Configure Alta Video to backup video to CIFS on your local network

Last modified: Tuesday October 25, 2022.

By default, when you enable Alta Cloud Storage for your cameras, the video data from your selected cameras is hosted in the Avigilon Alta-provided storage cloud.

Alternatively, You can choose to use Alta Storage Connect to send your video data to your own CIFS storage system on your own network.

Alta Storage Connect is a licensed feature - speak to your Ava Partner or Sales representative for more information.

Video data is saved to your internal network storage unencrypted, to allow it to be played back from any device. It is your responsibility to secure access to the internal storage you use.

Task — View backup status

  1. Log in to your Alta Video deployment as an Administrator.
  2. Click New tool from the tool ribbon, then select System tool button System.

    If System is already open, click the tab to view the page.

    The System page opens.
  3. From Deployment, select Settings button.
  4. Select Backup cameras.
  5. Click View backup status.
    The Backup status dialog is shown.
    You can sort the table by clicking on the column headings.

    Click Info to view an overview of the backups, including the amount of data backed up in the last 24 hours, the amount of recordings from the last 24 hours that need to be backed up, and the total amount of outstanding recordings to be backed up.

    If the total duration for recordings needing to be backed up is increasing, it indicates that you might need to increase the bandwidth available for the backups, or increase the times when backups are allowed.

  6. Click Close.

Task — Configure new local network storage

  1. Click Settings Settings.
  2. Click Add new Add new.
  3. Type a name for the storage provider and press Enter.
  4. From Backup location, select CIFS.
  5. In the Hosts field, enter the IP address or hostname for the CIFS-compatable storage.
  6. Optionally, add the port number to the Hosts information.

    If you do not specify a port, Aware defaults to using port 445.

  7. Enter the Username and Password required to access your chosen network storage.
  8. Enter the domain name of the user if using an Active Directory/LDAP or localhost if using a local user in the Domain field.
  9. Enter the Share name that has been set up for this storage.
  10. Enter the Base path for the storage.
  11. Click Done.

Task — Configure your backup to use your preferred local network provider

  1. From the Backup to dropdown, select the cloud storage provider to use.

    By default, this is set to Ava Cloud. If you have added your own external cloud storage providers, you can select the relevant provider from the drop-down list.

  2. Click Change schedule to change the times and bandwidths used to upload your selected video data to your chosen Cloud Storage.
    Choose Always, When, or Never for the backup time, and define the bandwidth available for uploading to Cloud Storage.
    Click Done.
  3. For each Site in your deployment, choose whether to use the Alta Video default settings, or to create custom settings for that site.
  4. Click Done.

Task — Change the backup schedule

  1. To set a default backup schedule:
    1. Click Change schedule from the DEFAULT BACKUP SCHEDULE area.
    2. Define your preferred options for the bandwidth to be used, and the schedule to be followed.

      Depending on several factors including your camera configuration profile settings, cameras can consume between 250 kbps and 10,000 kbps of bandwidth per camera when backing up their video data.

      Selecting too low a bandwidth setting could meant that the camera might never be able to back up all its data, whereas setting too high a bandwidth setting could negatively impact other devices on your network.

    3. Click Done.
  2. To set a custom backup schedule for a specific Site:
    1. Scroll to the backup settings for the relevant site.
    2. Select Use custom settings.
    3. Click Change schedule.
    4. Define your preferred options for the bandwidth to be used, and the schedule to be followed for the selected site.

      Depending on several factors including your camera configuration profile settings, cameras can consume between 250 kbps and 10,000 kbps of bandwidth per camera when backing up their video data.

      Selecting too low a bandwidth setting could meant that the camera might never be able to back up all its data, whereas setting too high a bandwidth setting could negatively impact other devices on your network.

    5. Click Done.
  3. Click Done.