Understanding CCTV: A Quick Guide to Closed Circuit Television

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CCTV cameras

In an environment characterized by evolving security challenges, CCTV (full form—Closed Circuit Television) serves as a fundamental component of modern surveillance infrastructure. 

It goes beyond cameras and screens; it operates as an integrated framework that captures and interprets real-time activities, thereby bolstering safety.

To truly understand CCTV technology, one must dissect its essential components: the mechanics of camera operation, the strategies for video footage storage, and the broader implications of its application in diverse scenarios. This guide offers a detailed examination of CCTV’s functionalities and its critical role in modern security architectures.

What is CCTV?

The CCTV meaning goes far beyond just a camera. It is a system of interconnected cameras that captures video in designated areas, enabling real-time monitoring. Unlike conventional broadcast television, which is public space, CCTV video footage remains private, accessible only to authorized personnel.

The importance of “Closed Circuit”

The term “closed circuit” indicates that video signals are transmitted within a secure network, preventing unauthorized access. This configuration has several critical implications for security: More

What is Server Monitoring? A Beginner’s Guide

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server monitoring

In our technology-advanced time, servers are the backbone of IT infrastructure, powering everything from websites to databases and communication systems. Their significant role demands a robust oversight mechanism—this is where server monitoring comes in.

What Is Server Monitoring

Server monitoring encompasses continuous tracking of the performance and the health of servers. By gathering data on essential metrics like CPU usage, memory consumption, disk space, and server network monitoring, IT specialists gain a deep vision into server operations. This knowledge allows them to spot potential issues before they escalate, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.

Why Server Monitoring Matters

Even minor disruptions can lead to downtime, data loss, and a poor user experience. Efficient monitoring is mission-critical. Let’s see why:

  • Preventing Downtime: 98% of organizations report that a single hour of downtime can cost over $100,000. On October 4, 2021, Facebook experienced a seven-hour outage that resulted in an estimated revenue loss of $79 million from advertising alone. Proactive monitoring helps prevent failures before they impact operations.
  • Optimizing Resources: By keeping an eye on server performance, businesses can better use their resources, ensuring attention to issues where it is much needed.
  • Meeting SLAs: Server monitoring helps organizations adhere to service level agreements (SLAs), maintaining high availability and reliability for users.
  • Improving Customer Experience: Downtime can severely damage customer perception. Research shows that 89% of customers will switch to a competitor after a poor experience, showcasing the long-term impact on customer retention and loyalty.

Effective server monitoring not only safeguards against disruptions, but also enhances operational efficiency and boosts productivity. By investing in robust monitoring solutions, organizations can protect their reputation and offer a seamless experience to users.

Best Practices for Server Monitoring

If done right, the server monitoring helps in maintaining optimal performance and reliability in an organization’s IT infrastructure. Implementing best practices means that efforts are comprehensive, proactive, and aligned with organizational goals. Make sure, you conduct these activities:

1. Hardware Checks

  • Regular monitoring helps prevent overheating by ensuring that cooling systems are functioning properly.
  • Keeping track of CPU usage allows administrators to identify bottlenecks and optimize resource allocation.
  • Monitoring disk space is important to prevent outages caused by full storage.

2. Software Monitoring

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Geomap and the SSH script alert reaction in the new LANState Pro 10.4

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In the new version of the network administration and monitoring tool 10-Strike LANState Pro 10.4, we have added the ability to place host markers on the Open Street Map (OSM) geomap, bind them to addresses, and perform certain actions with them via the context menu. The geomap allows you to monitor the status of hosts, quickly determining where exactly the equipment failure occurred. The map is easily scaled and moved with the mouse along with the host markers.geo map with host markers - host network monitoring

The geomap can be displayed either in a separate window or embedded in the main one. In the first case, the window with the map can be dragged to a separate screen – it will not interfere with the work with the program in the main window.

