Adding and configuring streamers¶

Streamer list¶

The Streamers menu section in the Watcher web UI allows the Watcher administrator to monitor streamer statuses as well as configure and add streamers. By default, the local streamer is added to Watcher.

Adding and configuring streamers¶

Before you add streamers to Watcher Cluster, you need to prepare them as described here. If you use Watcher Single, just configure the local streamer as needed by clicking its name to open the form described below.

To add streamer servers to Watcher:

1. Click the + button. In the streamer creation form, enter the hostname (actual URL or any name), cluster key, and select the Streamer role.

   When you click Save, the streamer settings page appears.

   

2. Specify the streamer settings:

   • Role of the streamer in your cluster. Use Streamer for cameras ingest, Inference or Identification for video analytics.

   • Issue by LetsEncrypt is to issue an SSL certificate so that the streamer could be accessed via HTTPS.

     Note

     Issue the certificate for the localhost streamer to use HTTPS with the managing server.

   • Default – when you have added a number of streamers, you can select the default one. All new cameras will be added to the default streamer(s).

   • API URL – this URL is used for internal communication between the Watcher server and the streamer. It shall conform to the specifications of the FQDN.

   • Public payload URL – this URL is for connecting with streams at the streamer when you use the embed link. Note that the streamer's public URL must start with https:// if you plan to use the embed links over HTTPS because the public URL is inlined in the player page and you cannot call HTTP URLs from HTTPS page.

     The public URL shall conform to the specifications of the FQDN.

   • Cluster key – the cluster key used in the cluster (the cluster_key option in the configuration file). If the streamer’s and Watcher's cluster keys are identical, there is no need to fill this field.

3. Click Save.

The streamer appears in the list. The green mark next to the hostname indicates that it is connected.

DVR settings¶

To record an archive, configure it on the DVR tab in the streamer profile. Specifying Path where the archive should be stored is enough to enable recording on the streamer.

You can also configure a software RAID array that allows for distribution of archive fragments across disks ensuring uniform degradation of the records in case of disk failure. Thus, you can avoid losing all the archive of any particular camera.

Please refer to the schema for the parameter descriptions.