From 6228bd87b3e1b89e378a5c6b6e76d05ec98b4730 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: stan Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 23:36:11 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Updated README docs. git-svn-id: http://svn.zoneminder.com/svn/zm/trunk@1817 e3e1d417-86f3-4887-817a-d78f3d33393f --- README | 3053 ++++++++++++++++------------ README.doc | Bin 0 -> 384000 bytes README.html | 4377 +++++++++++++++++++++++----------------- README.pdf | Bin 243487 -> 313128 bytes README.rtf | 5597 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------- 5 files changed, 6962 insertions(+), 6065 deletions(-) create mode 100755 README.doc diff --git a/README b/README index 2664a614b..c4a4406cb 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ - 11/11/05 ZoneMinder 1.21.4 README 1 + 14/01/06 ZoneMinder v1.22.0 README 1 @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ - ZONEMINDER + ZoneMinder - V1.21.4 + v1.22.0 @@ -31,109 +31,70 @@ - - CONTENTS +Contents 1. Introduction 4 - 2. Requirements 5 - 3. Components 6 - 4. Building 9 - 5. Installation 10 - -6. Upgrading 11 - +6. Upgrading 12 7. Installing from RPM 13 - 8. Tutorial 14 8.1.Defining Monitors 14 8.2.Defining Zones 20 8.3.Viewing Monitors 23 - 8.4.Controlling Monitors 23 + 8.4.Controlling Monitors 24 8.5.Filtering Events 24 - 8.6.Viewing Events 25 + 8.6.Viewing Events 26 8.7.Options and Users 26 - 9. Camera Control 28 9.1.Control Capabilities 28 9.2.Control Scripts 30 - 10. Mobile Devices 32 - 11. Troubleshooting 33 +12. Change Log 37 + 12.1. Release 1.22.0 37 + 12.2. Release 1.21.4 40 + 12.3. Release 1.21.3 42 + 12.4. Release 1.21.2 42 + 12.5. Release 1.21.1 42 + 12.6. Release 1.21.0 44 + 12.7. Release 1.20.1 45 + 12.8. Release 1.20.0 46 + 12.9. Release 1.19.5 47 + 12.10.Release 1.19.4 48 + 12.11.Release 1.19.3 48 + 12.12.Release 1.19.2 49 + 12.13.Release 1.19.1 51 + 12.14.Release 1.19.0 51 + 12.15.Release 1.18.1 53 + 12.16.Release 1.18.0 53 + 12.17.Release 1.17.2 55 + 12.18.Release 1.17.1 55 + 12.19.Release 1.17.0 56 + 12.20.Release 0.9.16 56 + 12.21.Release 0.9.15 58 + 12.22.Release 0.9.14 59 + 12.23.Release 0.9.13 59 + 12.24.Release 0.9.12 60 + 12.25.Release 0.9.11 61 + 12.26.Release 0.9.10 62 + 12.27.Release 0.9.9 63 + 12.28.Release 0.9.8 64 + 12.29.Release 0.9.7 65 + 12.30.Release 0.0.1 66 +13. To Do 67 +14. Bugs 68 +15. Non-Bugs 69 +16. License 70 -12. Change Log 36 - 12.1. Release 1.21.4 - 36 - 12.2. Release 1.21.3 - 38 - 12.3. Release 1.21.2 - 38 - 12.4. Release 1.21.1 - 38 - 12.5. Release 1.21.0 - 40 - 12.6. Release 1.20.1 - 41 - 12.7. Release 1.20.0 - 42 - 12.8. Release 1.19.5 - 43 - 12.9. Release 1.19.4 - 44 - 12.10. Release 1.19.3 - 45 - 12.11. Release 1.19.2 - 46 - 12.12. Release 1.19.1 - 47 - 12.13. Release 1.19.0 - 48 - 12.14. Release 1.18.1 - 49 - 12.15. Release 1.18.0 - 49 - 12.16. Release 1.17.2 - 51 - 12.17. Release 1.17.1 - 52 - 12.18. Release 1.17.0 - 52 - 12.19. Release 0.9.16 - 53 - 12.20. Release 0.9.15 - 55 - 12.21. Release 0.9.14 - 55 - 12.22. Release 0.9.13 - 56 - 12.23. Release 0.9.12 - 57 - 12.24. Release 0.9.11 - 58 - 12.25. Release 0.9.10 - 59 - 12.26. Release 0.9.9 - 60 - 12.27. Release 0.9.8 - 61 - 12.28. Release 0.9.7 - 62 - 12.29. Release 0.0.1 - 63 -13. To Do 64 - -14. Bugs 65 - -15. Non-Bugs 66 - -16. License 67 - -Introduction +1. + + + Introduction + Welcome to ZoneMinder, the all-in-one Linux GPL'd security camera solution. @@ -194,9 +155,15 @@ ZoneMinder as part of your business, or to protect your property. -2. Requirements +2. -ZoneMinder needs a couple of things to work. + + Requirements + +ZoneMinder needs a couple of things to work. Ordinarily the +'configure' script will check for the presence of required +(and optional) components but it is useful to be prepared +beforehand. Firstly, it uses MySQL so you'll need that. In order to compile you need to make sure you have a development @@ -231,17 +198,19 @@ which options you choose on installation, for more details see later in this document. Finally, there is quite a bit of image streaming in the -package. So if you don't have Netscape or another browser that +package. So if you don't have FireFox or another browser that supports image streaming natively I recommend you get the excellent Cambozola java applet from http://www.charliemouse.com/code/cambozola/ which will let you view the image stream in Internet Explorer and others. -Otherwise you're limited to just refreshing still images. +Otherwise you're limited to just refreshing still images or +mpeg based streams, if you have compatible plugins. Hardware-wise, ZoneMinder has been used with various video and -USB cameras with the V4L interface. I don't have a lot of -cameras myself so I've not had change to test it with a huge -range personally however there is a list of devices that are +USB cameras with the V4L interface. It will also work with +most Network or IP cameras. I don't have a lot of cameras +myself so I've not had change to test it with a huge range +personally however there is a list of devices that are definitely known to work on the web site. Please let me know if your camera works and is not listed. You do need to have Video4Linux installed. I've not got too many machines so I've @@ -253,7 +222,10 @@ what users have had to do to get it working. Please give me feedback on other distributions not listed on the site. -3. Components +3. + + + Components ZoneMinder is not a single monolithic application but is formed from several components. These components primarily @@ -265,125 +237,122 @@ used for the web interface. A brief description of each of the principle components follows. - zmc - This is the ZoneMinder Capture daemon. This binary's - job is to sit on a video device and suck frames off it as - fast as possible, this should run at more or less constant - speed. - - zma - This is the ZoneMinder Analysis daemon. This is the - component that goes through the captured frames and checks - them for motion which might generate an alarm or event. It - generally keeps up with the Capture daemon but if very busy - may skip some frames to prevent it falling behind. - - zmf - This is the ZoneMinder Frame daemon. This is an - optional daemon that can run in concert with the Analysis - daemon and whose function it is to actually write captured - frames to disk. This frees up the Analysis daemon to do - more analysis (!) and so keep up with the Capture daemon - better. If it isn't running or dies then the Analysis - daemon just writes them itself. - - zms - This is the ZoneMinder Streaming server. The web - interface connects with this to get real-time or historical - streamed images. It runs only when a live monitor stream or - event stream is actually being viewed and dies when the - event finishes or the associate web page is closed. If you - find you have several zms processes running when nothing is - being viewed then it is likely you need a patch for apache - (see the Troubleshooting section). A non-parsed header - version of zms, called nph-zms, is also installed and may - be used instead depending on your web server configuration. - - zmu - This is the ZoneMinder Utility. It's basically a - handy command line interface to several useful functions. - It's not really meant to be used by anyone except the web - page (there's only limited 'help' in it so far) but can be - if necessary, especially for debugging video problems. - - zmfix - This is a small binary that exists only to ensure - that the video device files can be read by the main capture - daemons. It is often the case that these device files are - set to be accessible by root only on boot. This binary runs - setuid and ensures that they have appropriate permissions. - This is not a daemon and runs only on system start and then - exits. - +zmc - This is the ZoneMinder Capture daemon. This binary's job +is to sit on a video device and suck frames off it as fast as +possible, this should run at more or less constant speed. + +zma - This is the ZoneMinder Analysis daemon. This is the +component that goes through the captured frames and checks +them for motion which might generate an alarm or event. It +generally keeps up with the Capture daemon but if very busy +may skip some frames to prevent it falling behind. + +zmf - This is the ZoneMinder Frame daemon. This is an optional +daemon that can run in concert with the Analysis daemon and +whose function it is to actually write captured frames to +disk. This frees up the Analysis daemon to do more analysis +(!) and so keep up with the Capture daemon better. If it isn't +running or dies then the Analysis daemon just writes them +itself. + +zms - This is the ZoneMinder Streaming server. The web +interface connects with this to get real-time or historical +streamed images. It runs only when a live monitor stream or +event stream is actually being viewed and dies when the event +finishes or the associate web page is closed. If you find you +have several zms processes running when nothing is being +viewed then it is likely you need a patch for apache (see the +Troubleshooting section). A non-parsed header version of zms, +called nph-zms, is also installed and may be used instead +depending on your web server configuration. + +zmu - This is the ZoneMinder Utility. It's basically a handy +command line interface to several useful functions. It's not +really meant to be used by anyone except the web page (there's +only limited 'help' in it so far) but can be if necessary, +especially for debugging video problems. + +zmfix - This is a small binary that exists only to ensure that +the video device files can be read by the main capture +daemons. It is often the case that these device files are set +to be accessible by root only on boot. This binary runs setuid +and ensures that they have appropriate permissions. This is +not a daemon and runs only on system start and then exits. + As well as this there are the web PHP files in the web directory and some perl scripts in the scripts directory. These scripts all have some configuration at the top of the files which should be viewed and amended if necessary and are as follows. - zmpkg.pl - This is the ZoneMinder Package Control script. - This is used by the web interface and service scripts to - control the execution of the system as a whole. +zmpkg.pl - This is the ZoneMinder Package Control script. This +is used by the web interface and service scripts to control +the execution of the system as a whole. + +zmdc.pl - This is the ZoneMinder Daemon Control script. This +is used by the web interface and the zmpkg.pl script to +control and maintain the execution of the capture and analysis +daemons, amongst others. You should not need to run this +script yourself. + +zmfilter.pl - This script controls the execution of saved +filters and will be started and stopped by the web interface +based on whether there are filters that have been defined to +be autonomous. This script is also responsible for the +automatic uploading of events to a 3rd party server. + +zmaudit.pl - This script is used to check the consistency of +the event file system and database. It can delete orphaned +events, i.e. ones that appear in one location and not the +other as well as checking that all the various event related +tables are in line. It can be run interactively or in batch +mode either from the command line or a cron job or similar. In +the zmconfig.pl there is an option to specify fast event +deletes where the web interface only deletes the event entry +from the database itself. If this is set then it is this +script that tidies up the rest. + +zmwatch.pl - This is a simple script purely designed to keep +an eye on the capture daemons and restart them if they lockup. +It has been known for sync problems in the video drivers to +cause this so this script makes sure that nothing important +gets missed. + +zmupdate.pl - Currently this script is responsible for +checking whether a new version of ZoneMinder is available and +other miscellaneous actions related to upgrades and +migrations. It is also intended to be a 'one stop shop' for +any upgrades and will execute everything necessary to update +your installation to a new version. + +zmvideo.pl - This script is used from the web interface to +generate video files in various formats in a common way. You +can also use it from the command line in certain circumstances +but this is not usually necessary. + +zmx10.pl - This is an optional script that can be used to +initiate and monitor X10 Home Automation style events and +interface with an alarm system either by the generation of X10 +signals on ZoneMinder events or by initiating ZoneMinder +monitoring and capture on receipt of X10 signals from +elsewhere, for instance the triggering of an X10 PIR. For +example I have several cameras that don't do motion detection +until I arm my alarm system whereupon they switch to active +mode when an X10 signal is generated by the alarm system and +received by ZoneMinder. + +zmtrigger.pl - This is an optional script that is a more +generic solution to external triggering of alarms. It can +handle external connections via either internet socket, unix +socket or file/device interfaces. You can either use it 'as +is' if you can interface with the existing format, or override +connections and channels to customise it to your needs. The +format of triggers used by zmtrigger.pl is as follows +"|||||" where + +o 'id' is the id number or name of the ZM monitor - zmdc.pl - This is the ZoneMinder Daemon Control script. - This is used by the web interface and the zmpkg.pl script - to control and maintain the execution of the capture and - analysis daemons, amongst others. You should not need to - run this script yourself. - - zmfilter.pl - This script controls the execution of saved - filters and will be started and stopped by the web - interface based on whether there are filters that have been - defined to be autonomous. This script is also responsible - for the automatic uploading of events to a 3rd party - server. - - zmaudit.pl - This script is used to check the consistency - of the event file system and database. It can delete - orphaned events, i.e. ones that appear in one location and - not the other as well as checking that all the various - event related tables are in line. It can be run - interactively or in batch mode either from the command line - or a cron job or similar. In the zmconfig.pl there is an - option to specify fast event deletes where the web - interface only deletes the event entry from the database - itself. If this is set then it is this script that tidies - up the rest. - - zmwatch.pl - This is a simple script purely designed to - keep an eye on the capture daemons and restart them if they - lockup. It has been known for sync problems in the video - drivers to cause this so this script makes sure that - nothing important gets missed. - - zmupdate.pl - Currently this script is responsible for - checking whether a new version of ZoneMinder is available - and other miscellaneous actions related to upgrades and - migrations. It is also intended to be a 'one stop shop' for - any upgrades and will execute everything necessary to - update your installation to a new version. - - zmvideo.pl - This script is used from the web interface to - generate video files in various formats in a common way. - You can also use it from the command line in certain - circumstances but this is not usually necessary. - - zmx10.pl - This is an optional script that can be used to - initiate and monitor X10 Home Automation style events and - interface with an alarm system either by the generation of - X10 signals on ZoneMinder events or by initiating - ZoneMinder monitoring and capture on receipt of X10 signals - from elsewhere, for instance the triggering of an X10 PIR. - For example I have several cameras that don't do motion - detection until I arm my alarm system whereupon they switch - to active mode when an X10 signal is generated by the alarm - system and received by ZoneMinder. - - zmtrigger.pl - This is an optional script that is a more - generic solution to external triggering of alarms. It can - handle external connections via either internet socket, - unix socket or file/device interfaces. Currently you have - to configure these using the 'sources' array in the script - itself though ultimately I would expect they would be - databased. The format of triggers used by zmtrigger.pl is - as follows - "|||||" where - ú 'id' is the id number or name of the ZM monitor -ú 'action' is 'on', 'off', 'cancel' or 'show' where 'on' +o 'action' is 'on', 'off', 'cancel' or 'show' where 'on' forces an alarm condition on, 'off' forces an alarm condition off and 'cancel' negates the previous 'on' or 'off'. The 'show' action merely updates some auxiliary text which can @@ -393,60 +362,113 @@ to be used to suppress motion based events. Additionally 'on' and 'off' can take an additional time offset, e.g. on+20 which automatically 'cancel's the previous action after that number of seconds. -ú 'score' is the score given to the alarm, usually to +o 'score' is the score given to the alarm, usually to indicate it's importance. For 'on' triggers it should be non- zero, otherwise it should be zero. -ú 'cause' is a 32 char max string indicating the reason -for, or source of the alarm e.g. 'Relay 1 open'. Ignored for -'off' or 'cancel' messages -ú 'text' is a 256 char max additional info field, currently -not used for anything though anything passed in here will get -saved. Ignored for 'off' or 'cancel' messages. -ú 'showtext' is up to 32 characters of text that can be +o 'cause' is a 32 char max string indicating the reason +for, or source of the alarm e.g. 'Relay 1 open'. This is saved +in the 'Cause' field of the event. Ignored for 'off' or +'cancel' messages +o 'text' is a 256 char max additional info field, which is +saved in the 'Description' field of an event. Ignored for +'off' or 'cancel' messages. +o 'showtext' is up to 32 characters of text that can be displayed in the timestamp that is added to images. The 'show' action is designed to update this text without affecting alarms but the text is updated, if present, for any of the actions. This is designed to allow external input to appear on the images captured, for instance temperature or personnel identity etc. - Note that multiple messages can be sent at once and should - be LF or CRLF delimited. Without customisation zmtrigger.pl - is of little use, but if you configure it correctly it can - help integrate other systems to generate external triggers - that will cause ZoneMinder events. - - zmcontrol-*.pl - These are a set of example scripts which - can be used to control Pan/Tilt/Zoom class cameras. Each - script converts a set of standard parameters used for - camera control into the actual protocol commands sent to - the camera. If you are using a camera control protocol that - is not in the shipped list then you will have to create a - similar script though it can be created entirely separately - from ZoneMinder and does not need to named as these scripts - are. Although the scripts are used to action commands - originated from the web interface they can also be used - directly or from other programs or scripts, for instance to - implement periodic scanning to different presets. - - zmtrack.pl - This script is used to manage the experimental - motion tracking feature. It is responsible for detecting - that an alarm is taking place and moving the camera to - point to the alarmed location, and then subsequently - returning it to a defined standby location. As well as - moving the camera it also controls when motion detection is - suspended and restored so that the action of the camera - tracking does not trigger endless further alarms which are - not justified. - - zm - This is the (optional) ZoneMinder init script, see - below for details. - +Note that multiple messages can be sent at once and should be +LF or CRLF delimited. This script is not necessarily intended +to be a solution in itself, but is intended to be used as +'glue' to help ZoneMinder interface with other systems. -4. Building +zmcontrol-*.pl - These are a set of example scripts which can +be used to control Pan/Tilt/Zoom class cameras. Each script +converts a set of standard parameters used for camera control +into the actual protocol commands sent to the camera. If you +are using a camera control protocol that is not in the shipped +list then you will have to create a similar script though it +can be created entirely separately from ZoneMinder and does +not need to named as these scripts are. Although the scripts +are used to action commands originated from the web interface +they can also be used directly or from other programs or +scripts, for instance to implement periodic scanning to +different presets. + +zmtrack.pl - This script is used to manage the experimental +motion tracking feature. It is responsible for detecting that +an alarm is taking place and moving the camera to point to the +alarmed location, and then subsequently returning it to a +defined standby location. As well as moving the camera it also +controls when motion detection is suspended and restored so +that the action of the camera tracking does not trigger +endless further alarms which are not justified. + +zm - This is the (optional) ZoneMinder init script, see below +for details. + +Finally, there are also a number of ZoneMinder perl modules +included. These are used by the scripts above, but can also be +used by your own or 3rd party scripts. Full documentation for +most modules is available in 'pod' form via 'perldoc' but the +general purpose of each module is as follows. + +ZoneMinder.pm - This is a general ZoneMinder container module. +It includes the Base.pm, Config.pm Debug.pm, Database.pm, and +SharedMem.pm modules described below. It also exports all of +their symbols by default. If you use the other modules +directly you have request which symbol tags to import. + +ZoneMinder/Base.pm - This is the base ZoneMinder perl module. +It contains only simple data such as version information. It +is included by all other ZoneMinder perl modules + +ZoneMinder/Config.pm - This module imports the ZoneMinder +configuration from the database. + +ZoneMinder/Debug. pm - This module contains the defined Debug +and Error functions etc, that are used by scripts to produce +diagnostic information in a standard format. + +ZoneMinder/Database.pm - This module contains database access +definitions and functions. Currently not a lot is in this +module but it is included as a placeholder for future +development. + +ZoneMinder/SharedMem.pm - This module contains standard shared +memory access functions. These can be used to access the +current state of monitors etc as well as issuing commands to +the monitors to switch things on and off. This module +effectively provides a ZoneMinder API. + +ZoneMinder/ConfigAdmin.pm - This module is a specialised +module that contains the definition, and other information, +about the various configuration options. It is not intended +for use by 3rd parties. + +ZoneMinder/Trigger/*.pm - These modules contain definitions of +trigger channels and connections used by the zmtrigger.pl +script. Although they can be used 'as is', they are really +intended as examples that can be customised or specialised for +different interfaces. Contributed modules for new channels or +connections will be welcomed and included in future versions +of ZoneMinder. + + + + +4. + + + Building To build ZoneMinder the first thing you need to do is run the included configure script to define some initial -configuration, just type +configuration. If you are happy with the default settings for +the database host ('localhost'), name ('zm'), user ('zmuser') +and password ('zmpass') then you can just type ./configure --with-webdir= --with- cgidir= @@ -454,97 +476,75 @@ cgidir= where --with-webdir is the directory to which you want to install the PHP files, and --with-cgidir is the directory to which you want to install CGI files. These directories could -be /var/www/html/zm and /var/www/cgi-bin for example. If the -script cannot find your MySQL installation, for instance if it -is installed in an unusual location, then --with-mysql -identifies the root directory where you have installed it, -usually /usr. If you want to use real MPEG based streaming you -will need to have built and installed the ffmpeg tools. You -can then also use -with-ffmpeg= to help -configure