Build your own CCTV system with

Zoneminder
Posted at 12:56pm on Friday July 13th 2012

The three main reasons for surveillance are security, safety and nosiness. Whether you need a
visual check on a sleeping baby, or a video of a stranger putting your cat in a wheelie bin,
Zoneminder fits the bill. Zoneminder is a sophisticated camera manager, including support for
multiple image sources, motion detection, email alerts, and X10 automation. It supports most
V4L (Video for Linux) devices, and can control network IP cameras. The web interface makes it
ideal for use on our headless server.

In the following tutorial, we will take you through the process required to build a headless
surveillance server which can manage image feeds, upload images to another PC, and is
accessible from the internet, even using a mobile phone.

Building the server

For this tutorial, well be using the Zoneminder software package, running on Ubuntu server. For
testing purposes, a PC with a P4 or higher, 512MB of RAM, a network connection and a 20GB
hard disk should be sufficient. For permanent use, the hardware requirements will depend on a
variety of factors, which we will discuss later.

We have chosen Ubuntu server 11.10 as the basis for this system. Installation on other distros
will obviously differ, but shouldnt be much more complex. Should you wish to compile from
source, its worth bearing in mind that Zoneminder does have quite a few dependencies.

Theres no point-and-click GUI apart from the web interface, and thats not available until you
get it running. This unit is meant to run headless, so most operations can be carried out remotely,
and once the system is installed, the screen and keyboard can be dispensed with.

You will need a username and password of your choice for Ubuntu, a username and password of
your choice for the MySQL database and your ISPs SMTP mail server name (and a username
and password if you need one to send mail).

Now, lets get started. First, download the Ubuntu server .iso image from:
www.ubuntu.com/download/server/download . Burn it to a CD, then boot it on your target PC.
By default, it will install a basic server system with no desktop GUI. You can, if you wish, install
the full Ubuntu OS, but this is intended for 24/7 use as a headless server. On our test system,
installation took about 20 minutes.

The top of the window shows the Zoneminder home page. The rather sparse appearance is
misleading

During installation, you will get the opportunity to install extra packages. None are required, but
its a good idea to install OpenSSH server if you want remote terminal access.

After the installation, the PC will reboot, and you will be faced with a login screen. Log in with
the username and password that you created during the installation. You should now see the
hosts IP address on this page. At this point, you can either continue at this PC, or use SSH from
another.

Were now ready to install the Zoneminder package. In the terminal, type:

sudo apt-get install zoneminder

This will show you a list of files, including Zoneminder and all of its dependencies. Notable in
this list are Apache web server, MYSQL database, PHP and Perl, along with various libraries
and codecs. Typing Yes and hitting Enter will install it all.

Depending on the speed of your system and your internet connection, it may take some time to
download and install all of the required packages. It will ask you for a MySQL root password,
and its a good idea to make a note of this.
Video hardware
Theres a wide range of camera hardware out there, but there are three basic types:

Webcams A lot of webcams are pretty low- grade in terms of image quality often the
resolution quoted on the box is a software figure, achieved by interpolation, and not the true
physical resolution of the sensor, although even cheap webcams can sometimes produce
surprisingly good results.

Covering a large area may be impractical, as USB cables are limited to five metres in length, but
remote PCs with webcams attached can be used for image feeds if theyre running some sort of
image server software.

IP Cameras These cameras can connect directly to a network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi and come in
various forms for internal or external use. They often have Infra-red capable sensors, which can
produce quite good monochrome images even in total darkness. PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras
can be useful, and there are some that can be programmed to patrol in a series of motions to
cover a particular area.

Wireless units are quite popular for obvious reasons, but if you want to stream high-resolution
images, you will need to consider the effects of signal strength and range on the data throughput.

Analogue video cameras These, together with a multiple-channel video capture card, can
provide a flexible low-cost solution. Even expensive IP security cameras may offer a resolution
of only 640x480, to match a standard analogue video connection.

The quality of the lens and sensor are more important than resolution, especially at lower light
levels. One Sony model that I have had experience with costs around 2,000, and has a 640x480
sensor. The image, however, is sharp even at very low light levels; it has a 30X optical zoom and
almost silent PTZ motors.
An external IP camera. The LEDs around the lens are infra-red for night illumination

You will also need to enter the hostname, which is the name that you wish to use for the PC, and
your mailserver name. This is so that Zoneminder can send email alerts using nullmailer, which
is also installed automatically.

Quick Tip
Port forwarding from your router will make Zoneminder accessible from the internet, but you
should set up secure usernames and passwords first.

Once its finished, we need to test the webserver. On another PC on the network, open a web
browser and type the IP address of your new server in the address bar. You should see the default
Apache start page, which consists simply of the header It works! and some text. If thats
working, the next step is to configure Zoneminder.

