MxRemotePreview User Manual

MxRemotePreview
Installation using Apache web server

How to use MxRemotePreview with local
and remote file server access for low
bandwidth playback.

Document Information
Document: mx-man-mxremotepreview.pages
Version: 1.1
Status: DRAFT
Created by: Chris Watt
Created at: 6 May 2010
Last updated by: Chris Watt
Last updated at: 17 November 2010
Confidentiality: Public Release

© MOBOTIX AG • Public Release
Author Document Title Draft Vers. Conf. Last Modified Filename Page
cwa MxRemotePreview Installation Guide 0 1 0 Wed, Nov 17, 2010 mx-man-mxremotepreview 1/21

Table of Contents
Overview and limitations
3

Requirements
3
Software requirements
3
Hardware requirements
3

Installation
3
What installation method do I need?
3
Installation process
5
Installation on the storage server
9
Installation on a central server with a single storage server
11
Installation on a central web server with multiple storage servers
13

Security considerations
18

Conﬁgure MxCC to access recordings using MxRemotePreview
19

Using preview mode for the live stream
20


1. Overview and limitations
MxRemotePreview is a cgi package that runs in the Apache web server on a Windows based server platform. For
the package to work correctly, you will need to install Apache, the cgi package from MOBOTIX and configure the
system correctly.
This manual assumes a fresh, non-configured copy of Apache 2.2 has been installed on the server being used.
Sites with a preinstalled copy with other configuration in place should be able to modify the steps in this document
to get MxRemotePreview working correctly.
MOBOTIX will unfortunately not be able to provide support for setups outside of scope and context of this manual.
For Apache support in these cases, please contact an Apache configuration expert or refer to the online
documentation or mailing lists at httpd.apache.com.

2. Requirements

2.1. Software requirements
The Apache web server, running on a Windows based server, is required for MxRemotePreview. Download the
required components from the below linked locations.
• Apache web server (download the latest Win32, OpenSSL version) [download link]
• MxRemotePreview (download the latest version) [download link]
• MxControlCenter 2.3 or higher [download link]

2.2. Hardware requirements
MxRemotePreview is not particularly processor intensive, however a reasonable machine to use as the server is
recommended to ensure no delays in compression. MxRemotePreview requires a high bandwidth connection to
the file server and as such should be run on the same LAN or VLAN segment as the storage servers, if not on the
same machine.

3. Installation

3.1. What installation method do I need?
There are three different methods for installing MxRemotePreview on your site, each with their own advantages
and disadvantages. It is important that you select the right method to ensure that your site will operate efficiently
and provide the best solution for your budget and requirements.
Option 1: Installation on the storage server
If you are already recording your cameras to a Windows file server and want to run MxRemotePreview on the same
machine, then this is the way to set up your system. This is the easiest to get working, however it is also the least
expandable. If you have multiple server using this method, you will need to configure different port access for each
machine to ensure that are all reachable.


Option 2: Installation on a central server with a single storage server
If you are storing to a non-windows server or are using a device such as a NAS or low powered PC, you will need to
use a different machine to act as the MxRemotePreview server. This setup is a little more complicated but once
complete can be easily expanded to serve multiple servers easily.

Option 3: Installation on a central server with multiple storage servers
Installation on a central server with multiple storage servers will simply extend Option 2 to include a series of
regular expressions. This can also be achieved with vhosts, however this is not something this manual will cover.
Each of the options above are presented in this document with the assumption of a default http.conf
configuration file. If you have already specified other configurations, you will need to apply the theory of this
document to your existing files or replace this configuration file with the original location in the /original folder.


3.2. Installation process
Follow the following direction to install Apache and MxRemotePreview. Once installed, select the section for setting
up according to your network and server configuration.

