Security: Video

In order to quickly offer a technical solution or to provide a professional advice for the next analysis steps, the technical support specialists need to get some general and basic information. Ticket content should always be in English and provided in a well summarized and structured way in order to be able to provide a quick and appropriate feedback. Not following the guideline will impact the processing time of the ticket. Related Products: BVMS SDK, Cameo SDK, BVMS  Overview: Analyzing BVMS systems interaction with BVMS SDK based application is a challenging task. One needs to determine if the issue is based on wrong implementation of the BVMS SDK functionality, wrong programming practices, functionality and runtime behavior of BVMS system with SDK functionality or BVMS SDK issues. In order to troubleshoot BVMS SDK or Cameo SDK application support needs the following information and logging. Please prove the following information to support:   Symptom specific Information   Problem Description SMA validity How to retrieve the Hardware ID for BVMS and check the Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) status? BVMS stand alone or appliance Detailed description of the expected behavior of the SDK functionality. Detailed description of the actual behavior of the SDK functionality.   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?   SDK Interactions Do SDK components interact with remote Operator Clients? Do SDK components interact with the Operator Client UI? Do SDK components control devices? Do SDK components link to 3rdParty devices or applications?   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.)    Logging Information   Please provide source code and/or Log files The optimal approach is to provide both source code and logging for the problematic BVMS SDK application. If it is not possible to provide the code, we will start the troubleshooting process based only on the logging. Source Code Provide a little sample application that illustrates the BVMS SDK issue and list the reproduction steps. Logfiles Add log outputs to the SDK application functionality. The logs should illustrate which BVMS SDK functionality was called at which time. Provide the logs to support.   List of Typical Mistakes that are often seen when troubleshooting BVMS / Cameo SDK based applications   Use of Thread. Sleep() in event handlers - Consequence: loss of events in customer SDK application. Implementations that are not thread safe - Consequence: unexpected SDK application effects Unintentional introduction of multithreading issues by using timers - Consequence: unexpected SDK application effects Application without "speed control" - Consequence: operator overload in case of high event frequency Lack of configuration change handling - Consequence: data inconsistencies in SDK application (access to no longer existing devices) Lack of traces/logging in SDK code - Consequence: not detected malfunctions and troubleshooting difficulties Lack of error tolerance in SDK code - Consequence: unhandled exceptions in SDK application / script Lack of exception handling - Consequence: SDK application crashes

If cleaning the bubble is required, use the following procedures and comply with all the warnings listed in this article.

In this section you can find details on what information is required during the troubleshooting process to successfully identify a unit in terms of model number, firmware version and unique identifiers. What is also very important always for the troubleshooting is the DIVAR Service log. In addition to that, in some situations network captures from the DIVAR may also be required.  

This recommendation could be applied if the storage is overloaded, as there are several Onvif cameras running through it.

The method from this article shows you how to generate an updated certificate for Bosch IP Camera's and VRM Servers

Find out from this article how to pass a special connection string to request a multicast stream via RTSP from a BOSCH IP camera or IP encoder.

MTU stands for "Maximum Transmission Unit." MSS stands for "Maximum Segment Size"

According to the BVMS 11. Release notes > 2.2. Removed functionality chapter > The digital monitor wall functionality has been removed. This removal has impact on the BVMS Viewer → Decoders are not supported anymore in BVMS Viewer starting with version 11.0 Other devices and functions that have been removed to ensure software security: Map migration (removed Autodesk design review installation) SMS gateway Dibos/ BRS Note: The Monitor Group functionality is still available in BVMS Professional/ Plus/ Lite.

With the DSA E2800 Bosch introduced Multipathing. It is a fault-tolerance technique that defines more than one physical path between the camera and its iSCSI storage devices through redundant network connections. When using this feature, recording of video data and replaying video data is possible even in case of an iSCSI controller failure. To ensure also that outages of infrastructure equipment (e.g. Switch) could be covered, we recommend following Interconnection.  

This article describes the easiest method for adding Expansion shelves to a Base unit DSA E-Series E2600, E2700 or E2800.   This article also applies when: The amount of storage is overloaded and you need additional storage after fully populating the base shelf.   Article requirements: 1. Configuration Manager 2. Configuration Client which is included with BVMS 3. Santricity Software   Step-by-step guide      

The purpose of this article is to provide a step by step guide about how to perform backup and recovery procedures of the VRM data base in the DIVAR IP 2000 EZ Recording Appliance.   Step-by-step guide Backing Up the Working Configuration: 1.To backup the working configuration of a DIVAR IP 2000 Recording Appliance, open the Appliance's "Dashboard": 2. From the Dashboard select the "Configuration" tab in the top right hand portion of your browse:

If you have the option "Extended (security)/configuration mode" active on a VIDEOJET decoder 7000 (VJD-7513) in Configuration Manager, then no video image will be shown and the BOSCH logo will be displayed at the cameo of the monitor output of the decoder. This is as designed in Configuration Manager, and this mode is to give you the opportunity to enable the SSD Encryption and to disable the USB ports. Once you are finished changing the extended security features, you must uncheck the check box and the decoder will go back to normal functioning.

