Before you start installation

Prepare your servers and network

Operating system

Make sure that all servers have a clean installation of a Microsoft Windows operating system, and that it is updated with all the latest Windows updates.

For information about the system requirements for the various VMS applications and system components, go to the Milestone website (https://www.milestonesys.com/systemrequirements/).

Microsoft® .NET Framework

Check that all servers have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 or higher installed.

Network

Assign static IP addresses or make DHCP reservations to all system components and cameras. To make sure that sufficient bandwidth is available on your network, you must understand how and when the system consumes bandwidth. The main load on your network consists of three elements:

  • Camera video streams
  • Clients displaying video
  • Archiving of recorded video

The recording server retrieves video streams from the cameras, which results in a constant load on the network. Clients that display video consume network bandwidth. If there are no changes in the content of the client views, the load is constant. Changes in view content, video search, or playback, make the load dynamic.

Archiving of recorded video is an optional feature that lets the system move recordings to a network storage if there is not enough space in the internal storage system of the computer. This is a scheduled job that you have to define. Typically, you archive to a network drive which makes it a scheduled dynamic load on the network.

Your network must have bandwidth headroom to cope with these peaks in the traffic. This enhances the system responsiveness and general user experience.

Virus scanning (explained)

The XProtect software contains a database and as with any other database you need to exclude certain files and folders from virus scanning. Without implementing these exceptions, virus scanning uses a considerable amount of system resources. On top of that, the scanning process can temporarily lock files, which could result in a disruption in the recording process or even corruption of databases.

When you need to perform virus scanning, do not scan recording server folders that contain recording databases (by default C:\mediadatabase\, as well as all subfolders). Also, avoid performing virus scanning on archive storage directories.

Create the following additional exclusions:

  • File types: .blk, .idx, .pic
  • Folders and subfolders:
    • C:\Program Files\Milestone
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Milestone
    • C:\ProgramData\Milestone

Your organization may have strict guidelines regarding virus scanning, but it is important that you exclude the above folders and files from virus scanning.

Prepare cameras and devices

Make sure your cameras and devices are supported.

On the Milestone website, you can find a detailed list of supported devices and firmware versions (https://www.milestonesys.com/support/tools-and-references/supported-devices/). Milestone develops unique drivers for devices or device families, and generic drivers for devices based on standards like ONVIF, or devices that use the RTSP/RTP protocols.

Some devices that use a generic driver and that are not specifically listed as supported may work, but Milestone does not provide support for such devices.

Verify that you can access the camera over the network

The recording server must be able to connect to the cameras. To verify that, connect to your cameras from a browser or the software that came with your camera, on the computer where you want to install the XProtect system. If you cannot access a camera, the XProtect system cannot access the camera either.

For security reasons, Milestone recommends that you change camera credentials from their manufacturer defaults.

Instead of accessing the device with the vendor supplied software, you can use the Windows ping utility.

See the camera’s documentation for information about network configuration. If your system is configured with default port settings, you must connect the camera to HTTP port 80. You can also choose to change the default port settings.

If you change the default credentials for a camera, remember to use these when you add the camera to the system.

Register Software License Code

Before you install, you must have the name and location of the software license file that you received from Milestone.

You can install a free version of XProtect Essential+. This version provides you with limited capabilities of the XProtect VMS for a limited number of cameras. You must have internet connection to install XProtect Essential+.

The Software License Code (SLC) is printed on your order confirmation and the software license file is named after your SLC. Milestone recommends that you register your SLC on our website (https://online.milestonesys.com/) before installation. Your reseller may have done that for you.