ZoneMinder Wiki - User contributions [en]

MuninPlugins

2014-06-07T10:29:55Z

Flasheart: /* Download */

==Zoneminder plugins for Munin==

== About Munin ==

Munin the monitoring tool surveys all your computers and remembers what it saw.
It presents all the information in graphs through a web interface.

[[Image:Zoneminder_munin_events-day.png]]

== Available plugins ==
Theses plugins are available :

; zm_events : get the number of events catched by monitors ;
; zm_fps : get the number of frames per seconds ;
; zm_hourly_events : get the number of events per hours.

== Download ==

You can download theses plugins from the subversion repository :

svn co http://svn.csquad.org/zoneminder_munin/

Note: As of 2014, the original svn is no longer active.

The files are available at https://github.com/bhuddah/zoneminder_munin instead

== Bug reports and Feature Requests ==

Feel free to report bugs and suggest new graphs to cscm at csquad dot org.

Using a dedicated Hard Drive

2013-10-09T15:45:46Z

Flasheart:

On many installs you may wish to dedicate a hard drive or partition for Zoneminder events. There are many reasons why you may want to change the storage location - security, data segregation, preventing encroachment onto OS partition by zoneminder etc.

It's not terribly difficult to do, but may be non-obvious to the untaught so here's a brief guide.

Some commands here are based on Debian/Ubuntu installs

1. Become root or "sudo -s" to gain root privs.

2. Stop Zoneminder. "/etc/init.d/zoneminder stop" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl stop"

3. Mount your new partition onto the root filesystem, ensuring it is automatically remounted at boot time by editing /etc/fstab -- For the benefit of this guide, I'm calling my new partition /newdrive

''Note this new partition can be a local drive, raid partition, lvm/md device, external NAS, SAN, NFS share or SMB share. The only condition is that the I/O throughput should be up to handling what Zoneminder will throw at it. For that speed reason, some favour non-journalled filesystems and accept the extra risk of data protection''

4. Locate Zoneminder's "events" and "images" directories. In Debian, these are usually in /usr/share/zoneminder

If you wish to copy the data across, MOVE the events and images directories to /newdrive ''(Note this will take a long time on systems with many events). Also, DO NOT restart zoneminder if it cannot locate these files as zmaudit.pl will delete the database entries for any events it cannot match files to''

If you don't wish to preserve the data, it is MUCH faster to simply delete or rename the original events and images dirs and create new directories in /newdrive and link to them from the original locations. There is no need to remove the "orphaned" entries in the database, zmaudit will take care of those.

Eg:

mkdir /newdrive/events

mv /usr/share/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events_old

Note: It was recommended to use ''ln -s /newdrive/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events'' to link the new partition in. However, at least with the debian and ubuntu packages, upgrading zoneminder later will delete these symlinks and create new dirs. This will result in all your existing events being removed from the database.
Update: debian's upgrader will now (v.1.25) abort if it detects a symbolic link instead of silently deleting it.

It has been suggested this is used instead to mount the new drives;

''
these lines in fstab could allow you to bind-mount an alternate location:

/dev/sdX1 /otherdrive ext3 defaults 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /var/cache/zoneminder/images none defaults,bind 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /var/cache/zoneminder/events none defaults,bind 0 2

or in some cases,

/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /usr/share/zoneminder/images none defaults,bind 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events none defaults,bind 0 2

or if you have a separate partition for each:

/dev/sdX1 /var/cache/zoneminder/images ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdX2 /var/cache/zoneminder/events ext3 defaults 0 2
(Repeat for images)
''
5. Finally, restart zoneminder ( "/etc/init.d/zoneminder start" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start") Monitor its operation and ensure new events are being created normally and are viewable. Zoneminder should also update the "Disk: %%" on its Console screen to reflect the disk space on its new partition.

Automatically Adding Monitors

2013-06-27T15:03:34Z

Flasheart:

I recently had cause to want to add monitors to Zoneminder automatically. This is how I did it. It's probably not the correct way - I got it working through trial and error (never the most compatible method) and I'm a somewhat cavalier coder, and others are welcome to edit this page and improve the procedure, but it does work.

DISCLAIMER! This could hose your database. If Zoneminder's schema changes in the future, it almost certainly will. Use at your own risk!

Reason: I manage over a 100 CCTV cameras across five sites via bespoke perl cgi software. This display and arrange direct mjepg feeds (described in [[IpCamMontage]] ), and I wanted to be able to control my various remote zoneminder servers using that. Managing this directly is time consuming, and should a server go down it's a right faff to set up again. This way would allow me to re-configure a server instantly. I could also use it to set various configurations.

Firstly, add a user to mysql with write permissions to the ZM database and if your software isn't local, allow them to connect from anywhere/your control server using a decent password.

Then simply issue a mysql INSERT such as;

INSERT INTO Monitors SET name = 'Camera_Name', type='Remote', Port='80', host='10.10.10.5', path = '/videostream.cgi?user=username&pwd=password', width='640', height='480', Function = 'Mocord', MaxFPS = '5.00', AlarmMaxFPS = '5.00', Protocol = 'http', Method = 'simple', Palette = '3'

The above is enough (with ZM 1.25) to add a new monitor to Zoneminder. In this case, for a Foscam-compatible camera at 10.10.10.5, using mjpeg with a camera user/pass of username/password in VGA colour - using Mocord at 5fps.

If you also want to use motion detection (modect/mocord) then you'll need to add a zone too. First you'll need to find the monitorId of the event you've just added, then use something like this, which is for a 640x480 image

INSERT INTO Zones SET MonitorId = '$monitorID', Name = 'All', Type = 'Active', Units='Percent', NumCoords=4, Coords='0,0 639,0 639,479 0,479', Area = 307200, AlarmRGB=16711680, CheckMethod='Blobs', MinPixelThreshold=25, MinAlarmPixels=9216, MaxAlarmPixels=230400, FilterX=3, FilterY=3, MinFilterPixels=9216, MaxFilterPixels=230400, MinBlobPixels=6144, MinBlobs=1

If you happen to have Zoneminder's console open, nothing will happen until it refreshes, or you force a refresh, then the new monitor will show. Zoneminder won't immediately activate it, but after a minute or so will notice this monitor and that it's not doing anything, and start it.

And of course, by directly manipulating the database, you can set statuses and delete monitors too. (I find the Zoneminder way of automatically setting statuses for day/night rather clunky and tiresome to keep up to date with changing monitors). By issuing db commands directly, you can of course control it as much as you like.

If you're a strict coder and the above fills you with horror, well, I do understand. :)

Automatically Adding Monitors

2013-06-24T20:22:41Z

Flasheart: Created page with "I recently had cause to want to add monitors to Zoneminder automatically. This is how I did it. It's probably not the correct way - I got it working through trial and error (n..."

I recently had cause to want to add monitors to Zoneminder automatically. This is how I did it. It's probably not the correct way - I got it working through trial and error (never the most compatible method) and I'm a somewhat cavalier coder, and others are welcome to edit this page and improve the procedure, but it does work.

DISCLAIMER! This could hose your database. If Zoneminder's schema changes in the future, it almost certainly will. Use at your own risk!

Reason: I manage over a 100 CCTV cameras across five sites via bespoke perl cgi software. This display and arrange direct mjepg feeds (described in [[IpCamMontage]] ), and I wanted to be able to control my various remote zoneminder servers using that. Managing this directly is time consuming, and should a server go down it's a right faff to set up again. This way would allow me to re-configure a server instantly. I could also use it to set various configurations.

Firstly, add a user to mysql with write permissions to the ZM database and if your software isn't local, allow them to connect from anywhere/your control server using a decent password.

Then simply issue a mysql INSERT such as;

INSERT INTO Monitors SET name = 'Camera_Name', type='Remote', Port='80', host='10.10.10.5', path = '/videostream.cgi?user=username&pwd=password', width='640', height='480', Function = 'Mocord', MaxFPS = '5.00', AlarmMaxFPS = '5.00', Protocol = 'http', Method = 'simple', Palette = '3'

The above is enough (with ZM 1.25) to add a new monitor to Zoneminder. In this case, for a Foscam-compatible camera at 10.10.10.5, using mjpeg with a camera user/pass of username/password in VGA colour - using Mocord at 5fps.

If you happen to have Zoneminder's console open, nothing will happen until it refreshes, or you force a refresh, then the new monitor will show. Zoneminder won't immediately activate it, but after a minute or so will notice this monitor and that it's not doing anything, and start it.

And of course, by directly manipulating the database, you can set statuses and delete monitors too. (I find the Zoneminder way of automatically setting statuses for day/night rather clunky and tiresome to keep up to date with changing monitors). By issuing db commands directly, you can of course control it as much as you like.

If you're a strict coder and the above fills you with horror, well, I do understand. :)

Add a user to ZoneMinder

2013-06-06T08:21:46Z

Flasheart: /* Navigate to the user settings */

--[[User:Stagecoach|stagecoach]] 15:27, 23 October 2010 (BST)

Go back to the [[How_To|How To]] pages...

=How to add a user to ZoneMinder=
==Navigate to options menu==
From the landing page navigate to the options menu.
[[image:Landingpage.png|thumb|none|caption|How to get to the ZoneMinder main menu]]
<br/>

==Navigate to the user settings==
When you open up the options menu by default you are on the system settings tab, navigate to the users tab. <b>Note: This tab only appears when OPT_USE_AUTH is enabled in the 'System' section of options, and Zoneminder is restarted.</b>
<br/>
[[image: Options_system.png|thumb|none|caption|How to get to the user settings]]
<br/>

From this view you can see a list of current users and their permission settings. Click the add new user button to continue.
[[image: Options_user.png|right|thumb|none|caption|How to find add user configuration]]
<br/>

==Configure user settings==

On this page we can add a new user with the username, password and permissions of our choice.
In the restricted monitor field it is possible to restrict which cameras a user can view by clicking on them while holding down the shift key. When you have finished configuring the language/permissions and restricted monitors simply save the settings by clicking the save button.
[[image: Options_adduser.png|none|thumb|caption|Add user configuration form]]

If this procedure was successful we will be able to see the new user under the "users" tab in the options. In this example i have added a user called 'security' restricted to view only 'monitor-2. Too make changes to a user simply click on their name and change settings as required.
[[image: Options_userAdded.png|none|thumb|caption|Successfully added new user]]

Add a user to ZoneMinder

2013-06-06T08:21:25Z

Flasheart:

--[[User:Stagecoach|stagecoach]] 15:27, 23 October 2010 (BST)

Go back to the [[How_To|How To]] pages...

=How to add a user to ZoneMinder=
==Navigate to options menu==
From the landing page navigate to the options menu.
[[image:Landingpage.png|thumb|none|caption|How to get to the ZoneMinder main menu]]
<br/>

==Navigate to the user settings==
When you open up the options menu by default you are on the system settings tab, navigate to the users tab. <b>Note: This tab only appears when OPT_USE_AUTH is enabled in the 'System' section of options, and Zoneminder is restarted.
<br/>
[[image: Options_system.png|thumb|none|caption|How to get to the user settings]]
<br/>

From this view you can see a list of current users and their permission settings. Click the add new user button to continue.
[[image: Options_user.png|right|thumb|none|caption|How to find add user configuration]]
<br/>
==Configure user settings==

On this page we can add a new user with the username, password and permissions of our choice.
In the restricted monitor field it is possible to restrict which cameras a user can view by clicking on them while holding down the shift key. When you have finished configuring the language/permissions and restricted monitors simply save the settings by clicking the save button.
[[image: Options_adduser.png|none|thumb|caption|Add user configuration form]]

If this procedure was successful we will be able to see the new user under the "users" tab in the options. In this example i have added a user called 'security' restricted to view only 'monitor-2. Too make changes to a user simply click on their name and change settings as required.
[[image: Options_userAdded.png|none|thumb|caption|Successfully added new user]]

Backups

2013-05-24T14:59:27Z

Flasheart: Created page with "General notes about backups: Zoneminder requires the filesystem to be backed up, AND the Database. It can be backed up whilst running (if you can accept the odd missing event..."

General notes about backups:

Zoneminder requires the filesystem to be backed up, AND the Database. It can be backed up whilst running (if you can accept the odd missing event taken during the backup).

== Backing up ==

A typical backup would be to dump the mysql database "zm" and also the events directories. Because of the size of both of these in an active system with many cameras, this may require a LOT of space. The events won't compress well, being JPGs (already compressed) The event directory is build and distro dependant, but on a typical debian install will be in /usr/share/zoneminder/events

ZM's main configuration is kept in the mysql database, although some basic settings are typically held in /etc/zm (debian)

How often you do this is up to you, but consider CPU load during backup, and length of backup. It's not unknown for a highly stressed server to be overwhelmed with a large backup.

"backup-manager" is an excellent program that will do both database and directories, and sequentialise them as you wish, keeping only the N most recent. It can transfer them offsite too.

Because of these complexities, some zoneminder admins do not do do regular backups, preferring to archive and export as video any events they particularly want to keep as they occur.

== Offsite Live Backups ==

Occasionally an admin realises that because the server recording CCTV is housed at the same location it is recording, should a burglary take place the thieves are likely to take the shiny server while they're at it, even if they don't realise it's acting as a cctv recorder. It's hard to dispute this logic. However, because of the amount of bandwidth a medium sized zoneminder install requires, offsite backups may be difficult to achieve using consumer grade technologies. A professional thief may also cut phone/data wires or power before gaining entry.

== Some thoughts to formulating your plan... ==

* Hide the server! Make it hidden. Cupboards, in loftspace, an outbuilding, etc. Consideration should be given to heat dissipation, dust, acessibility and noise - but this is a low cost and often effective low-tech solution.

* Record offsite. You can use existing technologies like NFS to mount a remote drive to your local server, and change your events/ do to live on that. The downside is fairly obvious - you will need a LOT of upstream bandwidth to cope with anything but the most basic of installs. Of course, you will also have to formulate a plan for keeping the database up to date too, unless you want a lot of manual digging through directories to find the files you want.

* Record selected cameras from a remote server. Either using IP cameras, or having Zoneminder locally acting as a transcoder (you can record from a zoneminder monitor), have a remote server recording 1 or 2 cameras so you at least stand a shot. This is also a highly configurable system allowing for you to adjust FPS, size and colour to suit your upstream.

* Synchronous backup. In theory it's possible to set mysql to replicate to a slave database offsite, and have rsync (or similar) constantly synchronising the events/ dir. Given the large file directories (deep or not), I have no idea how rsync will cope constantly syncing such a large filesystem with regard to both local cpu and io load, and bandwidth. If you have experience of this, please expand this article.

Talk:Panasonic

2013-01-27T20:14:27Z

Flasheart: Created page with ""Panasonic equipment after you have a working ZoneMinder configuration. ZoneMinder handles network camera authentication very poorly, which can cause frustrating problems like..."

"Panasonic equipment after you have a working ZoneMinder configuration. ZoneMinder handles network camera authentication very poorly, which can cause frustrating problems like the "white screen" error, the "blue screen" error, "exit 255" crashes, or segmentation faults."

I found this statement both unsubstantiated and incredibly misleading, so have removed it unless the author can justify it. It was found by someone seeking help with bluescreens on a trendnet camera and it caused more confusion than help.

Panasonic

2013-01-27T20:11:00Z

Flasheart: /* Initial Hardware Setup */

All members of the BL and BB model families are likely to be compatible, including PTZ support. The "Panasonic IP" monitor preset in ZoneMinder is known to be compatible with these Panasonic netcam models:

* BL-C1A, BL-C1CN, BL-C1E
* BL-C20A, BL-C20CN, BL-C20E
* BL-C30A, BL-C30CN, BL-C30E
* BL-C101A, BL-C101CN, BL-C101E
* BL-C111A, BL-C111CN, BL-C111E
* BL-C121A, BL-C121CN, BL-C121E
* BL-C131A, BL-C131CN, BL-C131E
* BL-C140A, BL-C140CN, BL-C140E
* BL-C160A, BL-C160CN, BL-C160E
* BB-HCM381A, BB-HCM381CN, BB-HCM381E
* BB-HCM511A, BB-HCM511CN, BB-HCM511E
* BB-HCM527A, BB-HCM527CN, BB-HCM527E
* BB-HCM531A, BB-HCM531CN, BB-HCM531E
* BB-HCM547A, BB-HCM547CN, BB-HCM547E
* BB-HCM580A, BB-HCM580CN, BB-HCM580E
* BB-HCM581A, BB-HCM581CN, BB-HCM581E
* KX-HCM10

=Initial Hardware Setup=

# The camera uses a default IP address of 192.168.0.254 if it does not get a DHCP lease. Many firmware revisions ship with DHCP disabled by default. If you are not using the configuration utility for Microsoft Windows, then you may need to do something like `sudo ifconfig eth0:0 192.168.0.2` at a terminal prompt to access the camera and enable DHCP.
# Upgrade the firmware. ZoneMinder 1.25 expects version 3.00 or later.
# Enable the guest account:
## Click ''Setup'' in the top menu.
## Click ''Administrator'' in the side menu.
## Choose ''Permit access from guest users''.
## Click the ''Save'' button.
# Set privileges on the guest account for ZoneMinder:
## Click ''Setup'' in the top menu.
## Click ''General User'' in the side menu.
## Choose ''Guest User'' in the menu.
## Click the ''Modify'' button.
## Change ''Video Display Time'' to ''Unlimited''.
## Enable all ''Access Level'' checkboxes.
## Click the ''Save'' button.

Only set access credentials on Panasonic equipment after you have a working ZoneMinder configuration.

=MJPEG Configuration=

==Example==

At the ''Monitor -> Source'' page for the camera:

Remote Protocol: HTTP
Remote Method: Simple
Remote Host Name: 192.168.1.254
Remote Host Port: 80
Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
Remote Image Colors: 24 bit color
Capture Width (pixels): 640
Capture Height (pixels): 480
Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
Orientation: Normal

==Example for Old Firmware==

Change '''nphMotionJpeg''' to '''nphContinuousServerPush''' or '''cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush''' if the camera has old firmware like this:

Remote Host Path: cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard

Cameras models that only have the old version 2.00 firmware interface are:

* BL-C20A

==Parameters==

The required '''Quality''' CGI parameter sets JPEG quality and can be one of Clarity, Standard, or Motion.

The required '''Resolution''' CGI parameter can be one of 1280x1024, 640x480, 320x240, or 160x120 pixels.

'''Note:''' Only hi-def models support the 1280x1024 resolution, and some low end models like the Panasonic BL-C1A Petcam do not support the 640x480 resolution.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! MJPEG Frame Size
| Quality=Clarity
| Quality=Standard
| Quality=Motion
|-
| Resolution=1280x1024
| ?
| ?
| ?
|-
| Resolution=640x480
| 50kB
| 30kB
| 20kb
|-
| Resolution=320x240
| 25kB
| 15kB
| 8kB
|-
| Resolution=160x120
| 8kB
| 5kB
| 3kB
|}

The optional '''Framerate''' parameter can be 0.1 through 30.00 frames per second in one-tenth increments. For example, to take an image every other second:

Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard&Framerate=0.5

'''Note:''' The default MJPEG frame rate in the web interface is the same as "MPEG-4 Max. Frame Rate" option, which is set on the ''Video Streaming'' page.

==Performance==

In MJPEG mode with a default configuration, ZoneMinder can sustain approximately 5 fps from a Panasonic netcam. In ideal conditions with tuning, the maximum is approximately 25 fps.

On slow or busy systems, ZoneMinder performs better if the frame rate is externally limited at the camera. For example, to limit capture to 10 fps, set:

Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard&Framerate=10

On the ''Monitor -> General'' configuration page for the camera in ZoneMinder, leave the '''Maximum FPS''' field empty.

=RTSP/MPEG4 Configuration=

'''Note''': Low end models like the Panasonic BL-C1A Petcam only support MJPEG because they do not have an MPEG4 encoder.

==Example==
At the ''Monitor -> Source'' page for the camera:

Remote Protocol: RTSP
Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
Remote Host Name: 192.168.1.254
Remote Host Port: 554
Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-640x480
Remote Image Colors: 24 bitcolor
Capture Width (pixels): 640
Capture Height (pixels): 480
Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
Orientation: Normal

==Parameters==

'''Note:''' Only high definition models support the 1280x1024 resolution.

Available streaming resolutions are:

Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-1280x1024
Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-640x480
Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-320x240
Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-160x120

None of these URIs take parameters. Video streaming options are always global and can only be changed through the CGI or web interface.

'''Note:''' The camera must be manually rebooted for MPEG-4 or H.264 options to take affect.