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. This article describes how time services can be configured in a BVMS version ≤ 10.1 environment. For BVMS  version ≥ 11.0 please refer to the following article:  Where can you configure NTP server for cameras/encoders in BVMS≥11? Time: what is the challenge? Each device has its own internal clock, which is based on a hardware mechanism. This mechanism acts like a watch: try to put two watches together and synchronize them on the millisecond. A security system consists out of more than two devices, it can consist of thousands of devices. Synchronizing the time of all these devices by hand is a very time consuming task. Additionally, due to small differences in electronic components, devices can have deviations from one another. These deviations cannot be detected by the human eye, but can result in considerable time differences when a device is running for months. Synchronizing time The Network Time Protocol (NTP) was created to solve these challenges. The Network Time Protocol is a network-based protocol for clock synchronization between system components. The protocol utilizes a standard IP network to communicate and can maintain a time difference (considering a local area network) of less than one millisecond between components. The Network Time Protocol is a standard protocol and documented in RFC 5905. The operation and configuration of the Network Time Protocol are complex: a hierarchical architecture needs to be set-up including several layers of systems which are able to run the Network Time Protocol. To reduce complexity the Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) was  created. The Simple Network Time Protocol is mainly used when less accuracy (deviations of 1-2 seconds are acceptable). Windows Time Service The Bosch Video Management System is running on Microsoft Windows Server operating systems. Windows includes an internal time service, which is explained on Microsoft Technet: “The Windows Time service, also known as W32Time, synchronizes the date and time for all computers running in an AD DS domain. Time synchronization is critical for the proper operation of many Windows services and line-of-business applications. The Windows Time service uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize computer clocks on the network so that an accurate clock value, or time stamp, can be assigned to network validation and resource access requests. The service integrates NTP and time providers, making it a reliable and scalable time service for enterprise administrators. The W32Time service is not a full-featured NTP solution that meets time-sensitive application needs and is not supported by Microsoft as such. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 939322,Support boundary to configure the Windows Time service for high-accuracy environments (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=179459).” Source: Windows Time Service Technical Reference - Microsoft Technet The Windows Time service is based on the Simple Network Time Protocol. Summary The Network Time Protocol requires a very complex infrastructure, which impacts the total installation and configuration effort of the system. The Simple Network Time Protocol (also used for the Windows Time Service) reduces the complexity, but at the same time also reduces the accuracy. For most security applications the Simple Network Time Protocol provides sufficient accuracy. Bosch recommends to use the Windows Time service, based on the Simple Network Time Protocol, as basis for time synchronization in a security network. This article provides best-practices on how to configure the Bosch Video Management System and related components in a time synchronization environment based the Windows Time service. Alternatively, the Network Time Protocol can be used whenever it is already existing inside an infrastructure or when event accuracy with a deviation less than one second is required. Due to the complexity of the infrastructure Bosch does not make any recommendations related to the Network Time Protocol.     Step-by-step guide   Management server configuration   A. Operating system configuration This section also applies for the Video Recording Manager and Mobile Video Service when these are not running on the management server. Microsoft has prepared a lot of documentation related to time configuration Go to the Microsoft Support: How to configure an authoritative time server in Windows Server page and scroll down to the section “Configuring the Windows Time service to use an external time source”. Click the download button under the “Here’s an easy fix” section. Figure: Download the Microsoft Windows Time service configuration utility   The utility will configure external time servers. To select these, browse to http://pool.ntp.org and select two servers which are related to the geographical location of the system, for example “de.pool.ntp.org” and “nl.pool.ntp.org”, referring to Germany and the Netherlands. Another (local or external) (S)NTP server can also be chosen.   Start the Microsoft configuration utility and configure it as indicated and shown in the figure below. Administrative access is required to run the utility. Figure: Pool.ntp.org locations   Figure: Windows Time service configuration   Alternatively the configuration can be done from the command-line, using the command shown below. net stop w32time w32tm  /config   /syncfromflags :manual  /manualpeerlist : "nl.pool.ntp.org, de.pool.ntp.org" net start w32time The configuration can be verified by starting the Windows Command prompt and issuing the command “w32tm /query / status”, as shown in the figure below. Notice the time source, this should point towards the configured servers. Figure: verifying configuration   It can take up to one minute before the correct time source is displayed. When there is a problem, the configured (S)NTP server can be tested by issuing the “w32tm /stripchart /computer:de.pool.ntp.org”, which should result in the output displayed in the figure below. Figure: test the (S)NTP service   When an unexpected result is returned, it is recommended to check access to the specific (S)NTP server. A firewall might prevent the communication between the (S)NTP server and the management server.   B. BVMS Management Server configuration BVMS automatically points devices to its own time-server. This can be changed by editing the BvmsCenterlServer.exe.config file, located in C:\Program Files\Bosch\VMS\bin\. Find the key "TimeServerIPAddress" and adjust the value, as shown in the example below (192.168.0.1). <!-- Ip address of the time server for VRM/NVR encoders(defaults to the Central-Server IP if not set). --> < add   key = "TimeServerIPAddress"   value = "192.168.0.1"   />     C. Workstation configuration The Bosch Video Management System Operator client runs on a Windows workstation. When the workstation and server are part of the same Microsoft Active Directory service domain, no manual time synchronization needs to be configured. Figure: workstation configuration, "192.168.0.200" needs to be replaced by the IP address or Fully Qualified Domain Name of the management server.   When the Bosch Video Management System workstation and management Server are not joined in a domain, or into the same domain, the workstation(s) need to be manually configured to use the management server as a time server. To achieve this, the description above can be used. Instead of using the pool.ntp.org as a server, the management server is now entered.   D. Camera configuration If a camera is connected to a BVMS system the time server will be automatically configured.