find it if it's not installed in a default location. -Note, you have to make sure you have installed the ffmpeg -headers and libraries rather than just the binaries, or a -development package with them in. Additionally if you have -already built ffmpeg with the mp3lame feature turned on you -may additionally need to tell configure where to find that the -mp3lame library, to prevent unresolved dependencies. To do -this add the -with-lame=option as -well. Otherwise ignore this option. There are also two further -arguments you can add if your web user and group are not both -'apache'. These are --with-webuser and --with-webgroup. Type +be /var/www/html/zm and /var/www/cgi-bin for example. + +If you want to override any of the default database values +then you can append them to the configure command, for example +to use a database password of 'zmnewpass' do + +./configure --with-webdir= --with- +cgidir= ZM_DB_PASS=zmnewpass + +and so on. The values you can use are ZM_DB_HOST, ZM_DB_NAME, +ZM_DB_USER and ZM_DB_PASS. Other than the database name, which +is substituted into the database creation script, these values +can easily be changed after this step. + +If the script cannot find your MySQL installation, for +instance if it is installed in an unusual location, then -- +with-mysql identifies the root directory where you have +installed it, usually /usr. + +If you want to use real MPEG based streaming you will need to +have built and installed the ffmpeg tools. You can then also +use -with-ffmpeg= to help configure find +it if it's not installed in a default location. Note, you have +to make sure you have installed the ffmpeg headers and +libraries (make installlib) as well as the binaries (make +install), or a development package with them in. + +If you have built ffmpeg with any additional options which +require extra libraries in the link stage then you can use -- +with-extralibs to pass these libraries to the configure +script, to prevent unresolved dependencies. Otherwise ignore +this option. + +If you are on a 64 bit system you may find that the -with- +libarch option helps you correctly define your library paths. + +There are also two further parameters you can add if your web +user and group are not both 'apache'. These are --with-webuser +and --with-webgroup. + +Type ./configure -help -for details on these options. +for details on these, and other, options. -That's the build configuration sorted out. The next thing you -have to do is do a little more runtime specific configuration. -ZoneMinder configuration is scattered around various files in -the distribution so to make things easier for you there is a -ZoneMinder configuration utility included. Type - -perl ./zmconfig.pl - -to get it started. It is an interactive utility and will -prompt you by asking you various questions. For most questions -typing '?' will give you additional help if you need it. Once -you've answered all the questions it will write out a -configuration file called 'zmconfig.txt' and then process -various files to substitute the information in them. If you -run it again it will remember your answers from beforehand. If -you just want to rerun the substitutions you can run -zmconfig.pl in non-interactive mode by typing - -perl ./zmconfig.pl -noi - -which will just read your file (and later on the database) and -do the substitutions with no questions asked. There are two -classes of options, 'core' options which much be specified -with zmconfig which detail things such as database passwords -which are compiled into ZoneMinder and other options with are -stored in the database and which can be modified dynamically -via the 'options' section of the web interface. You only need -to complete the first set with zmconfig at this stage. If you -want to change just a few options and can't access the options -dialog via the web you can append them as parameters to -zmconfig and it will just ask you about those. So for example, - -perl ./zmconfig.pl ZM_STRICT_VIDEO_CONFIG - -However it is fairly dumb and will not tell you if you make a -typo and misspell an option. - -Among the first questions zmconfig.pl asks you are to do with -the database and the next thing you should do is create it and -the associated database user. The included schema -(zmschema.sql) can be used to actually create the tables -required. The database is usually called just 'zm' but can be -anything you like. - -If you are a first time user the first run of zmconfig.pl will -warn you about the missing database, you can ignore those -errors this time. Once you've run it for the first time the -schema file should have your desired database name in it so -use it to create the database (see below). Once the database -and permissions are set up rerun zmconfig.pl with the -noi -option to get it to load the configuration into your new -database. - -Then just type 'make' to do the build. +Now you can just type 'make' to do the build. The first time +you run this you may get a warning about a Makefile being +rebuilt in the scripts directory, and make will terminate. +This is normal and you can just rerun make to complete the +build. -5. Installation +5. + + + Installation For a new installation the next thing you will need to do is create your database and database users. So type the commands as follows, -mysql mysql < db/zmschema.sql +mysql mysql < db/zm_create.sql mysql mysql -grant select,insert,update,delete on .* to -''@localhost identified by ''; +grant select,insert,update,delete on .* to +''@localhost identified by ''; quit @@ -554,26 +554,37 @@ You may need to supply a username and password to the mysql commands in the first place to give yourself sufficient privileges to perform the required commands. If you want to host your database on a different machine than that which -ZoneMinder is running on then use the hostname of the remote -machine instead of localhost. +ZoneMinder is running on then you will need to perform this +step on the remote machine and reference the ZoneMinder +machine instead of localhost. If you are running remote +databases you probably already know all this, if you are not +then don't worry about it! -At this stage typing 'make install' will install everything to -the desired locations, you may wish to su to root first -though. The installation routine will copy the binaries and -scripts to your chosen install location, usually +At this stage typing + +make install + +will install everything to the desired locations, you may need +to su to root first though to give yourself adequate +permissions. The installation routine will copy the binaries +and scripts to your chosen install location, usually /usr/local/bin and then move zms (and nph-zms) to your cgi-bin area. It will then copy the web files to your chosen directory -and ensure they have the right permissions. Finally it tries -to link zm.php to index.php but will not overwrite an existing -file if it already exists. +and ensure they have the right permissions, and install the +ZoneMinder perl modules in the standard perl locations. It +will also install a copy of the zm.conf file (generated by +configure) to your system configuration area (e.g. +/usr/local/etc). Finally it tries to link zm.php to index.php +but will not overwrite an existing file if it already exists. The 'zm' script does not get installed automatically as it is not necessary for the operation of the ZoneMinder setup per se -and is not necessarily supported for distributions other than -those from the RedHat or Fedora families. However if you want -to ensure that the ZoneMinder daemons are started on reboot -etc copy it to your init.d directory, usually something like -/etc/rc.d/init.d and then add it by doing +and is not necessarily likely to work correctly for +distributions other than those from the RedHat or Fedora +families. However if you want to ensure that ZoneMinder is +started on reboot etc copy it to your init.d directory, +usually something like /etc/rc.d/init.d or /etc/inid.d and +then add it by doing chkconfig --add zm @@ -584,6 +595,32 @@ stop' etc. You may need to use the '-levels' parameter to chkconfig to ensure that ZoneMinder is started when you need it to. +If you do this you should find that you have files named S99zm +in some of the /etc/rcX.d directories and K99zm in some of the +others. The S99zm files are used for starting up ZoneMinder on +system boot and the K99zm ones are used to close it on system +shutdown. The 99 part is a priority, which may run from 0 to +99 and indicates where in the startup and shutdown sequences +that ZoneMinder should start or stop. So S99zm means that +ZoneMinder should be one of the last things to startup, which +is good as it needs things like the database to be running +first. + +However, by the same token, the K99zm scripts indicate that +ZoneMinder should be one of the last things to shut down, +which is bad, as by then the database etc will have gone away. +So for tidiness you should rename any K99zm files to K00zm to +indicate that ZoneMinder should be one of the first elements +to stop. This way you will avoid any nasty messages on your +console about the database having gone away and also will give +ZoneMinder chance to shutdown in a controlled manner without +introducing any corruption. + +As mentioned above, this script is for Redhat, and related, +distributions only. I would be grateful for any similar +scripts for other distributions so if you know of one, or +create one, then please send it to me. + If you are running a distribution which doesn't support the zm script, or if you just prefer more direct control, you can now start ZoneMinder by typing @@ -597,89 +634,69 @@ can subsequently stop and restart everything by changing the Now fire up your web browser, point it at your zm.php and off you go. +Note, if you ever need to uninstall ZoneMinder you can do this +by simply typing -6. Upgrading +make uninstall + +though as with installation you may need to change user to +have sufficient privileges. This will remove all installed +files, however you will need to manually remove any databases +you have created. + + +6. + + + Upgrading If you are upgrading from a previous version of ZoneMinder you -should follow the build instructions above up to the point -where you run zmconfig.pl. At this point you may wish to make -a backup of your database in case things go wrong, though if -you have a very large database and limited disk space which -may not be feasible. To create a backup type - -mysqldump --add-drop-table --databases zm > zm.dump - -for a regular dump or - -mysqldump --add-drop-table --databases zm | gzip > zm.dump.gz - -for a compressed one if you are tight on space. Obviously -change zm to be the name of your database if different. If at -any point during the upgrade something goes wrong and you need -to restore your database you can type the following - -mysql < zm.dump - -or - -gunzip -c zm.dump | mysql - -Note, you may need to add parameters to the mysql command in -order to run as a user with appropriate privileges to modify -the database. - -The next step is to run zmconfig.pl to set up the -configuration. You can either, just enter the initial basic -configuration manually as before so it can access the -database, or, an easier way if you prefer, you can copy -zmconfig.txt from your previous build directory into the new -build directory and then just run - -zmconfig.pl -noi - -which will ensure that the key configuration will be imported -though it will not overwrite anything saved in the database. - -You can then build ZoneMinder by typing - -make - -as for a new build. - -Assuming your build completes successfully you should ensure -that if ZoneMinder is currently running on your system that it -is shutdown before you go any further. Once it has stopped you -can execute +should follow the Building instructions above. Before +proceeding, ensure that any previous version of ZoneMinder has +been stopped, then type make install -to install the software. +to install the binaries, scripts, modules, web and +configuration files. -New versions of ZoneMinder often involve database schema -changes and before you restart it you should make sure that -these changes have been applied. +The next step in an