Axis Communications AXIS Camera Companion
AXIS Camera Companion
Best Practices – Network Attached Storage (NAS)
With AXIS Camera Companion comes the option to record video to SD card or
Network Attached Storage (NAS) using AXIS Edge Storage technology. This document
is outlined to show how to set up a NAS to gain optimum performance when setting up
AXIS Camera Companion to record multiple cameras to the same storage.
The performance of a NAS device can vary a lot, which makes it very difficult to give a
recommendation as to how many cameras can be recorded to a single unit. Before
making any recommendation a unit needs to be extensively tested. Follow the link
below to find a list of reference products that have been extensively tested by Axis to
handle Motion detection recording at 720p resolution from between 8-16 cameras.
http://www.axis.com/products/cam_companion_software/supported.htm
Note: Using higher recording settings than AXIS Camera Companion default values
may require a) a more powerful NAS or b) the use of multiple NAS drives.
Hardware recommendation:
In general, when looking for a NAS to handle AXIS Edge Storage recordings from
multiple cameras make sure they meet the below listed minimum hardware
specifications:
CPU – Intel® Atom 1.6GHz
RAM – 512MB DDR2/DDR3
HDD – Enterprise Class SATA@7200RPM Hard Drives
NIC – Gigabit Ethernet
Firmware:
Always make sure the latest firmware for your NAS has been installed.
Planning the storage:
To avoid storage overload in the video surveillance systems it is important to plan the
storage needed adequately. There are basic factors that must be considered prior to
installation.
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Axis Communications AXIS Camera Companion
It is recommended to calculate and plan the allocation of storage prior to the
installation. Apart from ensuring the recording and storage of video data runs smoothly,
this can also help reduce the storage requirements – This in turn saves money.
Calculating and setting up recording quotas for each camera on the system is absolutely
vital for three reasons…
1. To ensure that the storage device can write data at optimum speed at all times
2. To avoid loss of video recordings due to storage overload.
3. To ensure hard drive space wastage is minimized.
The AXIS Edge Storage technology supports up to 2TB of storage per camera. To avoid
recording issues do not exceed this limit.
To calculate the storage need of each camera it is recommended to use the AXIS Design
Tool.
It is also very important to use a NAS dedicated to AXIS Camera Companion
recordings only.
Important notice regarding Cleanup policy discrepancies between products
installed with firmware 5.40 and 5.50:
Axis products installed with the 5.40 firmware will automatically start its cleanup
process when the storage is 72% full.
Axis products installed with the 5.50 firmware will automatically start its cleanup
process when the storage has 756 MB free disk space left.
Time synchronization:
Make sure time and date on all devices in your AXIS Camera Companion system have
been synchronized.
Setting up the drive:
NAS manufacturers may use different ways to set up quotas. Please check the
manufacturer´s user manual for detailed information on how to access and change
settings in the NAS.
You can also follow one of our NAS Setup guides available here:
http://www.axis.com/techsup/cam_servers/cam_companion_software/index.htm
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