Video surveillance with

HPE 3PAR File Persona and

Milestone XProtect Corporate

Technical white paper

Technical white paper

Contents
Executive summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Audience ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
HPE 3PAR File Persona .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Milestone XProtect Corporate .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Milestone XProtect Corporate elements ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
HPE 3PAR File Persona and Milestone XProtect Corporate solution....................................................................................................................................... 6
Solution components ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Archive data flow ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Benefits............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
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Executive summary
This document describes the benefits of new HPE 3PAR Converged block and file solution with Milestone XProtect Corporate to deliver a
highly scalable, highly available, enterprise-class video surveillance management and archive solution with maximum storage efficiency.

Audience
The descriptions and recommendations in this document are intended to help you and your Hewlett Packard Enterprise sales representatives
to understand the features and components of this solution.

Introduction
HPE 3PAR File Persona
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage with the HPE 3PAR File Persona offers a unique solution that incorporates multi-protocol support into the
system architecture to deliver a tightly integrated, truly converged solution for provisioning both block storage volumes and file shares
from a single storage system.

The HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite is a licensed feature of the HPE 3PAR Operating System enabling a rich set of file protocols, an
Object Access API (REST), and file data services. HPE 3PAR File Persona delivers Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB),
and object access on HPE 3PAR StoreServ platforms. This boosts storage utilization and lowers costs by moving storage-affinity–related
workloads such as data access, protection, and analytics directly into the storage operating system and controller. All block, file, and object
access is managed via the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Management Console, which enables simple provisioning and features a search-enabled
interface aligned with HPE OneView.

The HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite solution extends the spectrum of primary storage workloads natively addressed by the system’s
default Block Persona. The Block Persona is ideal for your virtualization, database, and application workloads with the File Persona enabling
home directory consolidation, group and departmental shares, corporate shares, and custom cloud applications—all from truly Converged
Controllers, truly agile capacity, and truly unified management. The HPE 3PAR StoreServ File Persona Suite is your key to unlocking this
capability within any HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system with Converged Controllers.

The HPE 3PAR File Persona provides continuously available file shares, which allows non-disruptive HPE 3PAR Operating System upgrades
and transparent failover of clients in the event of a controller failure. Comprehensive data protection is also delivered by point-in-time file store
snapshots for user-driven file recovery, support for third-party antivirus and backup/restore software, and disaster recovery (DR) replication
via separately licensed HPE 3PAR Remote Copy.

Furthermore, the HPE 3PAR File Persona supports security of FIPS 140-2 validated data-at-rest (DAR) encryption as an optional additional
measure to prevent unauthorized data access.

Only HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage has the ability to host workload-centric Storage Personas directly on a multi-controller architecture with
hardware-accelerated data compaction—delivering a high-performance, low-cost, tier-1 storage platform to address any application need and
data type. Protecting your file data and organization as well as increasing your uptime have never been simpler thanks to high availability (HA)
and resiliency features built into HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

Milestone XProtect Corporate

Milestone XProtect Corporate is a powerful Internet protocol (IP) video management software (VMS) designed for large-scale and
high-security deployments. Its single management interface enables efficient administration of the system including all cameras and
security devices regardless of its size or if it is distributed across multiple sites. For systems demanding supreme situational awareness
and precise response to incidents, Milestone XProtect Corporate features interactive maps linked to alarms and includes XProtect Smart
Wall. Milestone XProtect Corporate provides the ultimate system reliability for high-security installations. Edge Storage support combined
with failover recording servers and redundant management servers ensure video recording is never interrupted.

Milestone XProtect Corporate is a fully distributed solution, designed for large multiple site and multiple server installations requiring
24x7 surveillance, with support for devices from different vendors. The solution offers centralized management of all devices, servers,
and users—empowering an extremely flexible rule system driven by schedules and events.
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Furthermore, Milestone XProtect Corporate includes fully integrated matrix functionality for distributed viewing of video from any camera on
your surveillance system to any computer with a Milestone Smart Client installed.

The system also offers the possibility of including the standalone XProtect Smart Client-Player when exporting video evidence from the
Smart Client. The Smart Client-Player allows recipients of video evidence (such as police officers, internal, or external investigators) to browse
and play back the exported recordings without having to install any software on their computers.

Finally, Milestone XProtect Corporate handles an unlimited number of cameras, servers, and users—across multiple sites if required. Milestone
XProtect Corporate is capable of handling IPv4 as well as IPv6.

