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Step 1: Licenses

Download the Surveillance Bridge executable and manuals from the Tiger Technology licensing server:

a) Visit: https://license.tiger-technology.com/ and enter your account credentials

b) Once you have logged in, you will be prompted to register.

c) If you logged in using a Client Account, click on “Home” to you see the list of product licenses available. Click on the product license you wish to use.

d) To download the manuals, click on “Documentation” (bottom left)

e) To download the executable, click on “Current Version” (bottom left)

While on the licensing server, configure your email notifications preferences:

Step 2: System Requirements

When determining local storage requirements, consider egress fees and potential outages. In the event of an internet outage, the VMS should be capable of continuing local recording (the available space on your local storage dictates how long before the VMS begins deleting recordings). Meanwhile, storing a larger number of recordings locally can reduce cloud egress charges (when applicable). The ideal local storage capacity thus balances the retention of past recordings and the potential duration of outages. For instance, if most of your investigations occur within the past 4 days and you want to prepare for up to 3 days of internet outage, ensure that your local storage can accommodate a total of 7 days of recordings.

When looking at long retention periods, keep in mind that every 1 million files consume 100MB of local disk space.

Surveillance Bridge generally uses up to approximately 20% of the CPU while initially indexing the file system (each time the services are started), but this decreases to around 5% during regular operations. Memory usage is typically not a concern.

Recording Servers should have:

a) Internet upload speed at least 25% more than total camera ingests to disk

b) Access to https://saas.tiger-technology.com

c) Access to the cloud bucket endpoint

d) Ports 443 outbound

e) Ports 8536 and 8537 inbound (when Management Client is remote)

Cloud requirements

a) One cloud bucket/container has been created for each of your recording locations.

b) Recording Servers should have FULL Read/Write AND Delete capabilities on the objects in the cloud.

Step 3: Prepare your VMS

Prior to installing Surveillance Bridge, ensure the following steps have been completed:

Connect and configure your Archiver/Recording Server according to the guidelines of your VMS.

NOTE: Surveillance Bridge operates most effectively when used directly on your live recording drive, effectively turning the cloud into your archive. This approach provides optimal recovery options when using Disaster Recovery (DR). If you need to configure your Archiver/Recording Server with an Archive location, Surveillance Bridge can be used for either the recording storage or the archive. While technically possible, it isusually not recommended to use Surveillance Bridge on both because of the excessive data movements required.

IMPORTANT:In the Management Client, navigate to "Storage and Recording Settings" and adjust the "Retention time" of your VMS based on the total amount of camera data you wish to store on your volume(s). This global setting determines when data will be deleted both locally and in the cloud:

a) The retention time should cover local AND cloud data

b) The size should cover local AND cloud data (don’t worry if your volume is much smaller as it will extend into the cloud)

EXAMPLE: If you set a 90-day retention time, your VMS will delete the data, regardless of its location. As the VMS removes local files, Surveillance Bridge deletes the corresponding data in the cloud tiers (keep in mind that there might be delays with some cloud providers). Using Surveillance Bridge, you can decide how much data to keep on the local drive, nearline (hot) cloud storage, or archive (cold or frozen) cloud storage.

Step 4: Storage and Bandwidth requirements

Estimate your requirements

a) Identify the current storage requirements for a given retention period: If you don’t have this information, try to obtain it from your VMS vendor, based on your camera count, resolution, frame rate, etc. Tiger Surveillance can also help with this.

Here are simple rules of thumb you can use to quickly scope your project:

1 HD camera => 1TB per 90-day retention
1x HD camera => 1 Mbps of upload bandwidth
100Mbps connection => uploads ~1TB per day (~100 cameras)
1Gbps connection => uploads ~10TB per day (~1,000 cameras)

b) Initial seed If your VMS has been recording for some time, you can estimate the time it will take to upload your existing seed (while it is busy uploading the incoming feeds).

Total Time to Upload Seed = Total Seed / (Daily Upload – Daily Ingest)

Example: If the seed is 200TB and the live camera ingest is 100Mbps

Using 1Gbps connection (i.e. 10TB per day) => 200TB/ (10TB - 1TB) => 3-4 weeks
Using 200Mbps connection (i.e. 2TB per day) => 200TB/ (2TB - 1TB) => more than 6 months

Step 5: Setup your cloud bucket/containers

Log into your Cloud account and create separate buckets/containers to be associated with each recording location (server and volumes).