First, we add a symlink in the Apache config directory, (this tells Apache where to find the
Zoneminder config file). Then, we need to restart Apache.

sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Next, we need to set up Zoneminder, add Apache to the video group, and configure zmfix, a
small binary that runs at startup to ensure that video device permissions are correct:

sudo chmod 4755 /usr/bin/zmfix

sudo zmfix -a
sudo adduser www-data video

Now we can test it on another PC on the same network by opening a browser, and typing this in
the address bar: http:///zm. For example, if the IP address is 192.168.0.10 it would be
http://192.168.0.10/zm This should open the Zoneminder homepage. You may notice that
Zoneminder is not running. If so, clicking on the Stopped link at the top centre will allow you to
start it. After this, it should start at every boot.

Computer hardware
The PC hardware requirements depend on the number of cameras and the level of processing
involved. With a single core Athlon 4200+ processor and 1GB of RAM, one IP camera and two
webcams with two zones each, the system load averaged around 0.7.

Motion detection takes a fair bit of processing, as it involves analysing the video stream and
comparing sequential frames, deciding if theres a big enough difference to trigger an alarm, and
storing any relevant frames from the buffer. This has to be done in real time, so if you have a
number of cameras, the processing overhead can be quite high.

A video capture card with multiple inputs can be used with standard video cameras. Zoneminder-
compatible PCI models are available quite cheaply, and coaxial cable can be run for quite a long
way without signal degradation. Analogue TV cards, although fading into obsolescence, can also
be used as capture devices.

Remote sources entail more processing, because the encoded stream has to be decoded, whereas
with locally connected webcams or analogue video cameras using a capture device, Zoneminder
can use framebuffer grabs.

Configuring the cameras

Now that we have Zoneminder running, we need to configure our cameras. The following
examples show a local V4L device and a remote IP device.
The zone editor. Different colours can be applied to indicate different types of motion detection

V4L devices include webcams and capture cards; Im using a Logitech E3500 USB webcam, but
many other USB webcams will work. To confirm that the webcam is connected, type lsusb in the
terminal. This will give us a list of all connected USB devices. Mine shows up as a Logitech Inc.
Quickcam E 3500. By default, the first V4L device (in this case my USB webcam) will be
attached to the system at /dev/video0. If you have any other V4L devices installed, such as a
capture card, this may differ. ls -l /dev/video* will list all V4L devices on the system.

sudo udevadm info -a -p $(udevadm info -q path -n /dev/video*) | grep

ATTR{name}

will list all the /dev/video device nodes and their names.

In my case, it returns /dev/video0 as UVC Camera (046d:09a4) the string in brackets matches
the device identifier string returned by lsusb. We now need to query the camera to see what
parameters it needs. This command:
 sudo zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v

returns a long list of attributes, but the important ones are :

Formats, MJPEG, YUV 4:2:2 (YUYV) and Bounds 320x240.

We will need these when setting up the camera in Zoneminder. From now on, we should be able
to stick to the web interface. Launch it again from a web browser on another PC on the same
network, and click on the Add New Monitor button. A pop-up box will appear. On the first page,
enter a name for the monitor, then select Local as the source type, and Monitor as the function.
Now click on the Source tab and enter the following:

Device path: /dev/video0

Device format: PAL
Capture palette: YUYV
Capture width: 320
Capture height: 240

then click Save.

If all is well, you should see the function and source links appear, and they should be orange. If
theyre red, it means that the camera isnt working. Setting up an IP or network camera is
similar, but as the zmu command works only for locally connected devices, you will need to
obtain the device information from elsewhere.

You will need to know the resolution of the camera, its image format and its URL. This usually
consists of its IP address, followed by the path for streaming images or video. Although many IP
cameras rely on ActiveX or Java for providing a remote browser interface, they often offer a
direct URL for streaming. If its not in the user manual, a quick internet search with the model
number may help, or just hovering over links on the cameras own built-in web pages may reveal
the URL of the link required at the bottom of your browsers screen.

For example, I have an IP camera, which offers a URL for live streaming to mobile devices, and
this is:

192.168.0.30/pda.cgi?page=image&cam=1

So, on the first screen I select Remote as the source type; on the second screen, I enter
192.168.0.30 as the remote host name, and /pda.cgi?page=image&cam=1 as the path, with 640
and 480 as the width and height respectively. If your IPcam is configured to require a username
and password, enter the hostname in the format :@. When all is entered, click Save.
The Zoneminder Events page: from here events can be viewed, exported or deleted. The Filter
Editor page is shown on the left

Exploring the interface

If all has gone well, you now have one or more working cameras, and we can start investigating
Zoneminders features. Clicking on the Options link in the top right-hand corner opens the main
Configuration window, which presents you with what may seem a bewildering number of tabs.
However, help is available by clicking on the question mark next to each entry.

Zoneminder refers to video devices as Monitors. Clicking on the name of a monitor should open
a pop-up window showing a live image. Clicking on any of the entries in the Events column will
open the Event display, where you can replay or delete events, or configure filters for email
alerts etc. Clicking on an entry in the Function column allows you to disable or enable the
monitor or change the function.