1. Double-click the downloaded Apache installer file
2. Click Next >

3. Accept the license agreement and click Next >

4. Read through the README file and then click Next >


5. Ensure that you set the correct settings here, Apache will auto
detect most settings from the machine, however check them
before moving on. If you are going to use an IP address to
connect to the server, the domain name field will not be
important.
6. Ensure that you select “for All Users, on Port 80, as a Service” to
ensure that the system starts up automatically. You can change
the port that Apache listens on in the config file if you need to.
7. Click Next >

8. Select Typical install and click Next >

9. You can change the folder that Apache will install in if required,
otherwise leave this as default and click Next >

The default folder is: C:Program FilesApache
Software FoundationApache2.2

10. Click on Install


11. Allow the installer to complete. This may take a few minutes.

12. Once the installer is complete, click on Finish

13. Open a web browser and type http://localhost/ into the address
bar and click enter.
14. If you see the “It works!” page then everything is working fine. If
not, try rebooting your machine. If the page still does not show,
uninstall and reinstall Apache. If you are still having problems,
consult the Apache documentation.

If you are storing to the local machine, you can stop here, only continue if this machine needs to connect to a
remote server to fetch the footage (if you are doing Option 2 or Option 3).
If you have used different users on your NAS systems for different cameras or storage servers, there is no need to
change these, simply create a new user on each system that has full control (read, write, execute) access to the
camera share on each. This way, Apache will log in using that user, rather than the camera user and will avoid
having to change many details on the working system. When you get to step 17, use this username and password
instead of the camera details.


15.We now need to tell Apache to start as the same user as the
cameras use to login to the ﬁle server. This means we need to
create that user locally and then assign it to the Apache service.
Go to Start -> Right-click on My Computer and select Manage.
16. In the tree, select Local Users and Groups and then the Users
Folders. You should now see a list of the existing users on the
machine. Right-click in the blank space under these names and
select New User.

17. Set the username and password that you used on the NAS in the
ﬁelds provided.
18. Ensure that ‘User cannot change password’ and ‘Password never
expires’ are checked. Also ensure that ‘User must change
password at next login’ is unchecked.
19. Click Create and then close the Computer Management window.

20. Now you need to tell Apache to start its service using these
credentials. Click on Start -> Run (just type in the search box on
Windows Vista and 7) and type services.msc and press Enter.
21. Right-click on the Apache2.2 service and select Properties. This
will pop up a new window containing all the information for this
service. Click on STOP on this window so that Apache stops
running.


22. Click on the Log On tab.
23. Select the ‘This account:’ radio box and enter the username and
password you created earlier (remember that this should match
the username and password on the NAS).
24. Click Apply and then click START on the General tab. Apache
should now be started under the username you created.

Once Apache is installed and working, you will need to place MxRemotePreview in the cgi-bin folder so that
Apache can find it when we later configure the system. Open the downloaded folder and copy the
MxRemotePreview.cgi file to the cgi-bin of Apache (by default this folder exists at C:Program FilesApache
Software FoundationApache2.2cgi-bin but will be in a different location if you changed the
installation path in step 9).
3.2.1. Installation on the storage server
For the sake of this document, we will assume that you are storing your footage at C:MxStore on the local
machine. Replace any mentions of C:MxStore with your actual storage location if you have it storing
somewhere else.

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Apache
configurations folder (by default: C:Program FilesApache
Software FoundationApache2.2conf). In this folder
you will see httpd.conf, which is the file we will be editing.
Remember that there is a copy stored in the original folder if
you make a mistake.
2. Open httpd.conf in Notepad (or any plain text editor - NOT
Microsoft Word)


3. Scroll through the file (or search) until you find the
DocumentRoot line. This will read path/to/htdocs by
default. We need to change this to the location of the storage
folder.
4. For this example, we will change this to //10.0.0.150/
MxStore. Note that the slashes are forward slashes in the
Apache config file and now backslashes like in Windows Explorer.

5. Scroll down to the second <Directory> entry and change this
to match the DocumentRoot we changed earlier.

6. Now we need to tell Apache how to find MxRemotePreview, we
do this by adding the following line after the <Directory> (note that
it should be all on one line):

Action
mxremotepreview /cgi-bin/
MxRemotePreview.cgi.exe

7. Now we need to tell Apache when to call MxRemotePreview so
that only the right types of files are processed. Add the following
lined immediately after the Action line.

