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3VR AMAG Symmetry Integration

Single Console uses the AMAG interface to search and view live and recorded videos using specific events triggered in AMAG Symmetry. The integration provides the ability to manage and view 3VR VMS Servers and associated channels.

Supported Features

The following are supported:

  • Manage and view 3VR VMS Servers and 3VR cameras

  • View live video

  • Play back video

  • Manipulate PTZ cameras

  • View Symmetry events in 3VR OpCenter

  • 3VR cameras can generate events in Symmetry (motion, etc.)

Limitations

The following are not supported:

  • PTZ presets

  • Appliance online/offline notifications

  • Auto-discovery of 3VR appliances (recorders)

System Requirements

Below are the minimum software requirements for AMAG Symmetry integration. For Symmetry server and client requirements, please refer to the AMAG Symmetry documentation.

Software Requirements

  • 3VR VisionPoint™ VMS version required: 7.3 and above

  • Symmetry versions supported: version 8.0.x or above

    For more information on configuration and technical aspects of this integration, consult your 3VR sales representative. For more information on AMAG Symmetry, please visit the website (in the United States):
    http://www.amag.com/en-US/

Preparing 3VR VMS for AMAG

This guide is intended for use by an experienced AMAG Symmetry user or integrator. If you need assistance completing the integration, please contact your AMAG Symmetry integrator.

Enabling Web Services

The integration uses 3VR’s web services to connect to the 3VR VisionPoint™ VMS Server. Before installing the integration software, ensure that 3VR web services are enabled on each 3VR VMS Server that will be integrated with AMAG Symmetry.

  1. Launch 3VR System Manager.

  2. In the Configure panel, right-click the name of the VMS server and select Start Web Services from the menu.

  3. Click OK to confirm.

Enable Video Recording in 3VR System Manager

To enable recorded video from a camera, make sure that it is set to record through the 3VR System Manager application.

  1. In the Configure panel of System Manager, click the plus sign next to the VMS Server name in the left-hand panel.

  2. Click the plus sign next to Cameras to display the list of cameras on the VMS Server.

  3. Select the camera to view its settings.

  4. Change Continuous Recording Enabled to Yes. If this is set to No, video is only recorded when there is motion.

Creating 3VR User Account for Symmetry Integration

When adding appliances to a Symmetry system, please provide login information for an Integrator-level 3VR user account. This account should have access to all the VMS Servers you plan to use through this integration.

As part of best practices, the recommendation is to create a new user for this purpose.

Adding an Account

  1. Click the Accounts tab in the System Manager application.

  2. Click the New button.

  3. In the New User dialog box, configure the details of the new user account to use for the Symmetry integration:

    • First Name: Enter the first name, such as “Symmetry” (or leave this field blank).

    • Last Name: Enter the last name, such as “User” (or leave this field blank).

    • User Name: Enter a descriptive user name, such as “SymmetryIntegration.”

    • Password: Create a password for the new user account, and then retype the password.

    • Role: Select Integrator from the drop-down menu.

    • Auto Sign Out: Select Disabled from the drop-down menu.

    • Verify that the Expire password at a given date and time check box is not checked.

    • Verify that the Authorized Regions and Appliances panel gives this user account access to all 3VR VMS Servers that will be used in the integration.

  4. Click Save to create a new user account.

Installing 3VR Integration on AMAG Symmetry System

You need to install 3VR-AMAG integration software on the computer where the Symmetry server is installed, as well as on each computer that will be used as a Symmetry client and from which you want to access 3VR video. If there were previous versions of the 3VR integration installed, please make sure you uninstall them before installing this version.

During the installation, it might be necessary to stop certain services running on the computer. In this event, a dialog box appears and informs you of the services you need to stop. Stop these services, and then continue
with the installation.

  1. Obtain the integration installer from 3VR. The file name is 3VR_Symmetry_Installer_1.2.0.X.zip. Where: X is the build number, which can vary. Unzip the file it contains.

  2. Log on to the computer using a user account with administrative access.

  3. Run the installer: 3VR_Symmetry_Installer_1.2.0.X.exe. (You need to have administrative rights to do this.)

  4. Continue to the end of the installer steps (there should be no options to pick).

  5. When installation is complete, click Finish to close the wizard.

  6. Restart the computer on which you installed the 3VR-AMAG integration software.

Video Integration

Video integration allows you to view live and stored video from the 3VR VMS Server through the AMAG Symmetry Security Management System application. Perform the steps in this section to configure the integration of one or more VMS Servers and the cameras connected to those servers.