NOTE: For a recording server with only a Recording volume (no Archive volume), the same bucket/container stores a single copy of all data, serving both Disaster Recovery (DR) and Extension purposes. DR includes all camera data, along with XML and index files necessary for reconstructing the database. Extension, on the other hand, only needs a subset, specifically the camera data. If your recording server has more than one storage location configured, each location will require its own separate bucket.

Have your Cloud account details ready for the install (Access Key, Secret Key, etc.)

a)Make sure you have full permission on the account (Read/Write/Delete)

Step 6: Installing Surveillance Bridge

Surveillance Bridge must be installed on your live recording servers (aka archivers). It does not require a reboot and there is no need to stop your VMS software from recording.

Make sure your recording server is fully configured prior to installing Surveillance Bridge. Run the Surveillance Bridge installer as an administrator:

Click in the ‘License Terms and Conditions’ agreement box to accept, and then click Next.

Choose your VMS and click ‘Next’ to continue with the installation process.

Install Surveillance Bridge (follow on-screen instructions)
1. The installer contains five software components:
  - Management Client module (for configuration – must be installed)
  - Recording Server module (all the cool technology – must be installed)
  - Shell Extension (for file system access and troubleshooting – optional)
  - Smart Client module (for data visualization and job manager – optional)
  - Event Server module (for notifications – optional)
2. It is possible to install these components on ONE or SEPARATE machines. You can also install the Management Client and Smart client plug-in on multiple machines for convenience.

Unless advised to do otherwise, choose default options. The Surveillance Bridge software automatically detects what is required. Installation takes a few minutes to finish.

Step 7: Activate your License

Activate your license by opening the Configuration Utility

NOTE: If you were provided a Client Account in addition to Product Licenses, you must use the later credentials for activating your license. In this case, the Product License will typically be identical to your login, but will typically have the _SB? suffix added to it and the password will be empty (you add your own).

If you have any issue activating, please see the Troubleshooting section below
You can choose which options will be available to operators using the Smart Client (see details below)

Step 8: Configure your Source(s)

You must first point Surveillance Bridge to one or more camera repositories. Note that a folder whose parent folder is already paired with a target cannot be used as a new source.

a) Select the folder you want to sync with the cloud or create a New Folder

b) Next, select the target you want to replicate to (in this example, AWS cloud)

c) For a cloud target, enter your credentials then click on “List buckets”. Surveillance Bridge will display the buckets that are available on this account.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to choose a different bucket for every repository of every recording server.

If the bucket name is available, the following selection dialog will open. Choose the operation you want to perform. If your bucket is empty, all options will yield to the same result.

d) Configure the Settings tab according to your needs:

Event viewer logs – Any error and warning are automatically logged in the Event Viewer. In addition, you can choose to log successful operations of your choice.

Click “Apply” and select ‘Surveillance Bridge’ at the top, and then hit ‘Resume’ at the bottom (as shown below) to set Surveillance Bridge to Operational mode.

e) Congratulations! You have now successfully configured Surveillance Bridge. Seconds after they are closed by the VMS software, camera data files from your source folder will automatically start replicating to the cloud.

When navigating your camera repository, you should now see the following file/folder icons:

Green overlay indicates the file is replicated successfully to your cloud bucket.
Blue overlay indicates the file space has been reclaimed on local storage and only stored in the hot tier of your cloud bucket (readily available).
Grey overlay indicates the file space has been reclaimed on local storage and only stored in the archive tier of your cloud bucket (requires rehydration before it can be accessed).