'''Note:''' Audio can be enabled on models that have it by changing the '''nil''' to '''g726''', but ZoneMinder lacks audio support, so doing this would waste network capacity and storage. For example:

Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-640x480

==Performance==

In RTSP mode, ZoneMinder can get 30 fps from a Panasonic netcam that has an MPEG4 encoder. The raw idle RTP output of a bright quiet scene for these cameras is usually 400 kbps, or 5GB per day.

Even if the RTSP stream is frame limited by the camera, the transport will be at 30fps. If the frame rate is decreased at the default maximum bit rate, then streaming image quality will noticeably improve. To reduce streaming bandwidth, reduce both the frame rate and the maximum bit rate on the "Setup -> Video Streaming" page. Remember to reboot the camera on the "Maintenance" tab after changing these options.

ZoneMinder transcodes the MPEG4 stream to add a banner or stream through the web interface. Doing this on one 640x480@30fps stream can consume an entire core on a modern CPU. If the CPU becomes overloaded, then the zmc process will crash and the Feed Watch page will be blank or show the broken image icon. An easy way to reduce CPU load is to set the "Maximum FPS" field on the monitor General tab to 15 or less, but ZoneMinder performs better if frame rate limiting happens at the camera.

=Authentication=

If the camera requires a username and password, then put the credentials in the '''Remote Host Name''' field on the ''Monitor -> Source'' tab for the camera in ZoneMinder like this:

Remote Protocol: HTTP
Remote Method: Simple
Remote Host Name: '''MyUser:MyPass@'''192.168.1.254
Remote Host Port: 80
Remote Host Path: /nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
Remote Image Colors: 24 bit color
Capture Width (pixels): 640
Capture Height (pixels): 480
Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
Orientation: Normal

The username and password are separated by one colon character, which are separated from the IP address or host name by the 'at' symbol.

=Troubleshooting=

* Using the anonymous guest account with default permissions, or using incorrect credentials, will result in a black box or this error in the zmdc.log file:

zmdc.ERR ['zmc -m 1' exited abnormally, exit status 255]

* All CGI parameters are case sensitive. Using "nphmotionjpeg?resolution=640x480&quality=standard" instead of "nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard" will cause the camera to return a "400 Bad Request" error.

* Remember to grant all permissions to the ZoneMinder account in the camera and double check the spelling of the username and password. ZoneMinder does not log a sensible error message if the access privileges or credentials are incorrect, it just crashes.

* Use the VideoLAN player to test RTSP like this:

vlc rtsp://192.168.0.254/nphMpeg4/nil-640x480

If VLC cannot play the stream, then ZoneMinder cannot record it. (Many other RTSP players are incompatible with Panasonic network cameras. Use VLC.)

* Using RTSP through NAT usually requires a custom firewall configuration. Always get MJPEG working first.

* These cameras also provide an RTP-over-HTTP interface over a single port. In VLC, click ''Media -> Open Network Stream'' and input this URL:

http://192.168.0.254/rtpOverHttp?Url=nphMpeg4/nil-640x480

This is easier to punch through a firewall, but it has timing and sync problems.

==Hidden Configuration Options==

Login to the web interface, and manually open this URI:

http://192.168.0.254/Get?Func=VDelivery&Kind=1

The camera could return a list of configuration options like this:

640framerate:15
320framerate:15
192framerate:15
640bitrateL:256
640bitrateH:1024
320bitrateL:128
320bitrateH:512
192bitrateL:64
192bitrateH:256
RTSPPortNo:554
RTPPortMin:33000
Multicast:0

Not all of these options will be exposed in the web interface. For example, firmware version 3.50 does not expose the MPEG4 framerate option, which is the first line in the example. You can set it by manually opening this URI in a web browser:

http://192.168.0.254/Set?Func=VDelivery&Kind=1&640framerate=30

A plain web page like this means success:

Return:0

=External Resources=

* [http://panasonic.net/pcc/support/netwkcam/download/index.html Panasonic Network Camera Downloads - Firmware, Manuals, and Application Software]
* [http://panasonic.net/pcc/cgi-bin/products/netwkcam/download_us/tbookmarka_m.cgi?mm=2007032816275868 Panasonic Camera CGI Specification]
* [http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/cameras-and-camcorders-network-cameras?support Current Panasonic Netcam Catalog]

[[Category:Cameras]]

Helpful user contributed resources

2012-05-30T13:06:33Z

Flasheart: /* Third party */

==Documentation==
[[Main Documentation]]

[[FAQ]]

[[Supplementary Documentation]]

[[General Notes]]

[[Change History]]

[[Future Development]]

[[Patches]]

[[ZoneMinder 1.24.2 Bugfixes]]

==Supported==

[[Beginner hardware]]

[[Supported distributions]]

[[Hardware Compatibility List ]]

(External: Flash's IP Camera Database: http://digdilem.org/cameras ]

[[MobileDevices]]

==Distribution-specific guides==
[[Fedora]] / [[CentOS]]

[[Debian]] / [[Ubuntu]] / [http://www.guiadohardware.net/tutoriais/sistema-vigilancia-zoneminder/ Kurumin (in Portuguese)]

[[Mandrake-Mandriva]] / [[ZMliveCD]]

[[Slackware]]

[[SuSE]]

[[Gentoo]] / [[Sabayon]]

[[Yellow Dog Linux]] / [[Sony PS3]]

[[PCLinuxOS_and_1.23.1|PCLinuxOS]]

[[FreeBSD]]

[[Arch Linux]] / [[ZMLarch]]

[[MS Windows/Virtual Appliance]]

==Third party==
[[Flash's IP Camera Database]]

[[Utilities]]

[[Standalone Zm Frontends]]

[http://code.google.com/p/zonerama/ Zonerama] - Merges multiple monitors into one and supports video creation.

[[IpCamMontage]] Ip Camera Montage - remove the user viewing load from the server for IP Camera setups.

[[Plugins]]

[[Infrared Leds, Cameras, DC-DC converters etc]]

[[Consultants]]

[[Video Recorders running ZM]]

==Other documentation==
[[External resources of information related to ZM]]

[[How To]]

[[Miscellaneous helpful hints]]

[[Hardware specific tips]]

==CCTV Laws==
[[Area Specific Laws]]

[http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/05/ California Report on Public Video Surveillance]

How Many Cameras

2012-04-29T13:31:14Z

Flasheart: /* Bottlenecks */

A question that is often asked is "'''How many cameras can my server support?'''"

Well, it depends. A lot.

Zoneminder runs well on a quad core HP ML115 with 40 IP cameras. However, that's a pointless statistic since all of the following have a bearing:

== Factors ==

* Type of use. Recording uses lots of local IO but not much CPU (Although every frame is converted to a .jpg and saved, but not otherwised changed (timestamps etc excepted)). Motion detection uses far more CPU but less disk IO.

* Obviously the hardware available makes a huge impact. RAM is always useful in a linux server, but ZM's demands are relatively modest - depending also on the size of the ring buffer, pre/post event buffers and how often the website IO is accessed. (Apache adds its own load separate to ZM)

* The type of input. IP cameras can use more CPU but it depends on the stream. Whether JPG, MJPEG, MPEG4 or whatever - each stream is handled differently and each has its own overhead. Analogue cameras are often seen as lower load, but this may be due to them having a generally lower resolution. USB cams are another example, as are file system feeds.

* The size, colour and framerate of the feed. One of the biggest newbie mistakes is to assume that CCTV cameras should be recording at 25fps when in fact it's not uncommon to see 1, 2, 3 or 5 fps used as the standard. Many IP cams allow you to specify the FPS (and ZM does it itself with JPG mode), and this also lowers the bandwidth used. Colour is often not important with CCTV, dropping to grayscale (if the camera is capable) usually drops the memory, bandwidth and cpu needs to a quarter. Size - well, bigger is better here, provided the camera is capable and doesn't blur a larger picture by upscaling. Any camera that does this should be taken outside and shot.

* Bandwidth. Not often a consideration in smaller feeds and modern gbit networks, but wireless links can become saturated and if you're taking feeds over the internet that can be a major bottleneck. There is a useful guide to working out bandwidth and IO here: [[FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F]]

* User loads. If you view the cameras through Zoneminder's interface you are adding a significant load to the server. With IP cams this is entirely unneccessary and can be achieved by accessing them directly. You can create montages with very simple html - a guide is here; [[IpCamMontage]]

The good news is that zoneminder has no fixed limit to the number of monitors it supports. Everything is able to be improved upon in theory and by using clusters or "super servers" you could grow a zoneminder system to quite impressive scales.

There is some help on tuning zoneminder and linux to get the most out of your Zoneminder Server: [[FAQ#Managing_system_load_.28with_IP_Cameras_in_mind.29]]

== Bottlenecks ==

* Server hardware. Overcome by buying a bigger server, linux clustering and offloading the MySql database to another server. (This can make a big difference too!)

* CPU. Reduce size, colour, fps. Remove any shared use from the server, don't use ZM to view the cameras live if you can avoid it.

* Disk I/O. It is possible to saturate a slow HDD with zoneminder's recording even on less huge setups. SSD's are an expensive option, and Raiding and SANs produce fast results. Using fast SANs you could even allow another server to audit ZM's files via the remote Mysql database, taking another load off the main server.

* Bandwidth (IP Cams): Reduce size, colour, fps of images. If internet links, improve internet links - multiple DSLs, cable, ethernet whatever is available. If LAN: Improve network hardware. Consider creating more than one physical network and bridging on the local server in extreme cases.

In summary, Zoneminder will support as many cameras as you have the hardware available for. Every bottleneck can be overcome, but balancing the cost and need is a decision only you can make.

How Many Cameras

2012-04-29T13:21:19Z

Flasheart: /* Factors */

A question that is often asked is "'''How many cameras can my server support?'''"

Well, it depends. A lot.

Zoneminder runs well on a quad core HP ML115 with 40 IP cameras. However, that's a pointless statistic since all of the following have a bearing:

== Factors ==

* Type of use. Recording uses lots of local IO but not much CPU (Although every frame is converted to a .jpg and saved, but not otherwised changed (timestamps etc excepted)). Motion detection uses far more CPU but less disk IO.

* Obviously the hardware available makes a huge impact. RAM is always useful in a linux server, but ZM's demands are relatively modest - depending also on the size of the ring buffer, pre/post event buffers and how often the website IO is accessed. (Apache adds its own load separate to ZM)

* The type of input. IP cameras can use more CPU but it depends on the stream. Whether JPG, MJPEG, MPEG4 or whatever - each stream is handled differently and each has its own overhead. Analogue cameras are often seen as lower load, but this may be due to them having a generally lower resolution. USB cams are another example, as are file system feeds.

* The size, colour and framerate of the feed. One of the biggest newbie mistakes is to assume that CCTV cameras should be recording at 25fps when in fact it's not uncommon to see 1, 2, 3 or 5 fps used as the standard. Many IP cams allow you to specify the FPS (and ZM does it itself with JPG mode), and this also lowers the bandwidth used. Colour is often not important with CCTV, dropping to grayscale (if the camera is capable) usually drops the memory, bandwidth and cpu needs to a quarter. Size - well, bigger is better here, provided the camera is capable and doesn't blur a larger picture by upscaling. Any camera that does this should be taken outside and shot.

* Bandwidth. Not often a consideration in smaller feeds and modern gbit networks, but wireless links can become saturated and if you're taking feeds over the internet that can be a major bottleneck. There is a useful guide to working out bandwidth and IO here: [[FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F]]

* User loads. If you view the cameras through Zoneminder's interface you are adding a significant load to the server. With IP cams this is entirely unneccessary and can be achieved by accessing them directly. You can create montages with very simple html - a guide is here; [[IpCamMontage]]

The good news is that zoneminder has no fixed limit to the number of monitors it supports. Everything is able to be improved upon in theory and by using clusters or "super servers" you could grow a zoneminder system to quite impressive scales.

There is some help on tuning zoneminder and linux to get the most out of your Zoneminder Server: [[FAQ#Managing_system_load_.28with_IP_Cameras_in_mind.29]]

== Bottlenecks ==

* Server hardware. Overcome by linux clustering and offloading the MySql database to another server. (This can make a big difference too!)

* CPU. Reduce size, colour, fps. Remove any shared use from the server, don't use ZM to view the cameras live if you can avoid it.

* Disk I/O. It is possible to saturate a slow HDD with zoneminder's recording even on less huge setups. SSD's are an expensive option, and Raiding and SANs produce fast results. Using fast SANs you could even allow another server to audit ZM's files via the remote Mysql database, taking another load off the main server.

* Bandwidth (IP Cams): Reduce size, colour, fps of images. If internet links, improve internet links - multiple DSLs, cable, ethernet whatever is available. If LAN: Improve network hardware. Consider creating more than one physical network and bridging on the local server in extreme cases.

In summary, Zoneminder will support as many cameras as you have the hardware available for. Every bottleneck can be overcome, but balancing the cost and need is a decision only you can make.

How Many Cameras

2012-04-29T13:13:15Z

Flasheart: Created page with "A question that is often asked is "'''How many cameras can my server support?'''" Well, it depends. A lot. Zoneminder runs well on a quad core HP ML115 with 40 IP cameras. Ho..."

A question that is often asked is "'''How many cameras can my server support?'''"

Well, it depends. A lot.

Zoneminder runs well on a quad core HP ML115 with 40 IP cameras. However, that's a pointless statistic since all of the following have a bearing:

== Factors ==

* Type of use. Recording uses lots of local IO but not much CPU (Although every frame is converted to a .jpg and saved, but not otherwised changed (timestamps etc excepted)). Motion detection uses far more CPU but less disk IO.

* Obviously the hardware available makes a huge impact. RAM is always useful in a linux server, but ZM's demands are relatively modest - depending also on the size of the ring buffer, pre/post event buffers and how often the website IO is accessed. (Apache adds its own load separate to ZM)

* The type of input. IP cameras can use more CPU but it depends on the stream. Whether JPG, MJPEG, MPEG4 or whatever - each stream is handled differently and each has its own overhead. Analogue cameras are often seen as lower load, but this may be due to them having a generally lower resolution. USB cams are another example, as are file system feeds.

* The size, colour and framerate of the feed. One of the biggest newbie mistakes is to assume that CCTV cameras should be recording at 25fps when in fact it's not uncommon to see 1, 2, 3 or 5 fps used as the standard. Many IP cams allow you to specify the FPS (and ZM does it itself with JPG mode), and this also lowers the bandwidth used. Colour is often not important with CCTV, dropping to grayscale (if the camera is capable) usually drops the memory, bandwidth and cpu needs to a quarter. Size - well, bigger is better here, provided the camera is capable and doesn't blur a larger picture by upscaling. Any camera that does this should be taken outside and shot.

* Bandwidth. Not often a consideration in smaller feeds and modern gbit networks, but wireless links can become saturated and if you're taking feeds over the internet that can be a major bottleneck. There is a useful guide to working out bandwidth and IO here: [[FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F]]

* User loads. If you view the cameras through Zoneminder's interface you are adding a significant load to the server. With IP cams this is entirely unneccessary and can be achieved by accessing them directly. You can create montages with very simple html - a guide is here; [[IpCamMontage]]

The good news is that zoneminder has no fixed limit to the number of monitors it supports. Everything is able to be improved upon in theory and by using clusters or "super servers" you could grow a zoneminder system to quite impressive scales.

== Bottlenecks ==

* Server hardware. Overcome by linux clustering and offloading the MySql database to another server. (This can make a big difference too!)

* CPU. Reduce size, colour, fps. Remove any shared use from the server, don't use ZM to view the cameras live if you can avoid it.

* Disk I/O. It is possible to saturate a slow HDD with zoneminder's recording even on less huge setups. SSD's are an expensive option, and Raiding and SANs produce fast results. Using fast SANs you could even allow another server to audit ZM's files via the remote Mysql database, taking another load off the main server.

* Bandwidth (IP Cams): Reduce size, colour, fps of images. If internet links, improve internet links - multiple DSLs, cable, ethernet whatever is available. If LAN: Improve network hardware. Consider creating more than one physical network and bridging on the local server in extreme cases.

In summary, Zoneminder will support as many cameras as you have the hardware available for. Every bottleneck can be overcome, but balancing the cost and need is a decision only you can make.

ZM4MS

2011-09-15T06:15:14Z

Flasheart: Reinstate un spammed original by James

ZM4MS is a windows application that acts as a front end for ZM. It allows streaming of images from upto 36 different sources, these are usualy zm servers but can be ip cameras, anything that gives a pure jpeg. (note will not pass authentication info before the ip). If using zm servers then you can enter multiple servers and zm4ms will get the images fom the server as fast as (a, it can or b, to the refresh rate set in options)

Screen Shots

[[Image:MainScreen.jpg]]
The above view shows the (optional) Dual head setup this is turned on from settings and when pressing [home key] when in man viewer will load the full screen view on monitor 2 (if dual head is not enabled it will open on the main monitor!)
This allows siplit screen views on the second monitor with the map view and alarms on the right

[[Image:Dualhead2.jpg]]

Right Click on the full screen view and you can select camera per quadrant or change view (currently up to 16 way split)

[[Image:rightclick.jpg]]

When in the main view you have playback that allow playback for each configured monitor, you can press play on the toolbar or press the green button on any live view windows.

[[Image:alarminfo.jpg]]
This shows the alarm info (if enabled) is currently very beta, allows you to set alarm tone/speech etc and video responses

[[Image:alarmstill.jpg]]

This shows a few still alarms

For More info please see my site as i will only make major changes here all the minor releases will only be on my site see news at [http://www.jpwilson.eu jpwilson]

IpCamMontage

2011-08-24T12:52:20Z

Flasheart:

Monitoring multiple IP cameras.

Using zoneminder's montage facility is great, but there's no denying it puts a lot of extra load on the server. If you're using IP cameras that can supply mjpeg feeds, this is totally unneccessary and by some simple html can be bypassed completely.

Both firefox and chrome will view mjpeg streams without plugins if they're enclosed in normal <img> tags.

''Example: <img src = "http://10.0.0.112/Jpeg/CamImg.jpg" width="240" height="180" >''

This will show a 240x180 picture from a Gadspot camera.

Another example, this time for an Axis camera and helping bandwidth by specifying a smaller image size in the first place:
''
<img src = "http://10.0.0.102/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240" width="240" height="180" >''

Knowing this, you can easily build an html file with these image tags and lay them out as you wish, as many as you can fit on a screen. Save it in your web directories on your server, or even locally on your own computer, and once the html is loaded the server has no part to play in displaying the images and thus no extra load. Leave the server to get on with running zoneminder.

I've actually gone a step further with my system. I have a mysql database with the ips, names and mjpg paths for each camera make on my four sites. Users visit a cgi page which generates a table of images based on their choices - there's a menu along the top allowing them to choose different groups of cameras or view cameras from other sites. Each link visits the cgi script with different parameters which produce a different html file linking to each of the cameras. That's probably overkill for most users, but works well for me.

What if you don't have mjpeg-capable ip cameras, or a mixture? Or even some analogues too? Well you can use zoneminder to convert those inputs and produce an mjpeg stream using zms. Get a live image up on screen, then right-click the image and "Copy image location" - paste that inside an <img> tag and you've got a stream for that camera too. Of course, that does put load on the server, but if you've got a mixture allows you to move some off, and of course arrange to suit yourself. One of the feeds below is actually from a camera that only provides mpeg4 and I'm using a zm server to include it here. Works ok.

Pictures explain better, so:

[[File:IpCamMontage.jpg]]

(Pink bits conceal private information, and each img links to that camera directly, so that if you see movement and want a bigger picture, just click the corresponding image)

IpCamMontage

2011-08-24T12:51:32Z

Flasheart:

Monitoring multiple IP cameras.

Using zoneminder's montage facility is great, but there's no denying it puts a lot of extra load on the server. If you're using IP cameras that can supply mjpeg feeds, this is totally unneccessary and by some simple html can be bypassed completely.

Both firefox and chrome will view mjpeg streams without plugins if they're enclosed in normal <img> tags.

''Example: <img src = "http://10.0.0.112/Jpeg/CamImg.jpg" width="240" height="180" >''

This will show a 240x180 picture from a Gadspot camera.

Another example, this time for an Axis camera and helping bandwidth by specifying a smaller image size in the first place:
''
<img src = "http://10.0.0.102/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240" width="240" height="180" >''

Knowing this, you can easily build an html file with these image tags and lay them out as you wish, as many as you can fit on a screen. Save it in your web directories on your server, or even locally on your own computer, and once the html is loaded the server has no part to play in displaying the images and thus no extra load. Leave the server to get on with running zoneminder.