upgrade is to run the zmupgrade.pl script +to make any changes to the database or file system required by +the new version. Ordinarily you can run this from your +ZoneMinder build directory by doing -To do this you must run the zmupdate.pl script. This script is -designed to do all the updating for you; this includes any -database changes plus any other tweaks necessary to upgrade to -the latest version. To use it you should ensure you are logged -in as a user with privileges to run ZoneMinder scripts (this -will usually be root, not necessarily the user you are -building as) and then type +zmupdate.pl -version= [--user= -- +pass=] -zmupdate.pl -version= [--user= -- -pass=] - -where 'previous version' relates to the version of ZM you are +where 'from version' relates to the version of ZM you are upgrading from, 1.21.1 for example, and not the version you -are upgrading to. All updates from that versions onwards will +are upgrading to. All updates from that version onwards will be applied; however zmupdate.pl will only work with upgrades from 1.19.0 onwards. The 'user' and 'pass' options allow you to specify a database user and password with sufficient privilege to 'alter' the structure of the database. This is -not necessarily the database user you use for ZoneMinder. -Check that the database upgrade is successful before -continuing. +not necessarily the database user you use for ZoneMinder. + +The update script will offer you the chance to make a database +backup before making any changes. You can use this to restore +your database if the upgrade fails or if you simply wish to +roll back in the future. Be aware that if you have a lot of +entries in your database and/or limited disk space doing a +backup may not be feasible or even work. Also the backup only +applies to the database and will not save any images or other +event detail saved on disk. If successful the backup will be +saved in the current directory and will be named -.dump. Any previous backups of the same +name will be overwritten without warning. The backup file is +in the form of a simple sql script and can be used to restore +the database simply by typing + +mysql < zm-1.21.4.dump + +for example. + +After having done any backup, the database upgrade will be +applied. Check that this is successful before continuing. Once the upgrade process is complete, you can then restart ZoneMinder using the zmpkg.pl script or using the service @@ -689,88 +706,94 @@ few minutes to ensure that everything comes back up successfully. -7. Installing from RPM +7. - Installing from the RPM is Distribution specific so make - sure you download the correct RPM for the distribution that - you are using. - - All documents including this README are installed to the - systems default document folder. - - Fedora Core: /usr/share/doc/zm-{version number} - - Mandrake: - - The packaged version of Zone Minder installs all binarys to - /usr/lib/zm including the web pages. So don't worry when - you do not see any files installed to the root directory - for your web server. The web pages for Apache are aliased - by zm.conf in the apache/conf.d directory which vary - depending on your distribution: - - Fedora Core: /etc/httpd/conf.d/zm.conf - - Mandrake: - - The Configuration file for setting up the database is - located at /etc/zm.conf and will need to be edited to add - the user and password that you want Zone Minder to use. - After you have installed the Zone Minder package this will - be the first thing you want to do. So use your favourite - editor and add in the user name and password you want Zone - Minder to use. You can also change the database name if you - would like. - - vi /etc/zm.conf - - Start the mysqld service so you can build the database - - service mysqld start - - Then run zminit to create the database - - /usr/lib/zm/bin/zminit - - The user and password that zminit asks for are for the - database only. For the user enter root and leave the - password blank (unless of course you changed the password). - You should see some information showing that it has created - the database and no errors. - - Set the run levels for the services that Zone Minder - requires. I like to set the run levels to 3 and 5 with the - following command: - - chkconfig -levels 35 mysqld on - - chkconfig -levels 35 httpd on - - Now start the web server and Zone Minder: - - service httpd start - - service zm start - - You should now be able to access the Zone Minder console - through the web browser http://localhost/zm - - Log files will be located in /var/log/zm - - Events are located at /var/lib/zm - + + Installing from RPM + +Installing from the RPM is distribution specific so make sure +you download the correct RPM for the distribution that you are +using. -8. Tutorial +All documents including this README are installed to the +systems default document folder. + +Fedora Core: /usr/share/doc/zm-{version number} + +Mandrake: + +The packaged version of Zone Minder installs all binarys to +/usr/lib/zm including the web pages. So don't worry when you +do not see any files installed to the root directory for your +web server. The web pages for Apache are aliased by zm.conf in +the apache/conf.d directory which vary depending on your +distribution: + +Fedora Core: /etc/httpd/conf.d/zm.conf + +Mandrake: + +The Configuration file for setting up the database is located +at /etc/zm.conf and will need to be edited to add the user and +password that you want Zone Minder to use. After you have +installed the Zone Minder package this will be the first thing +you want to do. So use your favourite editor and add in the +user name and password you want Zone Minder to use. You can +also change the database name if you would like. + +vi /etc/zm.conf + +Start the mysqld service so you can build the database + +service mysqld start + +Then run zminit to create the database + +/usr/lib/zm/bin/zminit + +The user and password that zminit asks for are for the +database only. For the user enter root and leave the password +blank (unless of course you changed the password). You should +see some information showing that it has created the database +and no errors. + +Set the run levels for the services that Zone Minder requires. +I like to set the run levels to 3 and 5 with the following +command: + +chkconfig -levels 35 mysqld on + +chkconfig -levels 35 httpd on + +Now start the web server and Zone Minder: + +service httpd start + +service zm start + +You should now be able to access the Zone Minder console +through the web browser http://localhost/zm + +Log files will be located in /var/log/zm + +Events are located at /var/lib/zm + + +8. -What you see now (and subsequently) depends on whether you -chose to run ZoneMinder in authenticated mode or not. This is -an option that lets you specify whether anyone that goes to -the ZoneMinder web pages must authenticate themselves in order -to be given permissions to perform certain tasks. If you chose -this mode then you will need to log in here. By default a -fully privileged user 'admin' has been created with a password -also of 'admin'. You should change this password as soon as -possible. + + Tutorial + +What you see now (and subsequently) is the initial view that +appears when running in non-authenticated mode. Authentication +is an option that lets you specify whether anyone that goes to +the ZoneMinder web pages must log themselves in, in order to +be given permissions to perform certain tasks. Running in +authenticated mode is recommended if your system is open to +the internet at all. During installation a fully privileged +user 'admin' has been created with a password also of 'admin'. +If you are using authentication you should change this +password as soon as possible. Once you've logged in, or if you are running in un- authenticated mode, you will now see the ZoneMinder Console @@ -778,19 +801,21 @@ window. This will resize itself to avoid being too intrusive on your desktop. Along the top there are several informational entries like the time of the last update and the current server load. There will also be an indication of the system -state which will probably say 'stopped' to start with. This is +state which will probably say 'stopped' to begin with. This is a link that you can click on to control the ZoneMinder system -as a whole. Below that are various other links including one -detailing the current user (in authenticated mode only) and -one allowing you to configure your bandwidth. This last one -enables you to optimise your settings depending on where you -are, the actual values relating to this are defined in the -options. If you are using a browser on the same machine or -network then choose high, over a cable or DSL link maybe -choose medium and over a dialup choose low. You can experiment -to see which is best. This setting is retained on a per -machine basis with a persistent cookie. Also on this line are -a number of other links that will be covered below. +as a whole. + +Below that are various other links including one detailing the +current user (in authenticated mode only) and one allowing you +to configure your bandwidth. This last one enables you to +optimise your settings depending on where you are, the actual +values relating to this are defined in the options. If you are +using a browser on the same machine or network then choose +high, over a cable or DSL link maybe choose medium and over a +dialup choose low. You can experiment to see which is best. +This setting is retained on a per machine basis with a +persistent cookie. Also on this line are a number of other +links that will be covered below. Please bear in mind that from here on the descriptions of the web pages are based on what you will see if you are running as @@ -821,16 +846,21 @@ to capture either one or more still images or possibly a movie. If this works and the images or movie are not garbage then the chances are that ZoneMinder will work fine also. -Once you have validated your camera run 'zmu -d -q --v' to get a dump of the settings (note, you will have to +Once you have validated your camera run 'zmu -d +-q -v' to get a dump of the settings (note, you will have to additionally supply a username and password to zmu if you are running in authenticated mode). You can then enter these values into the video related options of the monitor -configuration panel. The 'device_no' referred to here is a -number corresponding to the digit at the end of your device -file, so /dev/video0 has a 'device_no' of 0 etc. If 'zmu' -gives you an error related to permissions run 'zmfix -a' to -make sure you can access all the video devices. +configuration panel. The 'device_path' referred to here is the +path to your video device file, for instance /dev/video0 etc. +If 'zmu' gives you an error related to permissions run 'zmfix +-a' to make sure you can access all the video devices. + +There are a small number of camera setups that ZoneMinder +knows about and which can be accessed by clicking on the +'Presets' link. Selecting one of the presets will fill in the +monitor configuration with appropriate values but you will +still need to enter others and confirm the preset settings. The options are divided into a set of tabs to make it easier to edit. You do not have to 'save' to change to different tab @@ -839,67 +869,86 @@ so you can make all the changes you require and then click little more detail below, 'Monitor' Tab - Name - The name for your monitor. This should be made up of alphanumeric characters (a-z,A-Z,0-9) and hyphen (-) and underscore(_) only. Whitespace is not allowed. + Source Type - This determines whether the camera is a + local one attached to a physical video or USB port on your + machine, a remote network camera or an image source that + is represented by a file (for instance periodically + downloaded from a alternate location). Choosing one or the + other affects which set of options are shown in the next + tab. + Function - This essentially defines what the monitor is doing. This can be one of the following; - ú 'None' - The monitor is currently disabled and no streams - can be viewed or events generated. - -ú 'Monitor' - The monitor will only stream feeds but no -image analysis is done and so no alarms or events will be -generated, -ú 