Step 9: Manual Operations

Surveillance Bridge allows you to perform manual data management operations on your files.

a) By right-clicking on a file or folder, you can access the Surveillance Bridge shell extension menu:

Replicate - Triggers an immediate replication of un-replicated files.
Reclaim Space - Deletes data on local drive and replace file with zero-byte stub file that behaves exactly like the original file.
Retrieve Data - Triggers the restoration of the original file
Move to Archive - Triggers a move from a hot tier to a frozen tier in the cloud. Nothing happens if the cloud provider does not support multiple tiers in the cloud.
Rehydrate from Archive - Triggers a rehydration of content from frozen tier to hot tier in the cloud. Nothing happens if the cloud provider does not support multiple tiers in the cloud.
Synchronize with Target - Scans the target for any discrepancies between cloud bucket and local folder.
Synchronize Recursively - Scans the target for any discrepancies between cloud bucket and local folder as well as sub-folders.

b) By right-clicking on your camera repository folder, you can access the Properties dialog:

Select the “Bridge” tab to reveal the status of operations:

Step 10: Disaster Recovery

When Disaster Recovery is enabled (default), camera data gets replicated as soon as the VMS closes the file. By enabling Disaster Recovery, you are ensuring that ALL your camera data will be replicated to the cloud. In the event of a disaster, you will be able to easily restore everything. Only disable Disaster Recovery if you ONLY want to use the cloud as an extension to your local drive.

Step 11: Storage Extension

When Storage Extension is disabled (default), Surveillance Bridge will keep ALL camera data on your local drive. If Disaster Recovery is enabled, you will have two copies of your data.

If your goal is to extend the total retention period beyond the capacity of your local drive, you should first enable Storage Extension.

Once enabled, you can choose to reclaim space “By Age” or “By Size”. Setting “By Age” will dictate how long a file will stay local before it is reclaimed (i.e. free up space). Setting “By Size” will dictate how full your drive can get before it older files start being reclaimed. For example, if you set the “By Age” to 3 days, Surveillance Bridge will free space on the source by removing any file that has not been accessed for 3 days. If your local drive does is not large enough to keep the amount of data you specify, Surveillance Bridge will make sure it never exceeds 95% capacity.

IMPORTANT: The Retention Period set on your VMS should account for both local AND cloud retention. When your VMS reaches the desired retention period it will delete local files (or stub files if data has been reclaimed locally). In all cases, Surveillance Bridge will, in turn, delete the data in the cloud.

Step 12: Archive Period.

With cloud targets that support an archive/frozen tier (ex: Azure, AWS, Google, etc.) you can specify the amount of time after which camera data should automatically be moved to the archive tier. Because files that are archived can take hours to retrieve, they must be manually retrieved.

Finally, click on “Apply All” ‘Surveillance Bridge’ at the top, and then hit ‘Resume’ at the bottom (as shown below) to set Surveillance Bridge to Operational mode.

Step 13: Verify that your internet is keeping up.

Open Task Manager on the Recording Server to see how fast Surveillance Bridge can upload to the cloud. Click on the “Performance” tab, and then select “Disk” and “Ethernet”.

The screen grab on the left shows a problematic situation where the upload (Send bandwidth) is less than the camera ingest (Write speed to disk). Keep in mind that one megabytes per second (MB/s) is equivalent to eight megabits per second (Mbps). As such the system is writing to disk at 9.8MB/s => 96.04 Mbps and the internet upload speed must be ten times faster to keep up.

Surveillance Bridge will automatically re-create the entire folder structure from the cloud that will give access to the recordings. If you need assistance for a recovery operation, contact our Support team (support@tiger-surveillance.com)

Step 14: Recovery after a Disaster

When Disaster Recovery is enabled, Surveillance Bridge can recover recordings from a storage failure. To fully protect against a recording server failure, make sure that your VMS’s database is also securely backed up. To recover from a storage failure, replace your storage and follow the steps to configure your source, but this time select one of the “Disaster Recovery” options below.

NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO TEST DISASTER RECOVERY, DO NOT DELETE FILES ON YOUR DISK AS THIS WILL RESULT IN DELETING DATA IN THE CLOUD. INSTEAD, REFORMAT YOUR RECORDING DRIVE TO SIMULATE A REAL FAILURE. REFER TO THE ADMIN GUIDE FOR RECOVERY PROCEDURE.