<FilesMatch [MEAPC][0-9]+.jpg$>
SetHandler mxremotepreview
</FilesMatch>

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/

8. Finally, you will need to set the default connection type. This can
be overwritten from MxCC, so there is no need to change these
settings. Add these lines directly after the <FilesMatch> lines.
Save the file once these are added.

# Default frame rate
SetEnv MXRECORDER_FRAMERATE 1

# Default size (do not change)
SetEnv MXRECORDER_WIDTH 320
SetEnv MXRECORDER_HEIGHT 240

# Default quality setting
SetEnv MXRECORDER_QUALITY 40

# 1=enabled, 0-disabled (off saves 64 kbit/s)
SetEnv MXRECORDER_AUDIO 1

9. Before we tell Apache to run with it, we should always test our
changes. Go to Start -> Programs -> Apache HTTP Server 2.2 ->
Configure Apache Server -> Test Configuration. If no errors come
up, you are good to go, if there are errors, check the lines that it
indicates there are problems on.
10.Now that we have changed and tested the file, we need to restart
Apache to make it re-read the configuration file. To do this, go to
Start -> Programs -> Apache HTTP Server 2.2 -> Control Apache
Server -> Restart.

11. To check that Apache is serving the correct folder, open Internet
Explorer and type http://localhost/ into the address bar. You
should now see a list of your cameras folders instead of the It
works! page.

3.2.2. Installation on a central server with a single storage server
For the sake of this document, we will assume that you are storing your footage on a NAS located at IP address
10.0.0.150, in a share called MxStore. Replace any mentions of //10.0.0.150/MxStore with your actual
details as required. This method requires that you have completed steps 15 to 24 of Section 3.2.

cwa MxRemotePreview Installation Guide 0 1 0 Wed, Nov 17, 2010 mx-man-mxremotepreview 11 21
/

you make a mistake.
Microsoft Word)

3. Scroll through the file (or search) until you find the
DocumentRoot line. This will read path/to/htdocs by
default. We need to change this to the location of the storage
folder.
4. For this example, we will change this to //10.0.0.150/
MxStore. Note that the slashes are forward slashes in the
Apache config file and now backslashes like in Windows Explorer.

5. Scroll down to the second <Directory> entry and change this
to match the DocumentRoot we changed earlier.

6. Now we need to tell Apache how to find MxRemotePreview, we
do this by adding the following line after the <Directory> (note that
it should be all on one line):

Action
mxremotepreview /cgi-bin/


</FilesMatch>

/

8. Finally, you will need to set the default connection type. This can




# 1=enabled, 0=disabled (off saves 64 kbit/s)

9. Before we tell Apache to run with it, we should always test our
changes. Go to Start -> Programs -> Apache HTTP Server 2.2 ->
Conﬁgure Apache Server -> Test Conﬁguration. If no errors come
up, you are good to go, if there are errors, check the lines that it
indicates there are problems on.
Server -> Restart.

12.To check that Apache is serving the correct folder, open Internet
Explorer and type http://localhost/ into the address bar. You
should now see a list of your cameras folders from your NAS
instead of the It works! page.

3.2.3. Installation on a central web server with multiple storage servers
To use a single MxRemotePreview machine to access multiple storage servers or NAS units, you will need to use
Apache VirtualHosts. A virtual host means that you can run multiple “sites” on a single server, in this case, we will
apply one port per storage device on the network, so they can be accessed at server:10500, server:10501, etc. In
this example, we will assume you have a static external IP address, however if you have a domain name or dyndns
URL, you can modify this example by referring to the Apache VirtualHost documentation. This method requires that
you have completed steps 15 to 24 of Section 3.2.

/

you make a mistake.
Microsoft Word)

2. Scroll through the file (or search) until you see the Listen
directive. This will read as Listen 80 by default

3. We need to add in a port for Apache to listen to for each storage
device on the network by adding the following lines to the config
file.

