ViewNow Service

Overview

The ViewNow Service connects ViewNow video alarm devices to SBN. It listens on a network port for messages sent by the video equipment and, when an alarm arrives, raises a matching alarm in SBN so an operator can see it and view the associated video. Each incoming message carries the customer (account) and zone information along with a link to the video clip, which the service includes on the alarm so the operator can open the footage directly from the alarm.

The service keeps a continuous connection with the video equipment using a heartbeat. The equipment is expected to check in on a regular interval; if it stops checking in for longer than the configured heartbeat, the service raises an alarm in SBN against the designated error account so an operator knows the device has stopped communicating.

Alarms can be sent to more than one SBN data server at the same time, so a primary and optional backup servers all receive the same alarm activity. The service requires a working SBN data-server connection; if the connection cannot be established at start-up, the service logs the reason and stops.

Service Manager

Instructions for installing and interacting with this service is found here.

Service Properties

Only properties specific to this service are listed here. Common service properties (SBN Server connection, Logging, SMTP) are found here.

Conc Id

The concentrator (receiver) number that alarms from this service are recorded under in SBN. This identifies where the alarm activity came from when it appears on the operator screens.

Heartbeat (In Seconds)

How long the service waits for the video equipment to check in before treating it as offline. If no check-in is received within this many seconds, the service raises a timeout alarm in SBN against the error account.

Port

The network port the service listens on for incoming messages from the ViewNow video equipment.

CID Prefix

A fixed set of leading characters added to the front of the account (CID) on each incoming alarm before it is recorded in SBN.

CID Size

The total length the account (CID) should be padded to. The account is zero-filled up to this length after the CID Prefix is applied, so all accounts are stored in a consistent format.

Zone Prefix

A fixed set of leading characters added to the front of the zone on each incoming alarm.

Zone Size

The total length the zone should be formatted to.

Receiver Type

A short code recorded with each alarm that identifies the type of receiver the alarm came through.

SBN Error Account (CID)

The account that timeout and error alarms are raised against. When the video equipment stops checking in, the heartbeat alarm is sent to SBN using this account.

Include full file path in Alarm Log comment

When enabled, the full path to the video file is written into the alarm's log comment so the operator can locate the footage directly from the alarm.

Video file path

The location of the video files referenced by incoming alarms. Used together with the option above when including the file path on the alarm.