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Move hardware

You can move hardware between recording servers that belong to the same site. After a move, the hardware and its devices run on the new recording server and new recordings are stored on this server. The move is transparent to the client users.

The recordings on the old recording server remain there until:

  • The system deletes them when the retention time expires. Recordings that someone has protected with Evidence Lock (see Evidence lock (explained)) is not deleted until the evidence lock's retention time expires. You define the retention time for evidence locks when you create them. Potentially the retention time never expires
  • You delete them from each device's new recording server on the Record tab

If you try to remove a recording server that still contains recordings, you receive a warning.

If you move hardware to a recording server that currently has no hardware added to it, the client users must log out and log in to receive data from the devices.

You can use the move hardware feature to:

  • Load balance: If, for example, the disk on a recording server is overloaded, you can add a new recording server and move some of your hardware
  • Upgrade: If you, for example, have to replace the server that hosts the recording server with a newer model, you can install a new recording server and move the hardware from the old server to the new server
  • Replace a defective recording server: If, for example, the server is offline and will never come online again, you can move the hardware to other recording servers and thereby keep the system running. You cannot access the old recordings. For more information, see Replace a recording server.

Remote recordings

When you move hardware to another recording server, the system cancels ongoing or scheduled retrievals from interconnected sites or edge storages on cameras. The recordings are not deleted, but the data is not retrieved and saved in the databases as expected. You receive a warning if this is the case. For the XProtect Smart Client user, who has started a retrieval when you initiate moving the hardware, the retrieval fails. The XProtect Smart Client user is notified and can try again later.

If someone has moved hardware on a remote site, you must manually synchronize the central site with the Update hardware option to reflect the new configuration of the remote site. If you do not synchronize, the moved cameras remain disconnected on the central site.

Move hardware (wizard)

To move hardware from one recording server to another, run the Move hardware wizard. The wizard takes you through the necessary steps to complete a move for one or more hardware devices.

Requirements
Before you start the wizard:

To run the wizard:

  1. In the Site Navigation pane, select Recording Servers.
  2. In the Overview pane, right-click the recording server you want to move hardware from or right-click a specific hardware device.
  3. Select Move Hardware.

    If the recording server that you move hardware from is disconnected, an error message appears. You should only choose to move hardware from a disconnected recording server if you are sure that it will never come online again. If you move hardware anyway and the server comes back online, you risk an unexpected behavior from the system due to having the same hardware running on two recording servers for a period. Possible issues are, for example, license errors or events that are not sent to the correct recording server.

  4. If you started the wizard from the recording server level, the Select the hardware you want to move page appears. Select the hardware devices you want to move.
  5. On the Select the recording server you want to move the hardware to page, select from the list of recording servers installed on this site.
  6. On the Select the storage you want to use for future recordings page, the storage usage bar indicates the free space in the recording database for live recordings only, not the archives. The total retention time is the retention period for both the recording database and the archives.
  7. The system processes your request.
  8. If the move was successful, click Close. If you select the new recording server in the Management Client, you can see the moved hardware and now recordings are stored on this server.

    If the move failed, you can troubleshoot the issue below.

    In an interconnected system, you must manually synchronize the central site after moving hardware on a remote site to reflect the changes you, or another system administrator, made at the remote site.

Move hardware troubleshooting

If a move did not succeed, one of the following reasons can be the cause:

Error type

Troubleshooting

The recording server is not connected or in failover mode.

Make sure that the recording server is online. You may need to register it.

If the server is in failover mode, wait and try again.

The recording server is not the latest version.

Update the recording server so it runs the same version as the management server.

The recording server could not be found in the configuration.

Make sure that the recording server has not been removed.

Updating the configuration or communication with the configuration database failed.

Make sure that your SQL Server and database are connected and running.

Stopping the hardware on the current recording server failed

Maybe another process has locked the recording server, or the recording server is in error mode.

Make sure that the recording server is running and try again.

The hardware does not exist.

Make sure that the hardware you try to move has not simultaneously been removed from the system by another user. The scenario is quite unlikely.

The recording server that hardware was moved from is back online, but you chose to ignore it when it was offline.

Most likely, you have accepted that the old recording server will never get online again when you started the Move Hardware wizard, but during the move, the server came online.

Start the wizard again and select No when you are asked to confirm if the server comes online again.

The source recording storage is unavailable.

You are trying to move hardware with devices configured with a recording storage which is currently offline.

A recording storage is offline if the disk is offline or otherwise unavailable.

Make sure that the recording storage is online and try again.

All recording storages on the target recording server must be available.

You are trying to move hardware to a recording server where one or more recording storages are currently offline.

Make sure that all recording storages on the target recording server are online.

A recording storage is offline of the disk is offline or otherwise unavailable.