Managing 3VR VMS Servers

You need to use the Security Management System to add a new 3VR VMS Server.

Adding a New VMS Server

  1. In the Security Management System application, click the Install tab and then click the Digital Video button.

  2. In the dialog box that appears, select 3VR Video Recorder and then click the New button.

  3. In the dialog box that appears, enter the values that identify the VMS Server.
    The parameters needed for the integration are: IP Address, Username, Password, and Connection Timeout.

The Connection Timeout value is used to determine when to stop waiting for a connection with the 3VR VMS Server. A longer timeout value allows for remote connections to wait longer for the connection to the VMS Server to succeed.

Managing 3VR Cameras

After adding a 3VR VMS Server, you need to add cameras.

Adding a New Camera

After adding one or more 3VR VMS Servers, you can add cameras that belong to one of these servers.

  1. In the Install / Digital Video dialog box, select 3VR Video Camera and then click the New button.

  2. To add a camera, select a Video Recorder (must have been added previously) and then choose a camera from the Video Channel drop-down list.

Watching Live 3VR Video

Perform the steps below to watch live 3VR video through the AMAG Symmetry Security Management System application.

  1. Click the Home tab and then click the Virtual Matrix button.

  2. In the Matrix area, choose (or create) a new view.

  3. From the Cameras and Multimedia tree, drag and drop a camera onto the view.

Watching Recorded 3VR Video

You need to enable recording for the desired camera. See the section “3.2 Enable Video Recording in 3VR System Manager” on page 6 for information on how to enable video recording.

  1. Click the Home tab and then click the Video Playback button.

  2. In the dialog box that appears, check all the cameras that are part of the integration, fill in the From and To times, and then click the Search button(magnifier).

  3. If a recording exists for the specified time period, it will appear in the list at the bottom. Double click on it to start playing the video.

  4. You can use all the controls under the video to navigate the recording:

    • Pause, increase/reduce speed, etc.

    • Drag the track bar to a desired time to view video.

You can only request playback from cameras that are recording on the 3VR appliance. You can also enable continuous recording on the appliance for specific cameras of interest.

Setting up Triggers

This section provides an example of how to configure an alarm to show video from 3VR cameras.

Setting an Alarm to Show Video from 3VR Cameras

  1. Click the Operation tab and then click the Trigger button.

  2. In the dialog box that appears, click the New button.

  3. Fill in the details as desired. See the example.

  4. Select the desired camera from the Location drop-down menu.

This example causes a “Door Forced” alarm to show an instant replay starting at 30 seconds before the event.

Event Integration

Event integration allows two-way passing of events between the 3VR VMS appliance and the Symmetry system, such that:

  1. Access-control events occurring in the Symmetry system, such as a “Door Forced” alarm, appear as Symmetry event cards in OpCenter with data from the Symmetry system appended to video recorded by the 3VR VMS.

  2. Alerts configured in 3VR OpCenter, such as a watched face or a motion alarm, generate Symmetry device alarms for the 3VR cameras.

Symmetry to 3VR Event Passing

To set up event passing from Symmetry to 3VR, you need to:

  • Install two software components

  • Map Symmetry devices to 3VR channels

  • Set up connection to Symmetry

  • Set up connections to 3VR Appliances

Event Integration Software Installation

For the Symmetry to 3VR event-passing direction, you need to install two software components:

  • The XML Open Integration Module available from AMAG.

This module installs a web service that provides the event/alarm information to third-party integrations. You need to acquire this module from AMAG and install it by referring to the AMAG documentation. You can install this module on the same computer as the Symmetry server or on a different computer.

  • The 3VR event adapter, available from 3VR.

You need to have administrator privileges while running the installer.

The installer is called 3VR_Symmetry_EventAdapter_1.2.0.x, where the “x” stands for the build number and can vary.

You can install this adapter on any computer that has Internet access to the Symmetry web service (described above) and the 3VR appliances that are of interest. The recommended place to install it is on the same computer as the Symmetry web services, but this is not necessary.

A new Windows service is installed (called 3VR-Symmetry EventAdapterService). If you do not reboot the computer after the installation, make sure that the service is started using the Windows Services application.

