Axis Camera Station, User Manual

Page 1: ...AXIS Camera Station User s Manual 1 AXIS Camera Station User s Manual ...

Page 2: ... makes no warranty of any kind with regard to the material contained within this document including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose Axis Communications AB shall not be liable nor responsible for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing performance or use of this material Trademark Acknowledgments Interne...

Page 3: ...32 Views 37 General 38 External I Os 40 Alarm notification 49 Users 50 Camera Sequence 52 Performance 54 License 55 AXIS Camera Station Client 58 AXIS Camera Station Client Administration 63 AXIS Camera Station Web 64 Enable Client Web Access 65 Access the AXIS Camera Station Web from a client PC 66 AXIS Camera Station Web Control Buttons 66 Network Configuration 68 NTFS Filesystem 68 Windows Secu...

Page 4: ...r Intel Pentium 4 with 1 GHz processor 2 GHz or higher recommended 512 MB RAM Hard disk 1 GB for installation and 2 GB or higher per camera as image database NTFS file system CD drive XGA 1024 x 768 or higher resolution monitor Graphic card with 32 MB or more memory Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device 100 Mbit Ethernet Microsoft Windows XP Professional Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000...

Page 5: ... recommended OS for optimal performance For optimal network performance 100 Mbit switches should be used Hubs can be used for installation using less than 6 8 cameras There are no known limitations on networks when switches are used If this software is installed in an existing network with high traffic consider using a dedicated switch and add a second network adapter to the PC As preventative mai...

Page 6: ... servers You may be prompted to install NET Framework 1 1 Simply follow the installation Wizard s instructions and click your way through You may be prompted and then automatically redirected to http windowsupdate microsoft com to locate and install these missing Windows components Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 located here http www microsoft com windows2000 downloads servicepacks Windows Internet E...

Page 7: ...ill find your License Key on the inside of the AXIS Camera Station CD casing to the left Click Activate 3 Your license information will be sent to Axis Communications and your software will be automatically activated 4 You can now start using AXIS Camera Station The License Key can only be used to install the software on a single com puter The License Key is your proof of purchase keep it in a saf...

Page 8: ...k Activate Grace Period 3 You will see your Server ID a code containing information about your PC Make a note of it 4 You can now use AXIS Camera Station for 5 days 5 To receive the Access Code go to http www axis com techsup acs fill in the requested information and click Submit 6 When you have received the Access Code to unlock the program select Yes when starting up AXIS Camera Station 7 Enter ...

Page 9: ...nfigure AXIS Camera Station for first use After installing the software it must be configured for your cameras and video servers All configuration is done from the software s Administration pages From AXIS Camera Station AXIS Camera Station can also be installed as a 30 day demo version which works with 4 cameras 1 Click File Administration ...

Page 10: ... checked 4 Name the camera or video server 5 Click to obtain the correct camera or video server 7 For video servers type 6 Enter camera s Local IP address address WAN LAN and Internet 8 Enter a user name and password default user root default password pass 9 Check connection to camera by clicking Link to camera or host names specify video port number in Camera port number field to configure 10 Sel...

Page 11: ...the connected cameras and stores them on the hard disk From the AXIS Camera Station you can start or stop the background service click File Administration Start Server or Stop Server A flashing green indicator in the upper right corner of the window shows that the service is running whereas a flashing red indicator means the service is stopped The task bar icon also shows the status of the service...

Page 12: ...he Administration pages it is possible to set up the system so that it always starts in this mode see Default View on page 37 Select Camera Select a camera to be shown in a new window Select this if you want to close the view windows and thus save on processor power but still want a single camera view visible on your desktop Monitoring I O When clicking this button the I O Status of all units are ...

Page 13: ... to view from the drop down list The pre configured switching interval can be overridden by clicking the next button or by changing the switching interval in the drop down list See Camera Sequence on page 52 for configuration Click for detailed camera view Red connection normal I O is active recording in progress if I O is set to Start Stop recording Green connection normal I O is in normal state ...

Page 14: ...ile etc The Advanced Search function is used to search for events within a specific time interval that can span several days and or to search for movement in specific areas of the camera view See Recordings on page 25 for configuration instructions Click Recorded Events for views to appear Save recorded image to disk Print image Save recorded images as AVI file E mail a recorded image To enlarge t...