Figure 1: Typical Milestone XProtect Corporate setup

The number of cameras and recording servers, as well as the number of connected access clients, can be as high as you require.

Milestone XProtect Corporate elements

Management server
The management server stores the configuration of the surveillance system in a relational database either on itself or on a separate
Microsoft® SQL server on the network. In addition, the management server handles user authentication and user rights. To enhance system
performance, several management servers can be run as a Milestone Federated Architecture hierarchy. It runs as a service, and is typically
installed on a dedicated server. The management server may be installed in a Microsoft Windows® cluster environment for high availability.
Recording server
The recording server is responsible for recording video and for communicating with cameras and other devices. In large installations,
more than one recording server is often used on the surveillance system. Failover servers can be set up to take over if a recording server
becomes temporarily unavailable. The recording server and failover server are typically installed on separate servers rather than on the
management server itself.
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Management client
The management client is a feature-rich administration client for configuration and day-to-day management of the system. It is available in
several languages and is typically installed on the surveillance system administrator's workstation.

Event server
The event server handles tasks related to events, alarms, maps, and any third-party developed plug-ins, which need to access system events.
All data handled by the event server are stored in the same SQL server the management server uses.

Log server
The log server is responsible for storing all log messages for the entire system. The system supports three types of logs:
• System log—log errors, warnings, and information or a combination of these
• Audit log—client user activity in addition to login and administration logs
• Rule log—create logs based on specific events

The log server uses the same SQL server as the management server and is typically installed on the same server as the management server,
but can be installed on a separate server if the management or log server performance needs to be increased.

Media database
Video and audio recordings as well as related metadata is stored in the Milestone dedicated high-performance media database, which is
optimized for storing and retrieving the recordings.

The media database supports various unique features such as tiered multistage archiving, video grooming, encryption, and adding a digital
signature to the recordings.

The media database supports a tiered storage architecture with “Live” recording database and the “Archive” databases distributed across
different storage systems and technologies, making it possible to design and optimize the storage solution for performance (recording),
size (retention), and cost.
Multistage archive
The multistage archiving support in combination with the grooming feature allows recordings to be archived again and again to new storage
areas with each archive requiring less and less in terms of storage capacity over time. Each archive level will have a different data retention
period. For example, archive level 1 may be 14 days, archive level 2 may be 30 days and archive level 3 may be 90 days. A file archived from the
“Live” database to level 1 will be automatically migrated to level 2 after 14 days. This same file will be moved from level 2 to level 3 after 30 days.
Finally, after 90 days, the archived file is removed from the system. As the file moves through each level, it is groomed, reducing the frame rate of
the recorded video to save storage space.
XProtect Management Client
The management client is the administrative interface for all parts of the system. It is designed to run remotely, for example, from the
administrator’s workstation. It is available in several languages.
XProtect Smart Client
The XProtect Smart Client enables operator access to live and recorded video as well as other key surveillance system features, such as export of
recordings for use as evidence. The very feature-rich XProtect Smart Client is the main client for the VMS offering a full set of advanced features.
It is designed for day-to-day use by dedicated operators and is, therefore, installed on each operator’s computer. The XProtect Smart Client has
tabs dedicated to different tasks: live monitoring, playback, and investigation, Sequence Explorer for investigation, alarms for alarm management,
and system monitor for monitoring the state of the system servers, cameras, and storage. Add-on products and third-party integrations can
incorporate additional tabs providing a dedicated user interface for their functions.

The more basic Remote Client is accessed through a browser, and runs directly from the Milestone XProtect Corporate management server
without the need for any installation. Users connect to the management server for initial authentication, then transparently to the recording
servers for video recordings.
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XProtect Smart Wall server

The XProtect Smart Wall is designed for control centers to display live video from select cameras on one or more video wall displays. The
cameras to display can be selected manually by the operators using the XProtect Smart Client, via the rule system based on events, a time
schedule, or via third-party integrations.

XProtect Smart Wall does not require installation of additional components or clients. All XProtect Smart Wall components are natively
embedded in the VMS and the XProtect Smart Client. All that is needed is a license that includes XProtect Smart Wall.