Creating Symmetry Events in 3VR OpCenter

The 3VR event adapter installs a configuration application that you need to use to set up the mapping from Symmetry devices to 3VR channels. This mapping is required to transmit events to 3VR appliances.

  • Run the 3VR.EventConfiguration.exe application to set up the mapping. You can also use this application later to change/edit the mappings.
    The mapping screen looks like the example shown. The main table shows the existing mappings.

  • Before adding mappings, you need to set up the connection to the Symmetry system and to the 3VR appliances of interest.

    • Click the Symmetry button to connect to the desired Symmetry system.

    • Click the 3VR Appliances button to set up the necessary parameters for the 3VR appliances of interest.

Setting Up Connection To Symmetry

Note that the connection is to the web service for the Symmetry system, so you need to know the IP address of the device where the web service is published.

  • Enter the URL of the computer that has the web service in the box at the bottom, and then click Add to add credentials:

Users need credentials in order to query the Symmetry system for events and devices. Different credentials provide access to different devices. In many cases, just one username/password combination is enough. If not, enter as many credentials as you need.

Setting Up Connections to 3VR Appliances

The next step is to add 3VR appliances. For this, you need to know each appliance’s IP address and credentials for accessing the appliance web service (you need to enable web services on the appliance).

  1. Click the 3VR Appliances button. The following dialog box appears:

  2. Click the Add or Edit buttons to enter or change connection info.

Setting up Mappings

You need to map a Symmetry device type to a 3VR appliance channel. 3VR VMS currently supports these Symmetry device types: Reader, Floor, Intrusion Area, and Trigger Command.

  1. Click the Add or Edit button in the main screen.

  2. Use the drop-down menus to generate a mapping. You can add as many mappings as you wish.

  3. When done, click the Save button. This activates the current mappings. They will be used for sending Symmetry events to 3VR appliances.

Once you save mappings, any time a Symmetry event happens on one of the devices in the mapping, an event is recorded on the mapped appliance.

Setting Up Generic Parameters

  1. Click the Settings button in the main dialog box. The Edit Settings dialog box appears. The settings below apply globally.

    • Event Start Time Delta – This is the number of seconds that will be recorded before the Symmetry event.

    • Event End Time Delta – This is the number of seconds that will be recorded after the Symmetry event.

    • Search Start Time Delta – This is the number of seconds before the event time that the system will search for image-comparison images.

    • Search End Time Delta – This is the number of seconds after the event time hat the system will search for image comparison images.

    • Polling Period – The 3VR event adapter needs to poll the Symmetry web service for events. This parameter sets how often this polling happens. The shorter the period, the quicker events are reported, but at the cost of extra network traffic.

Using 3VR Camera Alarms

Alerts configured in 3VR OpCenter, such as a watched face or a motion alarm, generate Symmetry device alarms for the 3VR cameras.

Setting up 3VR Camera Alarms in Symmetry

You can enable or disable camera alarms individually for each camera. To do this, use the Symmetry Install tab. The alarms currently supported are Motion, Analytic (which correspond to Face alarms in the 3VR VMS), and Video Loss.

If you need recorded video related to an alarm, please make sure to enable recording in 3VR System Manager (select either the Continuous or Demand setting).

Viewing 3VR Camera Alarms in Symmetry

You can view 3VR camera alarms the same way as any other Symmetry alarm and use them to trigger commands.

The example shown demonstrates how to use the Activity view from the Home tab:

Appendix A

Logging and Trouble Shooting

The 3VR integration components generate log data that you can use for troubleshooting and for collecting historical data. The log files are text files that you can open with a text editor.

All log files are located in the folder : %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\3VR\Symmetry

On Windows 7, the files are in: C:\ProgramData\3VR\Symmetry

This folder contains two log files: VideoLog.txt and EventLog.txt. The first file logs the Video Integration information and the second the Event Integration information.

Each log file has an optional configuration file, which has the same name as the log file, but whose name contains the “.config” extension. Only the first line of the configuration file is relevant and editable with a text editor; the other lines are for documentation purposes only. A sample of a .config file is shown below:

You can edit the first line to replace Error with Info or some other desired logging level. The higher the level, the more information
is logged. For example, Warning logs more info. than Error.
You can add the word Console to activate the console to display log messages from other components that log to stdout. Changes
take effect when you restart the application or the service using it.

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