This article will guide you how to remedy invalid expansion licenses on your Bosch Divar IP 5000 all in one.    Error indication Despite that the registration of your additional purchased licenses has been completed successfully. The licenses may become invalid  after a  following reboot. This behavior is caused by switching the MAC address of your teaming interface.  

This article informs about improvements in firmware handling and new security mechanisms that help our customers to increase security related to firmware updates and IP camera protection.

Answer It only depends on the version of BVMS you have. If you have BVMS 7.5, certain cameras with a certain FW have been tested and are supported. If you have BVMS 8.0, certain cameras with a certain FW have been tested and are supported. For BVMS versions of 9.0 or lower, only tested cameras must be added, otherwise we cannot support new setup. On DIP 3000 you can only upgrade to BVMS 8.0. The version of Windows installed on it does not support older versions of BVMS, it is not compatible. Recommended to use BVMS 8.0, the largest version supported on that unit. You need to make sure that those cameras are on the list of tested devices of the version you have.   Regarding the ONVIF Compatibility of the cameras, please see the following Bosch Knowledge Base article: https://community.boschsecurity.com/t5/Security-Video/BVMS-ONVIF-Device-compatibility/ta-p/4252

The following procedure describes how to restore DIVAR IP 5000 ALL-IN-ONE to the factory default image.   Step-by-step guide   1. Start the unit and press F7 during the BIOS power-on-selftest. The Recovery menu is displayed.   2. Select one of the following: – Initial factory setup: restores to factory default image and deletes all data on the HDDs. or – System Recovery (back to Factory Defaults): restores to factory default image; data on the HDDs will not be deleted.   Note: While the System Recovery option doesn't delete video footage stored on the data HDDs, it still replaces the complete OS (operating system) partition (including VMS settings) with a default configuration. In order to access existing video footage after recovery, the VMS configuration needs to be exported before System Recovery and re-imported afterwards.   Notice! Do not turn off the unit during the process. This will damage the Recovery media.   3. The unit starts from the Recovery media. If the setup is successful, press OK to restart the system.   4. Windows performs the initial setup of the operating system. The unit restarts after Windows has completed the setup. 5. After the restart of the unit, the factory settings are installed. 6. After the system has reboot, the next step is to change the BVRAdmin password. The default one is WSS4Bosch.

  What does mean the clock symbol showed in the Operator Client Logical tree?

When using the BVMS 9.0 installer on a Windows 10 "October 2018 update" machine (Build 1809) the SNMP services cannot be installed. Microsoft has changed the way the SNMP services are installed in Windows 10 "October 2018 update".

The entire BVMS installation package, available on the downloadstore, contains the client as well as the server components. When a BVMS client needs to be deployed, all of this data (over 2.5GB) needs to be copied to the target workstation, which can be quite a challenge in some environments.