Listen 10500
Listen 10501

DO NOT use low ports for this, it is recommended that you always
use ports above 8000. For this example, we have assumed 2
storage devices, if you have more than 2 storage servers, create one
port for each (clear your port allocation with the IT department before
using them).

4. Towards the end of the file, you will find the supplemental
configuration section. Find the #Virtual Hosts lines and
remove the # from the start of the Include line.

5. Save and close this file.

/

6. Open the https-vhosts file that you will find in the /extra
folder (the extra folder is inside the Apache /conf folder). This file
is where we will configure each of the virtual hosts.

7. Find the NameVirtualHost line. We will need to add a similar
definition as we did in step 3 here. You will need to create one line
for each storage device you have.

NameVirtualHost *:10500
NameVirtualHost *:10501

Remember that you need a Listen directive for each of your ports
or these will not work. If you add any new servers, you will need to
add a Listen line as well as a VirtualHost block and
NameVirtualHost line.

8. Below these lines you will now see the Apache VirtualHosts
example. Delete all of these lines as shown to the right.

9. Create the VirtualHost block for your first storage server by adding
the following lines to the config file. Replace //
192.168.220.220/MxStore with the IP address and share
name of your storage device. Replace
192.168.220.230:10500 with the EXTERNAL IP address or
domain name of your server, this is the address that you will
access the server from remotely.

<VirtualHost *:10500>
DocumentRoot "//192.168.220.220/MxStore"
ServerName 192.168.220.230:10500
</VirtualHost>

/

10.Now we need to tell Apache how to ﬁnd MxRemotePreview, we
do this by adding the following line after the ServerName line
(note that it should be all on one line):

Action mxremotepreview /cgi-bin/


</FilesMatch>

12.Finally, you will need to set the default connection type. This can




# 1=enabled, 0=disabled (off saves 64 kbit/s)

/

13. Finally, you will need to add the following <Directory> block
to allow Apache to browse the files correctly. Replace the //
192.168.220.220/MxStore with the address and share
name of your storage server (it should be the same as the
DocumentRoot directive set in Step 9)

<Directory "//192.168.220.220/MxStore">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

14. Copy and paste the entire <VirtualHost> block to create
your second (or more) virtual hosts. You will then need to update
this with the next storage devices details.
a. The areas highlighted in GREEN are the server parameters for
accessing the virtual machine. Change the Port address on
each of these to match (in this case from 10500 to 10501).

b. The areas highlighted in BLUE are the storage device
parameters, change these to point to your next device (in this
case from //192.168.220.220/MxStore to //
192.168.220.218/MxStore).

14.Save the file. Before we tell Apache to run with it, we should
always test our changes. Go to Start -> Programs -> Apache
HTTP Server 2.2 -> Configure Apache Server -> Test Configuration.
If no errors come up, you are good to go, if there are errors, check
the lines that it indicates there are problems on.
Server -> Restart.

16. Now that Apache has restarted and is working, test that the
servers are correctly showing up when you access the server.
Open a web browser and type in http://localhost:10500/ into the
address bar. You should now see a list of cameras on that page.
Change the address to http://localhost:10501/ and check the
next host to ensure that it worked correctly.
If you have used different port numbers, change the URL to match. It
is good practice to test each of these to ensure they are correctly
working.

/

4. Security considerations
Be default, Apache will now serve the folders to anyone who wants to see them. This is not ideal for a security
system as anyone on the Internet, including Search Engines, can view and index the footage from your system. We
can limit this access using HTTP Authentication, a standard feature of the Apache web server.

1. Open the Apache configuration file again and scroll to the
<Directory> section.

2. Add the following lines to the end of the <Directory> section.
This will tell Apache to look for authentication files before allowing
access to the folders.

AuthName "Restricted"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile "C:/Program Files/Apache Software
Foundation/.htpasswd"

require valid-user

NOTE: If you are using Option 3, you will need to specify this section
for each VirtualHost within the <Directory> block, following
the existing rules.

