Recording storage

Choose the drive or folder each Site Node records to, read storage status, add a recording location and move cameras to it, and act on storage alarms.

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Contents

Each Site Node records to local drives or folders called recording locations. You choose the first one right after installation, follow them in Configure > Recording & storage > Storage, and add more in Configure > System > Recording storage.

What you need

  • The Configure recording permission. The Administrator and Technician role templates include it.
  • A local fixed drive on the Site Node: NTFS on a Windows server, or ext4 or XFS on a Linux server. Network shares cannot be used.

Choose the first location

After you create the first administrator, Kalytera VMS asks you to Choose where to store recordings. Recording starts on the drive or folder you choose. Select Choose later to decide afterwards.

  1. Under Drives, each drive shows its free space and size, with a badge: Recommended, In use, Chosen, or Can't be used yet.
  2. Select Use this drive. Recordings go to KalyteraVMS\Recording on that drive.
  3. Or select Use a folder on this Site Node…, enter the Folder path, and select Use this folder. On Windows the folder must not exist yet. On Linux it must be empty, owned by the Site Node service, and set to mode 0700.
  4. Follow the progress: Preparing drive…, Starting recording… (the Site Node restarts), and Recording ready.

A drive used by an earlier installation offers Move and use this drive. The old folder is renamed, never deleted.

How space is used

  • A whole drive can fill up to its capacity. A folder chosen in the browser gets the drive's free space, minus a small margin.
  • Every location keeps 2 GiB free as a protected reserve, shown as Kept free. It cannot be changed.
  • When free space drops below the reserve plus 5 GiB, the oldest recordings that may go are deleted early, fast-playback copies first.
  • A Site Node can have up to 32 recording locations.

Read storage status

The Storage tab shows how much of each location is used and how much is free for recordings. Details lists the Allocation, Path, Quota, Capacity, Free, Kept free, and Last report. A location is Ready, Full, Degraded, Not writable, Report out of date, or Not reporting.

Add a location and move cameras

  1. Go to Configure > System > Recording storage and select Add a recording location. The Site Node restarts briefly.
  2. When asked Move cameras to the new location?, select Move cameras, or move them later with Move cameras here.
  3. To move a single camera, change its Storage location on the Recording tab.

Recordings already made stay where they are. The first location keeps the recording catalog and the keys.

Storage alarms

These built-in alarms cannot be switched off:

  • Recording storage unavailable (Critical). Its next step is to reconnect or repair the recording drive or folder. Recording never moves to another location by itself.
  • Recording storage nearly full (Warning).
  • Recording storage full (Critical).
  • Camera not recording.

Retention and protection

In Schedules & retention, Global retention in days sets how long recordings are kept, from 1 to 3,650 days (30 by default), for every camera. To keep evidence longer, select Protect in Playback; protected video is listed under Protected ranges until you select Release protection. See Recording and playback.

Good to know

  • Recordings are encrypted at rest by default. Their keys are kept with the first location and protected by the Site Node computer. The optional key backup is only on the Site Node's local page.
  • Existing recordings are not moved between locations, and a location cannot be removed.
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