Page 15: ...ail a recorded event etc See Recordings on page 25 for configuration instructions Event Log The event log shows all the events in the server Click on an item in the list to open the event Click Advanced Search to search for a specific time interval or for recordings where movement has been detected in certain areas of the camera view See External I Os on page 40 for configuration instructions Clic...

Page 16: ...ing red indicator means the service has stopped View Menu Select the desired view from this menu or by using the buttons to the right in the window Buttons for the camera view are at the top and buttons for viewing the I O status and camera sequences are further down Monitor Menu Select a number of cameras from this menu to open a new window occupying the entire screen and shows live images from t...

Page 17: ...k on the images to steer the camera You can select a preset position from the Preset Position drop down menu as defined in the PTZ camera Audio controls If the camera has audio capability the controls are shown here Image Enhancer controls These controls are only visible when you have purchased an AXIS Image Enhancer license and enabled the feature for this camera Image Enhancer controls Move the ...

Page 18: ...inistration section of AXIS Camera Station Click File Administration to access the different tabs The different tabs are described in detail here Cameras on page 19 Recordings on page 25 Schedules on page 32 Views on page 37 General on page 38 External I Os on page 40 Alarm notification on page 49 Users on page 50 Camera Sequence on page 52 Performance on page 54 License on page 55 File Administra...

Page 19: ...s video server you must also specify the video port number in the Camera Port Number drop down list 7 If the camera is password protected enter the User and Password 8 Click Link to Camera to verify that you can access the camera 9 Click OK to save and exit It is very important that you check the Camera enabled checkbox If this checkbox is not checked when registering a camera recordings and live ...

Page 20: ...cameras and video servers in your network To detect and add remove new cameras click this button to open the Camera Explorer a tool that scans a user defined range of IP addresses and displays any Axis camera or video server found on the network Detect add or remove cameras in the Camera Explorer Enable camera Check to enable image capture from the camera If this checkbox is not checked when regis...

Page 21: ... as your LAN IP address depending on your network Firewall NAT The WAN must be specified if a client or web interface client is run from another network than AXIS Camera Station If no WAN address is available enter the LAN address If you have changed the default port settings in the camera they must be changed here accordingly You can specify a port number other than the default port by adding por...

Page 22: ...Enable Image Enhancer and click Test Image to see the changes and try out various different settings using the slider FTP AXIS Camera Station usually gets images from the camera via HTTP but it is also possible to record images via FTP whereby the camera first pushes the images to an FTP server and ACS retrieves the images from the FTP server This may be done to save on network bandwidth Note The ...

Page 23: ...2 Open the AXIS Camera Station Administration pages Select a camera from the drop down list 3 Click Camera enabled checkbox 4 Click the Get recorded images from FTP server checkbox 5 From Directory browse to the FTP directory where the images will be stored 6 Under the Recordings tab select Record on I O alarms An FTP directory must first be created within your Windows network either on the same s...

Page 24: ...ill be uploaded This could be from another server within your Windows network or a local drive on the PC where AXIS Camera Station is installed Link to Camera button Click here to open the camera s embedded web pages from where you can configure all camera settings Test Image button Click here to check that AXIS Camera Station is retrieving images from the camera If no images are displayed check t...

Page 25: ...op down list it must be registered under the Cameras tab see Cameras on page 19 for instructions The maximum number of available cameras is determined by your license Recording Method Continuous recording Check this if you want the server to continuously save images This option uses more disk space than recording upon motion detection or upon an external alarm Record every seconds Set the recordin...

Page 26: ...ilt in motion detection to trigger recordings in AXIS Camera Station Alarm priority Check a priority level for the recording Medium is checked by default Low No email notification is sent upon an alarm Medium An email is sent upon an alarm to the recipient s defined under Alarm notification on page 49 High An email is sent upon an alarm to the recipient s defined under Alarm notification on page 4...

Page 27: ... drag to delete areas The grid may be shown in different colors but this is simply to increase visibility Click OK when done 5 Differentmotiondetectionsettingscanbeusedforwhenitisbright day and dark night Tochangethedefault night settings waituntilitisdarkwhere the camera is located and select the Night option Move the Night threshold slider so that it is slightly to the left of the Darkness level...