In addition, a new reaction to the check result has been added to the program. Now you can execute SSH scripts in response to failure alerts (this also works for receiving SNMP trap and Syslog messages). You can enable the execution of bash scripts and commands via SSH on the Execute script tab of the notifications section in the monitoring check properties. More

Map editor in web interface, Netflow dashboard, IPFIX support, new actions, and Firebird 5 in the big update of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro 8.0

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We planned to release another update of the network monitoring program before the New Year holidays. However, we thought about it and decided to include more new features, which we are sure you will appreciate. One of them is a map editor in the web interface application! We made the same editor as in the desktop console. Well, almost the same. Of course, in terms of capabilities, it does not yet reach the level of a full-fledged one, but we are constantly working on it. Now you can add new areas, hosts to the map and connect them with lines. And, of course, move objects, resize, and delete them.

network map editing in the web UI

 

We also worked on the Netflow engine, drawing attention to the fact that we poorly use the accumulated statistics. We corrected it: now the program draws a bunch of new graphs and diagrams on the traffic statistics.

Read further for more details… More

Geographic map (geomap) in the new version 7.6 of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro

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The new version of the program for monitoring video surveillance systems, servers, and network equipment 10-Strike Network Monitor 7.6 again has got a lot of new functionality. We are happy to please you with an interactive geo-map based on the Open Street Map platform, on which you can now place the host icons! We also added the ability to monitor devices with dynamic addresses and updated the library for working with motherboard sensors – now the program supports a large number of new equipment for monitoring the CPU temperature, fan speeds, etc.

Let’s review in details about all this.

 

Place hosts on the geographic map

The program could place host markers on a city map, but we used raster backgrounds for this. The icons could not be tied to specific street addresses so that they would not move when the map was enlarged. With the new geomap feature, this problem is solved now. The interactive Open Street Map now allows you to place host markers that are assigned to geographic coordinates or addresses.

place host icons on a geographic map for monitoring
Image: Place hosts on a geographic map for monitoring

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Create a failover cluster of monitoring servers, search for new devices on the network, and monitor the Linux performance metrics in the new version 7.5 of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro

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We are breaking into spring with a new version of the program for monitoring video surveillance systems, servers and network equipment Network Monitor 7.5! Lots of improvements – both small and large. The most important thing is that we made a background search for new devices, added the ability to operate the program in a failover cluster, and added the new check of “Linux Metrics”. We tell you more about the main innovations.

Search for new devices

Finding new hosts on the network has become much easier. You don’t need to manually launch the scanner each time – the built-in task scheduler will do it automatically and completely unnoticed. Network scanning is performed by the monitoring server in the background. In case of detection of new addresses, the program notifies in several ways, as when performing checks. And if the graphical console is running at the time of notification, you will receive a message from which you can immediately go to the list of found hosts and add them to the monitoring database.

Search for new devices is implemented as one of the Scheduler tasks – look for this function there. For ease of configuration, we have moved it to a separate button on the main toolbar. To enable this task, you need to configure scanning parameters (range, methods, logins), notifications and launch interval.

Backup monitoring server for a failover cluster of monitoring servers

We have already made it possible to quickly reconnect the monitoring server to the backup database server if it fails. But what if the monitoring server itself fails? We have provided for this and made it possible for two monitoring servers with the same ID to work in the same network simultaneously without conflicts (in the version Pro that supports multiple monitoring servers). More

Turn computers on and off on a schedule and view surveillance cameras in the new version of LANState Pro 10.2

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In the new version 10.2 of LANState – the network management and monitoring program, we have added a built-in task scheduler that performs various useful functions on a schedule. We have also added a search for cameras in the local network via ONVIF and implemented the ability to open the RTSP video stream directly from the graphic network map. Let’s review the new features in details.

Task Scheduler

We have long been asked to add a function for turning on and off network computers on a schedule, so we have finally done it. And not only that. In the new scheduler, you can now run individual monitoring checks or all the checks of some hosts, generate and send various reports by e-mail in the CSV format, and make backup copies of your network maps. In the future, we will add more new tasks.

