V2/Integrate/Milestone Video

Senfi Milestone Video Adapter

The Senfi Milestone Video Adapter is available to onboarded partners only. If you would like to join as a Senfi partner, please send us an email with your organization name and contact details.

General

The Senfi Milestone Video Adapter provides Senfi integration with the Milestone XProtect Video Management System.

Features include:

• View live video streams in Senfi
• Send PTZ commands to PTZ camera from Senfi
• Forward Milestone alarms to Senfi

Senfi Milestone Video Adapter supports XProtect 2018 and later only.

Milestone XProtect Video Management System Basics

Milestone XProtect is a Video Management System (VMS) product offered by Milestone Systems A/S. For more information, view here

In the rest of this document, "Milestone" will be used to refer to an installed instance of Milestone XProtect.

Milestone Devices

Several device types can be added to Milestone. The supported device types are:

• Camera devices
  • Streams video
  • Can have Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) capability
  • Can raise events related to video/video analytics. e.g. Motion Detected Event
• Input devices
  • Simple 2-state/binary devices e.g. Tamper detection, momentary trigger
  • Can raise events related to changes of its state e.g. Input Rising Event

Note: Devices can also raise other system, device-specific or custom events, but their discussion is beyond the scope of this article.

Milestone Alarms

Milestone devices can raise Alarms from Events. Alarms will be shown in the Milestone XProtect Smart Client's Alarm Manager. Alarms have a name, which is used to identify the type of alarm (i.e. an alarm definition).

Alarms have 4 default states. Users can also add additional alarm states.

• New
• Acknowledged
• On Hold
• Closed

Alarms can be configured with a "related camera". This is mapped to each device that can raise a particular alarm.

Triggered alarms also contain other data such as:

• Local ID
• Priority
• Category
• Description
• Timestamp

Steps to Install and Configure Senfi Milestone Video Adapter

Installation

1. Request for a copy of the Senfi Milestone Video Adapter installer by sending an email to us.
2. Run the installer on a Windows machine. It uses the following ports by default: 22020, 10085, 10086, 10087.
3. After installation, Senfi Milestone Video Adapter can be accessed with the following URL: http://localhost:22020/ui/login
   • Users can also use the Start Menu to access this page: Start -> Senfi Milestone Video Adapter (folder) -> Senfi Milestone Video Adapter

Login Page

Login Page

1. Login via your Senfi Username and Password.

Setup Page

This page is used to register the Senfi Milestone Video Adapter with Senfi. A Senfi API Key and associated secret is required to complete this step. View here to generate an integration key/secret pair in the CMS.

Fill in:

1. Server/Gateway Hostname - This should be app.senfi.io
2. Video Adapter Name
3. Integration Key - Your Senfi API Key
4. Secret - Secret to your Senfi API Key

After registration, you will see a Video Adapter ID. The ID and Video Adapter Name will be shown in the CMS Video page when you use the CMS to configure site/asset to video stream.

Setup Page

Click Setup Milestone to continue.

Milestone Config

This page is used to configure the connection to the Milestone XProtect server

Configure Milestone

Fill in:

1. Milestone Server hostname or IP address
2. Milestone Server port - 80 (Default)
3. Milestone Account Username - Username to an Administrator account on the Milestone server
4. Milestone Account Password - Password to above
5. Milestone Account Domain (Optional) - Fill this in if your Milestone account is a domain LDAP account
6. Credential Type - Windows or Basic Account
7. Milestone Adapter hostname or IP address - localhost (Default/Cannot be modified)
8. Milestone Adapter port - 8732 (Default/Cannot be modified)
9. Milestone Adapter Streaming Base Port - 49152 (Default)

Click "Update Configuration" to set or change the configuration. If successful, the page will show "Connected to Milestone Server: <IP/Hostname>".

Video

The Video page is used to configure live video from Milestone that will be available for streaming to Senfi.

Add new stream

To add a new Stream

1. Click "Stream +". The Stream > Add New page will appear
2. Specify
   

   Add new stream page
   • Stream Name
   • Select from the list of cameras in the Milestone server
   • If the selected camera has PTZ capability, you can check the "PTZ" checkbox to enable PTZ capability in Senfi
3. Preview stream by selecting "PREVIEW" beside "Source URL" (Optional).
4. Select "ADD" to add stream.

Note:

• This is similar to Video Adapter
• Only "On Demand" state is available.