I've actually gone a step further with my system. I have a mysql database with the ips, names and mjpg paths for each camera make on my four sites. Users visit a cgi page which generates a table of images based on their choices - there's a menu along the top allowing them to choose different groups of cameras or view cameras from other sites. Each link visits the cgi script with different parameters which produce a different html file linking to each of the cameras. That's probably overkill for most users, but works well for me.

What if you don't have mjpeg-capable ip cameras, or a mixture? Or even some analogues too? Well you can use zoneminder to convert those inputs and produce an mjpeg stream using zms. Get a live image up on screen, then right-click the image and "Copy image location" - paste that inside an <img> tag and you've got a stream for that camera too. Of course, that does put load on the server, but if you've got a mixture allows you to move some off, and of course arrange to suit yourself.

Pictures explain better, so:

[[File:IpCamMontage.jpg]]

(Pink bits conceal private information, and each img links to that camera directly, so that if you see movement and want a bigger picture, just click the corresponding image)

IpCamMontage

2011-08-24T12:16:20Z

Flasheart:

Monitoring multiple IP cameras.

Using zoneminder's montage facility is great, but there's no denying it puts a lot of extra load on the server. If you're using IP cameras that can supply mjpeg feeds, this is totally unneccessary and by some simple html can be bypassed completely.

Both firefox and chrome will view mjpeg streams without plugins if they're enclosed in normal <img> tags.

''Example: <img src = "http://10.0.0.112/Jpeg/CamImg.jpg" width="240" height="180" >''

This will show a 240x180 picture from a Gadspot camera.

Another example, this time for an Axis camera and helping bandwidth by specifying a smaller image size in the first place:
''
<img src = "http://10.0.0.102/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240" width="240" height="180" >''

Knowing this, you can easily build an html file with these image tags and lay them out as you wish, as many as you can fit on a screen. Save it in your web directories on your server, or even locally on your own computer, and once the html is loaded the server has no part to play in displaying the images and thus no extra load. Leave the server to get on with running zoneminder.

I've actually gone a step further with my system. I have a mysql database with the ips, names and mjpg paths for each camera make on my four sites. Users visit a cgi page which generates a table of images based on their choices - there's a menu along the top allowing them to choose different groups of cameras or view cameras from other sites. Each link visits the cgi script with different parameters which produce a different html file linking to each of the cameras. That's probably overkill for most users, but works well for me.

Pictures explain better, so:

[[File:IpCamMontage.jpg]]

(Pink bits conceal private information, and each img links to that camera directly, so that if you see movement and want a bigger picture, just click the corresponding image)

IpCamMontage

2011-08-24T12:15:54Z

Flasheart:

Monitoring multiple IP cameras.

Using zoneminder's montage facility is great, but there's no denying it puts a lot of extra load on the server. If you're using IP cameras that can supply mjpeg feeds, this is totally unneccessary and by some simple html can be bypassed completely.

Both firefox and chrome will view mjpeg streams without plugins if they're enclosed in normal <img> tags.

Example: <math><img src = "http://10.0.0.112/Jpeg/CamImg.jpg" width="240" height="180" >
</math>
This will show a 240x180 picture from a Gadspot camera.

Another example, this time for an Axis camera and helping bandwidth by specifying a smaller image size in the first place:

<math><img src = "http://10.0.0.102/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240" width="240" height="180" ></math>

Knowing this, you can easily build an html file with these image tags and lay them out as you wish, as many as you can fit on a screen. Save it in your web directories on your server, or even locally on your own computer, and once the html is loaded the server has no part to play in displaying the images and thus no extra load. Leave the server to get on with running zoneminder.

I've actually gone a step further with my system. I have a mysql database with the ips, names and mjpg paths for each camera make on my four sites. Users visit a cgi page which generates a table of images based on their choices - there's a menu along the top allowing them to choose different groups of cameras or view cameras from other sites. Each link visits the cgi script with different parameters which produce a different html file linking to each of the cameras. That's probably overkill for most users, but works well for me.

Pictures explain better, so:

[[File:IpCamMontage.jpg]]

(Pink bits conceal private information, and each img links to that camera directly, so that if you see movement and want a bigger picture, just click the corresponding image)

File:IpCamMontage.jpg

2011-08-24T12:14:05Z

Flasheart: Demonstration of img tags displaying live video feeds in html

Demonstration of img tags displaying live video feeds in html

IpCamMontage

2011-08-24T12:13:18Z

Flasheart: Created page with "Monitoring multiple IP cameras. Using zoneminder's montage facility is great, but there's no denying it puts a lot of extra load on the server. If you're using IP cameras that ..."

Helpful user contributed resources

2011-06-25T20:57:30Z

Flasheart: /* Supported */

==Documentation==
[[Main Documentation]]

[[FAQ]]

[[Supplementary Documentation]]

[[General Notes]]

[[Change History]]

[[Future Development]]

[[Patches]]

[[ZoneMinder 1.24.2 Bugfixes]]

==Supported==

[[Beginner hardware]]

[[Supported distributions]]

[[Hardware Compatibility List ]]

(External: Flash's IP Camera Database: http://digdilem.org/cameras ]

[[MobileDevices]]

==Distribution-specific guides==
[[Fedora]] / [[CentOS]]

[[Debian]] / [[Ubuntu]] / [http://www.guiadohardware.net/tutoriais/sistema-vigilancia-zoneminder/ Kurumin (in Portuguese)]

[[Mandrake-Mandriva]] / [[ZMliveCD]]

[[Slackware]]

[[SuSE]]

[[Gentoo]] / [[Sabayon]]

[[Yellow Dog Linux]] / [[Sony PS3]]

[[PCLinuxOS_and_1.23.1|PCLinuxOS]]

[[FreeBSD]]

[[Arch Linux]] / [[ZMLarch]]

[[MS Windows/Virtual Appliance]]

==Third party==
[[Flash's IP Camera Database]]

[[Utilities]]

[[Standalone Zm Frontends]]

[http://code.google.com/p/zonerama/ Zonerama] - Merges multiple monitors into one and supports video creation. See Link for Screenshots, Download and Documentation

[[Plugins]]

[[Infrared Leds, Cameras, DC-DC converters etc]]

[[Consultants]]

[[Video Recorders running ZM]]

==Other documentation==
[[External resources of information related to ZM]]

[[How To]]

[[Miscellaneous helpful hints]]

[[Hardware specific tips]]

==CCTV Laws==
[[Area Specific Laws]]

[http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/05/ California Report on Public Video Surveillance]

Hardware Compatibility List

2011-06-20T15:21:38Z

Flasheart: /* Network Cameras */

Zoneminder will work with almost any capture card that is supported by the linux kernel. You may find additional details about supported hardware in the [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=10 Hardware Compatibility List] part of the forums. Also if you find something in the forums that is missing from the wiki ADD IT.

== Capture Cards ==

[[Anykeeper]]

[[Avermedia]]

[[Camsecure PCI Express video capture]]

[[Digiflower]]

[[Grandtec Grand X Guard]] [http://www.grandtec.com/products/surveillance/xguard.html]

[[Hauppauge]]

[[Ituner Spectra 8]] [http://www.ituner.com/spectra.htm]

[[Kodicom 4400r]]

[[Kodicom 8800]]

[[Tungson TE-8008]]

Leadtek WinFast VC 100 - the cheapest bt878 model with no tuner on it, just Com/Svideo in.

[[Linux Media Labs LMLBT44]] [http://www.linuxmedialabs.com]

[[Osprey 100]]

[[Provideo PV- series (Bluecherry)]] [http://store.bluecherry.net/SearchResults.asp?Cat=63&Click=51]

[[TView 95/99]]

[[Videocards with Philips saa7134 chipset]]

[[WinFast TV2000 XP]]

[[Rapid OS]]

== bt8x8 Cards ==
A note on the bt8x8-based TV-tuner cards: these usually have beside the tuner input, also a Composite and an S-Video input. You can hook up 2 analog cameras to these, and access from ZoneMinder both of them as individual cameras, at max 15Fps. You don't need two separate TV cards for two cameras!

[[Pico2000]] - 4 port card, one chip bt878, around 2 fps when using all channels

[[Bt878_4chip_8inputs]] -4 chips bt878, 8 inputs, around 5 fps when using 2 inputs per chip

[[:Image:Karta.jpg| bt878 8 chip 8 input]] - This card is supplied with D-sub to 8 BNC connector and uses the bt878 chip for each input allowing full frame rates and quality. See [[Kodicom 8800]] for more information.

'''Most other BTTV (bt878, bt848) cards, see /usr/src/linux/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST on your system for a list of some of them.'''

== Analog Cameras ==

Any regular composite or S-video camera connected via a supported capture card. Some analog cameras feature camera control - ZM supports several of these camera's Pan/Tilt/Zoom functions via serial port control, as well as camera Presets, Focus, Iris, etc.
*[[PicturetelControlScript | PictureTel PTZ2N]].

== Network Cameras ==
For Network Cams to work they need to be able to stream MJPEG without the requirement of activex controls. If you see the requirement for the camera calls for IE then there is a good chance it may not work. The other option is to grab JPEG images if the camera supports that option which will work but at a lower frame rate.

Any network camera that allows access to single JPEG image grabs or '''some but not all''' multi-part JPEG feeds.

'''Full Compatibility '''

* [[Abus]] some

* [[Airlink 101]] some

* [[Axis]] All

* [[Astak Mole]] Some

* [[Brickcom]] These have been tested

* [[BSTI]] Some

* [[Cisco]] some

* [[D-Link]] Most

* [[Foscam]] (FI8908W, FI8904W, possibly others)

* [[Gadspot]] Most

* [[hootoo]] Some

* [[Instar]] (IN-2905, possibly others)

* [[Level One]] some

* [[Linksys]] WVC-210 / WVC2300 / PVC2300 / WVC54GC

* [[Maygion]] (IP-603, IP-604, possibly others)

* [[Rimax]] Some

* [[Sony]] Most

* [[TP-LINK]] Some

* [[Trendnet]] Most

* [[Y-Cam]] (Sharx Ip) Most

* [[Zavio]] Some

* [[Iguard]] IP390E

* [[x-vision]] Xvision cameras by y3k

* Remote systems, themselves running zoneminder, can be accessed as cameras using the Remote Path of '''/cgi-bin/nph-zms?mode=single&monitor=1&scale=100&maxfps=5&buffer=1000''' - where the monitor number is the correct camera on the remote system.

'''Single Jpeg Only'''

* [[Airlink 101]] some

* [[JVC]] some

* [[Panasonic]] some

* PLANET some

*[[Toshiba]] some

* [[Veo Observer IP NetCam]] most

*[[Vivotek]] All

'''Mpeg(ver1.24.0 and up)'''

*[[ABS_MegaCam]]

* [[Axis]] All

* [[ ACTi]] All

*[[Vivotek]] Most

'''Compatible with modifications'''

*[[Aviosys]] some

* [[Mobotix]] all

*[[Edimax]] some

* [[Conceptronic]] some

'''Compatible with problems'''

* [[Compro]] IP70. MPEG4 only, some reliability issues and general poor firmware quality.

* [[Grandtec]] [[Grandtec_WLAN_Camera|WLAN Camera]] WiFi or III - acceptable indoor quality, no infrared-filter (better nightvision) cheap!

* [[Intellinet]] IPCamera with the new firmware.

* Old Intellinet IPCamera (model MWNC-100) with this (http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7500) protocol adapter.

* OvisLink AirLive WL-5400CAM

Useful link: Flash's IP Camera Database, with Zoneminder compatibility guide: http://digdilem.org/cameras

== Network Digitizers ==

Like Network Cameras, these devices produce a video stream - but they accept an analog video input from a camera or other video source.

*The [[IP9100 | Aviosys IP9100, Models A, B and Plus]] has four analog video inputs. It produces a ZM compatible video stream from one of the inputs, which is selectable via an HTTP GET command. There might even be a control script for ZM that lets you select the active video input using ''ZM's Camera Control Presets!''

With the yoics Aviosys 9100 firmware at http://www.yoics.com/?p=28, ZoneMinder can directly access all four ports via /usr/yoicsX.jpg as the remote host path, where X is 0 - 3.

== USB Cameras ==

*Just Zoom USB cam

*Creative Webcam Pro, Webcam 3, LIVE! Cam OPTIA PRO (V4L2, Chan 0, PAL, YUYV)

*''Most'' UVCvideo cameras, including: [[Logitech QuickCam Express]], QuickCam Pro 3000, QuickCam Communicate STX/Deluxe, and [[Logitech Webcam Pro 9000]]

*Logitech Quickcam Orbit/Sphere (experimental basic pan/tilt control has also published for testing and hacking [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9788])

*[[Philips]]

*Any OV511 based USB camera [http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511/cameras.html]

*Any CPIA based USB camera [http://webcam.sourceforge.net]

*[[LabTec WebCam Pro]]

*Confirmed basic functionality with Microsoft Lifecam VX 5000 using UVC Streaming method

Note that most USB cameras that can use Video4Linux/V4L2, and so can be used by ZoneMinder. Some have older chipsets and can be hard to find new.

Note that PWC drivers are not included in the kernel. Some distribution's add them in and other may not. Here are some relevant links:
* [http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/ Old Maintainer]
* [http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/ Current PWC Maintainer]

== X10 Devices ==
The only device that really needs to be compatable with ZM is the Transceiver, all other x10 devices comunicate through that device.
*[[CM11]] Bi-Directional Transceiver

Other X10 notes:

[http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6423&highlight=x10 Topic 6423]

[http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7082&highlight=x10 Topic 7082]

== All other hardware as supported by Linux ==
To find out if your hardware is supported, check the HCL at [http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/ linuxquestions.org]

[http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ Debian]

[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/HCL Fedora] [http://fedora-linux.nl/wiki/index.php/HCL Fedora Unofficial HCL]

[http://www.mandriva.com/hardware Mandriva]

[https://hardware.redhat.com/index.cgi RedHat]

[http://en.opensuse.org/Hardware Suse]

[http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/HCL Ubuntu]

== Links ==
* [http://www.macmanitou.de/mediawiki/index.php?title=Webcam_Manufacturer_Data Manufacturer Data]

== Plug Computers ==
Guruplug Server Plus -> How to install Zoneminder on it -> [http://plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/ZoneMinder PlugComputer Wiki Zoneminder Howto]

Flash's IP Camera Database

2011-06-20T15:20:37Z

Flasheart: Created page with "A publically available database of many IP cameras and their settings, including a setup guide for Zoneminder for specific cameras. http://digdilem.org/cameras (Please submit n..."

A publically available database of many IP cameras and their settings, including a setup guide for Zoneminder for specific cameras.

http://digdilem.org/cameras

(Please submit new cameras when available)

Helpful user contributed resources

2011-06-20T15:20:04Z

Flasheart: /* Third party */

==Documentation==
[[Main Documentation]]

[[FAQ]]

[[Supplementary Documentation]]

[[General Notes]]

[[Change History]]

[[Future Development]]

[[Patches]]

[[ZoneMinder 1.24.2 Bugfixes]]

==Supported==

[[Beginner hardware]]

[[Supported distributions]]

[[Hardware Compatibility List ]]

[[MobileDevices]]

==Distribution-specific guides==
[[Fedora]] / [[CentOS]]

[[Debian]] / [[Ubuntu]] / [http://www.guiadohardware.net/tutoriais/sistema-vigilancia-zoneminder/ Kurumin (in Portuguese)]

[[Mandrake-Mandriva]] / [[ZMliveCD]]

[[Slackware]]

[[SuSE]]

[[Gentoo]] / [[Sabayon]]

[[Yellow Dog Linux]] / [[Sony PS3]]

[[PCLinuxOS_and_1.23.1|PCLinuxOS]]

[[FreeBSD]]

[[Arch Linux]] / [[ZMLarch]]

[[MS Windows/Virtual Appliance]]

==Third party==
[[Flash's IP Camera Database]]

[[Utilities]]

[[Standalone Zm Frontends]]

[[Plugins]]

[[Infrared Leds, Cameras, DC-DC converters etc]]

[[Consultants]]

[[Video Recorders running ZM]]

==Other documentation==
[[External resources of information related to ZM]]

[[How To]]

[[Miscellaneous helpful hints]]

[[Hardware specific tips]]

==CCTV Laws==
[[Area Specific Laws]]

[http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/05/ California Report on Public Video Surveillance]

Helpful user contributed resources

2011-06-20T15:19:39Z

Flasheart: /* Third party */

==Documentation==
[[Main Documentation]]

[[FAQ]]

[[Supplementary Documentation]]

[[General Notes]]

[[Change History]]

[[Future Development]]

[[Patches]]

[[ZoneMinder 1.24.2 Bugfixes]]

==Supported==

[[Beginner hardware]]

[[Supported distributions]]

[[Hardware Compatibility List ]]

[[MobileDevices]]

==Distribution-specific guides==
[[Fedora]] / [[CentOS]]

[[Debian]] / [[Ubuntu]] / [http://www.guiadohardware.net/tutoriais/sistema-vigilancia-zoneminder/ Kurumin (in Portuguese)]

[[Mandrake-Mandriva]] / [[ZMliveCD]]

[[Slackware]]

[[SuSE]]

[[Gentoo]] / [[Sabayon]]

[[Yellow Dog Linux]] / [[Sony PS3]]

[[PCLinuxOS_and_1.23.1|PCLinuxOS]]

[[FreeBSD]]

[[Arch Linux]] / [[ZMLarch]]

[[MS Windows/Virtual Appliance]]

==Third party==
[[Flash's IP Camera Database]]

A publically available database of many IP cameras and their settings, including a setup guide for Zoneminder. http://digdilem.org/cameras

[[Utilities]]

[[Standalone Zm Frontends]]

[[Plugins]]

[[Infrared Leds, Cameras, DC-DC converters etc]]

[[Consultants]]

[[Video Recorders running ZM]]

==Other documentation==
[[External resources of information related to ZM]]

[[How To]]

[[Miscellaneous helpful hints]]

[[Hardware specific tips]]

==CCTV Laws==
[[Area Specific Laws]]

[http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/05/ California Report on Public Video Surveillance]

Using a dedicated Hard Drive

2011-01-06T11:20:23Z

Flasheart:

On many installs you may wish to dedicate a hard drive or partition for Zoneminder events. There are many reasons why you may wish to do this - security, data segregation, preventing encroachment onto OS partition by zoneminder etc.

It's not terribly difficult to do, but may be non-obvious to the untaught so here's a brief guide.

Some commands here are based on Debian/Ubuntu installs

1. Become root or "sudo -s" to gain root privs.

2. Stop Zoneminder. "/etc/init.d/zoneminder stop" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl stop"

3. Mount your new partition onto the root filesystem, ensuring it is automatically remounted at boot time by editing /etc/fstab -- For the benefit of this guide, I'm calling my new partition /newdrive

''Note this new partition can be a local drive, raid partition, lvm/md device, external NAS, SAN, NFS share or SMB share. The only condition is that the I/O throughput should be up to handling what Zoneminder will throw at it. For that speed reason, some favour non-journalled filesystems and accept the extra risk of data protection''

4. Locate Zoneminder's "events" and "images" directories. In Debian, these are usually in /usr/share/zoneminder

If you wish to copy the data across, MOVE the events and images directories to /newdrive ''(Note this will take a long time on systems with many events). Also, DO NOT restart zoneminder if it cannot locate these files as zmaudit.pl will delete the database entries for any events it cannot match files to''

If you don't wish to preserve the data, it is MUCH faster to simply delete or rename the original events and images dirs and create new directories in /newdrive and link to them from the original locations. There is no need to remove the "orphaned" entries in the database, zmaudit will take care of those.

Eg:

mkdir /newdrive/events

mv /usr/share/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events_old

Note: It was recommended to use ''ln -s /newdrive/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events'' to link the new partition in. However, at least with the debian and ubuntu packages, upgrading zoneminder later will delete these symlinks and create new dirs. This will result in all your existing events being removed from the database.

It has been suggested this is used instead to mount the new drives;

''
these lines in fstab could allow you to bind-mount an alternate location:

/dev/sdX1 /otherdrive ext3 defaults 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /var/cache/zoneminder/images none defaults,bind 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /var/cache/zoneminder/events none defaults,bind 0 2

or in some cases,

/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /usr/share/zoneminder/images none defaults,bind 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events none defaults,bind 0 2

or if you have a separate partition for each:

/dev/sdX1 /var/cache/zoneminder/images ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdX2 /var/cache/zoneminder/events ext3 defaults 0 2
(Repeat for images)
''
5. Finally, restart zoneminder ( "/etc/init.d/zoneminder start" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start") Monitor its operation and ensure new events are being created normally and are viewable. Zoneminder should also update the "Disk: %%" on its Console screen to reflect the disk space on its new partition.

