Senstar Symphony
Senstar Symphony is an intelligent video surveillance software platform designed for video management, video analytics, system integration, and alarm management. It operates on standard IT hardware and supports both analog and IP cameras from various manufacturers. The system consists of two main components: the Symphony Server and the Symphony Client, along with a Web Client and a Player for extended functionality.
Function Description
Senstar Symphony provides a comprehensive suite of functionalities for managing and monitoring video surveillance systems. The Symphony Server handles device management, security configurations, rule creation, site management, and general system settings. The Symphony Client offers an intuitive interface for monitoring cameras, managing video footage, generating reports, and configuring alarms. The Web Client provides similar functionality through a web browser, eliminating the need for installed software, while the Symphony Player is used for viewing exported video files.
Key functionalities include:
- Video Management: Supports hundreds of analog and IP camera manufacturers, ONVIF Profile S and G, and Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).
- Video Analytics: Offers real-time alerts, smart video search, and reporting. Analytics include TCP Listener, Analog Video Signal Loss, Automatic License Plate Recognition, Camera Tampering, Crowd Detection, Image Stabilization, Indoor People Tracking, Left and Removed Item Detection, Motion Detection, Outdoor People and Vehicle Tracking, PTZ Auto-Tracking, and Face Recognition.
- Security: Configures user authentication, permissions for users and groups, and video watermarking to detect tampering. Supports both Symphony's internal security authentication and Active Directory integration.
- Rules and Alarms: Allows creation of rules triggered by events (from video analytics, camera inputs, access devices) that execute defined action sets (e.g., displaying footage, sending emails, switching relays) based on schedules.
- Device Tree: Organizes and displays cameras, digital input/output devices, and access control devices in a hierarchical structure for easy navigation.
- Carousels: Configures video panels in the client interface to loop through multiple cameras, displaying video for a set time.
- Maps: Displays camera locations, camera views, digital input/output devices, links, and labels on image or GIS maps, including field-of-view visualization for PTZ cameras.
- Reports: Generates various reports such as Alarm Report, Alarm Statistics, Face Recognition Report, Heat Map Image, Object Counts, Object Counts Across a Line, and Object Statistics.
- Video Wall: Enables displaying footage from multiple cameras across multiple monitors, with client registration and design capabilities.
Important Technical Specifications
Network Configuration (Default Ports):
- Single-server:
- 80 (TCP): HTTP web server (forwards to HTTPS 443)
- 443 (TCP): HTTPS secure web server for server configuration
- 8433 (TCP): Mobile Bridge (mobile listening port)
- 8488 (TCP): Mobile Bridge (video proxy listening port)
- 50000 (TCP): HTTP web server for Web Client
- 50001 (TCP): Web service (control and notification)
- 50010 (TCP): RTSP live and historical video
- 50014 (TCP): HTTPS secure web server for Web Client (if configured)
- Server Farm (additional ports):
- 1433 (TCP): Outbound rule for SQL server
- 1434 (UDP): Port for SQL communication
- 5045 (UDP): Port for health checks
- 50004 (TCP): Port for server sub-services
- Additional Network Configuration:
- 5041 (TCP): Access control
- 50002 (TCP): SSO authentication requests
- 50005 (TCP): Video wall
- 50015 (TCP): SSO authentication requests and cryptography
Video Analytic Capabilities:
- Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR): Supports 720p network cameras, analyzes up to two lanes of traffic, requires license plate images of at least 32 pixels (Latin characters) or 40 pixels (non-Latin characters) in height. Recognizes and logs license plates from various countries/regions at speeds up to 30 kph (19 mph).
- Crowd Detection: Detects people 8 pixels or larger in the scene. Optimal camera placement is an overview, avoiding direct overhead (90°) or close to horizontal (0°) angles.
- Indoor People Tracking: Detects people 16 pixels or larger in the scene.
- Outdoor People and Vehicle Tracking: Detects objects 8 pixels or larger in the scene.