3. We should remove the directory listing to ensure that users can’t
browse to other cameras that they may not have access to from
within MxCC. Add the following line after require valid-
user:

IndexIgnore *

4. Now we need to create the users that are allowed login. To do
this we will use a command line prompt, so go to Start -> Run and
type cmd and press Enter.
5. Change to the Apache /bin directory by typing the following
(change the path if you installed Apache somewhere other than
default):

cd C:Program FilesApache Software Foundation
Apache2.2bin

/

6. Now we need to populate the users file with the login details. To
do this, type the following into the command prompt:

htpasswd -cmb "C:/Program Files/Apache
Software Foundation/.htpasswd" mxcc password
where mxcc is the username you want to use and password is
the password you want to use. This will ensure the passwords
are stored in an encrypted file.
DO NOT use a simple password such as “password” ensure that
you set a password that is not easily guessed by rogue users.
NOTE: Ensure that the .htpasswd file is stored OUTSIDE of the /
Apache2.2 folder. This ensures that it is not possible to access the
file remotely and protects the passwords.

5. Restart Apache again by going to Start -> Programs -> Apache
HTTP Server 2.2 -> Control Apache Server -> Restart.
6. Open your web browser and type http://localhost/ into the
address bar. You should now be prompted for a username and
password when the page loads. Test the credentials you created
earlier to ensure they are not mistyped.

Apache will now serve files ONLY to authenticated users.

7. Restart Apache (Step 5) and open the web browser and login
(Step 6). You should now see a Directory Listing Denied screen
instead of a list of folders.

5. Configure MxCC to access recordings using MxRemotePreview
1. Open MxControlCenter and go to Tools -> Options and select the
Connection Defaults tab.

Not seeing the Connection Defaults tab? Ensure you are running
MxCC 2.3 or higher.

/

2. Set the MxRemotePreview settings in the section at the bottom. If
you set the password as suggested in Section 4, make sure you
set those details here too.

When connecting to your MxRemotePreview server from a remote
location, ensure that you have a reachable address here. This
could be an IP address (if you have a static one) or a URL. You
can test this by pointing your web browser to the address and see
if you are prompted.

You will also need to ensure you have the right port number and
SSL checked if you have configured those options.
If you have a multi server configuration (Option 3), then you will need
to skip this step and refer to steps 3-7 instead.

3. While still in the options menu, go to the cameras tab and click on
the Change button next to Storage Location.
If you are using MxCC 2.4, you will need to exit the Options menu by
clicking OK and then right-click on the camera image in the main
view, select Properties and then click Change in Storage Location.
4. Check the Use MxServer option here and click OK.
5. Do this for each of your cameras so that they are all configured to
use MxRemotePreview.
6. Click OK again and then save your settings. MxCC is now
configured to fetch MxRemotePreview footage.

7. Optional: If you are using multiple MxRemotePreview servers (for
example a multi site setup), then you can set each cameras
details separately instead of using the global options. Click on
Settings... next to the Use MxRemotePreview and enter the details
here. Click OK on all windows and save once you are done.

6. Using preview mode for the live stream
Now that we have enabled low bandwidth playback, it is likely that we also want to change the cameras live view
to be low bandwidth as well. This mode is called Preview Mode and will fetch a low bandwidth, highly
compressed stream from the camera for the live view, allowing a higher frame rate over an Internet connection
than the live view is capable of.

/21

If a full size frame is required, simply double click on the camera and it will pop up a live connection at the
maximum available frame rate. This is useful for providing quick interrogation of the live stream without having to
use that bandwidth all the time.

1. Open MxControlCenter and enable the layout editor mode ( ).
2. Right-click on the camera you want to change to preview mode
and click the Edit option. You will see a new window open.

3. In the <NAME> dropdown, select the Preview option.
4. You will notice the section below changes to the new parameter
options, select the options that suit you (for example, CIF
resolution, 4 frames per second) and click OK.

5. Repeat for each camera, then exit the layout editor by clicking on
the editor mode button ( ) again. Remember to click save once
you have exited.

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