Page 28: ...r multiple cameras in which case sub directories are created in the specified directory External storage devices can be used if they are shared and available as shared disks in Windows The AXIS Camera Station service user must be changed as AXIS Camera Station uses a default Local user who usually does not have access to external storage devices 1 Go to AXIS Camera Station s Service Properties dia...

Page 29: ...saved in this buffer Post event recording buffer seconds Specify how many seconds of images to record after motion detection or the alarm has ended Maximum event time minutes The maximum recording period in minutes The input output definitions specified under the External I Os tab are affected by this parameter See Input Output on page 42 for information on configuring inputs and outputs If the ma...

Page 30: ...e the event triggers and recording is started This can help reduce unnecessary triggering for slight changes Target recording frame rate fps This specifies the desired recording frame rate The actual frame rate depends on the type of camera network conditions and your PC configuration If you are running on a powerful server and using only a few cameras the frame rate can be set high Event time 5 m...

Page 31: ...ese settings allow you to start an I O when motion is detected and or to only record if a specified I O is first in a particular state open or closed Check the required box es select the I O from the drop down list and finally select the state the I O should be in for the condition to be met ...

Page 32: ...st For a camera to appear in the list it must be registered under the Cameras tab see Cameras on page 19 for instructions The number of cameras available is specified by your license Days From the drop down list select the day of the week for which you want to set up a schedule The smallest unit in the schedule bar is 15 minutes Left click and drag to define an interval Right click and drag to era...

Page 33: ...recording checkbox and click Apply 3 Under Schedules the Continuous recording indicator bar will be completely filled in with red Right click and drag on the indicator bar if you wish to modify the interval 4 Click Apply to save the new settings Alarm Motion recording Schedule the intervals during which recordings can be triggered by alarms or motion detection In order to define a recording schedu...

Page 34: ...teand then click Use this specific date orUse this date every year The specified date will appear in the drop down list 4 Next specify Continuous recording Alarm Motion recording or Alarm notification or click Copy from template to use a pre defined template 5 Click Apply to save your settings Template If you want to create a template to use for several dates e g holidays proceed with these steps ...

Page 35: ...Copy from template Click Copy from template and select a pre defined template from the drop down list to apply to a camera and day Copy schedule to other days If you want to use the same setting for several days e g holidays you can copy a schedule from one day to another 1 Set up the first camera schedule 2 Click Copy schedule to other days 3 In the Select pop up window check the days you want to...

Page 36: ...n copy a schedule from one camera to another 1 Set up the first camera schedule and then click Copy Schedule to other cameras 2 Check the appropriate check box es in the Select pop up window For a camera to appear as an option it must be registered under the Cameras tab see Cameras on page 19 for instructions 3 Click OK The schedule is now copied to the select camera s ...

Page 37: ...eras select the camera to display in this position Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all cameras 4 The quality of the video feed can be improved by increasing the Framerate and lowering the compression value in Image Quality Compression Default View Specify the default view 0 4 6 9 10 13 or 16 to display when AXIS Camera Station is started If this is set to 0 no live images are shown The controls for event...

Page 38: ...the Internet specify the WAN IP address Otherwise enter the LAN IP address of the PC Enable Web server Enables the AXIS Camera Station Web service and makes it possible to view live images and recorded events from an Intranet or the Internet The installation of the web interface will start when OK is clicked if this option is enabled For information on setting up the web service see AXIS Camera St...

Page 39: ... play on alarms Or click the search button to go Program Files Axis Communications AXIS Camera Station Sound to select a new sound file for your alarms Enable proxy server Check this option if you want to enable the use of a proxy server If you have cameras outside your local network and a proxy server is used for external network access you must enable this setting Get settings from Internet Expl...

Page 40: ...he alarm a descriptive name and click OK 2 Select the required I O from the drop down list I O Name The new alarm created in step 1 is also available here 3 Check the box for Enable external alarm 4 Setthevariousrequiredparameters accordingtothedescriptionsinI Otype specific data on page 42 and I O Definition on page 41 For an AXIS I O this means e g the IP address to the Axis device containing th...