Server Redundancy:
- Supports server redundancy in server farms, where a redundant server takes over camera and device processing if a primary server fails. One server acts as a master server for managing failover actions.
Usage Features
Symphony Server Configuration:
- Camera Management: Manually or automatically add cameras, import/export camera lists (CSV), set camera passwords, edit camera settings (name, template, description, ID/code, RTSP port, managed server, failover).
- Stream Configuration: Add multiple video streams to a camera for reduced resource cost, including analytics streams. Configure resolution, FPS, video codec, transport, bitrate, key frame interval, and recording mode/schedule for each stream.
- Video Storage: Configure storage paths, retention policies (days stored, pre/post alarm video), and disk space limits for individual cameras, servers, or the entire server farm.
- Privacy Mask: Obscure areas in camera view (live and historical) using static or dynamic masks, with adjustable blur amount, drawing mode (hide/show), and paintbrush size.
- Digital I/O: Configure digital inputs and outputs for cameras, including naming, activation/deactivation text, auto-deactivation time, and shortcut camera assignment.
- Templates: Create and apply configuration templates to cameras for consistent settings.
- Hardware/Access Control Devices: Add and configure various hardware and access control devices (e.g., Advantech ADAM, Axis, Gallagher, Siemens SPC) to trigger events.
- Device Tree Management: Create, copy, edit, and delete device groups to organize cameras and devices.
- Carousels: Create, modify, and copy carousels, defining camera order and display duration.
- Security: Add/copy users, add users to groups, configure supervisor impersonation (two-person rule), add/activate/remove security profiles, and set granular permissions for users and groups across various functionalities (site, configuration, alarm, backup, face recognition, LPR, messenger, POS, report, rule, search, security, subscription, UI, user, video wall, device, audio, PTZ, video).
- Active Directory Integration: Synchronize Symphony groups with Active Directory groups for authentication.
- Watermarking: Enable watermarking for recorded video to detect tampering.
- Rules: Create, edit, and delete rules by associating events, action sets, and schedules.
- Events: Create events based on camera input, metadata, or access control devices, configuring how they trigger rules (e.g., ALPR, Crowd Detection, Motion Detection, Outdoor People and Vehicle Tracking, TCP Listener).
- Action Sets: Create action sets to define actions triggered by rules, such as Alarm Console display (cameras/maps), email notifications (with unacknowledged alarm conditions), FTP image capture (with various decorations and renaming patterns), instructions display (text or file), OPC messages, relay control, program execution, SMS messages, and TCP messages.
- Schedules: Create, edit, clone, and delete schedules to define when rules are active, including daily exceptions.
- Licenses: View and refresh licenses (from Xnet or file), including video analytic, camera, and MAC address information.
- General Settings: Configure mobile connections (SSL certificate, mobile/video proxy ports, iOS push notifications), video playback restrictions, video decorations (frame rate stats, camera name/ID, logo, text color/background/transparency), event logging, and Web Client settings (load balancing, refresh rate, ICE server).
- SNMP: Enable SNMP to send data to an SNMP client, configuring polling rates for data and footage size.
- Server Overload Protection: Configure servers to move cameras to other servers when CPU load is too high, with settings for CPU threshold, polling frequency, and maximum cameras to move.
- Server Management: Move cameras between servers in a server farm.
Symphony Client Usage:
- Command Line Interface: Open the client with arguments to display specific cameras or PTZ presets.
- Log Files: View, search, and download client and server log files.
- Events: View and export events, with filtering and grouping options.
- Lock Times: Synchronize video playback across multiple camera view panels to the same time.
- Toolbar Customization: Add or remove icons from the toolbar, reset to default.
- Device Tree Search: Search for cameras, devices, inputs/outputs, and carousels.
- User Monitoring: Display a list of users currently viewing a camera (administrator privilege).
- Video Access Suspension: Suspend (ban) video access for specific user groups.
- Camera Tours: Create tours of PTZ camera preset locations with schedules.
- IO State Control: Change the state of digital outputs on devices.