Using a dedicated Hard Drive

2011-01-06T11:11:53Z

Flasheart:

On many installs you may wish to dedicate a hard drive or partition for Zoneminder events. There are many reasons why you may wish to do this - security, data segregation, preventing encroachment onto OS partition by zoneminder etc.

It's not terribly difficult to do, but may be non-obvious to the untaught so here's a brief guide.

Some commands here are based on Debian/Ubuntu installs

1. Become root or "sudo -s" to gain root privs.

2. Stop Zoneminder. "/etc/init.d/zoneminder stop" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl stop"

3. Mount your new partition onto the root filesystem, ensuring it is automatically remounted at boot time by editing /etc/fstab -- For the benefit of this guide, I'm calling my new partition /newdrive

''Note this new partition can be a local drive, raid partition, lvm/md device, external NAS, SAN, NFS share or SMB share. The only condition is that the I/O throughput should be up to handling what Zoneminder will throw at it. For that speed reason, some favour non-journalled filesystems and accept the extra risk of data protection''

4. Locate Zoneminder's "events" and "images" directories. In Debian, these are usually in /usr/share/zoneminder

If you wish to copy the data across, MOVE the events and images directories to /newdrive ''(Note this will take a long time on systems with many events). Also, DO NOT restart zoneminder if it cannot locate these files as zmaudit.pl will delete the database entries for any events it cannot match files to''

If you don't wish to preserve the data, it is MUCH faster to simply delete or rename the original events and images dirs and create new directories in /newdrive and link to them from the original locations. There is no need to remove the "orphaned" entries in the database, zmaudit will take care of those.

Eg:

mkdir /newdrive/events

mv /usr/share/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events_old

Note: It was recommended to use ''ln -s /newdrive/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events'' to link the new partition in. However, at least with the debian and ubuntu packages, upgrading zoneminder later will delete these symlinks and create new dirs. This will result in all your existing events being removed from the database.

It has been suggested this is used instead to mount the new drives;

''
these lines in fstab could allow you to bind-mount an alternate location:

/dev/sdX1 /otherdrive ext3 defaults 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /var/cache/zoneminder/images none defaults,bind 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /var/cache/zoneminder/events none defaults,bind 0 2

or if you have a separate partition for each:

/dev/sdX1 /var/cache/zoneminder/images ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdX2 /var/cache/zoneminder/events ext3 defaults 0 2
(Repeat for images)
''
5. Finally, restart zoneminder ( "/etc/init.d/zoneminder start" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start") Monitor its operation and ensure new events are being created normally and are viewable. Zoneminder should also update the "Disk: %%" on its Console screen to reflect the disk space on its new partition.

Using a dedicated Hard Drive

2011-01-05T07:10:33Z

Flasheart:

On many installs you may wish to dedicate a hard drive or partition for Zoneminder events. There are many reasons why you may wish to do this - security, data segregation, preventing encroachment onto OS partition by zoneminder etc.

It's not terribly difficult to do, but may be non-obvious to the untaught so here's a brief guide.

Some commands here are based on Debian/Ubuntu installs

1. Become root or "sudo -s" to gain root privs.

2. Stop Zoneminder. "/etc/init.d/zoneminder stop" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl stop"

3. Mount your new partition onto the root filesystem, ensuring it is automatically remounted at boot time by editing /etc/fstab -- For the benefit of this guide, I'm calling my new partition /newdrive

''Note this new partition can be a local drive, raid partition, lvm/md device, external NAS, SAN, NFS share or SMB share. The only condition is that the I/O throughput should be up to handling what Zoneminder will throw at it. For that speed reason, some favour non-journalled filesystems and accept the extra risk of data protection''

4. Locate Zoneminder's "events" and "images" directories. In Debian, these are usually in /usr/share/zoneminder

If you wish to copy the data across, MOVE the events and images directories to /newdrive ''(Note this will take a long time on systems with many events). Also, DO NOT restart zoneminder if it cannot locate these files as zmaudit.pl will delete the database entries for any events it cannot match files to''

If you don't wish to preserve the data, it is MUCH faster to simply delete or rename the original events and images dirs and create new directories in /newdrive and link to them from the original locations. There is no need to remove the "orphaned" entries in the database, zmaudit will take care of those.

Eg:

mkdir /newdrive/events

mv /usr/share/zoneminder/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events_old

Note: It was recommended to use ''ln -s /newdrive/events /usr/share/zoneminder/events'' to link the new partition in. However, at least with the debian and ubuntu packages, upgrading zoneminder later will delete these symlinks and create new dirs. This will result in all your existing events being removed from the database.

It has been suggested this is used instead to mount the new drives;

''
these lines in fstab could allow you to bind-mount an alternate location:

/dev/sdX1 /otherdrive ext3 defaults 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/images /var/cache/zoneminder/images bind defaults 0 2
/otherdrive/zoneminder/events /var/cache/zoneminder/events bind defaults 0 2

or if you have a separate partition for each:

/dev/sdX1 /var/cache/zoneminder/images ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdX2 /var/cache/zoneminder/events ext3 defaults 0 2
(Repeat for images)
''
5. Finally, restart zoneminder ( "/etc/init.d/zoneminder start" or "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start") Monitor its operation and ensure new events are being created normally and are viewable. Zoneminder should also update the "Disk: %%" on its Console screen to reflect the disk space on its new partition.

Compro

2010-11-09T22:57:19Z

Flasheart:

Cheap cameras from Taiwan (Despite the American references on the name)

IP70

Setup REQUIRES Internet Explorer (the configuration pages contain broken javascript which hide various settings and won't let you save settings unless you're running IE)

mjpeg is not. The browser page for live view is merely a javascript wrapper which requests a static jpg repeatedly. This would be fine for Zoneminder if it wasn't for the fact that the js appends a unique identifier to the end of each fetch and the camera appears to cache files without this. So if you dig through the html to find the url and try it in zm, zm will just record the first image repeatedly.

DOES work with RTSP / MPEG4 (Zoneminder 1.24.2)

However - it does NOT work very well! Feed drops out at random points. Zm reconnects ok, but it cannot be relied upon.

Source tab;

Remote Protocol RTSP
Remote Method RTP/RTSP
Remote Host Name IP of camera
Remote Host Port 554
Remote Host Path /medias2
Remote Image Colours 24 bit
Capture Width (pixels) 640
Capture Height (pixels) 480
Preserve Aspect Ratio Unticked
Orientation Normal

On the camera configuration;

Update to firmware "IP70 1.47"

Enter Setup, Camera tab;
Dot Turbo Picture
Tick "Enable 2nd stream"

Under Stream2 settings (Use IE if old firmware as FF doesn't save settings)

Untick 3GPP
Set Resolution to VGA
Codec: MPEG-4
Framerate 5
Quality 1Mbps

Update, November 2010 - Compro now have a new firmware - 1.51 - on their website. What it does is not fully listed - the page mentions it does SMS announcement and some other minor stuff, but I note the stream now works in firefox which it didn't before. although the controls are still broken. In IE, a new activex component requires installing and a restart is mandatory.

Compro

2010-11-09T22:55:35Z

Flasheart:

Compro

2010-11-09T22:26:26Z

Flasheart:

Compro

2010-11-08T21:29:12Z

Flasheart:

Compro

2010-11-08T21:28:58Z

Flasheart:

Using a dedicated Hard Drive

2010-09-28T19:20:15Z

Flasheart:

Hardware Compatibility List

2010-09-24T10:13:14Z

Flasheart: /* Network Cameras */

Zoneminder will work with almost any capture card that is supported by the linux kernel. You may find additional details about supported hardware in the [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=10 Hardware Compatibility List] part of the forums. Also if you find something in the forums that is missing from the wiki ADD IT.

== Capture Cards ==

[[Anykeeper]]

[[Avermedia]]

[[Camsecure PCI Express video capture]]

[[Digiflower]]

[[Grandtec Grand X Guard]] [http://www.grandtec.com/products/surveillance/xguard.html]

[[Hauppauge]]

[[Ituner Spectra 8]] [http://www.ituner.com/spectra.htm]

[[Kodicom 4400r]]

[[Kodicom 8800]]

Leadtek WinFast VC 100 - the cheapest bt878 model with no tuner on it, just Com/Svideo in.

[[Linux Media Labs LMLBT44]] [http://www.linuxmedialabs.com]

[[Osprey 100]]

[[Provideo PV- series (Bluecherry)]] [http://store.bluecherry.net/SearchResults.asp?Cat=63&Click=51]

[[TView 95/99]]

[[Videocards with Philips saa7134 chipset]]

[[WinFast TV2000 XP]]

== bt8x8 Cards ==
A note on the bt8x8-based TV-tuner cards: these usually have beside the tuner input, also a Composite and an S-Video input. You can hook up 2 analog cameras to these, and access from ZoneMinder both of them as individual cameras, at max 15Fps. You don't need two separate TV cards for two cameras!

[[Pico2000]] - 4 port card, one chip bt878, around 2 fps when using all channels

[[Bt878_4chip_8inputs]] -4 chips bt878, 8 inputs, around 5 fps when using 2 inputs per chip

[[:Image:Karta.jpg| bt878 8 chip 8 input]] - options bttv card=77,77,77,77,77,77,77,77. The card is supplied with D-sub to 8 BNC connector with the connectors labelled VID1, AUD1, VID2, AUD3 etc. The /dev/video device numbering may be backwards such that /dev/video7 is VID1, /dev/video6 -> VID2, 5 -> 3, 4 -> 4, /dev/video3 -> AUD1 etc.

'''Most other BTTV (bt878, bt848) cards, see /usr/src/linux/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST on your system for a list of some of them.'''

== Analog Cameras ==

Any regular composite or S-video camera connected via a supported capture card. Some analog cameras feature camera control - ZM supports several of these camera's Pan/Tilt/Zoom functions via serial port control, as well as camera Presets, Focus, Iris, etc.
*[[PicturetelControlScript | PictureTel PTZ2N]].

== Network Cameras ==
For Network Cams to work they need to be able to stream MJPEG without the requirement of activex controls. If you see the requirement for the camera calls for IE then there is a good chance it may not work. The other option is to grab JPEG images if the camera supports that option which will work but at a lower frame rate.

Any network camera that allows access to single JPEG image grabs or '''some but not all''' multi-part JPEG feeds.

'''Full Compatibility '''

* [[Airlink 101]] some

* [[Axis]] All

* [[BSTI]] Some

* [[Cisco]] some

* [[Cisco]] WVC80N

* [[D-Link]] Most

* [[Foscam]] (FI8908W, FI8904W, possibly others)

* [[Gadspot]] Most

* [[Level One]] some

* [[Linksys]] WVC-210 / WVC2300 / PVC2300 / WVC54GC

* [[Maygion]] (IP-603, IP-604, possibly others)

* [[Rimax]] Some

* [[Sony]] Most

* [[Trendnet]] Most

* [[Y-Cam]] Most

* [[Zavio]] Some

* [[Iguard]] IP390E

* Remote systems, themselves running zoneminder, can be accessed as cameras using the Remote Path of '''/cgi-bin/nph-zms?mode=single&monitor=1&scale=100&maxfps=5&buffer=1000''' - where the monitor number is the correct camera on the remote system.

'''Single Jpeg Only'''

* [[Airlink 101]] some

* [[JVC]] some

* [[Panasonic]] some

* PLANET some

*[[Toshiba]] some

* [[Veo Observer IP NetCam]] most

*[[Vivotek]] All

'''Mpeg(ver1.24.0 and up)'''

*[[ABS_MegaCam]]

* [[Axis]] All

* [[ ACTi]] All

*[[Vivotek]] Most

'''Compatible with modifications'''

*[[Aviosys]] some

* [[Mobotix]] all

*[[Edimax]] some

* [[Conceptronic]] some

'''Compatible with problems'''

* [[Compro]] IP70. MPEG4 only, some reliability issues and general poor firmware quality.

* [[Grandtec]] [[Grandtec_WLAN_Camera|WLAN Camera]] WiFi or III - acceptable indoor quality, no infrared-filter (better nightvision) cheap!

* [[Intellinet]] IPCamera with the new firmware.

* Old Intellinet IPCamera (model MWNC-100) with this (http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7500) protocol adapter.

* OvisLink AirLive WL-5400CAM

== Network Digitizers ==

Like Network Cameras, these devices produce a video stream - but they accept an analog video input from a camera or other video source.

*The [[IP9100 | Aviosys IP9100, Models A, B and Plus]] has four analog video inputs. It produces a ZM compatible video stream from one of the inputs, which is selectable via an HTTP GET command. There might even be a control script for ZM that lets you select the active video input using ''ZM's Camera Control Presets!''

With the yoics Aviosys 9100 firmware at http://www.yoics.com/?p=28, ZoneMinder can directly access all four ports via /usr/yoicsX.jpg as the remote host path, where X is 0 - 3.

== USB Cameras ==

*Just Zoom USB cam

*Creative Webcam Pro, Webcam 3, LIVE! Cam OPTIA PRO (V4L2, Chan 0, PAL, YUYV)

*''Most'' UVCvideo cameras, including: [[Logitech QuickCam Express]], QuickCam Pro 3000, QuickCam Communicate STX/Deluxe, and [[Logitech Webcam Pro 9000]]

*Logitech Quickcam Orbit/Sphere (experimental basic pan/tilt control has also published for testing and hacking [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9788])

*[[Philips]]

*Any OV511 based USB camera [http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511/cameras.html]

*Any CPIA based USB camera [http://webcam.sourceforge.net]

*[[LabTec WebCam Pro]]

*Confirmed basic functionality with Microsoft Lifecam VX 5000 using UVC Streaming method

Note that most USB cameras that can use Video4Linux/V4L2, and so can be used by ZoneMinder. Some have older chipsets and can be hard to find new.

Note that PWC drivers are not included in the kernel. Some distribution's add them in and other may not. Here are some relevant links:
* [http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/ Old Maintainer]
* [http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/ Current PWC Maintainer]

== X10 Devices ==
The only device that really needs to be compatable with ZM is the Transceiver, all other x10 devices comunicate through that device.
*[[CM11]] Bi-Directional Transceiver

Other X10 notes:

[http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6423&highlight=x10 Topic 6423]

[http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7082&highlight=x10 Topic 7082]

== All other hardware as supported by Linux ==
To find out if your hardware is supported, check the HCL at [http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/ linuxquestions.org]

[http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ Debian]

[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/HCL Fedora] [http://fedora-linux.nl/wiki/index.php/HCL Fedora Unofficial HCL]

[http://www.mandriva.com/hardware Mandriva]

[https://hardware.redhat.com/index.cgi RedHat]

[http://en.opensuse.org/Hardware Suse]

[http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/HCL Ubuntu]

Compro

2010-09-24T10:11:57Z

Flasheart:

Cheap cameras from Taiwan (Despite the American references on the name)

IP70

Setup REQUIRES Internet Explorer (the configuration pages contain broken javascript which hide various settings and won't let you save settings unless you're running IE)

mjpeg is not. The browser page for live view is merely a javascript wrapper which requests a static jpg repeatedly. This would be fine for Zoneminder if it wasn't for the fact that the js appends a unique identifier to the end of each fetch and the camera appears to cache files without this. So if you dig through the html to find the url and try it in zm, zm will just record the first image repeatedly.

DOES work with RTSP / MPEG4 (Zoneminder 1.24.2)

Source tab;

Remote Protocol RTSP
Remote Method RTP/RTSP
Remote Host Name IP of camera
Remote Host Port 554
Remote Host Path /medias2
Remote Image Colours 24 bit
Capture Width (pixels) 640
Capture Height (pixels) 480
Preserve Aspect Ratio Unticked
Orientation Normal

On the camera configuration;

Update to firmware "IP70 1.47"

Enter Setup, Camera tab;
Dot Turbo Picture
Tick "Enable 2nd stream"

Under Stream2 settings (Use IE if old firmware as FF doesn't save settings)

Untick 3GPP
Set Resolution to VGA
Codec: MPEG-4
Framerate 30
Quality 1Mbps

Y-Cam

2010-09-24T10:06:19Z

Flasheart:

Y-Cam Black:

RTSP MPEG4 stream: /live_mpeg4.sdp

RTSP MJPEG stream: /live_mjpeg.sdp

HTTP MPEG4 stream: /stream.av

HTTP MJPEG stream: /stream.jpg

HTTP snapshot image: /snapshot.jpg

Size of each stream is setup in preferences. Normally recommended to leave primary stream as the maximum and set the secondary stream for 320x240 for thumbnails or smaller recorded streams.

Note: Colour balance on some of the Y-Cam blacks is /very/ off. Greens as pinks etc.

Do not use this camera if colour is important, however as a night-time room Infra-red camera it is very suitable. We use several for welfare monitoring of horses.

Panasonic

2010-09-24T10:03:51Z

Flasheart:

BL-C1, BL-C10, BL-C20, BL-C30, BL-C101, KX-HCM10, BB-HCM531 etc (including PTZ support)

BB-HCM381. At least JPEG capture (640x480@5fps) works.

bl-c1 works on http://user:password@ip/cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard

bl-c101 works on http://user:password@ip/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard (However, on mine this mjpeg stream drops out intermittently and won't resync without camera restart)

BB-HCM531 works on the same as the c101 and varieties. Very reliable external camera.

BB-HCM511A and BB-HCM531A

=BL-C20A=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: /cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

=BL-C30=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=320x240&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

The control script supports all controls for this camera, but it can be used for other Panasonic cameras as well.

Note that I implemented a real name preset functionality, where you can set any desired name as the preset name. It is basically possible to set the presets through ZM's interface, but I prefer to do it through the cam's firmware interface, which is the default setting in the script. By changing one constant definition, you may change this behaviour. In any case still activate the "can set presets" option in ZM, after which you can assign names to each preset.

I would further recommend to update the cam's firmware. I found smoother operation in ZM after having updated the firmware.
[bco]

[[Category:Cameras]]

Panasonic

2010-09-24T10:02:50Z

Flasheart:

BL-C1, BL-C10, BL-C20, BL-C30, KX-HCM10 etc (including PTZ support)

BB-HCM381. At least JPEG capture (640x480@5fps) works.

bl-c1 works on http://user:password@ip/cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard

bl-c101 works on http://user:password@ip/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard (However, on mine this mjpeg stream drops out intermittently and won't resync without camera restart)

BB-HCM531 works on the same as the c101 and varieties. Very reliable external camera.

BB-HCM511A and BB-HCM531A

=BL-C20A=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: /cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

=BL-C30=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=320x240&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

The control script supports all controls for this camera, but it can be used for other Panasonic cameras as well.

Note that I implemented a real name preset functionality, where you can set any desired name as the preset name. It is basically possible to set the presets through ZM's interface, but I prefer to do it through the cam's firmware interface, which is the default setting in the script. By changing one constant definition, you may change this behaviour. In any case still activate the "can set presets" option in ZM, after which you can assign names to each preset.

I would further recommend to update the cam's firmware. I found smoother operation in ZM after having updated the firmware.
[bco]

[[Category:Cameras]]

Panasonic

2010-09-24T10:02:32Z

Flasheart:

BL-C1, BL-C10, BL-C20, BL-C30, KX-HCM10 etc (including PTZ support)

BB-HCM381. At least JPEG capture (640x480@5fps) works.

bl-c1 works on http://user:password@ip/cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
bl-c101 works on http://user:password@ip/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard (However, on mine this mjpeg stream drops out intermittently and won't resync without camera restart)
BB-HCM531 works on the same as the c101 and varieties. Very reliable external camera.

BB-HCM511A and BB-HCM531A

=BL-C20A=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: /cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

=BL-C30=

Source type: Remote
Remote Host Name: IP Address of Camera
Remote Host Port: 80 (Default) or the non-default port assigned to the camera in your network
Remote host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=320x240&Quality=Standard
Control script: download at www.condrau.com/download/zmcontrol-blc30.pl

The control script supports all controls for this camera, but it can be used for other Panasonic cameras as well.

Note that I implemented a real name preset functionality, where you can set any desired name as the preset name. It is basically possible to set the presets through ZM's interface, but I prefer to do it through the cam's firmware interface, which is the default setting in the script. By changing one constant definition, you may change this behaviour. In any case still activate the "can set presets" option in ZM, after which you can assign names to each preset.

