Linux Mint Zoneminder

[TheKirkwoods]

Hello,

First off, if this topic is in the wrong place, please redirect. I didn't find any other topics which discussed my question.

I currently have Linux Mint 17.3, and Zoneminder 1.26.5. I am trying to control my PTZ camera, but wouldn't you know it, the Control tab is missing from the Monitor Configuration settings. So, I read somewhere that I might want to try getting to the latest version. Well, I made sure that I have the repository set to: ppa:iconnor/zoneminder. I also made sure that I upgraded and restarted Zoneminder. Even after rebooting, nothing.

So, how exactly does one go about getting 1.28 installed on Linux Mint 17.3, which I assume is nearly the same as that of Ubuntu. I just can't find out which repository has the latest version.

Thoughts??

[bbunge]

See the WIKI for instructions to upgrade to 1.30.0.

[TheKirkwoods]

See the WIKI for instructions to upgrade to 1.30.0.

Okay, so I have done as you recommended, and success, but it was not easy. I certainly enjoy learning about Linux as much as I can, and this experience has piqued my interest, not only in learning about security cameras, but also in learning about Apache.

While working through the Wiki Instructions for Zoneminder 1.30.0 I found a few steps that were not quite right, at least for me. Keeping in mind that I am using Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa, with Cinnamon 64-bit, I started at the top (again) and worked my way through and here is what I came up with and how I worked through the problems.

[1] Enabling CGI

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a2enmod cgi

When I ran this, the following resulted:

AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using <my ip address>. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
Module cgi already enabled

So, it sort of sounded good, being as how it said "already enabled". However, on my second run, I paid close attention to this and decided to investigate further. So, I did some google searching, and head scratching. I landed on an article that described two very important things:

• open /etc/apache2/httpd.conf (should likely be blank) and add

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  ServerName localhost
  

  at the top of the file.

• open /etc/apache2/apache2.conf and add

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  Include httpd.conf
  

  to the very end of the file.

Once I did these two things, I was able to go back and do

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a2enmod cgi

and it resulted in

Module cgi already enabled

Being my second time attempting this installation, this seemed reasonable to me, so I moved on.

[2] Opening the Zoneminder console
Everything else went smoothly per the instructions, but when I went to open the zoneminder console, it wouldn't open. I received a 404 message when I put

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localhost/zm

into the web browser (using google chrome). Well, this sent me wandering again.
First thing is...I removed the 'zm' and just typed my local ip address into the browser. Wala...up comes the Apache Server with some stuff about how it's running, and everything is okay...blah blah blah...
I turned my attention once again to google and to the forums when suddenly I came across another article. I can't remember if I did this before or not, but I decided to try it again. So, I did

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sudo mv /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf.backup
sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

I figured that since I was restarting the apache server, it might be a good idea to restart zoneminder too. After all, what could it hurt?!

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sudo service zoneminder restart

Now, when I put

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localhost/zm

into the web browser, the zoneminder console comes right up. Yay!

The purpose of me starting down this journey was almost two-fold. I needed to be able to control my DCS-5222LB camera from zoneminder, but under Zoneminder 1.26.5, the 'Control' options aren't available. So, in a quest to get the 'Control' console back, I upgraded from 1.26.5 to 1.30.0 using the Wiki Instructions for Zoneminder 1.30.0. My settings panel now looks like the attached image (WITH the control tab shown). Keep in mind, I did have to go into the Options, on the System tab, and turn on 'OPT_CONTROL'. In another article that I read, the variable was 'ZM_OPT_CONTROL'. So, I get the feeling that it might be different, but 'CONTROL' is likely going to be a part of the variable name.

When I was able to finally get the zoneminder console to come up, I noticed that all my settings for my camera were maintained, even though I started over on the installation. That's a relief, but now I have 2 new problems.

1) I noticed last time (zoneminder 1.26.5) that I was able to see the video feed, from my DCS-5222LB PTZ camera using RTSP. The settings I have are similar to the zoneminder wiki page, except I have the following:

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** General Tab
Name: <camera name>
Source Type: Ffmpeg
Function: Monitor
Enabled: Checked

** Source Tab
Source Path: rtsp://<username>:<password>@<camera ip address>/live1.sdp
Capture Width (pixles): 640
Capture Height (pixels): 480

I used this setting based on the information I see in the 'Network' page on the camera itself (also attached).

For some reason, the video feed has gone away and now all I see is the image attached. This is my new Problem #1.

2) My next problem is one that I am just now dealing with, although I think I noticed this before with 1.26.5 (or at least once I finally got the zoneminder to show the live video feed). When I go direct to the camera webpage and go to the live video feed, the camera shows an image which is way outdated. Basically, the "video feed" is frozen in time. When I task the camera to move (again, from the camera web page) I can see that the camera is moving, but the image is not updating. If I refresh the page, no change. When I was using Zoneminder 1.26.5, the video feed was correct, with only a .25 to .50 second delay in the feed, and I think at 24 fps.

These last two problems I believe might be relevant to the upgrade, but I'm not entirely certain about that. So, I will follow the intent of the forums and submit another question in the appropriate area, and reference back to this article. For now, I believe this issue that I have raised has been solved. Hopefully someone else finds this information useful.

Also, if anyone happens to have the ability to submit a change to the Wiki Instructions for Zoneminder 1.30.0, please add these findings to that article. I was not able to login in (as I don't have an account), and the site must have been down, so I was not able to register for a new account.

Thanks everyone!

[bbunge]

I have just run an install of ZM 1.26.5 from the WIKI instructions located at:
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... e_easy_way
There was one minor change that did not impact on the installation steps.

I then ran an upgrade using the procedure located at:
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Common_Issu ... PA_version
The upgrade procedures were successful as written.

Keep in mind that for Ubuntu based desktop versions it is highly recommended to install tasksel then use tasksel to install LAMP. Then run the Zoneminder install procedures from a terminal. https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu#Guid ... tu_Desktop

You can ignore the "Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name" message as Apache is simply telling you that you are not using a registered domain name.

I would guess your other issues are a result of you skipping a step somewhere. No, I will not change the WIKI instructions as they have been proven to work time and again,

[TheKirkwoods]

Thank you for your reply. I wasn't necessarily meaning to "change" the wiki instructions. Perhaps I should have been more clear. I believe that when a potential for an error exists, such as the ones I encountered, there lies the opportunity to add notes.

Do this...
Do that...
* if you see foo or bar at this location, try something else, follow these instructions
Do another thing
Do the last thing

I noticed that following the instructions, there were points where my failures may likely be failures of others, and if the troubleshooting notes had been there, I likely would have caught my mistake earlier on.

I'm sorry if this all sounds like I'm nagging, but I'm always looking for ways to improve things. I hope you found my article helpful. Have a wonderful week!