- Camera View Linking: Link camera views to open multiple views simultaneously.
- Server List: Display connected Symphony Server instances as a panel.
- Camera View Panels: Display live/recorded video with decorations, instant replay (5 or 10 seconds), picture-in-picture, and video controls (speed, navigation to bookmarks/alarms/activities).
- Camera View Management: Save/load camera view layouts, open docked/floating views, add camera view panels.
- Manual Alarms: Add manual alarms to cameras to activate associated action sets.
- Alarm Indicators: Display flashing alarm indicators around camera view panels.
- Maps: Add image or GIS maps, add devices to maps, rotate camera icons, display field of view with customizable colors.
- Messenger: Send messages to logged-in users or groups.
- Manual Recording: Manually start recording video from cameras for a set duration.
- Open by Address: Open alarms, cameras, or video from specific times using an address.
- Summary Video: View summary video from cameras running video analytics.
- PTZ Controls: Move PTZ cameras to preset locations, increase/decrease zoom, move to home position, pan/tilt, lock/unlock movement, configure camera tours.
- Camera Controls: Adjust iris, brightness, focus, and contrast.
- Timeline: Display camera activities and alarms, navigate to specific times/events, with customizable colors for different event types.
- Server Configuration (Client Interface): Connect/disconnect from servers, delete recorded video, get server information (hardware, software version, system, uptime, tasks, IP config, license, network stats, services), manually configure server settings (add/edit/delete settings), enable Windows authentication, update farm registration path.
- Reports: Access the Report Designer to create, edit, and run various reports, including scheduling and distribution options (email, file).
- Alarms (Client Interface): Disable/enable alarms for cameras/servers, view and manage alarms in the alarm console (sidebar or advanced mode), retrieve alarms by date, export alarm lists (PDF, HTML, MHT, RTF, XLS, XLSX, CSV, Text, Image), share alarms with users, acknowledge alarms.
- Visual Tracking: Add links between cameras to automatically switch views, allowing tracking of moving subjects across multiple cameras. Customize link location and shape.
Symphony Web Client Usage:
- Access functionality similar to the Symphony Client through a web browser.
- Log in via IP address, username, and password.
- Configure load balancing and refresh rates.
- Use ICE servers for connection.
Symphony Player Usage:
- View video files (.aira or .avi) exported from Symphony.
- Play video from file or URL.
- Show/clear decorations, zoom in/out, adjust playback speed, navigate through video (snippets, frames, activities, alarms, bookmarks).
- Enable watermark verification to prevent playing tampered video.
Maintenance Features
- Automatic Server Updates: Configure Symphony Server to automatically download and install updates from a specific location or product website, or manually check for updates.
- Client Updates: Configure Symphony Client to apply updates immediately or during a specified time frame.
- Backup and Restore:
- Configure Backups: Schedule daily backups of Symphony Server configuration to a local path or Xnet (requires Maintenance & Support license). Test backup configuration and manually initiate backups.
- Restore from Local Backup: Restore configuration settings from local backup files, with options to show compatible versions.
- Restore from Online Backup: Restore configuration settings from Xnet (requires Maintenance & Support license), with options to show compatible versions.
- Restore from File: Restore configuration settings from a specified file.
- Health Monitoring: Turn on health monitoring (requires Maintenance & Support license) to send telemetry data to Xnet and view the status of Symphony services.
- Enterprise Manager Integration: Manage Symphony Server or server farm using Enterprise Manager, including site and organization naming, and passphrase configuration. (Note: Integrating with Enterprise Manager replaces existing Symphony users/groups with those from Enterprise Manager, requiring backup of configuration settings).
- Log Management: View and download detailed log files for troubleshooting.
- Event Log: Enable/disable event logging, prevent archiving, or schedule weekly archiving, and set retention periods for archived logs.
- Remote Desktop Mode: Configure client display settings for remote desktop or virtual machine access, removing DirectX dependency for overlays and navigation controls.
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