Page 41: ...ording but only acts as an alarm trigger To set up an FTP type I O you must first set up an I O input event as triggered by FTP The FTP I O will sense the folder C TempACS FTPdir AlarmIn This folder must also be set up in MS IIS as an FTP folder A file sent to this folder will trigger the I O if the file has a name that contains the name of the event This file must be sent to C TempACS ftpdir alar...

Page 42: ...s a constant power pulse through the I O An alarm can then be set up to trigger when the power pulse is broken i e when the I O opens Flip Flop Enabling Flip Flop means that for outputs the I O will return to its normal state after a few seconds Example A gate is normally closed NC In this case enabling Flip flop means that if the gate is opened the I O device can be setup to automatically close t...

Page 43: ...d the state it should be in to activate the first I O Select camera button Opens the dialog for selecting the cameras that will start recording on the incoming alarm For a camera to appear in this dialog it must be registered under the Cameras tab see Cameras on page 19 for instructions Note that it is possible to record on any camera in the system and not just on the camera with the I O that trig...

Page 44: ... or video server I O 10 Enter the camera or video server IP address user name and password 8 Enter I O text 6 Select Input 9 Select Normal Open or Normal Closed 7 Select I O to be used on camera or video server 11 Optional enter PTZ 12 Enter names that describe I O status Example Either On or Off is shown in the I O status window The activation of one I O can be dependent the other I O and the sta...

Page 45: ...r 13 Click Select Camera and choose which cameras should start recording when this alarm is triggered The camera must be set to 14 Click OK to save and exit record on I O under Recordings 4 Check Enable External Alarm 1 Click Add Alarm 2 Name the alarm 3 Select the new alarm from the list 5 Choose AXIS to detect changes on an Axis camera or video server I O ...

Page 46: ...losed 7 Select I O to be used on camera or video server 11 Optional enter PTZ camera preset position 12 Enter names that describe I O status Example Either On or Off is shown in I O status window 13 Specify push button text to appear in I O Definitions The activation of one I O can be dependent the other I O and the state it should be in on another I O Check to enable and specify to activate the f...

Page 47: ...o that it contains the name of the I O Example If the I O is named FrontDoor the file from the camera should be named e g FrontDoor jpg or FrontDoor00045 jpg so that it is properly recognized by AXIS Camera Station 14 Click Select Camera and select which cameras should start recording when this alarm is triggered The camera must be set 15 Click OK to save and exit to record on I O under Recordings...

Page 48: ...t as being dependent on another I O Check to enable and specify the other I O and the state it should be in to activate thefirst I O PTZ camera preset position 9 Click Select Camera and choose which cameras should start recording when this alarm is triggered The camera must be set 10 Click OK to save and exit to record on I O under Recordings ...

Page 49: ... com 26 Mail from Enter the email address that will appear as the sender of the alarm notification Mail subject Enter the title or subject of the email Send mail to address Enter up to three email address to notify upon alarms Time between mails This is the time between the alarm notification mails sent from the same camera alarms and can be used to prevent mail flooding if there is a lot of activ...

Page 50: ...tions i e the different tabs available when you click File Administration are password protected You can specify the cameras available to each user and their access rights When password protection is enabled you i e the user currently logged on will always be given administrator rights with access to all cameras Granting a Local User Camera Access 1 Select the Enable password protection and Use lo...

Page 51: ...ure more users or click OK to save and exit Granting a Domain User Camera Access 1 Select the Enable password protection and Use Domain user database check boxes 2 Enter the name of the domain and click Refresh to update the list 3 Select a user from the drop down list and then check the cameras that this user will be allowed to access 4 Choose if the user will have User or Administrator rights 5 ...

Page 52: ... Add Camera button To add a camera to the camera sequence click the Add Camera button and select a camera See page 53 Remove Camera button To remove a camera from the sequence click this button and select the camera to remove Add Sequence button To add a new sequence press the button and enter a name for it See page 53 Remove Sequence To remove a sequence press the button and select the sequence t...

Page 53: ...1 Click Add Sequence to add a new sequence session 2 Highlight the sequence and click Add Camera Select cameras from the list 3 The cameras will be added to the session Add text as it will appear on the screen and the interval at which the different cameras will be shown in seconds 4 Click OK to save and exit ...

