Sites & Locations
This article explores terms and definitions used in relation to site and location management.
From the Sites page you can add, edit, and remove Gateways and cameras.
Organization
An Organization is the top level business entity, or company in our system. Organizations are isolated from one another, and so is their data. Users are tied to Organizations and granted permissions and access within the Organization accordingly.
One Organization can have many sites, and one site can have many locations. A site is a logical grouping of locations. Sites can cover an area as large or small as you want. It's meant to help you organize locations the way that fits your Organization best, whether at a regional level (for example, West Coast or Southern California) or a city level.
In the Arcules system, sites are associated to a subscription and are a logical grouping of all of your locations. Each location is a physical location, such as a retail store or office building.
To access your sites, navigate to the 'Sites' icon in the left navigation bar. Here you will be able to view a list of all your sites and an interactive map with sites and locations. The map allows for easy navigation to your devices by clicking on a site or location indicator in the map.
Location
A location is a physical location with an address. Locations are listed for each site on this page. Similar to sites, you will be able to see the number of devices online/offline for that location. One location can have many Gateways associated to it.
Sites > Location
Click on the location in the list to view all devices associated with the location and edit the location settings.
How to Add a New Location
To add a Location, click on ‘+ NEW LOCATION’ at the bottom of your location list to bring up the form.
Add a Location Name, Address, Timezone, and select a datacenter.
How to Edit/Remove a Location
To edit/remove a Location, go to the 'SITES" page, click on the ‘LOCATION’, scroll down and click on 'Location and Time Zone' to access the location screen. The option to remove will be available as long as there are no devices associated to that location.
Note: The time zone setting can also be updated from this screen
Sites > Location > Devices
From here, you can add, edit, and remove Gateways and cameras. You can also view all the devices attached to your organization, including the status.
Search/filter
You have the option to filter by name when clicking on the magnifying glass icon at the top right. Click on the "X" to clear the filter.
Sites > Location > Devices > Video
A camera is a physical device that can have many videos or channels on it.
How to Add a Camera
To add a Camera, click on the blue plus ‘+’ icon at the top right of the device table to display the dropdown with options.
Option 1: Adding a single camera
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Select "Add Camera" from the dropdown.
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Select the Gateway that the camera will be assigned to.
You will be redirected to the Camera Installation Wizard which includes three sections to complete.
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Section 1 - Discover Camera: This section will prompt a user to add the camera’s IP address, username, and password to Connect.
The wizard will auto-detect cameras within your same network. If a camera is not detected, you will have the option to manually add a camera by clicking the ‘+’ sign located on the right side of the page.
If a device is not detected (if not on the same network), you will have the option to add the camera manually by clicking on the ‘+’ sign. You will require to enter the Camera IP, username, and password.
Note: Default camera user names and passwords are not accepted. Ensure cameras you are attempting to connect are on the same network as the Gateway. Some ONVIF Authentication Enabled cameras are auto-discovered but may not be authenticated when entering the user name/password - In this event, please disable ONVIF Authentication within the camera’s settings.
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Section 2 - Motion Detection: Here you have the option to make adjustments to camera settings.
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Section 3 - Schedule Recording: On this page, you will have the option to adjust before and after recording duration.
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Section 4 - Storage: Using this page, you can set your cloud data retention days.
Option 2: Adding multiple cameras via CSV
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Select "Add Cameras via CSV" from the dropdown.
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Select the Gateway that it will be assigned to.
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Upload CSV File.
Verifying a Camera Installation
To verify that the device has been added correctly, you can view a list of all your added devices in the Devices table.
Camera Information
Once you have added the devices, you can select a device from the Sites page where you can view Device Info, Configure Analytics, run Network Diagnostics, or Remove the device.
Camera Settings
If you need to adjust any setting, simply click on the device to bring up its info in the right drawer, then click on Settings.
Storage Settings
You can change your data retention time on the Storage tab.
Sites > Location > Devices > Gateway
The Gateway is our software product that connects cameras to the Arcules Cloud.
Recommended Network Architectures
How to Add a Gateway
To add a Gateway Device, click on the blue plus ‘+’ icon at the top right of the device table.
Option 1: select ‘Add Gateway’ from the All Devices table at that Location.
Enter the MAC Address, the Gateway name, select its Site and Location, click on the 'Add' button.
Option 2: Click the plus icon from the "Gateway" table of that Location.
You will see a modal where you can enter the information.
After either option, Click ‘Add Cameras’ to launch the camera installation wizard or click ‘Done’ to exit and close the modal.