'Modect' - or MOtion DEteCTtion. All captured images will + o None - The monitor is currently disabled and no streams + can be viewed or events generated. + +o Monitor - The monitor will only stream feeds but no image +analysis is done and so no alarms or events will be generated, +o Modect - or MOtion DEteCTtion. All captured images will be analysed and events generated where motion is detected. -ú 'Record' - In this case continuous events of a fixed -length are generated regardless of motion which is analogous -to a convention time-lapse video recorder. No motion detection +o Record - In this case continuous events of a fixed length +are generated regardless of motion which is analogous to a +convention time-lapse video recorder. No motion detection takes place in this mode. -ú 'Mocord' - This is a hybrid of Modect and Record and +o Mocord - This is a hybrid of Modect and Record and results in both fixed length events being recorded and also any motion being highlighted within those events. - ú 'Nodect' - or No DEteCTtion. This is a special mode - designed to be used with external triggers. In Nodect no - motion detection takes place but events are recorded if - external triggers require it. - +o Nodect - or No DEteCTtion. This is a special mode +designed to be used with external triggers. In Nodect no +motion detection takes place but events are recorded if +external triggers require it. Generally speaking it is best to choose 'Monitor' as an initial setting here.. - Section Length - This specifies the length (in seconds) of - any fixed length events produced when the monitor function - is 'Record' or 'Mocord'. Otherwise it is ignored. This - should not be so long that events are difficult to - navigate nor so short that too many events are generated. - A length of between 300 and 900 seconds I recommended. + Enabled - The enabled field indicates whether the monitor + should be started in an active mode or in a more passive + state. You will nearly always want to check this box, the + only exceptions being when you want the camera to be + enabled or disabled by external triggers or scripts. If + not enabled then the monitor will not create any events in + response ot motion or any other triggers. - Frame Skip - This setting also applies only to the - 'Record' or 'Mocord' functions and specifies how many - frames should be skipped in the recorded events. The - default setting of zero results in every captured frame - being saved. Using a value of one would mean that one - frame is skipped between each saved, two means that two - frames are skipped between each saved frame etc. An - alternate way of thinking is that one in every 'Frame Skip - + 1' frames is saved. The point of this is to ensure that - saved events do not take up too much space unnecessarily - whilst still allowing the camera to capture at a fairly - high frame rate. The alternate approach is to limit the - capture frame rate which will obviously affect the rate at - which frames are saved. + Maximum FPS - On some occasions you may have one or more + cameras capable of high capture rates but find that you + generally do not require this performance at all times and + would prefer to lighten the load on your server. This + option permits you to limit the maximum capture rate to a + specified value. This may allow you to have more cameras + supported on your system by reducing the CPU load or to + allocate video bandwidth unevenly between cameras sharing + the same video device. This value is only a rough guide + and the lower the value you set the less close the actual + FPS may approach it especially on shared devices where it + can be difficult to synchronise two or more different + capture rates precisely. There is a global configuration + option that allows you to turn this limiting off in the + event of an alarm. - Run Mode - Two choices are available here. 'Continuous' is - the usual setting and means that the monitor is expected - to be performing the function selected above at all times - and should one or more of the daemons fail or not be - running it will be automatically restarted. By contrast - 'Triggered' means that the decision about whether the - daemons should actually be active is devolved to an - external triggering mechanism. + Reference Image Blend %ge - Each analysed image in + ZoneMinder is a composite of previous images and is formed + by applying the current image as a certain percentage of + the previous reference image. Thus, if we entered the + value of 10 here, each image's part in the reference image + will diminish by a factor of 0.9 each time round. So a + typical reference image will be 10% the previous image, 9% + the one before that and then 8.1%, 7.2%, 6.5% and so on of + the rest of the way. An image will effectively vanish + around 25 images later than when it was added. This blend + value is what is specified here and if higher will make + slower progressing events less detectable as the reference + image would change more quickly. Similarly events will be + deemed to be over much sooner as the reference image + adapts to the new images more quickly. In signal + processing terms the higher this value the steeper the + event attack and decay of the signal. It depends on your + particular requirements what the appropriate value would + be for you but start with 10 here and adjust it (usually + down) later if necessary. Triggers - This small section lets you select which triggers will apply if the run mode has been set to @@ -914,16 +963,7 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. zmtrigger.pl script is also available to implement custom external triggering. - Source Type - This determines whether the camera is a - local one attached to a physical video or USB port on your - machine, a remote network camera or an image source that - is represented by a file (for instance periodically - downloaded from a alternate location). Choosing one or the - other affects which set of options are shown in the next - tab. - 'Source' Tab (local device) - Device Path/Channel - Enter the full path to the device file that your camera is attached to, e.g. /dev/video0. Some video devices, e.g. BTTV cards support multiple @@ -972,7 +1012,6 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. if your camera provides mirrored input. 'Source' Tab (remote device) - Remote Host/Port/Path - Use these fields to enter the full URL of the camera. Basically if your camera is at http://camserver.home.net:8192/cameras/camera1.jpg then @@ -995,7 +1034,6 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. Orientation - As per local devices. 'Source' Tab (file device) - File Path - Enter the full path to the file to be used as the image source. @@ -1007,7 +1045,6 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. Orientation - As per local devices. 'Timestamp' Tab - Timestamp Label Format - This relates to the timestamp that is applied to each frame. It is a 'strftime' style string. It is actually passed through strftime and then @@ -1028,7 +1065,6 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. less than the image height. 'Buffers' Tab - Image Buffer Size - This option determines how many frames are held in the ring buffer at any one time. The ring buffer is the storage space where the last 'n' images are @@ -1088,72 +1124,6 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. the more usual value of 1 will ensure that all alarm frames have statistics recorded. -'Misc' Tab - - Event Prefix - By default events are named 'Event-', however you are free to rename them individually as - you wish. This option lets you modify the event prefix, - the 'Event-' part, to be a value of your choice so that - events are named differently as they are generated. This - allows you to name events according to which monitor - generated them. - - Maximum FPS - On some occasions you may have one or more - cameras capable of high capture rates but find that you - generally do not require this performance at all times and - would prefer to lighten the load on your server. This - option permits you to limit the maximum capture rate to a - specified value. This may allow you to have more cameras - supported on your system by reducing the CPU load or to - allocate video bandwidth unevenly between cameras sharing - the same video device. This value is only a rough guide - and the lower the value you set the less close the actual - FPS may approach it especially on shared devices where it - can be difficult to synchronise two or more different - capture rates precisely. There is a global configuration - option that allows you to turn this limiting off in the - event of an alarm. - - FPS Report Interval - How often the current performance in - terms of Frames Per Second is output to the system log. - Not used in any functional way so set it to maybe 1000 for - now. If you watch /var/log/messages (normally) you will - see this value being emitted at the frequency you specify - both for video capture and processing. - - Reference Image Blend %ge - Each analysed image in - ZoneMinder is a composite of previous images and is formed - by applying the current image as a certain percentage of - the previous reference image. Thus, if we entered the - value of 10 here, each image's part in the reference image - will diminish by a factor of 0.9 each time round. So a - typical reference image will be 10% the previous image, 9% - the one before that and then 8.1%, 7.2%, 6.5% and so on of - the rest of the way. An image will effectively vanish - around 25 images later than when it was added. This blend - value is what is specified here and if higher will make - slower progressing events less detectable as the reference - image would change more quickly. Similarly events will be - deemed to be over much sooner as the reference image - adapts to the new images more quickly. In signal - processing terms the higher this value the steeper the - event attack and decay of the signal. It depends on your - particular requirements what the appropriate value would - be for you but start with 10 here and adjust it (usually - down) later if necessary. - - Default Scale - If your monitor has been defined with a - particularly large or small image size then you can choose - a default scale here with which to view the monitor so it - is easier or more visible from the web interface. - - Web Colour - Some elements of ZoneMinder now use colours - to identify monitors on certain views. You can select - which colour is used for each monitor here. Any - specification that is valid for HTML colours is valid - here, e.g. 'red' or '#ff0000'. A small swatch next to the - input box displays the colour you have chosen. - 'Control' Tab Note: This tab and its options will only appear if you @@ -1303,6 +1273,56 @@ any motion being highlighted within those events. so on. Thus some circumspection is required here. Leave this blank for now anyway. +'Misc' Tab + Event Prefix - By default events are named 'Event-', however you are free to rename them individually as + you wish. This option lets you modify the event prefix, + the 'Event-' part, to be a value of your choice so that + events are named differently as they are generated. This + allows you to name events according to which monitor + generated them. + + Section Length - This specifies the length (in seconds) of + any fixed length events produced when the monitor function + is 'Record' or 'Mocord'. Otherwise it is ignored. This + should not be so long that events are difficult to + navigate nor so short that too many events are generated. + A length of between 300 and 900 seconds I recommended. + + Frame Skip - This setting also applies only to the + 'Record' or 'Mocord' functions and specifies how many + frames should be skipped in the recorded events. The + default setting of zero results in every captured frame + being saved. Using a value of one would mean that one + frame is skipped between each saved, two means that two + frames are skipped between each saved frame etc. An + alternate way of thinking is that one in every 'Frame Skip + + 1' frames is saved. The point of this is to ensure that + saved events do not take up too much space unnecessarily + whilst still allowing the camera to capture at a fairly + high frame rate. The alternate approach is to limit the + capture frame rate which will obviously affect the rate at + which frames are saved. + + FPS Report Interval - How often the current performance in + terms of Frames Per Second is output to the system log. + Not used in any functional way so set it to maybe 1000 for + now. If you watch /var/log/messages (normally) you will + see this value being emitted at the frequency you specify + both for video capture and processing. + + Default Scale - If your monitor has been defined with a + particularly large or small image size then you can choose + a default scale here with which to view the monitor so it + is easier or more visible from the web interface. + + Web Colour - Some elements of ZoneMinder now use colours + to identify monitors on certain views. You can select + which colour is used for each monitor here. Any + specification that is valid for HTML colours is valid + here, e.g. 