I would further recommend to update the cam's firmware. I found smoother operation in ZM after having updated the firmware.
[bco]

[[Category:Cameras]]

FAQ

2010-08-30T05:37:54Z

Flasheart: /* Trouble Shooting */

== ZoneMinder Frequently Asked Questions ==

This is the new FAQ page. I will be migrating the existing FAQs here as soon as possible. In the meantime the old FAQ page is available [http://www.zoneminder.com/faq.html here].

Feel free to contribute any FAQs that you think are missing.

===How can I stop ZoneMinder filling up my disk?===

Recent versions of ZoneMinder come with a filter you can use for this purpose already included. However '''by default it is not enabled for event deletion'''.

The filter is called ''PurgeWhenFull'' and to find it, choose one of the event counts from the console page, for instance events in the last hour, for one of your monitors.

This will bring up an event listing and a filter window.

In the filter window there is a drop down select box labeled 'Use Filter', that lets your select a saved filter. Select 'PurgeWhenFull' and it will load that filter.

Make any modifications you might want, such as the percentage full you want it to kick in, or how many events to delete at a time (it will repeat the filter as many times as needed to clear the space, but will only delete this many events each time to get there).

Then click on 'Save' which will bring up a new window. Make sure the 'Automatically delete' box is checked and press save to save your filter. This will then run in the background to keep your disk within those limits.

After you've done that, you changes will automatically be loaded into zmfilter within a few minutes.

Check the <tt>zmfilter.log</tt> file to make sure it is running as sometimes missing perl modules mean that it never runs but people don't always realize.

There are two methods for ZM to remove files when they are deleted that can be found in Options under the System tab ZM_OPT_FAST_DELETE and ZM_RUN_AUDIT.

ZM_OPT_FAST_DELETE:

Normally an event created as the result of an alarm consists of entries in one or more database tables plus the various files associated with it. When deleting events in the browser it can take a long time to remove all of this if your are trying to do a lot of events at once. It is recommended that you set this option which means that the browser client only deletes the key entries in the events table, which means the events will no longer appear in the listing, and leaves the zmaudit daemon to clear up the rest later.

ZM_RUN_AUDIT:

The zmaudit daemon exists to check that the saved information in the database and on the file system match and are consistent with each other. If an error occurs or if you are using 'fast deletes' it may be that database records are deleted but files remain. In this case, and similar, zmaudit will remove redundant information to synchronize the two data stores. This option controls whether zmaudit is run in the background and performs these checks and fixes continuously. This is recommended for most systems however if you have a very large number of events the process of scanning the database and file system may take a long time and impact performance. In this case you may prefer to not have zmaudit running unconditionally and schedule occasional checks at other, more convenient, times.

ZM_AUDIT_CHECK_INTERVAL:

The zmaudit daemon exists to check that the saved information in the database and on the files system match and are consistent with each other. If an error occurs or if you are using 'fast deletes' it may be that database records are deleted but files remain. In this case, and similar, zmaudit will remove redundant information to synchronize the two data stores. The default check interval of 900 seconds (15 minutes) is fine for most systems however if you have a very large number of events the process of scanning the database and file system may take a long time and impact performance. In this case you may prefer to make this interval much larger to reduce the impact on your system. This option determines how often these checks are performed.

===What does a 'Can't shmget: Invalid argument' error in my logs mean? and my cameras won't display video at higher resolutions.===

This error is discussed in the README in the following excerpt:-
''...this is caused by an attempt to allocate an amount of shared memory greater than your system can handle. The size it requests is based on the following formula, ring buffer size x image width x image height x 3 (for 24 bit images) + a bit of overhead.

So, for example:
<pre>384x288 capture resolution, that makes: 110 592 pixels
in 24 bit color that's x24 = 2 654 208 bits per frame
by 80 frames ring buffer x80 = 212 336 640 bits per camera
by 4 cameras x4 = 849 346 560 bits.
Plus 10% overhead = 934 281 216 bits
That's 116 785 152 bytes, and
= 114 048 kB, respectively 111.38 MB.
If my shared memory is set to 134 217 728, which is exactly 128MB,
that means I shouldn't have any problem.
(Note that 1 byte = 8 bits and 1kbyte = 1024bytes, 1MB = 1024 kB)</pre>

If for instance you were using 24bit 640x480 then this would come to about 92Mb if you are using the default buffer size of 100. If this is too large then you can either reduce the image or buffer sizes or increase the maximum amount of shared memory available. If you are using RedHat then you can get details on how to change these settings at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/database/RHDB-2.1-Manual/admin_user/kernel-resources.html .

You should be able to use a similar procedure with other distributions to modify the shared memory pool without kernel recompilations though in some cases this may be necessary. Note, this error also sometimes occurs if you have an old shared memory segment lying around from a previous run that is too small. Use the ipcs and ipcrm system commands to check and remove it if necessary.'"

You can often find out how much shared memory is available by typing the following :-
<pre>cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall</pre>

and the most you can allocate in one go :-
<pre>cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax</pre>

To change these values type (for example) :-
<pre>echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmall
echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax</pre>

'''Be sure to restart ZoneMinder after this.'''
However be aware that sometimes you will only need to change the shmmax value as shmall is often large enough. Also changing these values in this way is only effective until your machine is rebooted.

To change them permanently you will need to edit <tt>/etc/sysctl.conf</tt> and add the following lines (for example) :-
<pre>kernel.shmall = 134217728
kernel.shmmax = 134217728</pre>

To load these settings in the sysctl.conf file type:
<pre>sysctl -p</pre>

To check your shared memory settings type:
<pre>ipcs -l</pre>

Note that with Megapixel cameras like the Axis 207mw becoming cheaper and more attractive, the above memory settings are not adequate. To get Zoneminder working with a full 1280x1024 resolution camera in full colour, increase 134217728 to, for example, 268424446

These changes will now also be set the next time your machine is restarted.

Versions 1.24.x of ZoneMinder also allows you to use an alternate method of shared memory allocation, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmap mapped memory]. This requires less configuration and can be simpler to use. Mapped memory allows you to use a special type of file as the placeholder for your memory and this file is 'mapped' into memory space for easy and fast access.

To enable mapped memory in ZoneMinder you need add add the --enable--mmap=yes switch to your configure line. By default mapped memory files are created in /dev/shm which on most distributions is a dedicated pseudo-partition containing memory formatted as a filesystem. If your system uses a different path then this can be changed in ZoneMinder in Options->paths->PATH_MAP. It uses a filesystem type called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmpfs tmpfs]. If you type 'df' you should see this area and the size of memory it currently allows. It is important that you do not use a disk based filesystem for your memory mapped files as this will cause memory access to be extremely slow. ZoneMinder creates files called .zm.mmap.<monitor id> in the mapped memory filesystem.

Mapped memory is subject to the same limitations in terms of total memory as using more traditional shared memory but does not require any configuration per allocation or chunk. In future versions of ZoneMinder this will be the default shared memory storage method.

<div id="AlternateSharedMemory" style="width:80%; border:2px solid #8a8588; background:#faf5ff; vertical-align:top; margin-top: 6px; padding: 4px;">
Another good article about shared memory settings http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.uprun.doc/doc/t0008238.htm .
It made a statement that conflicted with those in the Redhat article but they fixed a [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9692 long standing memory issue on FC6], so give them a try.

'''The essential difference was that the kernel.shmall setting is NOT in a direct memory setting in KB but in pages of memory. it is Max Pages of memory'''

'''For example:''' If you want to allocate a maximum memory setting to 8GB you have to convert it to the number of pages (or segments).
with a page size of 4096.
*kernel.shmall=8000x1024x1024/4096
**kernel.shmall=2048000
NOT 8388608000 as would be suggested in the RedHat article linked above.

shmmax is the max amount to allocate in one request -
this is is an actual memory size (as opposed to pages) set to 4GB
*kernel.shmmax = 4194304000

The <tt>/etc/sysctl.conf</tt> would have these lines<pre>kernel.shmall=2048000
kernel.shmmax = 4194304000</pre>

As above, reload your sysctl.conf with <tt>sysctl -p</tt> and check that the settings are correct with <tt>ipcs -l</tt>.
</div>

===I have enabled motion detection but it is not always being triggered when things happen in the camera view===

ZoneMinder uses zones to examine images for motion detection. When you create the initial zones you can choose from a number of preset values for sensitivity etc. Whilst these are usually a good starting point they are not always suitable for all situations and you will probably need to tweak the values for your specific circumstances. The meanings of the various settings are described in the documentation (http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Documentation#Defining_Zones) however if you believe you have sensible settings configured then there are two diagnostic approaches you can use.

====Event Statistics====
The first technique is to use event statistics. Firstly you should ensure they are switched on in Options->Debug->ZM_RECORD_EVENT_STATS. This will then cause the raw motion detection statistics for any subsequently generated events to be written to the DB. These can then be accessed by first clicking on the Frames or Alarm Frames values of the event from any event list view in the web gui. Then click on the score value to see the actual values that caused the event. Alternatively the stats can be accessed by clicking on the 'Stats' link when viewing any individual frame. The values displayed there correspond with the values that are used in the zone configuration and give you an idea of what 'real world' values are being generated.

Note that if you are investigating why events 'do not' happen then these will not be saved and so won't be accessible. The best thing to do in that circumstance is to make your zone more sensitive so that it captures all events (perhap even ones you don't want) so you can get an idea of what values are being generated and then start to adjust back to less sensitive settings if necessary. You should make sure you test your settings under a variety of lighting conditions (e.g. day and night, sunny or dull) to get the best feel for that works and what doesn't.

Using statistics will slow your system down to a small degree and use a little extra disk space in the DB so once you are happy you can switch them off again. However it is perfectly feasible to keep them permanently on if your system is able to cope which will allow you to review your setting periodically.

====Diagnostic Images====
The second approach is to use diagnostic images which are saved copies of the intermediate images that ZM uses when determining motion detection. These are switched on and off using Options->Debug->ZM_RECORD_DIAG_IMAGES.

There are two kinds of diagnostic images which are and are written (and continuously overwritten) to the top level monitor event directory. If an event occurs then the files are additionally copied to the event directory and renamed with the appropriate frame number as a prefix.

The first set are produced by the monitor on the image as a whole. The diag-r.jpg image is the current reference image against which all individual frames are compared and the diag-d.jpg image is the delta image highlighting the difference between the reference image and the last analysed image. In this images identicial pixels will be black and the more different a pixel is the whiter it will be. Viewing this image and determining the colour of the pixels is a good way of getting a feel for the pixel differences you might expect (often more than you think).

The second set of diag images are labelled as diag-<zoneid>-<stage>.jpg where zoneid is the id of the zone in question (Smile) and the stage is where in the alarm check process the image is generated from. So if you have several zones you can expect to see multiple files. Also these files are only interested in what is happening in their zone only and will ignore anything else outside of the zone. The stages that each number represents are as follows,

# Alarmed Pixels - This image shows all pixels in the zone that are considered to be alarmed as white pixels and all other pixels as black.
# Filtered Pixels - This is as stage one except that all pixels removed by the filters are now black. The white pixels represent the pixels that are candidates to generate an event.
# Raw Blobs - This image contains all alarmed pixels from stage 2 but aggrageted into blobs. Each blob will have a different greyscale value (between 1 and 254) so they can be difficult to spot with the naked eye but using a colour picker or photoshop will make it easier to see what blob is what.
# Filtered Blobs - This image is as stage 3 but under (or over) sized blobs have been removed. This is the final step before determining if an event has occurred, just prior to the number of blobs being counted. Thus this image forms the basis for determining whether an event is generated and outlining on alarmed images is done from the blobs in this image.

Using the above images you should be able to tell at all stages what ZM is doing to determine if an event should happen or not. They are useful diagnostic tools but as is mentioned elsewhere they will massively slow your system down and take up a great deal more space. You should never leave ZM running for any length of time with diagnostic images on.

===Why can't ZoneMinder capture images (either at all or just particularly fast) when I can see my camera just fine in xawtv or similar?===

With capture cards ZoneMinder will pull images as fast as it possibly can unless limited by configuration. ZoneMinder (and any similar application) uses the frame grabber interface to copy frames from video memory into user memory. This takes some time, plus if you have several inputs sharing one capture chip it has to switch between inputs between captures which further slows things down.

On average a card that can capture at 25fps per chip PAL for one input will do maybe 6-10fps for two, 1-4fps for three and 1-2 for four. For a 30fps NTSC chip the figures will be correspondingly higher. However sometimes it is necessary to slow down capture even further as after an input switch it may take a short while for the new image to settle before it can be captured without corruption.

When using xawtv etc to view the stream you are not looking at an image captured using the frame grabber but the card's video memory mapped onto your screen. This requires no capture or processing unless you do an explicit capture via the J or ctrl-J keys for instance. Some cards or drivers do not support the frame grabber interface at all so may not work with ZoneMinder even though you can view the stream in xawtv. If you can grab a still using the grab functionality of xawtv then in general your card will work with ZoneMinder.

===Why can't I see streamed images when I can see stills in the Zone window etc?===

This issue is normally down to one of two causes

1) You are using Internet Explorer and are trying to view multi-part jpeg streams. IE does not support these streams directly, unlike most other browsers. You will need to install Cambozola or another multi-part jpeg aware pluging to view them. To do this you will need to obtain the applet from the Downloads page and install the cambozola.jar file in the same directly as the ZoneMinder php files. Then find the ZoneMinder Options->Images page and enable ZM_OPT_CAMBOZOLA and enter the web path to the .jar file in ZM_PATH_CAMBOZOLA. This will ordinarily just be cambozola.jar. Provided ZM_CAN_STREAM is set to auto and ZM_STREAM_METHOD is set to jpeg then Cambozola should be loaded next time you try and view a stream.

'''NOTE''': If you find that the Cambozola applet loads in IE but the applet just displays the version # of Cambozola and the author's name (as opposed to seeing the streaming images), you may need to chmod your cambozola.jar:

$ sudo chmod 775 cambozola.jar

Once I did this, images started to stream for me.

2) The other common cause for being unable to view streams is that you have installed the ZoneMinder cgi binaries (zms and nph-zms) in a different directory than your web server is expecting. Make sure that the --with-cgidir option you use to the ZoneMinder configure script is the same as the CGI directory configure for your web server. If you are using Apache, which is the most common one, then in your httpd.conf file there should be a line like <pre>ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/cgi-bin/"</pre> where the last directory in the quotes is the one you have specified. If not then change one or the other to match. Be warned that configuring apache can be complex so changing the one passed to the ZoneMinder configure (and then rebuilding and reinstalling) is recommended in the first instance. If you change the apache config you will need to restart apache for the changes to take effect. If you still cannot see stream reliably then try changing Options->Paths->ZM_PATH_ZMS to just use zms if nph-zms is specified, or vice versa. Also check in your apache error logs.

===I have several monitors configured but when I load the Montage view in FireFox why can I only see two? or, Why don't all my cameras display when I use the Montage view in FireFox?===

By default FireFox only supports a small number of simultaneous connections. Using the montage view usually requires one persistent connection for each camera plus intermittent connections for other information such as statuses.

You will need to increase the number of allowed connections to use the montage view with more than a small number of cameras. Certain FireFox extensions such as FasterFox may also help to achieve the same result.

To resolve this situation, follow the instructions below:

<pre>Enter about:config in the address bar

scroll down to
browser.cache.check_doc_frequency 3
change the 3 to a 1

browser.cache.disk.enable True -> False
network.http.max-connections-per-server -> put a value of 100
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy -> 100 again
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server -> 100 again
</pre>

===Why is ZoneMinder using so much CPU?===

The various elements of ZoneMinder can be involved in some pretty intensive activity, especially while analysing images for motion. However generally this should not overwhelm your machine unless it is very old or underpowered.

There are a number of specific reasons why processor loads can be high either by design or by accident. To figure out exactly what is causing it in your circumstances requires a bit of experimentation.

The main causes are.

# Using a video palette other than greyscale or RGB24. This can cause a relatively minor performace hit, though still significant. Although some cameras and cards require using planar palettes ZM currently doesn't support this format internally and each frame is converted to an RGB representation prior to processing. Unless you have compelling reasons for using YUV or reduced RGB type palettes such as hitting USB transfer limits I would experiment to see if RGB24 or greyscale is quicker. Put your monitors into 'Monitor' mode so that only the capture daemons are running and monitor the process load of these (the 'zmc' processes) using top. Try it with various palettes to see if it makes a difference.
# Big image sizes. A image of 640x480 requires at least four times the processing of a 320x240 image. Experiment with different sizes to see what effect it may have. Sometimes a large image is just two interlaced smaller frames so has no real benefit anyway. This is especially true for analog cameras/cards as image height over 320 (NTSC) or 352 PAL) are invariably interlaced.
# Capture frame rates. Unless there's a compelling reason in your case there is often little benefit in running cameras at 25fps when 5-10fps would often get you results just as good. Try changing your monitor settings to limit your cameras to lower frame rates. You can still configure ZM to ignore these limits and capture as fast as possible when motion is detected.
# Run function. Obviously running in Record or Mocord modes or in Modect with lots of events generates a lot of DB and file activity and so CPU and load will increase.
# Basic default detection zones. By default when a camera is added one detection zone is added which covers the whole image with a default set of parameters. If your camera covers a view in which various regions are unlikely to generate a valid alarm (ie the sky) then I would experiment with reducing the zone sizes or adding inactive zones to blank out areas you don't want to monitor. Additionally the actual settings of the zone themselves may not be optimal. When doing motion detection the number of changed pixels above a threshold is examined, then this is filter, then contiguous regions are calculated to see if an alarm is generated. If any maximum or minimum threshold is exceeded according to your zone settings at any time the calculation stops. If your settings always result in the calculations going through to the last stage before being failed then additional CPU time is used unnecessarily. Make sure your maximum and minimumzone thresholds are set to sensible values and experiment by switching RECORD_EVENT_STATS on and seeing what the actual values of alarmed pixels etc are during sample events.
# Optimise your settings. After you've got some settings you're happy with then switching off RECORD_EVENT_STATS will prevent the statistics being written to the database which saves some time. Other settings which might make a difference are ZM_FAST_RGB_DIFFS, ZM_OPT_FRAME_SERVER and the JPEG_xxx_QUALITY ones.

I'm sure there are other things which might make a difference such as what else you have running on the box and memory sizes (make sure there's no swapping going on). Also speed of disk etc will make some difference during event capture and also if you are watching the whole time then you may have a bunch of zms processes running also.

I think the biggest factors are image size, colour depth and capture rate. Having said that I also don't always know why you get certains results from 'top'. For instance if I have a 'zma' daemon running for a monitor that is capturing an image. I've commented out the actual analysis so all it's doing is blending the image with the previous one. In colour mode this takes ~11 milliseconds per frame on my system and the camera is capturing at ~10fps. Using 'top' this reports the process as using ~5% of CPU and permanently in R(un) state. Changing to greyscale mode the blending takes ~4msec (as you would expect as this is roughly a third of 11) but top reports the process as now with 0% CPU and permanently in S(leep) state. So an actual CPU resource usage change of a factor of 3 causes huge differences in reported CPU usage. I have yet to get to the bottom of this but I suspect it's to do with scheduling somewhere along the line and that maybe the greyscale processing will fit into one scheduling time slice whereas the colour one won't but I have no evidence of this yet!

===Why is the timeline view all messed up?===

The timeline view is a new view allowing you to see a graph of alarm activity over time and to quickly scan and home in on events of interest. However this feature is highly complex and still in beta. It is based extensively on HTML div tags, sometimes lots of them. Whilst FireFox is able to render this view successfully other browsers, particular Internet Explorer do not seem able to cope and so present a messed up view, either always or when there are a lot of events.
Using the timeline view is only recommended when using FireFox, however even then there may be issues.

===How much Hard Disk Space / Bandwidth do I need for ZM?===
Please see [http://www.jpwilson.eu/ZM_Utils/ZM%20storage%20calc%20sheet.xls Storage Calc] in excel format

Or go to [http://www.axis.com/products/video/design_tool/index.htm this link] for the Axis bandwidth calculator. Although this is aimed at Axis cameras it still produces valid results for any kind of IP camera.

As a quick guide I have 4 cameras at 320x240 storing 1 fps except during alarm events. After 1 week 60GB of space in the volume where the events are stored (/var/www/html/zm) has been used.

