Axis All Camera Station Migration guide from AXIS Camera Station 4 to 5 or above

Migration to AXIS Camera Station 5 (latest)

From version 4 (or below)

Goal

AXIS Camera Station 5 includes a lot of updates to improve overall use and configuration.
This also means some settings are changed and several points need to be considered before
upgrading. This document aims to provide necessary guidance for users who upgrade from
AXIS Camera Station 4 to guarantee a smooth migration experience.
For a complete list of changes done in AXIS Camera Station 5, please refer to the release notes.

Upgrading from AXIS Camera Station 4 or older

We advise first upgrading to the latest AXIS Camera Station 4 version, (version 4.31,which can
be found here) before upgrading to the latest version of AXIS Camera Station 5.

Please note that due to the many changes that have happened in the last years, upgrading
might take a long time.

System and Hardware requirements

32bit systems are no longer supported from AXIS Camera Station 5. The installer will only run
on 64bit systems or operating systems.
A newer version of Microsoft .NET version is required. Installing a new .NET version will require
a restart before continuing installing AXIS Camera Station 5.

Check the latest release notes and hardware guidelines for all requirements.

License model

From AXIS Camera Station 5.0, the license model has changed. For more information regarding
the licenses, please visit the license information page on axis.com.
When upgrading from AXIS Camera Station 4, you should consider the following:

• Always upgrade to the latest version of AXIS Camera Station 5.

• The AXIS Camera Station 4 licenses (similar to “ACS10XX-XX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX”)

are no longer valid. They need to be converted to AXIS Camera Station 5 licenses (four
blocks of 4 digits such as XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX). The conversion is done
automatically upon upgrade and registration of the system. Once converted to AXIS
Camera Station 5 licenses, a license can no longer be used with AXIS Camera Station 4.

• A MyAxis account is required to register the licenses on the AXIS Camera Station License
Portal.

• If neither the client nor server are connected to the internet, a storage media is required to
perform the Offline registration.
This is not required if both server and client are connected to Internet and Online
registration is performed.

Migration guide

To AXIS Camera Station 5

Different way of counting licenses

In AXIS Camera Station 4, each Axis network camera (image sensor, in technical terms)
requires one channel license. Some Axis network cameras contain more than one image sensor,
which requires the same number of licenses as the total number of image sensors contained.
From AXIS Camera Station 5, each Axis device requires one AXIS Camera Station Core Device
or Universal Device license, including auxiliary devices.
This means that any auxiliary device in the system will require an extra license, but each multi­channel device will only require one license.
You can easily calculate the licenses required for your system using our License Calculator.
All AXIS S Recorders are preloaded with AXIS Camera Station 5 licenses. Upgrade from
previous versions also gives AXIS Camera Station 5 licenses on all AXIS S Recorders.

New database structure and upgrade duration

The AXIS Camera Station internal database structure has been modified with the 5.13 release.
Previously, all configuration, recording references to recorded files and log and alarm entries
were contained in the ACS.FDB file located in C:\ProgramData\Axis Communications\AXIS
Camera Station Server.

In the new version, the database has been split into three files, located in the same directory:

• ACS.FDB: containing the system configurations such as devices, views, permissions,
events, stream profiles...

• ACS_RECORDINGS.FDB: containing references to recorded files on the drive. This file is
required by AXIS Camera Station to display the recordings in the timeline during playback.

• ACS_LOGS.FDB: containing log entries (Audit log, alarms and event logs).

The conversion to this new database structure can take more time than a regular upgrade,

depending on the server hardware specifications (RAM, CPU, disk read/write speed…), the

database size and the complexity of the configuration done in AXIS Camera Station. This
conversion is done after the software upgrade, while starting the AXIS Camera Station Service
for the first time with the new version.

Many new and different features and configuration menus

Since the latest release of AXIS Camera Station 4 many changes, improvements, updates, and
additions have been done. For details on these changes and features we advise to review the

release notes and/or the Online Manual. For help with installing and configuring AXIS Camera

Station 5, please check our Help center