Page 54: ...AXIS Camera Station Caution should be exercised when adjusting these settings as incorrect configuration may adversely affect overall performance Minimum available hard disk space This ensures that there is always a minimum of hard disk space available to ensure that Windows performs correctly The recommended setting is 10 15 of the total hard disk space ...

Page 55: ...ra license Contact your local Axis reseller for details Software upgrade license You can upgrade AXIS Camera Station for a limited time from www axis com and then extend the license Contact your local Axis reseller for details The time period remaining for your license is displayed in the software interface There are two ways to register new licenses Automatic update through the software requires ...

Page 56: ...information will be sent to Axis Communications and your license is automatically activated Registering a new license from www axis com techsup acs If you do not have Internet access available from the computer where AXIS Camera Station is installed you can activate your license by contacting Axis Communications 1 From any computer with Internet access go to http www axis com techsup acs 2 Fill in...

Page 57: ...istration AXIS Camera Station User s Manual 57 3 Select the Activate a registered license check box 4 Enter your License Key and Access Code 5 Click Register 6 The license is now activated Entered characters are case sensitive ...

Page 58: ...t software 1 From the client workstation insert the CD and select Software then AXIS Camera Station Client 2 Click Open to launch the installation AXIS Camera Station uses port 11007 to communicate with the client On the server dedicated PC where AXIS Camera Station is installed make sure that port 11007 is open and available for the clients in your network and in your firewall A maximum of 10 AXI...

Page 59: ...on to a domain and want to use the domain user information to authenticate the client 8 Click OK and start AXIS Camera Station Client You may be prompted and then automatically redirected to http windowsupdate microsoft com to locate and install these missing Windows components Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 located here http www microsoft com windows2000 downloads servicepacks Windows Internet Explo...

Page 60: ...vice on server is not running Green light background service on server is running Click to expand View Selection From these push buttons or from the View menu you can select your preferred camera views No Live Images Click the No Live Images button to close the camera windows Showing live images in the main window uses a lot of processor power Not displaying live images reduces the amount of proce...

Page 61: ...ence to view from the drop down list The preconfigured switching interval can be overridden by clicking the next button or by changing the switching interval in the drop down list Recorded Events Here you can search through recorded events Select a date a time and press the search button and you will get an overview of all the recorded events Select one of the events and you will see the actual im...

Page 62: ...lect the cameras that you want a window showing the camera image to open when an alarm is triggered or motion is detected This functionality is only active when Pop up on motion alarm is enabled View Menu Select the desired view from this menu or by using the buttons to the right in the window Buttons for the camera view are at the top and buttons for viewing the I O status and camera sequences ar...

Page 63: ... Administration Important Client users can be granted access to the AXIS Camera Station Client administration pages which contain the exact same parameters and settings as the AXIS Camera Station See AXIS Camera Station Administration on page 18 for details For clients who don t have rights to use the Administration pages the Administration option in the File menu will be dimmed Pan tilt zoom cont...

Page 64: ...ss under General Server IP address For internal web access from a LAN enter the LAN IP address of the dedicated PC under General Server IP address In Windows XP Professional a maximum of five users can access to the web interface simultaneously This limitation is not present in other operating systems Both AXIS Camera Station and AXIS ThinWizard software use port 80 as default You must change the ...

Page 65: ...8 Note that you cannot use an address to a script 5 Enter the user and password as defined for your proxy server and then OK The installation of the web interface will start To be able to log into AXIS Camera Station from a web browser the user must be created in the Windows user database See Granting a Domain User Camera Access on page 51 If you don t have Internet Information Server IIS 5 0 or l...

Page 66: ...ing the control buttons Camera selection A list of cameras is displayed for the user showing cameras according to his her user rights Open in new window Click this button to open a small window showing a live image from the selected camera If the camera has PTZ Pan Tilt Zoom or audio enabled the controls are shown here Open in main window Click this button to see live images from the selected came...

Page 67: ...amera to AXIS Camera Station Initially the logged events from the selected camera are shown Press Show all cameras to see the log of the entire camera group If you click on one of the logged events you will be guided to the recorded images showing an overview of all events at the selected date time Find recorded events From this page you can search through the recorded events Select date and time ...