HPE 3PAR File Persona and Milestone XProtect Corporate solution

Solution components
Building the video management system with components that handle specific tasks, allows the system to scale to thousands of cameras
spanning multiple sites. The basic Milestone XProtect Corporate VMS design consists of the following components:
• Management server (which also acts as the event server, the SQL server and the log server)
• Management client
• XProtect Smart Client
• Recording server (an optional failover recording server may be included)
• Cameras

Depending on hardware and configuration, smaller systems with up to 100 cameras can run on a single server. For systems with more than
100 cameras, Milestone recommends using dedicated servers for all or some of these components.

Figure 2 illustrates the VMS design Hewlett Packard Enterprise used in our lab to test the HPE 3PAR File Persona and Milestone XProtect
Corporate solution.

Figure 2: Basic single system VMS configuration

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Figure 2 includes the use of an HPE 3PAR StoreServ array to provide the storage to the recording server for the “Live” database. The diagram
also includes a server running DirectVirtualServer. This simulation engine was the source of the video streams used in testing the solution. The
drivers for this simulator have been built into the Milestone XProtect Corporate video management system. The parameters of the video stream
can be controlled either directly within the Milestone XProtect management client, or via a configuration file on the recording server, which
controls the streams. The DirectVirtualServer image data is stored directly on each recording server and consists of a set of images and image
metadata, which is read and transmitted in a loop to simulate video.

The specific configurations detailed earlier were chosen in order to conform to the recommended Milestone storage configuration; providing a
“Live” database and an “Archive” database for the recording server. A 3-tier “Archive” was created on the HPE 3PAR File Persona, with each
archive written to its own SMB share.

Archive data flow

Figure 3 represents the movement of video recordings in the test system during the period when the Milestone XProtect Recording servers were
archiving video from their “Live” video database to the “Archive” video database. Each of the arrows in figure 3 represents a flow of video data in
the process of being read from a disk or written to a disk. Figure 3 represents one XProtect Recording server and its SAN connection to the
HPE 3PAR StoreServ array for block storage of the “Live” data and the 10GbE connection to the 3PAR StoreServ File Persona SMB share
for the “Archive” data.

Figure 3: Video recording data flow

Recommendations
The following are key recommendations for deploying this solution:
• Choose the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system that meets your needs: Milestone XProtect Corporate places no restrictions on the model of
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage platform that may be used. The “Archive” databases are presented as SMB shares from the HPE 3PAR StoreServ
Storage system with the HPE 3PAR File Persona software suite enabled. Select models of the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage system support
the HPE 3PAR File Persona Software Suite. Choose the model that matches your needs for performance, capacity, and potential growth for
your multi-stage archives.
• Enable antivirus scanning within the HPE 3PAR File Persona: Protect the Milestone XProtect Corporate archives from virus attacks using the
antivirus solutions certified with HPE 3PAR File Persona.
Technical white paper

Benefits
• Milestone XProtect Corporate storage architecture—the Milestone XProtect Corporate storage architecture gives surveillance system
architects, installers, and administrators the flexibility to tailor the storage system to their specific needs from configuring high-performance,
enterprise-class service drives for the “Live” data, to utilizing low-cost and large-capacity disks for “Archive” data.
• Secure video management—a unified software and hardware solution that comprehensively captures, analyzes, manages, and retains video
surveillance content in a completely secure environment to deliver greater value and business insight.
• Legacy data cleanup—optimization of storage by facilitating the deletion of content with no business or legal value, thus reducing the overall
storage requirements and costs; the migration of inactive but valuable “Live” content from tier-1 storage, such as the HPE 3PAR StoreServ, to
multistage archives shares provided through the HPE 3PAR File Persona software suite.

Conclusion
The ability to store high volumes of IP video surveillance data efficiently is critical for the overall performance and reliability of the surveillance
solution. Physical storage often accounts for a significant part of the total system cost—a cost that can be reduced dramatically with the
right partner.

Milestone XProtect Corporate maintains both a “Live” database and an optional “Archive” database, each having its own performance, capacity,
and availability requirements. The new HPE 3PAR Converged block and file solution offers you a variety of scalable, cost-effective storage
options to meet the needs of your Milestone XProtect Corporate “Live” database, including solid state drives (SSDs). The high availability and
scalability of the HPE 3PAR File persona is an ideal match to support the multistage archive capability built into Milestone XProtect Corporate.

Useful links
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage

HPE 3PAR File Services

Milestone XProtect Corporate

Learn more at
hpe.com/storage

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4AA6-3297ENW, December 2015