Step 15:Working with Job Manager

Job Manager lets you run “jobs” to manage your recordings in bulk. While you can use it to retrieve large chunks of recordings on your local storage or offline some data (things that would normally be handled through policies), the most useful function of Job Manager is to rehydrate archived recordings that are now needed for an investigation.

a) You should first select the cameras that need to be acted upon. Depending on your VMS, Job Manager may or may not be able to identify your cameras. If it is unable to identify them, it will act on all of them.

b) Select the operation to be executed:

c) Select the period on which to act. Note that Surveillance Bridge will act on files that may vary in size. It is possible that slightly more (or less) recordings than the actual selected period be acted upon.

d) Click on “Create job” to start the process. Note that the progress reflects Job Manager’s task completion. Rehydration is a background task that may take hours to complete after the request was placed.

Step 13: Configuring Firewalls and Proxy Servers

Surveillance Bridge must communicate with the cloud target as well as with the Tiger Technology licensing server for activating your license and for keeping them activated.

Make sure that the following requirements are met:

a) Can reach the Azure service running at https://saas.tiger-technology.com.

1) When typing the URL, you should in your browser, you should obtain the following response:

2)If you get an error, you will need to whitelist the domain name

b) Check your firewall. The following ports must be open:

•(for object storage target over http connection) 80 - outbound rule only
(for SaaS activation and/or communication with object storage target over https) 443 - outbound rule only
(for a network target) 445 - outbound rule only
(for remote connection) 8536 - inbound rules
(for remote connection) 8537 - inbound d rules
- You can test this connection AFTER you have installed the Surveillance Bridge plugin by entering the following URL in a web browser on the Management Server: https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8537/version (where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the Recording Server you are testing)

If you are using a proxy server, Bridge uses different mechanisms for accessing the cloud and for communicating with the licensing server.

a) To configure proxy for the cloud target:

Open a Command prompt in elevated mode and type:

b) To configure proxy for the licensing server:

Set your System Environment Variables:

IMPORTANT: It is required to reboot your computer after changing system variables.

If you are still experiencing issues activating the Bridge software, please use the SaaS-Check utility to troubleshoot your issue, as described below.

Step 14: Saas-Check Utility

Tiger Technology has developed a troubleshooting application that can help identify the source of the problem.

NOTE: Troubleshooting firewalls and proxy issues will likely require the assistance of your System Administrator.

If you are experiencing issues activating your Bridge software, download the saas-check.exe utility (https://tinyurl.com/8fjjaby4).

On the Bridge machine (i.e. Recording Server), open a Command prompt in Elevated mode.
Run saas-check with the following parameters
- Usage: saas-check.exe <server_host> <cabundle_path>
- Where:
  - <server_host> is saas.tiger-technology.com
  - <cabundle_path> is "C:\ProgramData\Tiger Technology\backup\cert\cacert.pem" is your activation
  - <username> is your activation Username
  - <password> is your activation Password
  - <serial> is the ?????- ?????- ?????- ?????- ????? serial key found in the Bridge interface

The command above assumes C: is where the utility was copied. Successful output of this tool should look like this:

If you do not receive a successful activation message, please check if the error falls in one of the following categories:

Failed SSL Connect Error

A “Failed SSL Connect Error” will likely occur due to improper firewall configuration. SaaS- Check.exe will report something like this:

For a quick test, you can try disabling Windows Defender on Management Server and Recording Server. If you are using advanced firewalls, such as Palo Alto Networks, make sure you are not blocking access to encrypted websites (https://saas.tiger-technology.com). Also make sure you are disabling control of decrypted SSL. These settings can be used to limit or block SSL sessions based on criteria including the use of unsupported cipher suites or protocol versions, or the availability of system resources to process decryption.

Peer Certificate Authetication Error

A “Peer Certificate Authentication Error” will likely occur due to missing security certificate. SaaS-Check.exe will report something like this:

Bridge uses cURL to communicate with its licensing server. However, cURL may not automatically integrate your domain security certificates. If your organization uses domain security certificates, you will need to follow these steps:

In Windows, search for “Manage computer certificates” and open
Locate your domain security certificate (most likely stored under Trusted Root Certification Authorities/Certificates)

a) Look for a certificate that contains the name of your organization (typical)

b) Double click on the certificate

c) Select the “Details” tab

d) Click on “Copy to files...”

e) Select “Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)

f) Specify file name to export

g) Locate the exported file

h) Open the exported file with Notepad

i) Copy the ENTIRE content of the file