menu.
3. Select Advanced in the Create Partition Table dialog. Select gpt from the Select New Partition Table Type drop-down list. Click Apply.
4. Right-click in the unallocated space and select New to open the Create New Partition window. Select 20000 in the New Size (MiB) box. Select linux-swap in the File System drop-down list. In the Label field, type swap. Click Add.
5. Right-click the unallocated space and select New to open the Create New Partition window. Select 10000 in the New Size (MiB) box. Select ext4 in the File System drop-down list. In the Label field, type /mnt/export. Click Add.
6. Right-click the unallocated space and select New to open the Create New Partition window. Select the highest available number in the Set New Size (MiB) box. Make sure Free Space Preceding and Free Space Following are both zero or 1. Select ext4 in the File System drop-down list. In the Label field, type /mnt/edvr/1. Click Add.
7. Click the green checkmark at the top of the screen and then click Apply. Wait for the operations to complete. Click on the Close button.
8. Close GParted. 9. In the terminal window, enter the following commands.
sudo service edvrserver stop sudo mount –a
10. To create your export directories and change ownership:
sudo mkdir /mnt/export/admin sudo mkdir /mnt/export/user sudo chown admin /mnt/export/admin sudo chown user /mnt/export/user sudo service edvrserver start
11. In a Terminal window, enter the following commands:
Type the command sudo reboot in Terminal to restart the exacqVision Server. If prompted for a password, use the admin account password (admin256 by default).
D. The replaced drive may display as “Offline” in the Storage Page
(A) If the old drive DOES NOT display as “Offline” in the Storage Page then the procedure is considered complete. (B) If the old drive DOES display as “Offline” then continue below.
Run exacqVision Client and check the Storage configuration. You should see the new drive in the list of attached storage devices. The replaced drive displays as “Offline” which requires editing the <sysmgmtpi.xml> file located in the path: /usr/local/exacq/server to remove the corresponding entries. Click on the “Offline” disk and note the model number and serial number for this purpose. Close the exacqVision Client.
Open a Terminal session. Type the command sudo service edvrserver stop and press the enter key to stop the server service.
Type the command cd /usr/local/exacq/server/ and press the enter key.
Type the command sudo cp -via sysmgmtpi.xml sysmgmtpi.bak and press the enter key to back-up the original file.
Type the command sudo gedit sysmgmtpi.xml and press the enter key. Scroll down and remove the lines (between and including the xml tags < Disk Name = > and < / Disk >) for the corresponding “Offline” hard disk drive model number and serial number noted previously with exacqVision Client. It should lack any < Attribute > tags.
The section to be removed in our example: < Disk Name = “WD-WCC4M4VYN3E5” Model=”WDC WD20PURZ-85GU6Y0″ SerialNumber=”WD-WCC4M4VYN3E5″ FirmwareVersion=”” DriverVersion=”” Capacity=”-1″ SmartAvailable=”-1″ SmartEnabled=”-1″ ControllerName=”” UnitName=”” OtherName=”” Speed=”-1″ LinkSpeed=”-1.000000″ Hotspare=”0″ CanConfigureHotSpare=”0″ Attached=”0″ NonRaidPort=”2″ SupportsPrep=”0″> < Thresholds > < Threshold Id = “194” Min=”5″ Max=”55″ /> < /Thresholds > < /Disk >
“Save” the changes and “Close” the gedit window.
Type the command sudo service edvrserver start and press the enter key to start the server service.
Close the Terminal window.
Run exacqVision Client and check the Storage configuration is free of the “Offline” hard disk drive entry.
•This procedure applies to replacing the first non-RAID storage drive (mechanical SATA hard disk drive) on an Ubuntu Linux-based exacqVision server. If the operating system ROOT partition is 20GB or larger, the replacement storage drive will only need to have the first “storage” partition created on it. •These instructions assume that the Linux operating system is installed to an on-board solid-state drive (SSD) and can be successfully logged into with an administrator account. •This procedure is not intended for simply adding a new storage drive to a fully functional system.
Product
exacqVision Ubuntu Linux non-RAID Servers
Solution:
A. Verifying the size of the Root partition is 20 GB or larger
The root partition size will need to be verified to complete the replacement task properly. Open Terminal and specify the command: df -h
In this example, the root directory “/” is located on the “/dev/sda3” partition which has a size of “55 GB.” If the root partition is 20 GB or larger, continue with this document. If, however, the root partition is 8 GB or smaller, please obtain Support Portal Knowledge Base Number 10050 – “Replacing the First Storage Drive using GParted on a Non-RAID exacqVision Ubuntu Linux Server having an 8 GB or smaller ROOT partition“.
B. Temporarily Disabling the Original Drive Mount Point Listed in the fstab File
Type the command sudo gedit /etc/fstab in Terminal and press the enter key to edit the file.
# /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use ‘blkid’ to print the universally unique identifier for a # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5). # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> # / was on /dev/sda3 during installation UUID=36a8d968-7e63-4859-a91b-0fdfcc319d3a / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1 # /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during installation UUID=DDF2-8CC6 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1 # /home was on /dev/sda2 during installation UUID=bc7b3ed7-7dfd-4530-972a-9c3269ea624b /home ext4 defaults 0 2 # /mnt/export was on /dev/sda4 during installation UUID=e4638d65-fbe8-407c-a9e8-6c3da0bed19c /mnt/export ext4 defaults 0 2 /swapfile none swap sw 0 0 LABEL=/mnt/edvr/1 /mnt/edvr/1 ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
2. Locate and add a “# ” remark character and a space to the beginning of the line for “/mnt/edvr/1”. Save the file and closed the text editor.