Alarm

The Alarm page is used to configure Milestone alarms which will be raised as Senfi External Events. Following is the pipeline of how Milestone alarms will be raised as Senfi External Events:

1. Something happens to/in a Milestone device
2. An alarm is raised by Milestone
3. Senfi Milestone Video Adapter is notified
4. If an External Event has been configured for the Milestone Alarm and alarm state combination, and that External Event has been selected as raisable for the Milestone device, a Senfi External Event is generated by Senfi Milestone Video Adapter.
5. If the External Event (assuming that the External Event is linked to a Senfi Asset in the CMS) has been configured to raise a Senfi Alarm, a Senfi Alarm is raised.

View link for discussion of Senfi's External Events.

The Alarm page is split into 2 tabs:

1. Alarm - To configure Milestone Alarm/Alarm state combination mapping to Senfi external event (i.e. which external event to be sent)
2. Device - To configure Milestone device mapping to Senfi external event (i.e. which milestone devices can send which external events)

Milestone Alarm Tab

Milestone Alarm Page

In this tab, a list of Milestone alarm definitions configured on the Milestone Server are shown. To forward an alarm/state combination to Senfi as an external event:

1. Click the Pencil icon on the desired Milestone alarm
   

   Milestone Alarm to Senfi Event Mapping
2. In Senfi Event Raised, select either
   • + EVENT FOR ALL ALARM STATES - Add 4 mapping templates to forward New, Acknowledged, On Hold, Closed states to Senfi
   • + EVENT FOR SINGLE ALARM STATE - Add a mapping template
3. For each mapping template, fill in/change
   • Milestone Alarm State - Select from New, Acknowledged, On Hold, Closed
   • Name - Name of external event in Senfi
   • A standard input and description has been auto-filled to be displayed in the eventual alarm in Senfi. To modify, change in Advanced section:
     • Inputs - Select from list of Milestone alarm data you want to use for inputs in the eventual Senfi alarm's description
     • Description - Description of the eventual Senfi alarm, with embedded per-alarm-instance inputs
4. Click SAVE & EXIT

Sample for mapping of New alarm state for motion detection from Milestone

This tab only configures Milestone Alarm/State combo to Senfi External Event mapping. To associate Senfi External Event from a particular Milestone device to be sent to Senfi, go to the Milestone Device tab.

Milestone Device Tab

In this tab, a list of Milestone camera and input devices configured on the Milestone Server are shown.

Milestone Device Page

To map mapped alarms (configured in the Milestone Alarm Tab) from Milestone devices to Senfi assets:

1. Click the Pencil icon on the desired Milestone device
2. Write down the source_id for the corresponding Milestone Device. You will need this information later when configuring Senfi assets in the CMS.
3. In Senfi Event Triggered, select one or more mapped Senfi External Event that this Milestone device will trigger in Senfi.
4. Click SAVE & EXIT

Note: In Step 3, all Senfi External Event mapped by this adapter will be shown. This may include events that cannot be raised by the selected Milestone Device (e.g. a Camera raising an input triggered external event mapped to a Milestone input alarm)

Backup & Restore

To backup configuration, click BACKUP

To restore from previously downloaded backup config file, click RESTORE

Steps to Use Configured Milestone Video and External Events in Senfi CMS

To use the configured video and external events in Senfi, additional configuration needs to be performed in the Senfi CMS.

Associate Video Adapter to Site in CMS

1. Go to the Video Page
2. In the VIDEO ADAPTER tab, find the Name (or Video Adapter ID) of the Senfi Milestone Video Adapter, and click the Pencil icon
3. Select the Site to associate this video adapter with
4. Optionally, provide a description
5. Click the Tick arrow to save.

Link Video Streams to Asset in CMS

1. Edit the Asset
2. Click + STREAM
3. Select the Milestone video camera in the drop down list
4. Select whether to Allow PTZ if PTZ has been enabled.
5. Preview stream by selecting "PREVIEW" beside "Source URL" (Optional).
6. Click SAVE & EXIT

Link External Event to Asset in CMS

For External Events generated by Senfi Milestone Video Adapter to be attributed to a Senfi Asset, the Senfi Asset must be configured with an External Event source, with the source_id you written down in the "Milestone Device Tab" section Step 2.

1. Edit the Asset
2. Click + EVENT
3. Select the External Event in the drop down list
4. User Tags, enter the source_id of the Milestone device. This is the source_id you have written earlier in "Milestone Device Tab" Step 2
   

   Fill in the same source_id
5. Click SAVE & EXIT