===When I try and run ZoneMinder I get lots of audit permission errors in the logs and it won't start===
Many Linux distributions nowadays are built with security in mind. One of the latest methods of achieving this is via SELinux (Secure Linux) which controls who is able to run what in a more precise way then traditional accounting and file based permissions ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinux]).
If you are seeing entries in your system log like:

Jun 11 20:44:02 kernel: audit(1150033442.443:226): avc: denied { read } for pid=5068
comm="uptime" name="utmp" dev=dm-0 ino=16908345 scontext=user_u:system_r:httpd_sys_script_t
tcontext=user_u:object_r:initrc_var_run_t tclass=file

then it is likely that your system has SELinux enabled and it is preventing ZoneMinder from performaing certain activities. You then have two choices. You can either tune SELinux to permit the required operations or you can disable SELinux entirely which will permit ZoneMinder to run unhindered. Disabling SELinux is usually performed by editing it's configuration file (e.g., <tt>/etc/selinux/config</tt>) and then rebooting. However if you run a public server you should read up on the risks associated with disabled Secure Linux before disabling it.

Note that SELinux may cause errors other than those listed above. If you are in any doubt then it can be worth disabling SELinux experimentally to see if it fixes your problem before trying other solutions.

=== How do I enable ZoneMinder's security? ===
In the console, click on Options. Check the box next to "ZM_OPT_USE_AUTH". You will immediately be asked to login. The username is 'admin' and the password is 'admin'.

'''To Manage Users:'''<br>
In main console, go to '''Options->Users'''.

* You may also consider to use the web server security, for example, htaccess files under Apache scope; You may even use this as an additional/redundant security on top of Zoneminders built-in security features;

=== Why does ZM stop recording once I have 32000 events for my monitor? ===
This is a limitation of the ext3 filesystem that most Linux distributions use. One directory cannot hold more than 32k approx files.

Version of ZM from 1.23.0 onwards allow you to have a deeper filesystem with fewer files per individual directory. As well as not being susceptible to the 32k limit this is also somewhat faster. However it is relatively and although few issues have been reported thus far it should be considered in beta for now. Also, it is currently not possible to migrate saved events between the different storage formats so is only suitable for new installations or if you do not mind losing saved events.

So if you do not want to use the deeper filesystem option
(Options->Paths->ZM_USE_DEEP_STORAGE), for now you have to reduce the
number of events or store your images (e.g. /var/lib/zoneminder) on a
partition that uses a different filesystem such as ext4 or reiserfs.

You can read about the lack of a limit in the number of
sub-directories in the ext4 filesystem at:
http://kernelnewbies.org/Ext4
and see what tools may assist in your use of this filesystem in:
http://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto
Note that while GParted 0.5.2 recognizes ext4 partitions, at least in
some circumstances it does not succeed in formatting a partition for
the ext4 filesystem. Also, if you search for ext3 or reiserfs on the
forums you will find various threads on this issue with guidance on
how to convert.

== Managing system load ''(with IP Cameras in mind)'' ==

=== Introduction ===
Zoneminder is a superb application in every way, but it does a job that needs a lot of horsepower especially when using multiple IP cameras. IP Cams require an extra level of processing to analogue cards as the jpg or mjpeg images need to be decoded before analysing. This needs grunt. If you have lots of cameras, you need lots of grunt.

Why do ZM need so much grunt?
Think what Zoneminder is actually doing. In modect mode ZM is:
1. Fetching a jpeg from the camera. (Either in single part or multipart stream)
2. Decoding the jpeg image.
3. Comparing the zoned selections to the previous image or images and applying rules.
4. If in alarm state, writing that image to the disk and updating the mysql database.

If you're capturing at five frames per second, the above is repeated five times every second, multiplied by the number of cameras. Decoding the images is what takes the real power from the processor and this is the main reason why analogue cameras which present an image ready-decoded in memory take less work.

=== How do I know if my computer is overloaded? ===
If your CPU is running at 100% all the time, it's probably overloaded (or running at exact optimisation). If the load is consistently high (over 10.0 for a single processor) then Bad Things happen - like lost frames, unrecorded events etc. Occasional peaks are fine, normal and nothing to worry about.

Zoneminder runs on Linux, Linux measures system load using "load", which is complicated but gives a rough guide on what the computer is doing at any given time. Zoneminder shows Load on the main page (top right) as well as disk space. Typing "uptime" on the command line will give a similar guide, but with three figures to give a fuller measure of what's happening over a period of time but for the best guide to see what's happening, install "htop" - which gives easy to read graphs for load, memory and cpu usage.

A load of 1.0 means the processor has "just enough to do right now". Also worth noting that a load of 4.0 means exactly the same for a quad processor machine - each number equals a single processor's workload. A very high load can be fine on a computer that has a stacked workload - such as a machine sending out bulk emails, or working its way through a knotty problem; it'll just keep churning away until it's done. However - Zoneminder needs to process information in real time so it can't afford to stack its jobs, it needs to deal with them right away.

For a better and full explanation of Load: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_%28computing%29

=== My load is too high, how can I reduce it? ===
Zoneminder is /very/ tweakable and it's possible to tune it to compromise. The following are good things to try, in no particular order;

Change the jpeg libraries. In most distributions Linux uses standard jpeg libraries which although fine for most things, don't use the MMX functions in nearly all modern processors. Check whether your cpu supports mmx by running "cpuid |grep MMX" which should give you a line or two along the lines of "MMX instructions". If so, give the libs a try. Most people report their load halves simply by using these libs. http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6419 gives more info. Nobody's posted there to say it broke their system... Yet.

If your camera allows you to change image size, think whether you can get away with smaller images. Smaller pics = less load. 320x240 is usually ok for close-up corridor shots.

Go Black and White. Colour pictures use twice to three times the CPU, memory and diskspace but give little benefit to identification.

Reduce frames per second. Halve the fps, halve the workload. If your camera supports fps throttling (Axis do), try that - saves ZM having to drop frames from a stream. 2-5 fps seems to be widely used.

Experiment with using jpeg instead of mjpeg. Some users have reported it gives better performance, but YMMV.

Tweak the zones. Keep them as small and as few as possible. Stick to one zone unless you really need more.

Schedule. If you are running a linux system at near capacity, you'll need to think carefully about things like backups and scheduled tasks. updatedb - the process which maintains a file database so that 'locate' works quickly, is normally scheduled to run once a day and if on a busy system can create a heavy increase on the load. The same is true for scheduled backups, especially those which compress the files. Re-schedule these tasks to a time when the cpu is less likely to be busy, if possible - and also use the "nice" command to reduce their priority. (crontab and /etc/cron.daily/ are good places to start)

Reduce clutter on your PC. Don't run X unless you really need it, the GUI is a huge overhead in both memory and cpu.

More expensive options:

Increase RAM. If your system is having to use disk swap it will HUGELY impact performance in all areas. Again, htop is a good monitor - but first you need to understand that because Linux is using all the memory, it doesn't mean it needs it all - linux handles ram very differently to Windows/DOS and caches stuff. htop will show cached ram as a different colour in the memory graph. Also check that you're actually using a high memory capable kernel - many kernels don't enable high memory by default.

Faster CPU. Simple but effective. Zoneminder also works very well with multiple processor systems out of the box (if SMP is enabled in your kernel). The load of different cameras is spread across the processors.

=== What about disks and bandwidth? ===

In most modern pc-based servers, disk I/O is more than adequate for the speeds involved in capturing from multiple cameras in most scenarios.

A typical 100mbit LAN will cope with most setups easily. If you're feeding from cameras over smaller or internet links, obviously fps will be much lower.

Disk and Bandwidth calculators are referenced on the Zoneminder wiki here: http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F

== Building ZoneMinder ==

===I cannot build ZoneMinder and am getting lots of undefined C++ template errors===

This is almost certainly due to the 'ccache' package which attempts to speed up compilation by caching compiled objects. Unfortunately one of the side effects is that it breaks the GNU g++ template resolution method that ZoneMinder uses in building by prevent files getting recompiled. The simplest way around this is to remove the ccache package using your distros package manager.

=== How do I build for X10 support? ===

You do not need to rebuild ZM for X10 support. You will need to install the perl module and switch on X10 in the options, then restart. Installing the perl module is covered in the README amongst other places but in summary, do:

perl -MCPAN -eshell
install X10::ActiveHome
quit

== Extending ZoneMinder ==

=== How can I get ZM to do different things at different times of day or week? ===
If you want to configure ZoneMinder to do motion detection during the day and just record at night, for example, you will need to use ZoneMinder 'run states'. A run state is a particular configuration of monitor functions that you want to use at any time.

To save a run state you should first configure your monitors for Modect, Record, Monitor etc as you would want them during one of the times of day. Then click on the running state link at the top of the Console view. This will usually say 'Running' or 'Stopped'. You will then be able to save the current state and give it a name, 'Daytime' for example. Now configure your monitors how you would want them during other times of day and save that, for instance as 'Nighttime'.

Now you can switch between these two states by selecting them from the same dialog you saved them, or from the command line from issue the command ''zmpkg.pl <run state>'', for example ''zmpkg.pl Daytime''.

The final step you need to take, is scheduling the time the changes take effect. For this you can use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron cron]. A simple entry to change to the Daylight state at at 8am and to the nighttime state at 8pm would be as follows,
<pre>0 8 * * * /usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl Daytime
0 20 * * * /usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl Nighttime</pre>

On Ubuntu 7.04 and possibly others, look in /usr/bin not just /usr/local/bin for the zmpkg.pl file.

Although the example above describes changing states at different times of day, the same principle can equally be applied to days of the week or other more arbitrary periods.

For an alternative method of time controlling ZoneMinder, forum user 'voronwe' has created a more interactive calendar style integration. Details of this can be found in this [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6519 forum thread]. If you would like to find out more about this contribution please post on this thread.

=== How can I use ZoneMinder to trigger something else when there is an alarm? ===
ZoneMinder includes a perl API which means you can create a script to interact with the ZM shared memory data and use it in your own scripts to react to ZM alarms or to trigger ZM to generate new alarms. Full details are in the README or by doing 'perdoc ZoneMinder', 'perldoc ZoneMinder::SharedMem' etc.
Below is an example script that checks all monitors for alarms and when one occurs, prints a message to the screen. You can add in your own code to make this reaction a little more useful.

<pre>#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

use ZoneMinder;

$| = 1;

zmDbgInit( "myscript", level=>0, to_log=>0, to_syslog=>0, to_term=>1 );

my $dbh = DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:database=".ZM_DB_NAME.";host=".ZM_DB_HOST, ZM_DB_USER, ZM_DB_PASS );

my $sql = "select M.*, max(E.Id) as LastEventId from Monitors as M left join Events as E on M.Id = E.MonitorId where M.Function != 'None' group by (M.Id)";
my $sth = $dbh->prepare_cached( $sql ) or die( "Can't prepare '$sql': ".$dbh->errstr() );

my $res = $sth->execute() or die( "Can't execute '$sql': ".$sth->errstr() );
my @monitors;
while ( my $monitor = $sth->fetchrow_hashref() )
{
push( @monitors, $monitor );
}

while( 1 )
{
foreach my $monitor ( @monitors )
{
next if ( !zmMemVerify( $monitor ) );

if ( my $last_event_id = zmHasAlarmed( $monitor, $monitor->{LastEventId} ) )
{
$monitor->{LastEventId} = $last_event_id;
print( "Monitor ".$monitor->{Name}." has alarmed\n" );
#
# Do your stuff here
#
}
}
sleep( 1 );
}</pre>

==Trouble Shooting==
Here are some things that will help you track down whats wrong.
This is also how to obtain the info that we need to help you on the forums.

===What logs should I check for errors?===
ZoneMinder creates its own logs and are usually located in the <tt>/tmp</tt> directory.

The ZoneMinder logs for the RPM packages are located in <tt>/var/log/zm</tt>.

Depending on your problem errors can show up in any of these logs but, usually the logs of interest are <tt>zmdc.log</tt> and <tt>zmpkg.log</tt> if ZM is not able to start.

Now since ZM is dependent on other components to work, you might not find errors in ZM but in the other components.
Other logs of interest are:<tt>
*/var/log/messages and/or /var/log/syslog
*/var/log/dmesg
*/var/log/httpd/error_log</tt> (RedHat/Fedora) or <tt>/var/log/apache2/error_log
*/var/log/mysqld.log</tt> (Errors here don't happen very often but just in case)

If ZM is not functioning, you should always be able to find an error in at least one of these logs. Use the [[tail]] command to get info from the logs. This can be done like so:

tail -f /var/log/messages /var/log/httpd/error_log /var/log/zm/zm*.log

This will append any data entered to any of these logs to your console screen (<tt>-f</tt>). To exit, hit [ctrl -c].

More verbose logging for the ZoneMinder binaries is available by enabling the debug option from the control panel and will be placed in the path you have configured for the debug logs. Output can be limited to a specific binary as described in the Debug options page under the "?" marks.

===How can I trouble shoot the hardware and/or software?===
Here are some commands to get information about your hardware. Some commands are distribution dependent.
* <tt>[[lspci]] -vv</tt> -- Returns lots of detailed info. Check for conflicting interrupts or port assignments. You can sometimes alter interrupts/ ports in bios. Try a different pci slot to get a clue if it is HW conflict (comand provided by the pciutils package).
* <tt>[[scanpci]] -v</tt> -- Gives you information from your hardware EPROM
* <tt>[[lsusb]] -vv</tt> -- Returns lots of detail about USB devices (camand provided by usbutils package).
* <tt>[[dmesg]]</tt> -- Shows you how your hardware initialized (or didn't) on boot-up. You will get the most use of this.
* <tt>[[v4l-info]]</tt> -- to see how driver is talking to card. look for unusual values.
* <tt>[[modinfo bttv]]</tt> -- some bttv driver stats.
* <tt>[[zmu]] -m 0 -q -v</tt> -- Returns various information regarding a monitor configuration.
* <tt>[[ipcs]] </tt> -- Provides information on the ipc facilities for which the calling process has read acccess.
* <tt>[[ipcrm]] </tt> -- The ipcrm command can be used to remove an IPC object from the kernel.
* <tt>cat /proc/interrupts</tt> -- This will dispaly what interrupts your hardware is using.

===Why is it that when monitoring a camera, the top portion of the image is cutoff and appears at the bottom of the image, with a line seperating the top from the bottom?===

=== Why am I getting a 403 access error with my web browser when trying to access http //localhost/zm? ===

The apache web server needs to have the right permissions and configuration to be able to read the Zoneminder files. Check the forums for solution, and edit the apache configuration and change directory permissions to give apache the right to read the Zoneminder files. Depending on your Zoneminder configuration, you would use the zm user and group that Zoneminder was built with, such as wwwuser and www.

=== Why am I getting broken images when trying to view events? ===

Zoneminder and the Apache web server need to have the right permissions. Check this forum topic and similar ones:
http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=48754#48754

===Why is the image from my color camera appearing in black and white?===
This may occur if you have a NTSC analog camera but have configured the source in ZoneMinder as PAL for the Device Format under the source tab. You may also be mislead because zmu can report the video port as being PAL when the camera is actually NTSC. Confirm the format of your analog camera by checking it's technical specifications, possibly found with the packaging it came in, on the manufacturers website, or even on the retail website where you purchased the camera. Change the Device Format setting to NTSC and set it to the lowest resolution of 320 x 240. If you have confirmed that the camera itself is NTSC format, but don't get a picture using the NTSC setting, consider increasing the shared memory '''kernel.shmall''' and '''kernel.shmmax''' settings in /etc/sysctl.conf to a larger value such as 268435456. This is also the reason you should start with the 320x240 resolution, so as to minimize the potential of memory problems which would interfere with your attempts to troubleshoot the device format issue. Once you have obtained a picture in the monitor using the NTSC format, then you can experiment with raising the resolution.

===Why do I only see blue screens with a timestamp when monitoring my camera?===
If this camera is attached to a capture card, then you may have selected the wrong Device Source or Channel when configuring the monitor in the ZoneMinder console. If you have a capture card with 2 D-sub style inputs(looks like a VGA port) to which you attach a provided splitter that splits off multiple cables, then the splitter may be attached to the wrong port. For example, PV-149 capture cards have two D-sub style ports labeled as DB1 and DB2, and come packaged with a connector for one of these ports that splits into 4 BNC connecters. The initial four video ports are available with the splitter attached to DB1.

===Why do I only see black screens with a timestamp when monitoring my camera?===
In the monitor windows where you see the black screen with a timestamp, select settings and enter the Brightness, Contrast, Hue, and Color settings reported for the device by '''zmu -d <device_path> -q -v'''. 32768 may be appropriate values to try for these settings. After saving the settings, select Settings again to confirm they saved successfully.

===I am getting messages about a backtrace in my logs, what do I do?===
If you are seeing entries in your log like the following
<pre>Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6 [0x3347230210]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6(memset+0xce) [0x334727684e]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x40ee9a]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x419946]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x4213cf]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma(cos+0x35c) [0x404674]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf4) [0x334721da44]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma(cos+0xd1) [0x4043e9]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: INF [Backtrace complete]</pre>
then you can help diagnose the problem by running a special command to translate the hex addresses into helpful information. This command is called addr2line and you can type 'man addr2line' for more information.
Basically addr2line takes two sets of parameters, the first is the name of the binary file, and the second is a list of addresses. Both of these pieces of information are displayed in the logs. The filename is the first part after the 'Backtrace:' tag, in this case /usr/local/bin/zma, though it may well be different in your case. Some of the lines refer to libraries rather than the zma executable but those can be ignored for now, the important part is noting which ZM binary is involved. The binary file is passed in following the -e flag. The addresses to pass to addr2line are those contained in the '[]' pairs. Again you can ignore those that are on a line that refers to a library but it will not hurt if you include them.
So in the example above, the command would be <pre>addr2line -e /usr/local/bin/zma 0x40ee9a 0x419946 0x4213cf 0x404674 0x4043e9</pre>
This should then dump out a more symbolic list containing source file names and line numbers, and it is this information which will be helpful if posted to the forums. Sometimes addr2line fails to produce useful output. This is usually because either the problem is so severe that it has corrupted the stack and prevented useful information from being displayed, or that you have either compiled ZM without the -g flag for debug, or you have stripped the binaries of symbol information after installation. This this case you would need to rebuild temporarily with debug enabled for the information to be useful.

===How do I repair the MySQL Database?===
There is two ways to go about this. In most cases you can run from the command prompt ->
* mysqlcheck --all-databases --auto-repair -p'''your_database_password''' -u '''your_databse_user'''

If that does not work then you will have to make sure that ZoneMinder is stopped then run the following (nothing should be using the database while running this and you will have to adjust for your correct path if it is different). ->
* myisamchk --silent --force --fast --update-state -O key_buffer=64M -O sort_buffer=64M -O read_buffer=1M -O write_buffer=1M /var/lib/mysql/*/*.MYI

===How do I repair the MySQL Database when the cli fails?===
In Ubuntu, the commands listed above do not seem to work. However, actually doing it by hand from within MySQL does. (But that is beyond the scope of this document) But that got me thinking... And phpmyadmin does work. Bring up a terminal.
sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

Now go to http://zoneminder_IP/ and stop the ZM service. Continue to http://zoneminder_IP/phpmyadmin and select the zoneminder database. Select and tables marked 'in use' and pick the action 'repare' to fix. Restart the zoneminder service from the web browser. Remove or disable the phpmyadmin tool, as it is not always the most secure thing around, and opens your database wide to any skilled hacker.
sudo apt-get remove phpmyadmin

===I upgraded by distribution and ZM stopped working===
Some possibilties (Incomplete list and subject to correction)
#[[/usr/local/bin/zmfix: /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.15: version `MYSQL_5.0' not found (required by /usr/local/bin/zmfix)]] :: Solution: Recompile and reinstall Zoneminder.
Any time you update a major version that ZoneMinder depends on, you need to recompile ZoneMinder.

===Zoneminder doesn't start automatically on boot===
Check the list for log entries like "zmfix[766]: ERR [Can't connect to server: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)] ".
What can happen is that zoneminder is started too quickly after Mysql and tries to contact the database server before it's ready. Zoneminder gets no answer and aborts.
August 2010 - Ubuntu upgrades seem to be leaving several systems in this state. One way around this is to add a delay to the zoneminder startup script allowing Mysql to finish starting.
"Simply adding 'sleep 15' in the line above 'zmfix -a' in the /etc/init.d/zoneminder file fixed my ZoneMinder startup problems!" - credit to Pada.

=== Remote Path setup for Panasonic and other Camera ===
On adding or editing the source you can select the preset link for the parameters for the specified camera . In version 1.23.3 presets for BTTV,Axis,Panasonic,GadSpot,VEO, and BlueNet are available . Selecting the presets ZM fills up the required value for the remote path variable

=== Why do I get repeated/ mixed/unstable/ blank monitors on bt878-like cards (a.k.a. PICO 2000) ===

Please have a check at [[Pico2000]];

===What causes "Invalid JPEG file structure: two SOI markers" from zmc (1.24.x)===

Some settings that used to be global only are now per camera. On the Monitor Source tab, if you are using Remote Protocol "HTTP" and Remote Method "Simple", try changing Remote Method to "Regexp".

