Milestone Plugin

Introduction

Witness Camera Controllers support integration with many different types of external systems through the use of plugins. These are stand-alone software libraries which are dynamically loaded by the Camera Controllers and contain code to convert the Witness data into the required format for the external system. This document describes the process of setting up the Milestone integration.

Overview

Milestone is a Video Management System that can store recordings and manage multiple cameras. The Milestone Plugin pack allows Milestone-Witness integration, creating a cohesive security system that is able to detect incidents, control PTZ cameras to point at these, report on the situation and store all relevant information on the security incident for future analysis. Witness is able to support the majority of PTZ cameras on the market directly, but may also control a camera through Milestone. In terms of functionality, controlling the camera directly generally allows faster camera response and thus more accurate camera tracking. If a camera is not directly supported by Witness or which Witness cannot get direct network access to, we can also use the Milestone camera connection to control the camera, assuming that this camera has successfully been set up as a PTZ camera on Milestone.

On this page:

Milestone Requirements

Milestone XProtext 2016 Professional or higher
Version 2016, 2016 R2 or 2019 R1
Edition Professional or higher
Basic User must be set up for a Witness system user with full camera permissions.

Installing Milestone

Milestone must be purchased from a third party supplier. Software can be purchased stand alone or pre-installed on custom servers. For more information, see https://www.milestonesys.com/solutions/platform/video-management-software/.

Milestone must be installed on its own server:

Unpack the VideoOS Installer.
The XProtect setup wizard will open. It guides the administrator through the initial installation of all necessary components:

Installing Milestone in Witness

When installing the software, ensure the Milestone x86 redistributable files, VideoOS.Platform.dll and VideoOS.Platform.SDK.dll, are located in the Witness main application folder:
The milestone plugin file is entitled Tungsten.Integration.Milestone.Plugin.dll and must be present in the Witness Plugin folder, which is inside the main application folder:
When installing Witness, in the Choose Components page of the Witness Setup wizard, open Integration Plugin options and select Milestone

The plugin can be selected during setup and will automatically install the files in the correct locations. If you have already installed Witness without the Milestone plugin, you can run the setup to modify your installation to include the Milestone plugin.

Configuring Milestone in the Management Client

Once the software has been installed, and the software licences have been activated, the system must be configured:

Open the Management Client after installation. This is where you configure and maintain your system and features.
Add hardware devices to your system. When you open your system for the first time, the Advanced configuration wizard help assists you to add hardware devices, such as cameras, to your system and configure them with user names and passwords.
Configure cameras. You can specify a wide variety of settings for each camera connected to your system. Settings include video format, resolution, motion detection sensitivity, where to store and archive recordings, any pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) preset positions, association with microphones, speakers and more.
Configure events, input and output. Use system events, for example based on input from sensors, to automatically trigger actions in your system. For example: starting or stopping recording on cameras, switching to a particular video frame rate, making PTZ cameras move to specific preset positions. Also use events to activate hardware output, such as lights or sirens.
1. Configure alarms. You can configure alarms to be generated for Milestone system events, but all Witness system events and live events are automatically, dynamically integrated. The Alarms feature also handles general alarms settings and alarm logging. Alarms appear in the alarm manager in XProtect Smart Client. Here, you can view and manage alarms to ease overview and to delegate and handle alarms. You can, for example, reassign alarms, change their status or comment on alarms.

See the Milestone documentation for further information: https://www.milestonesys.com/globalassets/techcomm/ltsb/provms/english-united-states/index.htm?toc.htm?9073.htm

Creating a User

"The term users primarily refers to users who connect to the surveillance system through their clients. You can configure such users in two ways:

As basic users, authenticated by a user name/password combination.
As Windows users, authenticated based on their Windows login

You can add both types of users through the Configure User Access wizard or individually. By grouping users, you can specify rights for all users within a group in one go. If you have many users performing similar tasks, this can save you significant amounts of work. User groups are logical groups created and used for practical purposes in the Management Application only. They are not in any way connected with user groups from central directory services. If you want to use groups, make sure you add groups before you add users: you cannot add existing users to groups. Finally, the Administrators group is also listed under Users. This is a default Windows user group for administration purpose which automatically has access to the Management Application." - © 2019 Milestone Systems A/S.

