How to: Create Configuration profiles for your devices

Last modified: Thursday October 06, 2022.

Create profiles for how and when cameras record, the quality of recording, and the retention policy for each profile from Configuration. Profiles include the configuration of cloud backups for the cameras using each profile.

When using Avigilon Alta Smart recording, the Interesting setting relates to activities or events that the Avigilon Alta machine learning analytics considers to be unusual and therefore worthy of being brought to your attention, whereas the Uninteresting occurrences are those that are normal and not worthy of further investigation.

Prerequisites

There are two top-level options for setting the recording mode:

• Smart — using the Avigilon Alta analytics, or
• Advanced

Understand the retention policies that are needed for your sites and cameras.

Task — Create a Configuration profile

1. Choose Open a tool > Devices.
2. Click .
3. Click Add new.
4. Type a meaningful name for the profile. Press Enter.

Task — Set streaming options

1. Set the Maximum Streaming Quality for Resolution for local Connection and Resolution for external Connection.
   The available options are Max, High, Medium, or Low.
2. If your deployment has an Audio recording license, as required, enable Stream live audio.

   To listen to live audio:

   • An Audio recording license must be in place for your deployment.
   • The Globally limit microphone capabilities option needs to be set to Unrestricted.
   • The microphones must be enabled for each Avigilon Ava camera from which you want to listen to audio.

   See How to: Change camera settings in Aware

   The Globally limit microphone capabilities options from System | Deployment | Settings | Audio override all local Configuration profile and camera settings. If Globally limit microphone capabilities is configured as Microphones disabled, then the Stream live audio option is hidden and cannot be enabled for any camera.

   See How to: Configure the global audio settings for your deployment.

Task — Configure Smart recordings

You can choose either the Smart or Advanced recording mode.

1. Select Smart from the dropdown list.
2. In the Default settings area, set the Interesting and Uninteresting sliders to your required resolutions.
   Default provides set combinations of resolution and frame rates, whereas Advanced allows you to individually select the times, resolutions, and frame rates to best suit your requirements.
   See About: Alta camera bandwidth usage, video quality, and video storage for information about the impact on these options on your Avigilon Ava cloud-native cameras retention periods.

   Uninteresting settings cannot be the same or higher than those used for Interesting occurrences.

Task — Configure Advanced settings

You can choose either the Smart or Advanced recording mode.

1. Select Advanced from the dropdown list.
2. Select either the Always record or When radio button.
1. For When, configure your required recording times and days, using the Add new times button as needed.

   To record events and alarms of interest outside of the times you define, select Record interesting events and alarms outside of time periods.

3. Using the Interesting dropdown boxes, select your required combination of resolution and frame-rate.

   For best results, we recommend that for the Interesting events, you use the closest video stream and frame rate settings to those supported by your camera.

4. Using the Not interesting dropdown boxes, select your required combination of resolution and frame-rate.
   See About: Alta camera bandwidth usage, video quality, and video storage for information about the impact on these options on your Avigilon Ava cloud-native cameras retention periods.

   To only record Interesting events, check the Not interesting Don't record option.

5. (Avigilon Ava cloud-native cameras only) To ensure your Avigilon Ava cloud-native cameras do not saturate your available bandwidth, define the Maximum Streaming Quality for Local Connection and External Connection.

Task — Enable audio recording

The Globally limit microphone capabilities options from System | Deployment | Settings | Audio override all local Configuration profile and camera settings.

Audio can only be recorded when video is also being recorded.

1. To enable audio recording, select the Record audio when checkbox.

   If you have restricted audio recording in System | Deployment | Settings | Audio to Allow recording of audio snippets, the checkbox will change to Record audio alarms and the options will be limited to alarms and anomalies only.

2. Click Continue.
3. From the Record audio when dropdown, select when you want audio recorded. The options are:
   • Always (when recording video) — record audio whenever video is also being recorded. (Only available when an Audio recording license is added.)
   • Interesting — record audio only when interesting. (Only available when an Audio recording license is added.)
   • All alarms — record audio only when any alarms are currently active.
   • All alarms & anomalies — record audio only when any alarms or anomalies are currently active.
   • Sound events — record audio only when sound events are currently active.
   • Sound events & anomalies — record audio only when sound events or sound anomalies are currently active.

Task — Define the retention policy to apply to this configuration profile.

To prevent the storage disks from running out of space, configure your retention policy to define which recordings get removed as part of the storage management process.

1. Check Delete recordings after (days).
2. Type the number of days before the recording is deleted.

Task — Configure Backups

1. To define the cloud backup settings:
1. Enable Back up camera recordings.
2. Select the type of recordings to back up. The options are:
   • Alarms
   • Anomalies
   • Interesting video footage
   • Saved clips of Video view
   • Uninteresting video footage

By default, cloud backups from your cameras are kept for 30 days, unless you purchase additional Ava Storage licenses.

2. Click Manage backup schedules to specify when recordings are transferred for your cameras to the Alta Cloud:
   1. (Optional) Click View backup status to see information about the cameras being backed up to the cloud.
      You can specify a default backup schedule that applies to all cameras and Sites, or you can configure schedules for each of your Sites.
   2. (Optional) To set a default backup schedule:
      1. Click Change schedule.
      2. Define your preferred options for the bandwidth to be used, and the schedule to be followed.

         Depending on several factors including your camera configuration profile settings, camera backups can consume between 250 kbps and 10,000 kbps of bandwidth per camera.

         Selecting too low a bandwidth setting could meant that the camera might never be able to back up all its data, whereas setting too high a bandwidth setting could negatively impact other devices on your network.

      3. Click Done.
   3. (Optional) To set a custom backup schedule for a specific Site:
      1. Scroll to the backup settings for the relevant site.
      2. Select Enable custom settings.
      3. Click Change schedule.
      4. Define your preferred options for the bandwidth to be used, and the schedule to be followed for the selected site.

         Depending on several factors including your camera configuration profile settings, camera backups can consume between 250 kbps and 10,000 kbps of bandwidth per camera.

         Selecting too low a bandwidth setting could meant that the camera might never be able to back up all its data, whereas setting too high a bandwidth setting could negatively impact other devices on your network.

      5. Click Done.
   4. Click Done.
5. Click OK.

You can now assign the configuration profile to your cameras. You can create several profiles, for use by different cameras.