'red' or '#ff0000'. A small swatch next to the + input box displays the colour you have chosen. + Finally, click 'Save' to add your monitor. On the main console listing you will now see your monitor and @@ -1328,11 +1348,15 @@ daemon running on it. If it were orange it would mean that a zmc daemon was running but no zma (analysis) daemon and green means both are running. In our case it is red because we defined the Monitor to have a Function of None so no daemons -are required. To get the daemons up and running you can either -click on the source listed in the Source column and edit the -monitor properties or click on the Function listed and change -it to 'Monitor', which will ensure that one or more -appropriate daemons are started automatically. +are required. + +To get the daemons up and running you can either click on the +source listed in the Source column and edit the monitor +properties or click on the Function listed and change it to +'Monitor', which will ensure that one or more appropriate +daemons are started automatically. You need to ensure that you +have started ZoneMinder before any of these settings actually +has any effect. Having a device status of red or orange does not necessarily constitute an error if you have deliberately disabled a @@ -1359,15 +1383,17 @@ monitors while indoors. You can also choose to view all of them. If you choose a group then your selection will be remembered via a cookie and will be used until you change it. You can call your groups anything you like, though 'Mobile' -has a special meaning (see Mobile Devices below). There may -also be a 'Cycle' link which allows you to cycle through a -shot from each of your monitors (in the selected group unless -they are switched off) and get a streamed or still image from -each in turn. Similarly if you see a link titled 'Montage' it -will allow you view all your active enabled cameras (in the -selected group) simultaneously. Be aware however that this can -consume large amounts of bandwidth and CPU so should not be -used continuously unless you have resource to burn. +has a special meaning (see Mobile Devices below). + +There may also be a 'Cycle' link which allows you to cycle +through a shot from each of your monitors (in the selected +group unless they are switched off) and get a streamed or +still image from each in turn. Similarly if you see a link +titled 'Montage' it will allow you view all your active +enabled cameras (in the selected group) simultaneously. Be +aware however that this can consume large amounts of bandwidth +and CPU so should not be used continuously unless you have +resource to burn. 8.2. Defining Zones @@ -1378,13 +1404,47 @@ want to modify it or add others. Click on the Zones column for your monitor and you should see a small popup window appear which contains an image from your camera overlain with a stippled pattern representing your zone. In the default case -this will cover the whole image and will be red. Beneath that -will be a table containing a listing of your zones. Clicking -on either the relevant bit of the image or on the Id or Name -in the table will bring up another window where you can edit -the particulars for your Zones. As you can see there are quite -a few, so now is a good time to go through them. The options -are as follows. +this will cover the whole image. The colour of the zones +appearing here is determined by what type they are. The +default zone is Active and so will be red, Inclusive zones are +orange, exclusive zones are purple, preclusive zones are blue +and inactive zones are white. + +Beneath the zones image will be a table containing a listing +of your zones. Clicking on either the relevant bit of the +image or on the Id or Name in the table will bring up another +window where you can edit the particulars for your Zones. As +you can see there are quite a few, so now is a good time to go +through them. + +The Zone view is split into two main areas, on the left is the +options are area and on the right is the zone drawing area. A +default or new zone will cover the whole drawing area and will +overlay any other zones you already have on there. Unlike the +previous zones image, the current zone is coloured green, +other zones will be orange regardless of type. Your first task +is to decide if you want the zone over the whole image or +whether you can narrow down the detection area; the smaller +the zone, the less processing time it takes to examine it. If +you wish to the edit the dimensions of the zone you can either +manually fill in the table containing the zone points under +the image, or click on the zone corners once to select it (it +should turn red), and then click on the desired location to +relocate it. Moving your mouse over a point will highlight the +corresponding entry in the points table and vice versa. + +To add a new point, click on the '+' next to the point entry +in the point table. This will add another point directly +between that and the next point. To delete a point, select it, +and then click on the '-' link. The 'X' that appears in the +same area just allows you to deselect that point and leave it +in the same place. You can make zones almost any shape you +like; except that zones may not self-intersect (i.e. edges +crossing over each other) . + +Once you have your zone the correct size and shape, you should +now fill in the rest of the configuration. These options are +as follows. Name - This is just a label to identify the zone by. You can change this to be more representative if you like, @@ -1394,85 +1454,77 @@ are as follows. Type - This is one of the more important concepts in ZoneMinder and there are five to choose from. - Active : This is the zone type you'll use most often, and - which will be set for your default zone. This means that - this zone will trigger an alarm on any events that occur - within it that meet the selection criteria. - - Inclusive : This zone type can be used for any zones that - you want to trigger an alarm only if at least one other - Active zone has already triggered one. This might be for - example to cover an area of the image like a plant or - tree which moves a lot and which would trigger lots of - alarms. Perhaps this is behind an area you'd like to - monitor though, in this case you'd create an active zone - covering the non-moving parts and an inclusive zone - covering the tree perhaps with less sensitive detection - settings also. If something triggered an alarm in the - Active zone and also in the Inclusive zone they would - both be registered and the resulting alarm would be that - much bigger than if you had blanked it out altogether. - - Exclusive : The next zone Type is Exclusive. This means - that alarms will only be triggered in this zone if no - alarms have already been triggered in Active zones. This - is the most specialised of the zone types and you may - never use it but in its place it is very useful. For - instance in the camera covering my garden I keep watch - for a hedgehog that visits most nights and scoffs the - food out of my cats bowls. By creating a sensitive - Exclusive zone in that area I can ensure that a hedgehog - alarm will only trigger if there is activity in that - small area. If something much bigger occurs, like someone - walking by it will trigger a regular alarm and not one - from the Exclusive zone. Thus I can ensure I get alarms - for big events and also special small events but not the - noise in between. - - Preclusive : This zone type is relatively recent. It is - called a Preclusive zone because if it is triggered it - actually precludes an alarm being generated for that - image frame. So motion or other changes that occur in a - Preclusive zone will have the effect of ensuring that no - alarm occurs at all. The application for this zone type - is primarily as a shortcut for detecting general large- - scale lighting or other changes. Generally this may be - achieved by limiting the maximum number of alarm pixels - or other measure in an Active zone. However in some cases - that zone may cover an area where the area of variable - illumination occurs in different places as the sun and/or - shadows move and it thus may be difficult to come up with - general values. Additionally, if the sun comes out - rapidly then although the initial change may be ignored - in this way as the reference image catches up an alarm - may ultimately be triggered as the image becomes less - different. Using one or more Preclusive zones offers a - different approach. Preclusive zones are designed to be - fairly small, even just a few pixels across, with quite - low alarm thresholds. They should be situated in areas of - the image that are less likely to have motion occur such - as high on a wall or in a corner. Should a general - illumination change occur they would be triggered at - least as early as any Active zones and prevent any other - zones from generating an alarm. Obviously careful - placement is required to ensure that they do not cancel - any genuine alarms or that they are not so close together - that any motion just hops from one Preclusive zone to - another. As always, the best way is to experiment a - little and see what works for you. - - Inactive : This final zone type is the opposite of - Active. In this zone type no alarms will ever be - reported. You can create an Inactive zone to cover any - areas in which nothing notable will ever happen or where - you get constant false alarms that don't relate to what - you are trying to monitor. An Inactive zone can overlay - other zone types and will be processed first. - - I mentioned above that Inactive zones may be overlaid on - other zones to blank out areas however as a general + o Active - This is the zone type you'll use most often, and + which will be set for your default zone. This means that this + zone will trigger an alarm on any events that occur within it + that meet the selection criteria. + +o Inclusive - This zone type can be used for any zones that +you want to trigger an alarm only if at least one other Active +zone has already triggered one. This might be for example to +cover an area of the image like a plant or tree which moves a +lot and which would trigger lots of alarms. Perhaps this is +behind an area you'd like to monitor though, in this case +you'd create an active zone covering the non-moving parts and +an inclusive zone covering the tree perhaps with less +sensitive detection settings also. If something triggered an +alarm in the Active zone and also in the Inclusive zone they +would both be registered and the resulting alarm would be that +much bigger than if you had blanked it out altogether. +o Exclusive - The next zone Type is Exclusive. This means +that alarms will only be triggered in this zone if no alarms +have already been triggered in Active zones. This is the most +specialised of the zone types and you may never use it but in +its place it is very useful. For instance in the camera +covering my garden I keep watch for a hedgehog that visits +most nights and scoffs the food out of my cats bowls. By +creating a sensitive Exclusive zone in that area I can ensure +that a hedgehog alarm will only trigger if there is activity +in that small area. If something much bigger occurs, like +someone walking by it will trigger a regular alarm and not one +from the Exclusive zone. Thus I can ensure I get alarms for +big events and also special small events but not the noise in +between. +o Preclusive - This zone type is relatively recent. It is +called a Preclusive zone because if it is triggered it +actually precludes an alarm being generated for that image +frame. So motion or other changes that occur in a Preclusive +zone will have the effect of ensuring that no alarm occurs at +all. The application for this zone type is primarily as a +shortcut for detecting general large-scale lighting or other +changes. Generally this may be achieved by limiting the +maximum number of alarm pixels or other measure in an Active +zone. However in some cases that zone may cover an area where +the area of variable illumination occurs in different places +as the sun and/or shadows move and it thus may be difficult to +come up with general values. Additionally, if the sun comes +out rapidly then although the initial change may be ignored in +this way as the reference image catches up an alarm may +ultimately be triggered as the image becomes less different. +Using one or more Preclusive zones offers a different +approach. Preclusive zones are designed to be fairly small, +even just a few pixels across, with quite low alarm +thresholds. They should be situated in areas of the image that +are less likely to have motion occur such as high on a wall or +in a corner. Should a general illumination change occur they +would be triggered at least as early as any Active zones and +prevent any other zones from generating an alarm. Obviously +careful placement is required to ensure that they do not +cancel any genuine alarms or that they are not so close +together that any motion just hops from one Preclusive zone to +another. As always, the best way is to experiment a little and +see what works for you. +o Inactive - This final zone type is the opposite of +Active. In this zone type no alarms will ever be reported. You +can create an Inactive zone to cover any areas in which +nothing notable will ever happen or where you get constant +false alarms that don't relate to what you are trying to +monitor. An Inactive zone can overlay other zone types and +will be processed first. + It was mentioned above that Inactive zones may be overlaid + on other zones to blank out areas however as a general principle you should try and make zones abut each other as - much as possible and do not overlap. This helps avoid + much as possible and not overlap. This helps avoid repeated duplicate processing of the same area. For instance an Inclusive zone overlaying an Active zone when all other settings are the same will always trigger when @@ -1482,6 +1534,14 @@ are as follows. processed first and if small may actually save processing time by preventing full analysis of the image. + Presets - This contains a predefined list of some common + zone settings. Selecting one will fill in some of the + other fields in the page and help you to pick appropriate + values for your zones. Note that it may be that none of + the presets will be appropriate for your purposes so it is + worth going through the individual options below to ensure + that each has a sensible value. + Units - This setting which details whether certain of the following settings are in Pixels or Percent, where 'Percent' refers to a percentage area of the zone itself. @@ -1490,53 +1550,41 @@ are as follows. sizes frequently. If you change this setting all appropriate values below are redisplayed in the correct context. A good tip would be to initially enter the - settings in Percent and then change to Pixels and refine - any gaps. Repeated flipping between the settings will - cause rounding errors, as ZoneMinder in general is not at - home to Mr Floating Point for reasons of performance. - Note, the sense of the percentage values changed in - version 1.19.0. Prior to that percentages referred to the - area of the image as a whole, whereas it now only refers - to the area of the zone. This makes trying to work out - necessary sizes rather easier. - - Min/Maximum X/Y - Following the units the next four - settings define the bounds of the Zone in the monitor - frame and are self-explanatory with the exception of the - fact that the minima are at the top left of the frame and - the maxima are at the bottom right rather than in a - Cartesian style. + settings in Percent and then change to Pixels if you wish + to be more precise. Be aware though that repeated flipping + between the settings may cause rounding errors. Note, the + sense of the percentage values refers to the area of the + zone and not the image as a whole. This makes trying to + work out necessary sizes rather easier. Alarm Colour - The option after that allows you to specify what colour you'd like any alarms this zone generates to - be highlighted on images, pick anything you like that will + be highlighted on images. Pick anything you like that will show up against your normal image background. This option is irrelevant for Preclusive and Inactive zones and will - be disabled For Inactive zones all subsequent options are + be disabled. For Inactive zones all subsequent options are likewise disabled. - Alarm Check Method -This is a new addition to Zone - definitions. It allows you to specify the nature of the - alarm checking that will take place, and more specifically - what tests are applied to determine whether a frame - represents an alarm or not. The three options are - 'AlarmPixels', 'FilteredPixels' and 'Blobs' and depending - on which option is chosen some of the following other - settings may become unavailable. The first of these - indicates that only a count of individual alarmed pixels - should be used to determine the state of a image, the - second indicate that the pixels should be filtered to + Alarm Check Method -This setting allows you to specify the + nature of the alarm checking that will take place, and + more specifically what tests are applied to determine + whether a frame represents an alarm or not. The three + options are 'AlarmPixels', 'FilteredPixels' and 'Blobs' + and depending on which option is chosen some of the + following other settings may become unavailable. The first + of these indicates that only a count of individual alarmed + pixels should be used to determine the state of a image, + the second indicate that the pixels should be filtered to remove isolated pixels (see below) before being counted, and the third uses a more sophisticated analysis which is designed to aggregate alarmed pixels into continuous - groups, or 'blobs'. Blob analysis is the method ZoneMinder - has always used previously (before it became optional) and - so this is the default. However this method takes slightly - longer and so if you find that one of the other methods - works just as well for you and you wish to maximise - performance you can opt for that instead. Some of the more - useful alarm related features such as highlighted analysis - images are only available with the 'Blob' setting. + groups, or 'blobs'. Blob analysis default, however this + method takes slightly longer and so if you find that one + of the other methods works just as well for you and you + wish to maximise performance you can opt for that instead. + Some of the more useful alarm related features such as + highlighted analysis images are only available with the + 'Blob' setting. Min/Maximum Pixel Threshold - These setting are used to define limits for the difference in value between a pixel @@ -1545,12 +1593,29 @@ are as follows. are averaged first, originally this used an RMS (root mean squared) algorithm but calculating square roots mugs performance and does not seem to improve detection. Using - an average does means that subtle colour changes without - any brightness change may go undetected but this is not - the normal circumstance. There is also the option to use a + an average means that subtle colour changes without any + brightness change may go undetected but this is not the + normal circumstance. There is also the option to use a more sophisticated integer algorithm to calculate a Y (or brightness) value from the colours themselves. + Filter Width/Height - To improve detection of valid event + ZoneMinder applies several other functions to the data to + improve its ability to distinguish interesting signals + from uninteresting noise. The first of these is a filter + that removes any pixels that do not participate in a + contiguous block of pixels above a certain size. These + options are always expressed in pixels and should be + fairly small, and an odd number, three or five is a good + value to choose initially. Application of this filter + removes any tiny or discontinuous pixels that don't form + part of a discrete block. + + Zone Area - This field differs from the others in that it + may not be written to. It is there purely as a useful + reference, when working in pixel units, of the area of the + zone. + Min/Maximum Alarmed Area - The following two settings define the minimum and maximum number of pixels that exceed this threshold that would cause an alarm. If the @@ -1568,18 +1633,6 @@ are as follows. force method of detection as many small events dispersed widely are not distinguished from a compact one. - Filter Width/Height - To improve detection of valid event - ZoneMinder applies several other functions to the data to - improve its ability to distinguish interesting signals - from uninteresting noise. The first of these is a filter - that removes any pixels that do not participate in a - contiguous block of pixels above a certain size. These - options are always expressed in pixels and should be - fairly small, and an odd number, three or five is a good - value to choose initially. Application of this filter - removes any tiny or discontinuous pixels that don't form - part of a discrete block. - Min/Maximum Filtered Area - These are two additional bounds that specify the limits of pixels that would cause an alarm after this filtering process. As the filtering @@ -1611,18 +1664,23 @@ window you will see your monitors listed once more. The columns not explored so far are the Monitor name, and various event totals for certain periods of time. Clicking on any of the event totals will bring up a variation on the same window -but click on the Monitor name for now. On doing so up will pop -another window which should be scaled to contain a heading, an -image from your monitor, a status and a list of recent events -if any have been generated. Depending on whether you are able -to view a streamed image or not the image frame will either be -this stream or a series of stills. You have the option to -change from one to the other (if available) at the centre of -the top heading. Also along the top are a handful of other -links. These let you change the scale of the image stream, -modify image settings (for local devices) or close the window. -If you have cameras that can be controlled, a 'Control' link -should also be preset which is described below. +but click on the Monitor name for now. If it is not a link +then this means that that monitor is not running so ensure +that you have started ZoneMinder and that your Monitor +function is not set to 'None'. If the link works, clicking on +it will pop another window up which should be scaled to +contain a heading, an image from your monitor, a status and a +list of recent events if any have been generated. + +Depending on whether you are able to view a streamed image or +not the image frame will either be this stream or a series of +stills. You have the option to change from one to the other +(if available) at the centre of the top heading. Also along +the top are a handful of other links. These let you change the +scale of the image stream, modify image settings (for local +devices) or close the window. If you have cameras that can be +controlled, a 'Control' link should also be present which is +described below. The image should be self-explanatory but if it looks like garbage it is possible that the video configuration is wrong @@ -1703,6 +1761,7 @@ slower. If you have defined continuous motion then ongoing activities can be stopped by