Security: Video

Do you want to know more about designing a BVMS system?

Functionality for security operators

 Time is everything: meetings, public transportation, religion, transactions: the whole world is working because the concept of “time” exists. Within a security (or any other) system this is not different: recording schedules, logging, authorizations, encryption keys, timelines, all of these concepts can exist because of time. As a result, time can either make or break a system: problems can appear only due to a time difference of a couple of seconds between two system components. The attached document describes how time services can be configured in a BVMS environment.

The attached document will provide a basic explanation and simple examples of the interfacing (scripting, calling functions by external applications) functionality in Bosch Video Management System. The interfacing functionality is based on Bosch VMS SDKs. The Bosch VMS SDKs contain all interfaces, object types and methods that are needed for automation and integration to and of Bosch VMS.   The document can be found in the attachments section on the bottom of the page or at the right side of the page.  Please look for the attachment icon.

Question How can I protect my security system, from an IT security perspective? Answer The attached document explains how the security system can be hardened. Additionally the BVMS - Network Design Guide includes best practices for desgning a secure network.  

The attached document describes the settings you must perform after having installed BIS and BVMS on the different computers. Ensure that the installations of BIS Server and BVMS Management Server were performed successfully on separate computers. Additionally you must have purchased and activated an OPC Server License for BVMS.   The document can be found in the attachments section on the bottom of the page or the right side of the page.  Please look for the attachment icon.

 BVMS customers can download camera updates free of charge, in order to integrate approved, third-party cameras. BVMS scans for third-party cameras, automatically configuring motion and other key events; it also enables installers to configure the most important settings for third-party cameras from a single user interface, without the hassle of having to access the websites of other camera manufacturers. The attached files include a list of compatible cameras and the ONVIF mapping files for each specific BVMS version.

Are you writing the specification of a video surveillance system?

 The attached documents show the different design options that are available when designing a BVMS system.

The attached document describes how the GDPR impacts video surveillance systems and how BVMS can be configured to function in a GDPR compliant organization.

The attached documents should help you to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible. The upgrade itself is not restricted to BVMS software only. The supported software and firmware versions can be found in the release notes of the related BVMS version. An attachment is added to this article for each BVMS version. Currently the upgrade guides for BVMS 8.0 and 9.0 are attached to this article. From BVMS 10.0 onwards a description on how to migrate systems has been included as well.

Learn more about virtualization!

The attached document describes the installation package for BVMS. Operating system support of the specific BVMS version is listed in the BVMS release notes.  

Which Bosch encoders and decoders are compatible with BVMS? Up until some years ago, new released cameras, encoders, domes and decoders that are introduced into market after a BVMS release could not be connected to an existing BVMS version because these cameras where not known to the BVMS. In the BVMS 4.5.1, a new concept was introduced. This concept treats Bosch video encoders and decoders as generic devices, and automatically recognizes specific device functionality (for example the number of streams, relays and inputs). Based on this information the, at that time, unknown device is added to the system and can be used by the operator. The attached document provides a detailed description of this functionality.

Question Can I move the BVMS Logbook database to a separate Microsoft SQL Server to ease maintenance or increase the size of the Logbook? Answer The BVMS Logbook database can be moved to another SQL Server. The attched guide describes the steps that are necessary to migrate the database and describes how to confirm if the migration was successful.

Question What is the decoding performance of BVMS? How many cameras can I open on the screen before the systems is overloaded (and frames are being dropped)? Answer The BVMS client performance overview is attached to this article and shows, based on several workstation configurations and a specific BVMS version, how many cameras can be opened before the workstation is overloaded.

The attached manual provides  information for Mobile Video Service (MVS) within Bosch Video Management System. You can find:  -  how to configure the router and Internet Information Service (IIS) - how to add MVS to BVMS - user guide - some troubleshooting tips

Related Products: BVMS / MVS / VSDK Overview: On request from development to provide a dump file from MVS system please follow the steps in the solution section. Solution: Reproduce the issue Download the Microsoft debugger procdump (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/dd996900.aspx). The procdump tool is also attaced to the article https://community.boschsecurity.com/t5/Security-Video/How-To-create-BVMS-memory-dump/ta-p/7326?advanced=false&collapse_discussion=true&filter=includeTkbs,location&include_tkbs=true&location=tkb-board:bt_community-tkb-video&q=dump&search_type=thread  When application is crashing, do not click any buttons on the appeared error window that will change the program state. Run the procdump.exe from the directory where you copied the tool with following command line (Start - cmd): procdump.exe –ma <name of the programm exe> <dump file name>.dmp In the case of MVS you need to do that for all 4 MVS services: - Bosch.MVS.SourceProvider.BVMS.Service.exe - Bosch.MVS.DataStorage.Service.exe - Bosch.MVS.SourceProvider.MobileCamera.Service.exe - Bosch.MVS.Transcoder.Service.exe