== Miscellaneous ==
=== I see ZoneMinder is licensed under the GPL. What does that allow or restrict me in doing with ZoneMinder? ===

The ZoneMinder license is described at the end of the documentation and consists of the following section

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty
of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

This means that ZoneMinder is licensed under the terms described [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html here]. There is a comprehensive FAQ covering the GPL at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html but in essence you are allowed to redistribute or modify GPL licensed software provided that you release your distribution or modifications freely under the same terms. You are allowed to sell systems based on GPL software. You are not allowed to restrict or reduce the rights of GPL software in your distribution however. Of course if you are just making modifications for your system locally you are not releasing changes so you have no obligations in this case. I recommend reading the GPL FAQ for more in-depth coverage of this issue.

=== Can I use ZoneMinder as part of my commercial product? ===

The GPL license allows you produce systems based on GPL software provided your systems also adhere to that license and any modifications you make are also released under the same terms. The GPL does not permit you to include ZoneMinder in proprietary systems (see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem for details). If you wish to include ZoneMinder in this kind of system then you will need to license ZoneMinder under different terms. This is sometimes possible and you will need to contact me for further details in these circuumstances.

Talk:FAQ

2008-06-10T08:44:55Z

Flasheart:

Added this to FAQ

Note that with Megapixel cameras like the Axis 207mw becoming cheaper and more attractive, the above memory settings are not adequate. To get Zoneminder working with a full 1280x1024 resolution camera in full colour, increase 134217728 to, for example, 268424446

Since the supplied did not work for the bigger resolution. I'm not sure if there are any negative problems with increasing this value - I can only say it's working.

FAQ

2008-06-10T08:43:40Z

Flasheart: /* What does a 'Can't shmget: Invalid argument' error in my logs mean? and my cameras won't display video at higher resolutions. */

== ZoneMinder Frequently Asked Questions ==

This is the new FAQ page. I will be migrating the existing FAQs here as soon as possible. In the meantime the old FAQ page is available [http://www.zoneminder.com/faq.html here].

Feel free to contribute any FAQs that you think are missing.

===How can I stop ZoneMinder filling up my disk?===

Recent versions of ZoneMinder come with a filter you can use for this purpose already included. However '''by default it is not enabled for event deletion'''.

The filter is called ''PurgeWhenFull'' and to find it, choose one of the event counts from the console page, for instance events in the last hour, for one of your monitors.

This will bring up an event listing and a filter window.

In the filter window there is a dropdown select box labelled 'Use Filter', that lets your select a saved filter. Select 'PurgeWhenFull' and it will load that filter.

Make any modifications you might want, such as the percentage full you want it to kick in, or how many events to delete at a time (it will repeat the filter as many times as needed to clear the space, but will only delete this many events each time to get there).

Then click on 'Save' which will bring up a new window. Make sure the 'Automatically delete' box is checked and press save to save your filter. This will then run in the background to keep your disk within those limits.

After you've done that, you changes will automatically be loaded into zmfilter within a few minutes.

Check the <tt>zmfilter.log</tt> file to make sure it is running as sometimes missing perl modules mean that it nevers runs but people don't always realise.

===What does a 'Can't shmget: Invalid argument' error in my logs mean? and my cameras won't display video at higher resolutions.===

This error is discussed in the README in the following excerpt:-
''...this is caused by an attempt to allocate an amount of shared memory greater than your system can handle. The size it requests is based on the following formula, ring buffer size x image width x image height x 3 (for 24 bit images) + a bit of overhead.

So, for example:
<pre>384x288 capture resolution, that makes: 110 592 pixels
in 24 bit color that's x24 = 2 654 208 bits per frame
by 80 frames ring buffer x80 = 212 336 640 bits per camera
by 4 cameras x4 = 849 346 560 bits.
Plus 10% overhead = 934 281 216 bits
That's 116 785 152 bytes, and
= 114 048 kB, respectively 111.38 MB.
If my shared memory is set to 134 217 728, which is exactly 128MB,
that means I shouldn't have any problem.
(Note that 1 byte = 8 bits and 1kbyte = 1024bytes, 1MB = 1024 kB)</pre>

If for instance you were using 24bit 640x480 then this would come to about 92Mb if you are using the default buffer size of 100. If this is too large then you can either reduce the image or buffer sizes or increase the maximum amount of shared memory available. If you are using RedHat then you can get details on how to change these settings at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/database/RHDB-2.1-Manual/admin_user/kernel-resources.html .

You should be able to use a similar procedure with other distributions to modify the shared memory pool without kernel recompilations though in some cases this may be necessary. Note, this error also sometimes occurs if you have an old shared memory segment lying around from a previous run that is too small. Use the ipcs and ipcrm system commands to check and remove it if necessary.'"

You can often find out how much shared memory is available by typing the following :-
<pre>cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall</pre>

and the most you can allocate in one go :-
<pre>cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax</pre>

To change these values type (for example) :-
<pre>echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmall
echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax</pre>

'''Be sure to restart ZoneMinder after this.'''
However be aware that sometimes you will only need to change the shmmax value as shmall is often large enough. Also changing these values in this way is only effective until your machine is rebooted.

To change them permanently you will need to edit <tt>/etc/sysctl.conf</tt> and add the following lines (for example) :-
<pre>kernel.shmall = 134217728
kernel.shmmax = 134217728</pre>

To load these settings in the sysctl.conf file type:
<pre>sysctl -p</pre>

To check your shared memory settings type:
<pre>ipcs -l</pre>

Note that with Megapixel cameras like the Axis 207mw becoming cheaper and more attractive, the above memory settings are not adequate. To get Zoneminder working with a full 1280x1024 resolution camera in full colour, increase 134217728 to, for example, 268424446

These changes will now also be set the next time your machine is restarted.
<div id="AlternateSharedMemory" style="width:80%; border:2px solid #8a8588; background:#faf5ff; vertical-align:top;">
Another good article about shared memory settings http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.uprun.doc/doc/t0008238.htm .
It made a statement that conflicted with those in the Redhat article but they fixed a [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9692 long standing memory issue on FC6], so give them a try.

'''The essential difference was that the kernel.shmall setting is NOT in a direct memory setting in KB but in pages of memory. it is Max Pages of memory'''

'''For example:''' If you want to allocate a maximum memory setting to 8GB you have to convert it to the number of pages (or segments).
with a page size of 4096.
*kernel.shmall=8000x1024x1024/4096
**kernel.shmall=2048000
NOT 8388608000 as would be suggested in the RedHat article linked above.

shmmax is the max amount to allocate in one request -
this is is an actual memory size (as opposed to pages) set to 4GB
*kernel.shmmax = 4194304000

The <tt>/etc/sysctl.conf</tt> would have these lines<pre>kernel.shmall=2048000
kernel.shmmax = 4194304000</pre>

As above, reload your sysctl.conf with <tt>sysctl -p</tt> and check that the settings are correct with <tt>ipcs -l</tt>.
</div>

===I have enabled motion detection but it is not always being triggered when things happen in the camera view===

ZoneMinder uses zones to examine images for motion detection. When you create the initial zones you can choose from a number of preset values for sensitivity etc. Whilst these are usually a good starting point they are not always suitable for all situations and you will probably need to tweak the values for your specific circumstances. The meanings of the various settings are described in the documentation (http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Documentation#Defining_Zones) however if you believe you have sensible settings configured then there are two diagnostic approaches you can use.

====Event Statistics====
The first technique is to use event statistics. Firstly you should ensure they are switched on in Options->Debug->ZM_RECORD_EVENT_STATS. This will then cause the raw motion detection statistics for any subsequently generated events to be written to the DB. These can then be accessed by first clicking on the Frames or Alarm Frames values of the event from any event list view in the web gui. Then click on the score value to see the actual values that caused the event. Alternatively the stats can be accessed by clicking on the 'Stats' link when viewing any individual frame. The values displayed there correspond with the values that are used in the zone configuration and give you an idea of what 'real world' values are being generated.

Note that if you are investigating why events 'do not' happen then these will not be saved and so won't be accessible. The best thing to do in that circumstance is to make your zone more sensitive so that it captures all events (perhap even ones you don't want) so you can get an idea of what values are being generated and then start to adjust back to less sensitive settings if necessary. You should make sure you test your settings under a variety of lighting conditions (e.g. day and night, sunny or dull) to get the best feel for that works and what doesn't.

Using statistics will slow your system down to a small degree and use a little extra disk space in the DB so once you are happy you can switch them off again. However it is perfectly feasible to keep them permanently on if your system is able to cope which will allow you to review your setting periodically.

====Diagnostic Images====
The second approach is to use diagnostic images which are saved copies of the intermediate images that ZM uses when determining motion detection. These are switched on and off using Options->Debug->ZM_RECORD_DIAG_IMAGES.

There are two kinds of diagnostic images which are and are written (and continuously overwritten) to the top level monitor event directory. If an event occurs then the files are additionally copied to the event directory and renamed with the appropriate frame number as a prefix.

The first set are produced by the monitor on the image as a whole. The diag-r.jpg image is the current reference image against which all individual frames are compared and the diag-d.jpg image is the delta image highlighting the difference between the reference image and the last analysed image. In this images identicial pixels will be black and the more different a pixel is the whiter it will be. Viewing this image and determining the colour of the pixels is a good way of getting a feel for the pixel differences you might expect (often more than you think).

The second set of diag images are labelled as diag-<zoneid>-<stage>.jpg where zoneid is the id of the zone in question (Smile) and the stage is where in the alarm check process the image is generated from. So if you have several zones you can expect to see multiple files. Also these files are only interested in what is happening in their zone only and will ignore anything else outside of the zone. The stages that each number represents are as follows,

# Alarmed Pixels - This image shows all pixels in the zone that are considered to be alarmed as white pixels and all other pixels as black.
# Filtered Pixels - This is as stage one except that all pixels removed by the filters are now black. The white pixels represent the pixels that are candidates to generate an event.
# Raw Blobs - This image contains all alarmed pixels from stage 2 but aggrageted into blobs. Each blob will have a different greyscale value (between 1 and 254) so they can be difficult to spot with the naked eye but using a colour picker or photoshop will make it easier to see what blob is what.
# Filtered Blobs - This image is as stage 3 but under (or over) sized blobs have been removed. This is the final step before determining if an event has occurred, just prior to the number of blobs being counted. Thus this image forms the basis for determining whether an event is generated and outlining on alarmed images is done from the blobs in this image.

Using the above images you should be able to tell at all stages what ZM is doing to determine if an event should happen or not. They are useful diagnostic tools but as is mentioned elsewhere they will massively slow your system down and take up a great deal more space. You should never leave ZM running for any length of time with diagnostic images on.

===Why can't I see streamed images when I can see stills in the Zone window etc?===

This issue is normally down to one of two causes

1) You are using Internet Explorer and are trying to view multi-part jpeg streams. IE does not support these streams directly, unlike most other browsers. You will need to install Cambozola or another multi-part jpeg aware pluging to view them. To do this you will need to obtain the applet from the Downloads page and install the cambozola.jar file in the same directly as the ZoneMinder php files. Then find the ZoneMinder Options->Images page and enable ZM_OPT_CAMBOZOLA and enter the web path to the .jar file in ZM_PATH_CAMBOZOLA. This will ordinarily just be cambozola.jar. Provided ZM_CAN_STREAM is set to auto and ZM_STREAM_METHOD is set to jpeg then Cambozola should be loaded next time you try and view a stream.

'''NOTE''': If you find that the Cambozola applet loads in IE but the applet just displays the version # of Cambozola and the author's name (as opposed to seeing the streaming images), you may need to chmod your cambozola.jar:

$ sudo chmod 775 cambozola.jar

Once I did this, images started to stream for me.

2) The other common cause for being unable to view streams is that you have installed the ZoneMinder cgi binaries (zms and nph-zms) in a different directory than your web server is expecting. Make sure that the --with-cgidir option you use to the ZoneMinder configure script is the same as the CGI directory configure for your web server. If you are using Apache, which is the most common one, then in your httpd.conf file there should be a line like <pre>ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/cgi-bin/"</pre> where the last directory in the quotes is the one you have specified. If not then change one or the other to match. Be warned that configuring apache can be complex so changing the one passed to the ZoneMinder configure (and then rebuilding and reinstalling) is recommended in the first instance. If you change the apache config you will need to restart apache for the changes to take effect. If you still cannot see stream reliably then try changing Options->Paths->ZM_PATH_ZMS to just use zms if nph-zms is specified, or vice versa. Also check in your apache error logs.

===I have several monitors configured but when I load the Montage view in FireFox why can I only see two? or, Why don't all my cameras display when I use the Montage view in FireFox?===

By default FireFox only supports a small number of simultaneous connections. Using the montage view usually requires one persistent connection for each camera plus intermittent connections for other information such as statuses.

You will need to increase the number of allowed connections to use the montage view with more than a small number of cameras. Certain FireFox extensions such as FasterFox may also help to achieve the same result.

To resolve this situation, follow the instructions below:

<pre>Enter about:config in the address bar

scroll down to
browser.cache.check_doc_frequency 3
change the 3 to a 1

browser.cache.disk.enable True -> False
network.http.max-connections-per-server -> put a value of 100
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy -> 100 again
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server -> 100 again
</pre>

===Why is ZoneMinder using so much CPU?===

The various elements of ZoneMinder can be involved in some pretty intensive activity, especially while analysing images for motion. However generally this should not overwhelm your machine unless it is very old or underpowered.

There are a number of specific reasons why processor loads can be high either by design or by accident. To figure out exactly what is causing it in your circumstances requires a bit of expermentation.

The main causes are.

# Using a video palette other than greyscale or RGB24. This can cause a relatively minor performace hit, though still significant. Although some cameras and cards require using planar palettes ZM currently doesn't support this format internally (yet) and each frame is converted to an RGB representation prior to processing. Unless you have compelling reasons for using YUV or reduced RGB type palettes such as hitting USB transfer limits I would experiment to see if RGB24 or greyscale is quicker. Put your monitors into 'Monitor' mode so that only the capture daemons are running and monitor the process load of these (the 'zmc' processes) using top. Try it with various palettes to see if it makes a difference.
# Big image sizes. A image of 640x480 requires at least four times the processing of a 320x240 image. Experiment with different sizes to see what effect it may have. Sometimes a large image is just two interlaced smaller frames so has no real benefit anyway.
# Capture frame rates. Unless there's a compelling reason in your case there is often little benefit in running cameras at 25fps when 5-10fps would often get you results just as good. Try changing your monitor settings to limit your cameras to lower frames rates. You can still configure ZM to ignore these limits and capture as fast as possible when an event is detected.
# Run function. Obviously running in Record or Mocord modes or in Modect with lots of events generates a lot of DB and file activity and so CPU and load will increase.
# Basic default detection zones. By default when a camera is added one detection zone is added which covers the whole image with a default set of parameters. If you camera covers a view in which various regions are unlikely to generate a valid alarm (ie the sky) then I would experiment with reducing the zone sizes or adding inactive zones to blank out areas you don't want to monitor. Additionally the actual settings of the zone themselves may not be optimal. When doing motion detection the number of changed pixels above a threshold is examined, then this is filter, then contiguous regions are calculated to see if an alarm is generated. If any maximum or minimum threshold is exceeded according to your zone settings at any time the calculation stops. If your settings always result in the calculations going through to the last stage before being failed then additional CPU time is used unnecessarily. Make sure your maximum and minimumzone thresholds are set to sensible values and experiment by switching RECORD_EVENT_STATS on and seeing what the actual values of alarmed pixels etc are during sample events.
# Optimise your settings. After you've got some settings you're happy with then switching off RECORD_EVENT_STATS will prevent the statistics being written to the database which saves some time. Other settings which might make a difference are ZM_FAST_RGB_DIFFS, ZM_OPT_FRAME_SERVER and the JPEG_xxx_QUALITY ones.

I'm sure there are other things which might make a difference such as what else you have running on the box and memory sizes (make sure there's no swapping going on). Also speed of disk etc will make some difference during event capture and also if you are watching the whole time then you may have a bunch of zms processes running also.

I think the biggest factors are image size, colour depth and capture rate. Having said that I also don't always know why you get certains results from 'top'. For instance if I have a 'zma' daemon running for a monitor that is capturing an image. I've commented out the actual analysis so all it's doing is blending the image with the previous one. In colour mode this takes ~11 milliseconds per frame on my system and the camera is capturing at ~10fps. Using 'top' this reports the process as using ~5% of CPU and permanently in R(un) state. Changing to greyscale mode the blending takes ~4msec (as you would expect as this is roughly a third of 11) but top reports the process as now with 0% CPU and permanently in S(leep) state. So an actual CPU resource usage change of a factor of 3 causes huge differences in reported CPU usage. I have yet to get to the bottom of this but I suspect it's to do with scheduling somewhere along the line and that maybe the greyscale processing will fit into one scheduling time slice whereas the colour one won't but I have no evidence of this yet!

===Why is the timeline view all messed up?===

The timeline view is a new view allowing you to see a graph of alarm activity over time and to quickly scan and home in on events of interest. However this feature is highly complex and still in beta. It is based extensively on HTML div tags, sometimes lots of them. Whilst FireFox is able to render this view successfully other browsers, particular Internet Explorer do not seem able to cope and so present a messed up view, either always or when there are a lot of events.
Using the timeline view is only recommended when using FireFox, however even then there may be issues.

===How much Hard Disk Space / Bandwidth do I need for ZM?===
Please see [http://www.jpwilson.eu/ZM_Utils/ZM%20storage%20calc%20sheet.xls Storage Calc] in excel format

Or go to [http://www.axis.com/techsup/cam_servers/bandwidth/bw_210.htm this link] for the Axis bandwidth calculator. Although this is aimed at Axis cameras it still produces valid results for any kind of IP camera.

As a quick guide I have 4 cameras at 320x240 storing 1 fps except during alarm events. After 1 week 60GB of space in the volume where the events are stored (/var/www/html/zm) has been used.

===When I try and run ZoneMinder I get lots of audit permission errors in the logs and it won't start===
Many Linux distributions nowadays are built with security in mind. One of the latest methods of achieving this is via SELinux (Secure Linux) which controls who is able to run what in a more precise way then traditional accounting and file based permissions ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinux]).
If you are seeing entries in your system log like:

Jun 11 20:44:02 kernel: audit(1150033442.443:226): avc: denied { read } for pid=5068
comm="uptime" name="utmp" dev=dm-0 ino=16908345 scontext=user_u:system_r:httpd_sys_script_t
tcontext=user_u:object_r:initrc_var_run_t tclass=file

then it is likely that your system has SELinux enabled and it is preventing ZoneMinder from performaing certain activities. You then have two choices. You can either tune SELinux to permit the required operations or you can disable SELinux entirely which will permit ZoneMinder to run unhindered. Disabling SELinux is usually performed by editing it's configuration file (e.g., <tt>/etc/selinux/config</tt>) and then rebooting. However if you run a public server you should read up on the risks associated with disabled Secure Linux before disabling it.

Note that SELinux may cause errors other than those listed above. If you are in any doubt then it can be worth disabling SELinux experimentally to see if it fixes your problem before trying other solutions.

=== How do I enable ZoneMinder's security? ===
In the console, click on Options. Check the box next to "ZM_OPT_USE_AUTH". You will immediately be asked to login. The username is 'admin' and the password is 'admin'.

'''To Manage Users:'''<br>
In main console, go to '''Options->Users'''.

=== Why does ZM stop recording once I have 32000 events for my monitor? ===
This is a limitation of the ext3 filesystem that most Linux distributions use. One directory cannot hold more than 32k approx files.

Version of ZM from 1.23.0 onwards allow you to have a deeper filesystem with fewer files per individual directory. As well as not being susceptible to the 32k limit this is also somewhat faster. However it is relatively and although few issues have been reported thus far it should be considered in beta for now. Also, it is currently not possible to migrate saved events between the different storage formats so is only suitable for new installations or if you do not mind losing saved events.

So if you do not want to use the deeper filesystem option (Options->Paths->ZM_USE_DEEP_STORAGE) for now you have to reduce the number of events or use a different filesystems such as reiserfs.

If you search for ext3 or reiserfs on the forums you will find various threads on this issue with guidance on how to convert.