There are five camera modes in the drop down list:

Monitor is just a passive role, streaming live video or

a series of stills.
Record will record a preset number of frames in a
loop.
Modect motion detection, scanning a sequence of
images, and recording them when changes between
images indicate motion.
Mocord is a combination of the previous two modes,
recording a loop, but also highlighting any frames
where motion has been detected.
 Nodect - recording is triggered only by outside events,
eg a signal from an X10 Infra-red motion detector.

Any change will be reflected in the colour of the source and function entries. Red indicates an
error, the Monitor function is passive and is coloured orange, all other modes are active and
should be coloured green. In the Zones column, the default entry will be set to 1. Clicking on this
entry will open the Zone pop-up, and then clicking on the name of the zone will open the Zone
Editor, where you can create various motion detection zone overlays.

Motion Detection can be applied in quite complex ways. Using the Zone Editor, you can divide
the image area into separate zones, each with their own attributes. The shape of the zone begins
as a square covering the entire image. The size and shape can be edited by dragging the corner
points, and extra points can be added. There are five zone types:

Active is the most commonly used; movement triggers

an alarm.
Inclusive triggers an alarm only if at least one other
zone has also been triggered.
Exclusive triggers only if there are no events in other
zones.
Preclusive an event triggered in this zone will prevent
alarms in others.
Inactive used for dead areas, where an alarm would
be inappropriate.

Each of these zone types can have sensitivity thresholds set in terms of changed pixels, which
can be grouped or filtered in various ways. Luckily, there are some preset values, which will give
you a rough starting point when tailoring your own setup. Its worth bearing in mind that the
more complex the filtering, the more processing power is required to implement it, and zones
should not overlap unless strictly necessary. Setting the sensitivity too high will fill your hard
disk rapidly with unwanted images from false alarms. As an example, during the first snowfall
last year, I received 224 emails in 30 minutes from my Zoneminder server.

Zoneminder uses a shared memory buffer in order to speed up communication between modules.
Ive used Ubuntu 11.10, with Zoneminder 1.24.4, which uses mapped memory by default.
Although this needs no configuration, you will still need to make sure that theres enough
memory for all your cameras. If 11.10 is a little too cutting edge for you, you should be aware
that versions prior to 1.24 required shared memory to be set manually. If you dont allow enough
shared memory, the cameras will not work, and the logs will show shmget errors. The basic
formula for calculating shared memory requirements is:

(number of frames in buffer) X (image width) X (image height) X 3(for 24 bit

colour)
X (number of cameras) + 10% overhead

One frame of video at 640x480 in 24-bit colour is equal to 921,600 bytes, or nearly 1MB, so a
buffer of 40 frames (the default) for one camera will require around 40MB.
Quick Tip
If you have more than one V4L device, it may be a good idea to lock them to particular
/dev/video* nodes using a udev rule, as otherwise they may change after a reboot.

To configure this in earlier versions, which use systemV shared memory, you need to add the
memory settings to the end of the /etc/sysctl.conf file then reboot. The value shmall is the
maximum number of shared memory pages that can be allocated (The default size for memory
pages is 4KB), and shmmax is the maximum size of a shared memory segment. For example:

kernel.shmall = 31054432
kernel.shmmax = 134217728

This adds 128MB of shared memory. If you want to use multiple cameras, you may have to
increase these figures.

A typical infra-red night image, showing an intruder

Scheduling

At the top of the screen, you can see that Zoneminder is showing as running. Clicking on this
Running link allows you to change the state to Restart. This will restart the service. You can also
add your own run states. First, configure Zoneminder as you want for daytime motion
detection for example, then click on the Running link. Type daytime in the text field, and click
save. Daytime will be added to the list of run states. It will appear in the drop down list, and can
be called using zmpkg.pl with cron jobs to schedule different modes of operation for different
times of day, weekends, holidays, etc.

A typical crontab entry would read

0 9 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl daytime

This would start the Daytime run state at 9am from Monday to Friday.

And finally Zoneminder is a complex and powerful package, and in this tutorial Ive merely
scratched the surface of what you can do with it. More information is available at
www.zoneminder.org .

Extras
Mobile viewing Zoneminder has a skin which offers an interface that is better suited to mobile
devices. Obviously, the amount of access is more limited, but you can view stored images and
video, and even change modes and run states.

The URL is http:///zm/index.php?format=xhtml.

MythTV anyone? Graham and I have a strange penchant for a package called MythTV. Those
among you who are similarly inclined may be pleased to learn that Zoneminder has its own
MythTV plugin.

Craftily named mythzmserver, it allows you to view live camera feeds, alerts, etc, from within
the MythTV interface, calling up images with your remote control on your TV screen (if you can
get the remote working with MythTV that is).

If you plan to share a PC between MythTV and Zoneminder, a dual core processor and 2GB of
RAM might be an advisable minimum. You can install it from the Ubuntu repositories.
Unfortunately, it looks for the zm.conf file in the default location of /etc/zm.conf, whereas in
Ubuntu, Zoneminder has its own folder in /etc. So, the command to launch mythzmserver is as
follows:

mythzmserver -c /etc/zm/zm.conf

It can be added to the Zoneminder init script to ensure that it runs at startup.