Page 68: ...st be activated This is done from the computer administration If your hard disk is formatted as FAT32 you can convert it to NTFS Simply open a command prompt and type convert C FS NTFS V to convert your C drive Windows Security The AXIS Camera Station has a Windows integrated security system If you want to enable the secure login facilities you must authorize the administrative users in Windows 1 ...

Page 69: ...d from the client web browser The user must also be imported to the AXIS Camera Station This is done in AXIS Camera Station Administration If no user login is required please just check Anonymous Access and the website will be accessible without user login 4 In AXIS Camera Station Administration General you have to check Enable password protection to enable the security check and camera access che...

Page 70: ...ng to Classic user acts as itself Multi user login If you want multiple users to have access to login on the AXIS Camera Station PC and differentiate the camera access please make the following steps 1 Make sure that Simple File sharing mode is disabled You can disable simple file sharing like this a Click Start My computer b Choose Tools Folder options View tab Advanced settings c Clear the Use s...

Page 71: ... Camera Station Web and the background service To remove AXIS Camera Station Web 1 Open Add Remove Programs in the Control Panel 2 Select AXIS Camera Station Web and click Remove 3 Click Yes when asked if you want to remove AXIS Camera Station Web This will remove AXIS Camera Station Web Some files may need to be removed manually from these locations C Program Files Axis Communications AXIS Camera...

Page 72: ... The background service is started File Administration Start Server You have enough disk space available minimum 2 Gb per camera Monitor s window freezes When a monitor is selected from the Main window it freezes after a few minutes This happens on some Windows 2000 installations but has so far not been seen in Windows XP There is currently no solution it only happens on certain camera types Hard ...

Page 73: ...Running a backup on another PC on the network if you are logged in as a User If you are logged in as a User on the network you may experience problems when trying to run a backup on another PC on your network This can be solved as follows To run a backup on another PC the PC must first be shared so that other user s have write rights You must then modify the users registered in AXIS Camera Station...

Page 74: ...y Detect Cameras 20 AXIS Camera Station Control Buttons 11 AXIS Image Enhancer 22 55 B Background service 11 Backup 29 Backup old recordings to external storage 28 Bandwidth Required 12 bandwidth required 60 Buffer 29 C Camera enabled checkbox 19 Camera Explorer 20 Camera Explorer button 20 Camera FTP configuration 23 Camera IP Address LAN 21 Camera IP address LAN field 19 Camera IP Address WAN 21...

Page 75: ... User 21 Delete Alarm button 43 Detected movement 15 Domain controller 72 E Enable Audio 22 Enable camera 20 Enable Client Web Access 65 Enable Image Enhancer 22 Enable proxy server 39 Enable sound on alarm 42 Enable Streaming 21 Enhancement Level 22 Event Log 15 61 Event Log search 67 Expanded and contracted views 11 expanded and contracted views 11 External Alarms and I Os 40 External storage 29...

Page 76: ...t 42 Internet Information Serve 65 K Known problems 71 L LAN IP address 19 Link 37 Link to Camera 19 Live Audio 22 Low 26 M Mail From 49 Maintenance 5 Maximum event time minutes 29 maximum recording period 29 Medium 26 Minimum hardware requirements AXIS Camera Station Client 58 Monitor s window freezes 72 Motion Stops 26 Multi user login 70 N Naming FTP files 41 47 Network Bandwidth 22 Network Con...

Page 77: ...mance 54 Preset Position 17 preset position 17 63 Proxy server 39 PTZ position 42 Q Quick Add Alarm 41 R RAID 5 Recommendations 5 Recording background service 11 Register 7 55 Registering with direct Internet connection 7 Registering without direct Internet connection 8 root 19 21 S Save recordings for 28 Save recordings for days 28 Save Recordings to 28 Schedule 32 Secure Login 69 Select Camera 1...

Page 78: ...FF 43 Text for Alarm ON 43 Time period for license 55 U Uninstall 71 Upgrade license 55 Upload configuration 62 Upload configuration background service 62 Use camera motion detection 26 User 19 User Password 39 Users 50 V Video port number 21 View Selection 12 W WAN IP address 19 Web Server Set up 68 Web Sharing 64 Windows client setup 69 Windows Security 68 Windows XP 5 windowsupdate 6 ...