clicking on the area between the arrows, which will either be a graphic in the case of pan/tilt controls or a word in the case of zoom and focus controls etc. + Certain control capabilities such as mapped motion allow direct control by clicking on the image itself when used in browsers which support streamed images directly. Used in this @@ -1757,9 +1816,10 @@ filter on, some of which require further explanation. These are as follows, 'Date/Time' which must evaluate to a date and a time together, 'Date' and 'Time' which are variants which may only contain the relevant subsets of this, 'Weekday' which -as expected is a day of the week. All of the preceding -elements take a very flexible free format of dates and time -based on the PHP strtotime function +as expected is a day of the week. + +All of the preceding elements take a very flexible free format +of dates and time based on the PHP strtotime function (http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php). This allows values such as 'last Wednesday' etc to be entered. I recommend acquainting yourself with this function to see what @@ -1797,27 +1857,24 @@ If you do this then the subsequent dialog will also allow you specify whether you want this filter automatically applied in order to delete events or upload events via ftp to another server and mail notifications of events to one or more email -accounts. In most cases you can specify your preferences for -upload formats and email content during configuration time -(make sure you type '?' to get help on options). Emails and -messages (essentially small emails intended for mobile phones -or pagers) have a variety of tokens that can be substituted -for various details of the event that caused them. This -includes links to the event view or the filter as well as the -option of attaching images or videos to the email itself. See -the included templates zmconfig_eml.txt and zmconfig_msg.txt -for a fuller explanation of the availability and meaning of -these tokens. Finally you can also specify a script which is -run on each matched event. This script should be readable and -executable by your web server user. It will get run once per -event and the relative path to the directory containing the -event in question. Normally this will be of the form -/ so from this path you can derive both -the monitor name and event id and perform any action you wish. -Note that arbitrary commands are not allowed to be specified -in the filter, for security the only thing it may contain is -the full path to an executable. What that contains is entirely -up to you however. +accounts. Emails and messages (essentially small emails +intended for mobile phones or pagers) have a variety of tokens +that can be substituted for various details of the event that +caused them. This includes links to the event view or the +filter as well as the option of attaching images or videos to +the email itself. See the included templates zmconfig_eml.txt +and zmconfig_msg.txt for a fuller explanation of the +availability and meaning of these tokens. Finally you can also +specify a script which is run on each matched event. This +script should be readable and executable by your web server +user. It will get run once per event and the relative path to +the directory containing the event in question. Normally this +will be of the form / so from this path +you can derive both the monitor name and event id and perform +any action you wish. Note that arbitrary commands are not +allowed to be specified in the filter, for security the only +thing it may contain is the full path to an executable. What +that contains is entirely up to you however. Filtering is a powerful mechanism you can use to eliminate events that fit a certain pattern however in many cases @@ -1847,17 +1904,27 @@ your disk does not fill up with events. From the monitor or filtered events listing you can now click on an event to view it in more detail. If you have streaming capability you will see a series of images that make up the -event. You will also see a link to allow you to view the still -images themselves. If you don't have streaming then you will -be taken directly to this page. The images themselves are -thumbnail size and depending on the configuration and -bandwidth you have chosen will either be the full images -scaled in your browser of actual scaled images. If it is the -latter, if you have low bandwidth for example, it may take a -few seconds to generate the images. If thumbnail images are -required to be generated, they will be kept and not re- -generated in future. Once the images appear you can mouse over -them to get the image sequence number and the image score. +event. Under that you should also see a progress bar. +Depending on your configuration this will either be static or +will be filled in to indicate how far through the event you +are. By default this functionality is turned off for low +bandwidth settings as the image delivery tends to not be able +to keep up with real-time and the progress bar cannot take +this into account. Regardless of whether the progress bar +updates, you can click on it to navigate to particular points +in the events. + +You will also see a link to allow you to view the still images +themselves. If you don't have streaming then you will be taken +directly to this page. The images themselves are thumbnail +size and depending on the configuration and bandwidth you have +chosen will either be the full images scaled in your browser +of actual scaled images. If it is the latter, if you have low +bandwidth for example, it may take a few seconds to generate +the images. If thumbnail images are required to be generated, +they will be kept and not re-generated in future. Once the +images appear you can mouse over them to get the image +sequence number and the image score. You will notice for the first time that alarm images now contain an overlay outlining the blobs that represent the @@ -1887,26 +1954,19 @@ cannot accidentally delete it when viewing normal unarchived events. The final option of generating an MPEG video is still somewhat -experimental and its usefulness may vary. It can use either -the Berkeley MPEG encoder or the faster and new ffmpeg -encoder. Either of these will generate a short video, which -will be downloaded to your browsing machine to view. Due to -the relatively slow frame rate that ZoneMinder will capture at -and the high minimum frame rate that the Berkeley encoder uses -videos created by this method will be very quick. However when +experimental and its usefulness may vary. It uses the open +source ffmpeg encoder to generate short videos, which will be +downloaded to your browsing machine or viewed in place. When using the ffmpeg encoder, ZoneMinder will attempt to match the -duration of the video with the duration of the event. This has -the useful effect of making the video watchable and not too -quick while having the unfortunate side effect of increasing -file size and generation time. Ffmpeg in particular has a -particularly rich set of options and you can specify during -configuration which additional options you may wish to include -to suit your preferences. In particular you may need to -specify additional, or different, options if you are creating -videos of events with particularly slow frame rates as some -codecs only support certain ranges of frame rates. Details of -these options can be found in the documentation for the -encoders and is outside the scope of this document. +duration of the video with the duration of the event. Ffmpeg +has a particularly rich set of options and you can specify +during configuration which additional options you may wish to +include to suit your preferences. In particular you may need +to specify additional, or different, options if you are +creating videos of events with particularly slow frame rates +as some codecs only support certain ranges of frame rates. +Details of these options can be found in the documentation for +the encoders and is outside the scope of this document. Building an MPEG video, especially for a large event, can take some time and should not be undertaken lightly as the effect @@ -2003,18 +2063,19 @@ system. The 'Monitors' setting specifies whether a user can see the current monitor settings and change them. Finally the 'System' setting determines whether a user can view or modify the system settings as a whole, such as options and users or -controlling the running of the system as a whole. As well as -these settings there is also a 'Bandwidth' setting which can -be used to limit the maximum bandwidth that a user can view at -and a 'Monitor Ids' setting that can be used for non-'System' -users to restrict them to only being able to access streams, -events or monitors for the given monitors ids as a comma -separated list with no spaces. If a user with 'Monitors' edit -privileges is limited to specific monitors here they will not -be able to add or delete monitors but only change the details -of those they have access to. If a user has 'System' -privileges then the 'Monitors Ids' setting is ignored and has -no effect.' +controlling the running of the system as a whole. + +As well as these settings there is also a 'Bandwidth' setting +which can be used to limit the maximum bandwidth that a user +can view at and a 'Monitor Ids' setting that can be used for +non-'System' users to restrict them to only being able to +access streams, events or monitors for the given monitors ids +as a comma separated list with no spaces. If a user with +'Monitors' edit privileges is limited to specific monitors +here they will not be able to add or delete monitors but only +change the details of those they have access to. If a user has +'System' privileges then the 'Monitors Ids' setting is ignored +and has no effect.' That's pretty much is it for the tour, though there is a lot more to ZoneMinder as you will discover. You should experiment @@ -2022,7 +2083,10 @@ with the various setting to get the results you think are right for your requirements. -9. Camera Control +9. + + + Camera Control Version 1.21.0 of ZoneMinder introduced a new feature, allowing you to control cameras from the web interface and to @@ -2327,7 +2391,10 @@ following commands as a parameter. -10. Mobile Devices +10. + + + Mobile Devices ZoneMinder has always had a minimal WML (Wireless Markup Language) capability to allow it to function on mobile phones @@ -2410,48 +2477,212 @@ all monitors available to the logged in user will be visible, -11. Troubleshooting +11. -Life eh? Nothing ever works first time does it? In case you -are having problems here are some things to try. If these -don't work then check the ZoneMinder FAQ at -http://www.zoneminder.com/faq.html and then the forums at -http://www.zoneminder.com/forums.html first and see if anyone -has had the same problem in the past. If not then feel free to -get in touch and I'll see if I can suggest something else. . -Please ensure that you read the posting guidelines and go -through the steps listed below before posting or mailing -though. The best places to look for errors are in the system -error log (normally /var/log/messages on RedHat), the -ZoneMinder logs, and the web server log -(/var/log/httpd/error_log unless otherwise defined). There -should be something in one of those that gives you some kind -of tip off. + + Troubleshooting + +If you are having problems with ZoneMinder here are some +things to try. If these don't work then check the ZoneMinder +FAQ at http://www.zoneminder.com/faq.html and then the forums +at http://www.zoneminder.com/forums.html first and see if +anyone has had the same problem in the past. If not then feel +free to get in touch and I'll see if I can suggest something +else. Please ensure that you read the posting guidelines and +go through the steps listed below before posting or mailing +though. -Some things to check first. +The first thing you need to do is check the ZoneMinder logs to +see if you can find out what is and what isn't working. Most +components of ZoneMinder can emit informational, warning, +error and debug messages in a standard format. These messages +can be logged in one or more locations. By default all +messages produced by scripts are logged in