Related Products: BVMS, application crash, memory dump This article lists the scenarios in which technical support normally request dump file from a BVMS system. It contains general guidelines how to create a dump file for BVMS system and provides links to more concrete articles, that correspond to particular issues and exact steps to create a dump. BVMS dumps are needed to troubleshoot the following types of issues: Application crashes – dump is expected to provide more information about the cause of the crash and its origin. Memory or handle leaks – dump is expected to point to their origins Deadlocks, freezes and hangs – dump is expected to point to their origins Recommended tool to create BVMS dumps. The recommended tool is Procdump. It is a command line tool which must be started from the command shell. Development provides couple of .bat files that start Procdump with predefined parameters and cover the most common dump creation cases. The tool as well as the set of .bat files are attached to this article: BVMS_DumpTools_V2.zip The batch file names follow a naming guideline: <Executable>_<Dump use case> , where <Executable> is one of: ConfigClient ConfigWizard OperatorClient ManagementServer ArchivePlayer ExceptionTest and <Dump use case> is one of SingleDump TwoDumps DumpOnException ActivatePostmortemDebugging There are 3 possible error scenarios and corresponding dump creation methods: Dump creation for reproducible crashes that trigger Windows Error Reporting Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client or Management Server Service) Reproduce the steps that lead to the crash Leave the Windows crash dialog open Run the corresponding batch file for creating a single dump: *_SingleDump.bat. E.g. run OperatorClient_SingleDump.bat to create a single dump of the Operator Client process. Provide support with the resulting .dmp file a description of the steps to reproduce the problem ConfigCollection Note: attached you can find a configured example for this scenario and application Operator Client - BVMS_OC_dump_onException.zip Dump creation for reproducible memory or handle leaks Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client or Management Server Service) Run the corresponding batch file for creating two dumps: *_TwoDumps.bat. E.g. run OperatorClient_TwoDumps.bat to create two dumps of the Operator Client process. Note that by default, the delay between the two dumps is set to one hour (3600 seconds). Depending on the magnitude of the memory leak, you might want to increase/decrease the delay. To do that, edit file *_TwoDumps.bat: replace value "3600" by a value that fits your needs e.g. a value of "7200" will create two dumps with a delay of two hours. Reproduce the steps that lead to the memory leak. Wait until the second dump was created. Provide support with the resulting two .dmp files a description of the steps to reproduce the memory leak a ConfigCollection Dump creation for crashes/hangs/freezes that are hard to reproduce Deactivate the restarting option for Operator Client / Configuration Client: To deactivate the restarting option for Operator Client / Configuration Client: edit ..\Bosch\VMS\bin\ConfigClient.exe.config or ..\Bosch\VMS\bin\OperatorClient.exe.config. Navigate to section <appSettings> add a new entry <add key = "DisableExceptionHandling" value="TRUE" />. Run ActivatePostmortemDebugging.bat Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client or Management Server Service) As soon as the issue appears, check whether the dump was created. Provide support with the resulting .dmp file description of the steps to reproduce the crash ConfigCollection Note: attached you can find a configured example for this scenario and application Operator Client - BVMS_OC_dump_Just-In-Time-Debuger.zip

Related Products: BVMS SDK, BVMS    Overview: Analyzing BVMS systems with SDK components is a challenging task, because the functionality and the runtime behavior of those systems are harder to determine than for a BVMS systems without SDK functionality. In order to troubleshoot BVMS systems with SDK components support needs the following information and logging.   Please prove the following information to support. 1. Detailed description of the expected behavior of the SDK functionality. 2. Detailed description of the actual behavior of the SDK functionality. 3.SDK Components What type is the standalone SDK application (based on ClientSDK, ServerSDK, or CameoSDK) and on which machine is it running? Are there additionally client scripts, server scripts or workstation startup scripts? 4.SDK Interactions Do SDK components interact with remote Operator Clients? Do SDK components interact with the Operator Client UI? Do SDK components control devices? How often are client scripts triggered? How often are scripts triggered by BVMS event? 5.Environment Which shared resources are accessed by SDK actions? (Dome cameras, AMG, Operator Client UI) Do SDK components interact with an unreliable environment? (Unstable network, offline devices, offline PCs, etc.) Do SDK components properly handle offline situations? (offline devices, configuration changes, etc.)    Please provide the Scriplet and/or Log files The optimal approach is to provide both the scriplet and logging. ClientScript logfiles: can be found in the ConfigCollection of Operator Client machines. Make sure that logging is implemented in the script and that logging is activated in the configuration. ServerScript logfiles: can be found in the ConfigColletion of Management Server machines. Make sure that logging is implemented in the script and that logging is activated in the configuration.