The task scheduler allows you to set up a flexible schedule for each task. Reports are generated for individual hosts as well as for all hosts on all opened maps. To turn off computers, simply specify a list of addresses and authorization parameters for remote access. Computers with the Wake-On-LAN support can be turned on using a list of MAC addresses.

Search for CCTV cameras by ONVIF

The ONVIF standard is supported by a large number of modern video cameras from various manufacturers. With the help of special requests, cameras can be easily detected in the local network, so the program can obtain the detailed information about them, including an RTSP link (URL) to the video stream. More

Increase fault tolerance with the new version of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro 7.4

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We have another big update of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro v7.4 – the program for monitoring video surveillance systems, servers, and network equipment. And traditionally, we added many new useful functions, ideas for which we get from communication with our users. In this review, we will try to briefly tell you how this version differs from the previous one, and why we recommend switching to it.

Fault tolerance

Let’s start with the most important thing: in the v7.4, much attention was paid to the fault tolerance of our software. 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro has a distributed architecture, so the software components can be installed on different physical servers. The failure of one of the nodes led to the stop of the entire monitoring system and the loss of host polling data. We are solving this problem and have already achieved certain success.

Firstly, it is now possible to automatically switch monitoring servers to a backup database if the main one becomes unavailable. The address of the backup server, on which a copy of the monitoring database is stored and the DBMS is installed, is specified in the connection settings of each monitoring server.

database server connection settings for the cluster monitoring mode

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Search for CCTV cameras in the network via ONVIF in the new version of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro 7.3

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Finding and adding cameras in our network monitoring program has become even easier, thanks to the new ONVIF camera search function. We have included support for this protocol in the version 7.3 of our program. Most modern video surveillance cameras support ONVIF and report a lot of useful information about themselves in response to requests. In particular, you can find out the model, manufacturer, serial number, and the RTSP URL of the video stream, which is necessary for setting up the CCTV camera monitoring check. The RTSP URL is not unified and varies greatly among models even from the same vendor. Sometimes you can spend quite a lot of time searching for the RTSP link for a camera, browsing through forums, documentation, and technical support sites. But the camera can independently report the correct RTSP URL if asked to do so. That is what the new function does.

In response to a broadcast request, ONVIF-enabled CCTV cameras connected to the local network report information about themselves. Their replies are placed to the search  list. Some cameras do not disclose anything about themselves without authorization, issuing the 401 Unauthorized message in the RTSP Link field. The program takes this feature into account, offering a mechanism for entering the login/password data not only for one selected camera, but also as a list. It must be created in advance in a simple text file format and loaded into the program. The data in the file must be presented as:

Camera IP=login:password

Example file:

192.168.1.1=user1:password1

192.168.1.2=user2:password2

192.168.1.3=user3:password3

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QoS monitoring (jitter, MOS, R-factor) and CCTV camera widgets on map in the new version 7.1 of 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro

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In the version 7.1 of our program for monitoring servers and network equipment 10-Strike Network Monitor Pro, we have added one new monitoring check, a new set of icons, and a new map widget. Let’s talk in more detail about why you should update to the latest version!

Watch images from CCTV cameras directly on the graphic network map

We have added a new map widget: an online image (still frame) from a CCTV camera. Add such a widget and place it next to the camera icon to clearly see the image from it. You can make it even simpler: select all the icons of CCTV cameras that have an RTSP check with the “Receive image” checkbox enabled, and select “Display image from video camera” from the menu. As a result, you will get something like this:

An area with a still frame of the camera will appear under each icon, which can be resized and moved as desired. You can create camera widgets in another way: in the menu of the empty map area, select the “Add camera image” item and mark the RTSP checks whose images you want to place on the map.

New Map Editor Utilities

Want to quickly draw a bundle of several hosts with a central node (for example, a switch)? This can be done in 4 clicks: More

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