Configure Storage and Recording

Before you can play back video files recorded by cameras, you need to set the time periods for video recording and the location for storing video files and pictures first. Also, before you can import pictures (e.g., static e-map picture) and view pictures (e.g., alarm-related pictures) uploaded from devices, you need to set storage locations for these pictures and set related parameters.

HikCentral Professional provides four storage locations (encoding devices, Hybrid Storage Area Network, Cloud Storage Server, and pStor) for storing the recorded video files of the cameras.

Encoding Device

Store video files on the encoding devices (i.e., DVR, NVR, and network camera) locally. Take NVR for an example, the video files recorded by the cameras linked to it will be stored in its storage medium (e.g., HDDs, Net HDDs, and SD/SDHC cards) if you select Encoding Device as the storage location.

To store video files in this way, you need to make sure the encoding device is equipped with a storage medium and the storage medium should have been formatted.

Perform the following operations to format storage medium if required:

Go to the remote configuration page of the encoding device ( > All Modules > General > Resource Management > Encoding Device > ), and then click Storage > Storage Management > HDD Management > Format to initialize the selected storage device.

Hybrid Storage Area Network

Store the video files in the added Hybrid Storage Area Network. For details about adding Hybrid Storage Area Network, refer to Add Hybrid Storage Area Network.

Cloud Storage Server

Store the video files in the added Cloud Storage Server. For details about adding Cloud Storage Server, refer to Add Cluster Storage Server.

pStor

Store the video files in the added pStor, which is the storage access service used for managing local HDDs and logical disks. For details about adding pStor, refer to Add pStor.

pStor Cluster Service

pStor Cluster Service is a service that can manage multiple pStors. When there are multiple pStors storing a large number of video files, use pStor Cluster Service to manage these pStors. For details about adding pStor Cluster Service, refer to Add pStor Cluster Service.