Newbie help request about server install

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saveconi
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:36 am

Newbie help request about server install

Post by saveconi »

Hi,
I was looking for an help to understand how to setup a multiple site surveillance system.
I have 3 different farms, each with 4 cameras, and one main headquarter that has to display all the cameras from the 4 sites.
I want each site to record locally (on motion detect) and I want headquarter to record all the streams too.
My question:
Each single site has to configured following Server Installation instructions or it could be simple installed as a stand alone site and in a second time connected, with all the other three sites, to the headquarter?


My searched the wiki but it is not very clear -TO ME - about it.

Thanks so much

Sarah Veronica Conilla
rockedge
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Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:46 pm
Location: Connecticut,USA

Re: Newbie help request about server install

Post by rockedge »

Hello Sarah (saveconi),

there are several ways of achieving what you require! some examples

A simple example..... set up each farm with a zoneminder installation and the headquarters also with a ZM setup running.
configure farm 1,2,3 with their cameras and using something like Dynamic DNS service assign each farm's ZM server a separate host name.
Then use the headquarter's ZM server to use the streams provided by the ZM servers on farm 1, 2, 3 that are reachable via the Internet or network

This way you can easily record events on each farm's individual ZM server and simultaneously also record those streams using the headquarter's ZM server.

this may sound somewhat daunting, but will once it is set up it should perform well, and might be easier for you to implement than setting up with the multi server model at first. Once you see how it works you will be able to modify the system to the way you want!

second example:
you could assign each camera if they are network types, a domain name using a Dynamic DNS service and make each individual camera accessible via Internet and use just a headquarter's ZM server to record them....this method seems to be less desirable though.

have you read these docs? https://zoneminder.readthedocs.io/en/st ... erver.html
just to get a feel for that approach.

The best results I personally have had in a similar fashion, are like the first example.

Hope this is helpful!
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snake
Posts: 337
Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 2:20 am

Re: Newbie help request about server install

Post by snake »

saveconi wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 2:11 pm Each single site has to configured following Server Installation instructions or it could be simple installed as a stand alone site and in a second time connected, with all the other three sites, to the headquarter?
As mentioned, there are a few ways to do this, whether you use the :multi-server" mode or not. But I wouldn't bother with that mode. What I would do is simply install ZM on all the servers, using the install guides here: https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Helpful_use ... _Procedure They don't take that long. I prefer the Debian install guides. Right now Buster is a bit spotty, so Stretch is the best supported) and depending on your network setup, you would make sure all cameras are accessible to the main site. You could use a VPN if they are remote, or if they are all on the same property, then just have the LANs connected somehow. It also depends whether you have Static or Dynamic IPs at the sites. You might need dynamic dns.

With multiple servers, you can setup the individual farm servers with large HDDs (say =>4TB) and using 1.32.3 or newer, you can use H264 encode which will get you many weeks, and months of recordings for the cameras (depending on resolution and mode). I would recommend Mocord mode, not modect. On the main server you might use only modect and since you have 16 cameras instead of 4 you will have less history.
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