It is necessary to have a minimum of one basic user with a username and password. Once created in the Milestone Management Client, the username and password must be input into the Milestone configuration in Witness:

Configuring Milestone in Witness

Enabled: select to enable the Milestone Plugin.
Name: the unique name of the plugin.
Alarm Priority:
Generate Alarms: select to enable alarms in the Milestone XProtect Smart Client.
Generate Bookmarks: select to enable bookmarks to be created in the recorded video when an alarm is triggered in the Milestone XProtect Smart Client.
UI Camera: the name of the UI Stream in Milestone.
Bookmark Preamble (s): the period of time before an alarm is triggered recorded in a bookmark.
Bookmark Postamble (s): the period of time after an alarm is triggered recorded in a bookmark.
Server IP: the Milestone server IP address.
Username: the username of the User logged into the Milestone services.
Password: the password of the User logged into the Milestone services.
Authmode: specifies the security protocol for the User.
1. Basic
2. Windows SSO (Single Sign On)
3. Windows SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
4. Windows
Critical: select to
Use TLS: enable a cryptographic protocol that provides end-to-end communications security over networks

Milestone XProtect Smart Client

"Designed for Milestone XProtect®IP video management software, the XProtect Smart Client is an easy-to-use client application that provides intuitive control over security installations. Manage security installations with XProtect Smart Client which gives users access to live and recorded video, instant control of cameras and connected security devices, and an overview of recordings. Available in multiple local languages, XProtect Smart Client has an adaptable user interface that can be optimized for individual operators’ tasks and adjusted according to specific skills and authority levels. The interface allows you to tailor your viewing experience to specific working environments by selecting a light or dark theme, depending on room lighting or brightness of the video. It also features work-optimized tabs and an integrated video timeline for easy surveillance operation. Using the MIP SDK, users can integrate various types of security and business systems and video analytics applications, which you manage through XProtect Smart Client. XProtect Smart Client must be installed on users' computers. Surveillance system administrators manage clients' access to the surveillance system through the Management Application. Recordings viewed by clients are provided by your XProtect system's Image Server service. The service runs in the background on the surveillance system server. Separate hardware is not required. To download XProtect Smart Client, you must connect to the surveillance system server which presents you with a welcome page that lists available clients and language versions. System administrators can use XProtect Download Manager to control what clients and language versions should be available to users on the welcome page of the XProtect Download Manager." - © 2019 Milestone Systems A/S

The XProtect Smart Client is the desktop UI for Milestone's video streaming. On opening the client:

Under the Live tab, drag and drop the available cameras into the viewing slots.
The UI Stream and Camera(s) will be viewed concurrently.
Use the Playback tab to review alarms, and search through all recorded video.
Alarms can be managed and reviewed under the Alarm Manager tab.

For the UI to be streamed, Witness must have a separate PPI Panel open, with UI Stream set to Enabled.

Milestone XProtect Web Client

"XProtect Web Client is a web-based client application for viewing, playing back and sharing video. It provides instant access to the most commonly used surveillance functions, such as viewing live video, play back recorded video, print and export evidence. Access to features depends on individual user rights which are set up in the management client.To enable access to the XProtect Web Client, you must have a XProtect Mobile server to establish the connection between the XProtect Web Client and your system. The XProtect Web Client itself does not require any installation itself and works with most Internet browsers. Once you have set up the XProtect Mobile server, you can monitor your XProtect system anywhere from any computer or tablet with Internet access (provided you know the right external/Internet address, user name and password)." - © 2019 Milestone Systems A/S

The XProtect Web Client is the online UI for Milestone's video streaming. It is by default only accessible on the local network, but can be exposed to the public network for remote access capabilities. To open the web client:

Open up the Network explorer, OR type the XProtect Web Client's address directly into the web browser, of any computer connected to the local network.
Input the User username and password.
The Live tab will have all camera views displayed.
The Investigate tab is a simplified Playback, in order to search through the recorded video.
The Alarms tab lists all alarms, but the list can be filtered to specific parameters.