== Managing system load ''(with IP Cameras in mind)'' ==

=== Introduction ===
Zoneminder is a superb application in every way, but it does a job that needs a lot of horsepower especially when using multiple IP cameras. IP Cams require an extra level of processing to analogue cards as the jpg or mjpeg images need to be decoded before analysing. This needs grunt. If you have lots of cameras, you need lots of grunt.

Why do ZM need so much grunt?
Think what Zoneminder is actually doing. In modect mode ZM is:
1. Fetching a jpeg from the camera. (Either in single part or multipart stream)
2. Decoding the jpeg image.
3. Comparing the zoned selections to the previous image or images and applying rules.
4. If in alarm state, writing that image to the disk and updating the mysql database.

If you're capturing at five frames per second, the above is repeated five times every second, multiplied by the number of cameras. Decoding the images is what takes the real power from the processor and this is the main reason why analogue cameras which present an image ready-decoded in memory take less work.

=== How do I know if my computer is overloaded? ===
If your CPU is running at 100% all the time, it's probably overloaded (or running at exact optimisation). If the load is consistently high (over 10.0 for a single processor) then Bad Things happen - like lost frames, unrecorded events etc. Occasional peaks are fine, normal and nothing to worry about.

Zoneminder runs on Linux, Linux measures system load using "load", which is complicated but gives a rough guide on what the computer is doing at any given time. Zoneminder shows Load on the main page (top right) as well as disk space. Typing "uptime" on the command line will give a similar guide, but with three figures to give a fuller measure of what's happening over a period of time but for the best guide to see what's happening, install "htop" - which gives easy to read graphs for load, memory and cpu usage.

A load of 1.0 means the processor has "just enough to do right now". Also worth noting that a load of 4.0 means exactly the same for a quad processor machine - each number equals a single processor's workload. A very high load can be fine on a computer that has a stacked workload - such as a machine sending out bulk emails, or working its way through a knotty problem; it'll just keep churning away until it's done. However - Zoneminder needs to process information in real time so it can't afford to stack its jobs, it needs to deal with them right away.

For a better and full explanation of Load: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_%28computing%29

=== My load is too high, how can I reduce it? ===
Zoneminder is /very/ tweakable and it's possible to tune it to compromise. The following are good things to try, in no particular order;

Change the jpeg libraries. In most distributions Linux uses standard jpeg libraries which although fine for most things, don't use the MMX functions in nearly all modern processors. Check whether your cpu supports mmx by running "cpuid |grep MMX" which should give you a line or two along the lines of "MMX instructions". If so, give the libs a try. Most people report their load halves simply by using these libs. http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6419 gives more info. Nobody's posted there to say it broke their system... Yet.

If your camera allows you to change image size, think whether you can get away with smaller images. Smaller pics = less load. 320x240 is usually ok for close-up corridor shots.

Go Black and White. Colour pictures use twice to three times the CPU, memory and diskspace but give little benefit to identification.

Reduce frames per second. Halve the fps, halve the workload. If your camera supports fps throttling (Axis do), try that - saves ZM having to drop frames from a stream. 2-5 fps seems to be widely used.

Experiment with using jpeg instead of mjpeg. Some users have reported it gives better performance, but YMMV.

Tweak the zones. Keep them as small and as few as possible. Stick to one zone unless you really need more.

Schedule. If you are running a linux system at near capacity, you'll need to think carefully about things like backups and scheduled tasks. updatedb - the process which maintains a file database so that 'locate' works quickly, is normally scheduled to run once a day and if on a busy system can create a heavy increase on the load. The same is true for scheduled backups, especially those which compress the files. Re-schedule these tasks to a time when the cpu is less likely to be busy, if possible - and also use the "nice" command to reduce their priority. (crontab and /etc/cron.daily/ are good places to start)

Reduce clutter on your PC. Don't run X unless you really need it, the GUI is a huge overhead in both memory and cpu.

More expensive options:

Increase RAM. If your system is having to use disk swap it will HUGELY impact performance in all areas. Again, htop is a good monitor - but first you need to understand that because Linux is using all the memory, it doesn't mean it needs it all - linux handles ram very differently to Windows/DOS and caches stuff. htop will show cached ram as a different colour in the memory graph. Also check that you're actually using a high memory capable kernel - many kernels don't enable high memory by default.

Faster CPU. Simple but effective. Zoneminder also works very well with multiple processor systems out of the box (if SMP is enabled in your kernel). The load of different cameras is spread across the processors.

=== What about disks and bandwidth? ===

In most modern pc-based servers, disk I/O is more than adequate for the speeds involved in capturing from multiple cameras in most scenarios.

A typical 100mbit LAN will cope with most setups easily. If you're feeding from cameras over smaller or internet links, obviously fps will be much lower.

Disk and Bandwidth calculators are referenced on the Zoneminder wiki here: http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F

== Building ZoneMinder ==

=== How do I build for X10 support? ===

You do not need to rebuild ZM for X10 support. You will need to install the perl module and switch on X10 in the options, then restart. Installing the perl module is covered in the README amongst other places but in summary, do:

perl -MCPAN -eshell
install X10::ActiveHome
quit

== Extending ZoneMinder ==

=== How can I get ZM to do different things at different times of day or week? ===
If you want to configure ZoneMinder to do motion detection during the day and just record at night, for example, you will need to use ZoneMinder 'run states'. A run state is a particular configuration of monitor functions that you want to use at any time.

To save a run state you should first configure your monitors for Modect, Record, Monitor etc as you would want them during one of the times of day. Then click on the running state link at the top of the Console view. This will usually say 'Running' or 'Stopped'. You will then be able to save the current state and give it a name, 'Daytime' for example. Now configure your monitors how you would want them during other times of day and save that, for instance as 'Nighttime'.

Now you can switch between these two states by selecting them from the same dialog you saved them, or from the command line from issue the command ''zmpkg.pl <run state>'', for example ''zmpkg.pl Daytime''.

The final step you need to take, is scheduling the time the changes take effect. For this you can use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron cron]. A simple entry to change to the Daylight state at at 8am and to the nighttime state at 8pm would be as follows,
<pre>0 8 * * * /usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl Daytime
0 20 * * * /usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl Nighttime</pre>

On Ubuntu 7.04 and possibly others, look in /usr/bin not just /usr/local/bin for the zmpkg.pl file.

Although the example above describes changing states at different times of day, the same principle can equally be applied to days of the week or other more arbitrary periods.

For an alternative method of time controlling ZoneMinder, forum user 'voronwe' has created a more interactive calendar style integration. Details of this can be found in this [http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6519 forum thread]. If you would like to find out more about this contribution please post on this thread.

=== How can I use ZoneMinder to trigger something else when there is an alarm? ===
ZoneMinder includes a perl API which means you can create a script to interact with the ZM shared memory data and use it in your own scripts to react to ZM alarms or to trigger ZM to generate new alarms. Full details are in the README or by doing 'perdoc ZoneMinder', 'perldoc ZoneMinder::SharedMem' etc.
Below is an example script that checks all monitors for alarms and when one occurs, prints a message to the screen. You can add in your own code to make this reaction a little more useful.

<pre>#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

use ZoneMinder;

$| = 1;

zmDbgInit( "myscript", level=>0, to_log=>0, to_syslog=>0, to_term=>1 );

my $dbh = DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:database=".ZM_DB_NAME.";host=".ZM_DB_HOST, ZM_DB_USER, ZM_DB_PASS );

my $sql = "select M.*, max(E.Id) as LastEventId from Monitors as M left join Events as E on M.Id = E.MonitorId where M.Function != 'None' group by (M.Id)";
my $sth = $dbh->prepare_cached( $sql ) or die( "Can't prepare '$sql': ".$dbh->errstr() );

my $res = $sth->execute() or die( "Can't execute '$sql': ".$sth->errstr() );
my @monitors;
while ( my $monitor = $sth->fetchrow_hashref() )
{
push( @monitors, $monitor );
}

while( 1 )
{
foreach my $monitor ( @monitors )
{
next if ( !zmShmVerify( $monitor ) );

if ( my $last_event_id = zmHasAlarmed( $monitor, $monitor->{LastEventId} ) )
{
$monitor->{LastEventId} = $last_event_id;
print( "Monitor ".$monitor->{Name}." has alarmed\n" );
#
# Do your stuff here
#
}
}
sleep( 1 );
}</pre>

==Trouble Shooting==
Here are some things that will help you track down whats wrong.
This is also how to obtain the info that we need to help you on the forums.

===What logs should I check for errors?===
ZoneMinder creates its own logs and are usually located in the <tt>/tmp</tt> directory.

The ZoneMinder logs for the RPM packages are located in <tt>/var/log/zm</tt>.

Depending on your problem errors can show up in any of these logs but, usually the logs of interest are <tt>zmdc.log</tt> and <tt>zmpkg.log</tt> if ZM is not able to start.

Now since ZM is dependent on other components to work, you might not find errors in ZM but in the other components.
Other logs of interest are:<tt>
*/var/log/messages and/or /var/log/syslog
*/var/log/dmesg
*/var/log/httpd/error_log</tt> (RedHat/Fedora) or <tt>/var/log/apache2/error_log
*/var/log/mysqld.log</tt> (Errors here don't happen very often but just in case)

If ZM is not functioning, you should always be able to find an error in at least one of these logs. Use the [[tail]] command to get info from the logs. This can be done like so:

tail -f /var/log/messages /var/log/httpd/error_log /var/log/zm/zm*.log

This will append any data entered to any of these logs to your console screen (<tt>-f</tt>). To exit, hit [ctrl -c].

===How can I trouble shoot the hardware and/or software?===
Here are some commands to get information about your hardware. Some commands are distribution dependent.
* <tt>[[lspci]] -vv</tt> -- Returns lots of detailed info. Check for conflicting interrupts or port assignments. You can sometimes alter interrupts/ ports in bios. Try a different pci slot to get a clue if it is HW conflict (comand provided by the pciutils package).
* <tt>[[scanpci]] -v</tt> -- Gives you information from your hardware EPROM
* <tt>[[lsusb]] -vv</tt> -- Returns lots of detail about USB devices (camand provided by usbutils package).
* <tt>[[dmesg]]</tt> -- Shows you how your hardware initialized (or didn't) on boot-up. You will get the most use of this.
* <tt>[[v4l-info]]</tt> -- to see how driver is talking to card. look for unusual values.
* <tt>[[modinfo bttv]]</tt> -- some bttv driver stats.
* <tt>[[zmu]] -m 0 -q -v</tt> -- Returns various information regarding a monitor configuration.
* <tt>[[ipcs]] </tt> -- Provides information on the ipc facilities for which the calling process has read acccess.
* <tt>[[ipcrm]] </tt> -- The ipcrm command can be used to remove an IPC object from the kernel.
* <tt>cat /proc/interrupts</tt> -- This will dispaly what interrupts your hardware is using.

===I am getting messages about a backtrace in my logs, what do I do?===
If you are seeing entries in your log like the following
<pre>Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6 [0x3347230210]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6(memset+0xce) [0x334727684e]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x40ee9a]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x419946]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma [0x4213cf]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma(cos+0x35c) [0x404674]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf4) [0x334721da44]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: ERR [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zma(cos+0xd1) [0x4043e9]]
Jan 11 20:25:22 localhost zma_m2[19051]: INF [Backtrace complete]</pre>
then you can help diagnose the problem by running a special command to translate the hex addresses into helpful information. This command is called addr2line and you can type 'man addr2line' for more information.
Basically addr2line takes two sets of parameters, the first is the name of the binary file, and the second is a list of addresses. Both of these pieces of information are displayed in the logs. The filename is the first part after the 'Backtrace:' tag, in this case /usr/local/bin/zma, though it may well be different in your case. Some of the lines refer to libraries rather than the zma executable but those can be ignored for now, the important part is noting which ZM binary is involved. The binary file is passed in following the -e flag. The addresses to pass to addr2line are those contained in the '[]' pairs. Again you can ignore those that are on a line that refers to a library but it will not hurt if you include them.
So in the example above, the command would be <pre>addr2line -e /usr/local/bin/zma 0x40ee9a 0x419946 0x4213cf 0x404674 0x4043e9</pre>
This should then dump out a more symbolic list containing source file names and line numbers, and it is this information which will be helpful if posted to the forums. Sometimes addr2line fails to produce useful output. This is usually because either the problem is so severe that it has corrupted the stack and prevented useful information from being displayed, or that you have either compiled ZM without the -g flag for debug, or you have stripped the binaries of symbol information after installation. This this case you would need to rebuild temporarily with debug enabled for the information to be useful.

===How do I repair the MySQL Database?===
There is two ways to go about this. In most cases you can run from the command prompt ->
* mysqlcheck --all-databases --auto-repair -p'''your_database_password''' -u '''your_databse_user'''

If that does not work then you will have to make sure that ZoneMinder is stopped then run the following (nothing should be using the database while running this and you will have to adjust for your correct path if it is different). ->
* myisamchk --silent --force --fast --update-state -O key_buffer=64M -O sort_buffer=64M -O read_buffer=1M -O write_buffer=1M /var/lib/mysql/*/*.MYI

===How do I repair the MySQL Database when the cli fails?===
In Ubuntu, the commands listed above do not seem to work. However, actually doing it by hand from within MySQL does. (But that is beyond the scope of this document) But that got me thinking... And phpmyadmin does work. Bring up a terminal.
sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

Now go to http://zoneminder_IP/ and stop the ZM service. Continue to http://zoneminder_IP/phpmyadmin and select the zoneminder database. Select and tables marked 'in use' and pick the action 'repare' to fix. Restart the zoneminder service from the web browser. Remove or disable the phpmyadmin tool, as it is not always the most secure thing around, and opens your database wide to any skilled hacker.
sudo apt-get remove phpmyadmin

===I upgraded by distribution and ZM stopped working===
Some possibilties (Incomplete list and subject to correction)
#[[/usr/local/bin/zmfix: /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.15: version `MYSQL_5.0' not found (required by /usr/local/bin/zmfix)]] :: Solution: Recompile and reinstall Zoneminder.
Any time you update a major version that ZoneMinder depends on, you need to recompile ZoneMinder.

== Miscellaneous ==
=== I see ZoneMinder is licensed under the GPL. What does that allow or restrict me in doing with ZoneMinder? ===

The ZoneMinder license is described at the end of the documentation and consists of the following section

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty
of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

This means that ZoneMinder is licensed under the terms described [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html here]. There is a comprehensive FAQ covering the GPL at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html but in essence you are allowed to redistribute or modify GPS licensed software provided that you release your distribution or modifications freely under the same terms. You are allowed to sell systems based on GPL software. You are not allowed to restrict or reduce the rights of GPL software in your distribution however. Of course if you are just making modifications for your system locally you are not releasing changes so you have no obligations in this case. I recommend reading the GPL FAQ for more in-depth coverage of this issue.

=== Can I use ZoneMinder as part of my commercial product? ===

The GPL license allows you produce systems based on GPL software provided your systems also adhere to that license and any modifications you make are also released under the same terms. The GPL does not permit you to include ZoneMinder in proprietary systems (see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem for details). If you wish to include ZoneMinder in this kind of system then you will need to license ZoneMinder under different terms. This is sometimes possible and you will need to contact me for further details in these circuumstances.

FAQ

2007-02-03T09:08:34Z

Flasheart: /* My load is too high, how can I reduce it? */

Managing Load

2006-10-27T20:33:18Z

Flasheart:

A guide to managing system load with ZoneMinder
''(Written with IP Cameras in mind)''

Zoneminder is a superb application in every way, but it does a job that needs a lot of horsepower especially when using multiple IP cameras. IP Cams require an extra level of processing to analogue cards as the jpg or mjpeg images need to be decoded before analysing. This needs grunt. If you have lots of cameras, you need lots of grunt.

Why do ZM need so much grunt?
Think what Zoneminder is actually doing. In modect mode ZM is:
1. Fetching a jpeg from the camera. (Either in single part or multipart stream)
2. Decoding the jpeg image.
3. Comparing the zoned selections to the previous image or images and applying rules.
4. If in alarm state, writing that image to the disk and updating the mysql database.

If you're capturing at five frames per second, the above is repeated five times every second, multiplied by the number of cameras. Decoding the images is what takes the real power from the processor and this is the main reason why analogue cameras which present an image ready-decoded in memory take less work.

'''How do I know if my computer is overloaded?'''
If your CPU is running at 100% all the time, it's probably overloaded (or running at exact optimisation). If the load is consistently high (over 10.0 for a single processor) then Bad Things happen - like lost frames, unrecorded events etc. Occasional peaks are fine, normal and nothing to worry about.

Zoneminder runs on Linux, Linux measures system load using "load", which is complicated but gives a rough guide on what the computer is doing at any given time. Zoneminder shows Load on the main page (top right) as well as disk space. Typing "uptime" on the command line will give a similar guide, but with three figures to give a fuller measure of what's happening over a period of time but for the best guide to see what's happening, install "htop" - which gives easy to read graphs for load, memory and cpu usage.

A load of 1.0 means the processor has "just enough to do right now". Also worth noting that a load of 4.0 means exactly the same for a quad processor machine - each number equals a single processor's workload. A very high load can be fine on a computer that has a stacked workload - such as a machine sending out bulk emails, or working its way through a knotty problem; it'll just keep churning away until it's done. However - Zoneminder needs to process information in real time so it can't afford to stack its jobs, it needs to deal with them right away.

For a better and full explanation of Load: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_%28computing%29

'''My load is too high, how can I reduce it?'''
Zoneminder is /very/ tweakable and it's possible to tune it to compromise. The following are good things to try, in no particular order;

Change the jpeg libraries. In most distributions Linux uses standard jpeg libraries which although fine for most things, don't use the MMX functions in nearly all modern processors. Check whether your cpu supports mmx by running "cpuid |grep MMX" which should give you a line or two along the lines of "MMX instructions". If so, give the libs a try. Most people report their load halves simply by using these libs. http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6419 gives more info. Nobody's posted there to say it broke their system... Yet.

If your camera allows you to change image size, think whether you can get away with smaller images. Smaller pics = less load. 320x240 is usually ok for close-up corridor shots.

Go Black and White. Colour pictures use twice to three times the CPU, memory and diskspace but give little benefit to identification.

Reduce frames per second. Halve the fps, halve the workload. If your camera supports fps throttling (Axis do), try that - saves ZM having to drop frames from a stream. 2-5 fps seems to be widely used.

Experiment with using jpeg instead of mjpeg. Some users have reported it gives better performance, but YMMV.

Tweak the zones. Keep them as small and as few as possible. Stick to one zone unless you really need more.

Schedule. If you are running a linux system at near capacity, you'll need to think carefully about things like backups and scheduled tasks. updatedb - the process which maintains a file database so that 'locate' works quickly, is normally scheduled to run once a day and if on a busy system can create a heavy increase on the load. The same is true for scheduled backups, especially those which compress the files. Re-schedule these tasks to a time when the cpu is less likely to be busy, if possible - and also use the "nice" command to reduce their priority. (crontab and /etc/cron.daily/ are good places to start)

More expensive options:

Increase RAM. If your system is having to use disk swap it will HUGELY impact performance in all areas. Again, htop is a good monitor - but first you need to understand that because Linux is using all the memory, it doesn't mean it needs it all - linux handles ram very differently to Windows/DOS and caches stuff. htop will show cached ram as a different colour in the memory graph. Also check that you're actually using a high memory capable kernel - many kernels don't enable high memory by default.

Faster CPU. Simple but effective. Zoneminder also works very well with multiple processor systems out of the box (if SMP is enabled in your kernel). The load of different cameras is spread across the processors.

'''What about disks and bandwidth?'''

In most modern pc-based servers, disk I/O is more than adequate for the speeds involved in capturing from multiple cameras in most scenarios.

A typical 100mbit LAN will cope with most setups easily. If you're feeding from cameras over smaller or internet links, obviously fps will be much lower.

Disk and Bandwidth calculators are referenced on the Zoneminder wiki here: http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#How_much_Hard_Disk_Space_.2F_Bandwidth_do_I_need_for_ZM.3F

HOWTO

2006-10-27T20:33:07Z

Flasheart:

== Distributions ==
* [[Gentoo Install|Prepare a Gentoo Installation for ZoneMinder]]

== Third Party ==
* [[zm4ms playback|zm4ms playback and mysql access in livecd]]

== Managing Load ==
* [[Managing Load|How to manage system load]]

Zmload

2006-10-27T20:29:33Z

Flasheart:

HOWTO

2006-10-27T20:27:45Z

Flasheart:

FAQ

2006-07-20T07:55:10Z

Flasheart:

FAQ

2006-07-06T14:36:15Z

Flasheart: /* What does a 'Can't shmget: Invalid argument' error in my logs mean? */