Genetec Security Center Plugin

Owned by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
Last updated: Jan 04, 2023
4 min read

Introduction

Witness supports 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 Management Server and have the ability to pass data and events to and from the external system. This page covers the process of setting up the Genetec plugin which enables integration with Security Center utilising their Web SDK.

Through the use of both bookmark and alarm integration, Witness takes full advantage of the recording capabilities and alarm management within the Genetec Security Center software to provide the operator with comprehensive incident management along with tightly coupled post-incident analysis.

In addition, the Witness Web Client can be used within Security Center to give the operators a comprehensive map display showing real-time target data alongside the video displays. This provides a single, unified interface enabling operators to work with one security application and minimise the amount of training required to get the full benefit of the Witness software,

Contents

Witness Requirements

  • Genetec Security Centre v5.9 or later

  • The Witness installation needs to be licensed to use the Genetec Plugin and the required number of cameras

  • The Genetec Plugin needs to be installed

  • At least one camera must be configured to generate alarms or bookmarks

  • The Mobile Server must be installed and licenced to use the AdvanceGuard Web UI within the Genetec Client

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 Genetec Plugin, you can run the setup to modify your installation to include the Genetec Plugin.

Configuring the Genetec Plugin in Witness

The Genetec Plugin will appear as a node under the Integration Configurations folder within the Configuration Tree.

Selecting the Genetec Plugin will display the following screen in the Configuration Control:

Plugin Enabled: Select to enable the Genetec Plugin.

Name: The unique name of the plugin.

IP Address: The Genetec server IP address.

Port: The Port for the server connection, will default to 4590.

Use TLS: Enable TLS for end-to-end communications security between Witness and Genetec.

Username: The username of a User in the Genetec server. This User must be allowed to generate alarms or generate bookmarks.

Password: The password of the User.

Application ID: This will be generated and available from the Genetec licence.

Generate Alarms: Select to enable alarms in the Genetec Client.

Generate Bookmarks: Select to enable bookmarks to be created in the recorded video when an alarm is triggered in the Genetec Client.

Mapping Cameras

Once the plugin has successfully connected to the Genetec Server it will retrieve a list of configured cameras. The mapping configuration is required to map each of the cameras configured in Witness to the corresponding cameras in Genetec. This process ensures that Witness creates bookmarks for the correct camera in response to an alarm in Witness. To map the cameras:

  1. Select Edit on the plugin configuration.

     

  2. Click the icon to add a Camera to be mapped.

     

  3. Select the Navtech Camera which will be used with the Genetec Client.

     

  4. Select the appropriate Genetec camera from the drop down list.

     

  5. Select Save when complete.

Note that you can assign multiple Genetec cameras to a single Witness camera. This has the advantage of using a single camera to create bookmarks in multiple video feeds on the VMS. This is required for specific camera models that support dual optics.

Genetec Client

Witness will create an Alarm if one is not configured in Genetec. The Logical ID of the Alarm will be the Rule User ID from Witness and the name will be the name from the Witness Alarm.

If creating you own Alarms the Witness Rule User ID has to align with that of the Genetec Alarm Logical ID number.

Genetec Recipients: There must be a Recipient or Group of Recipients configured in the Genetec Client who can receive the alarms sent by Witness.

Attached entities: There must be at least one entity; e.g. a camera configured in Witness that is linked to the Genetec Client. Add all of the cameras that can see alarm incidents.

Safety is everything.