3. Type the command sudo reboot in Terminal to restart the exacqVision Server. If prompted for a password, use the admin account password (admin256 by default).
C. Partitioning the First Non-RAID Storage Drive using GParted
Open a Terminal session. Type the command sudogparted and press the enter key. If prompted for a password, use the admin account password.
Select the empty hard drive from the drop-down list in the top-right corner. Note that the drive is unallocated, which indicates that you have selected the newly installed hard disk drive. Select Create Partition Table from the Device menu.
In the Create Partition Table dialog, select gpt from the “Select New Partition Table Type” drop-down list. Click Apply
Right-click the unallocated space and select New to open the Create New Partition window. Select the highest available number in the New Size (MiB) box. Make sure Free Space Preceding and Free Space Following are both at the minimum value allowed (zero or 1). Select “ext4” in the File System drop-down list. In the Label field, type “/mnt/edvr/1”. Click the “Add” button. Click the green checkmark icon near the top of the screen.
Click on “Apply” and wait for the operations to complete. Click on the Close button. Close Gparted.
Type the command sudo gedit /etc/fstab in Terminal and press the enter key to edit the file.
Type the command sudo reboot in Terminal to restart the exacqVision Server. If prompted for a password, use the admin account password (admin256 by default).
D. The replaced drive may display as “Offline” in the Storage Page
(A) If the old drive DOES NOT display as “Offline” in the Storage Page then the procedure is considered complete. (B) If the old drive DOES display as “Offline” then continue below.
Run exacqVision Client and check the Storage configuration. You should see the new drive in the list of attached storage devices. The replaced drive displays as “Offline” which requires editing the < sysmgmtpi.xml > file located in the path: /usr/local/exacq/server to remove the corresponding entries. Click on the “Offline” disk and note the model number and serial number for this purpose. Close the exacqVision Client.
Open a Terminal session. Type the command sudo service edvrserver stop and press the enter key to stop the server service.
Type the command cd /usr/local/exacq/server/ and press the enter key.
Type the command sudo cp -via sysmgmtpi.xml sysmgmtpi.bak and press the enter key to back-up the original file.
Type the command sudo gedit sysmgmtpi.xml and press the enter key. Scroll down and remove the lines (between and including the xml tags < Disk Name = > and < /Disk >) for the corresponding “Offline” hard disk drive model number and serial number noted previously with exacqVision Client. It should lack any < Attribute > tags.
The section to be removed in our example: < Disk Name = “WD-WCC4M4VYN3E5” Model=”WDC WD20PURZ-85GU6Y0″ SerialNumber=”WD-WCC4M4VYN3E5″ FirmwareVersion=”” DriverVersion=”” Capacity=”-1″ SmartAvailable=”-1″ SmartEnabled=”-1″ ControllerName=”” UnitName=”” OtherName=”” Speed=”-1″ LinkSpeed=”-1.000000″ Hotspare=”0″ CanConfigureHotSpare=”0″ Attached=”0″ NonRaidPort=”2″ SupportsPrep=”0″> < Thresholds > < Threshold Id = “194” Min=”5″ Max=”55″ /> < /Thresholds > < /Disk >
“Save” the changes and “Close” the gedit window.
Type the command sudo service edvrserver start and press the enter key to start the server service.
Close the Terminal window.
Run exacqVision Client and check the Storage configuration is free of the “Offline” hard disk drive entry.
When experiencing Errors partitioning additional storage after a RAID array has been expanded or partition issues with either Archiving or Extended storage drives on an S-Series Server. Check the partitions for errors using parted.
Product
exacqVision Server
Linux
Steps to Reproduce
Open Terminal from the machine hosting the storage drives.
Run the parted command to list the partition layout on all block devices.
parted command example
Expected Results
The results return the partition layout on all block devices with no Errors
Actual Results
The command returns an Error
The language may vary but the GPT table is always indicated.
Error: The backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk
Error: The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.
In this example the GPT Table error is referring to the partition listed immediately after you are required to type OK to continue, in this case /dev/sdb.
Solution
From Terminal run the gdisk command on the partition with the GPT Table Error
You will be prompted with the following, the responses are in bold
Command (? for help): x
Expert command (? for help): e
Expert command (? for help): w
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y
Once the command completes, reboot the system.
Run parted -l again (see above) to ensure there are no more GPT Table Errors.
For customers that would like to migrate from their current operating system to Windows 10, we offer a purchasable upgrade kit. However you should first determine if the system is compatible / eligible for the upgrade.
Product
exacqVision Server
Ubuntu
Windows 7
Windows Embedded 7 (WES7)
Solution
Not every NVR can be upgraded to Windows 10, but it’s easy to check if an NVR will support Windows 10. Just enter the systems serial number on our compatibility webpage to confirm if the NVR can be upgraded.
SSH is installed on ExacqVision Servers at the time of manufacture; however, for security purposes, SSH is disabled. To enable remote administration of your ExacqVision system via SSH, it must first enabled.
Product
Linux (Ubuntu)
Solution
Using Exacq Linux Utilities
On the desktop of the NVR, launch Exacq Linux Utilities
Click System
Click SSH, the current SSH Access Status will be displayed
Click Open SSH to enable or Click Close SSH to disable
