Milestone XProtect Professional 2014 - Manual (Page 35)

Milestone XProtect ® Professional
2014
Administrator's Manual
www.milestonesys.com 35 First time use
Power outages: use a UPS
The single-most common reason for corrupt databases is the recording server being shut down
abruptly, without files being saved and without the operating system being closed down properly. This
may happen due to power outages, due to somebody accidentally pulling out the server's power cable,
or similar.
The best way of protecting your recording servers from being shut down abruptly is to equip each of
your recording servers with a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).
The UPS works as a battery-driven secondary power source, providing the necessary power for
saving open files and safely powering down your system in the event of power irregularities. UPSs
vary in sophistication, but many UPSs include software for automatically saving open files, for alerting
system administrators, etc.
Selecting the right type of UPS for your organization's environment is an individual process. When you
assess your needs, however, bear in mind the amount of runtime you require the UPS to be able to
provide if the power fails. Saving open files and shutting down an operating system properly may take
several minutes.
Windows Task Manager: be careful when you end processes
When you work in Windows Task Manager, be careful not to end any processes which affect the
surveillance system. If you end an application or system service by clicking End Process in the
Windows Task Manager, the process is not be given the chance to save its state or data before it is
terminated. This may lead to corrupt camera databases.
Windows Task Manager typically displays a warning if you attempt to end a process. Unless you are
absolutely sure that ending the process is not going to affect the surveillance system, click No when
the warning message asks you if you really want to terminate the process.
Hard disk failure: protect your drives
Hard disk drives are mechanical devices and are vulnerable to external factors. The following are
examples of external factors which may damage hard disk drives and lead to corrupt camera
databases:

Vibration (make sure the surveillance system server and its surroundings are stable)

Strong heat (make sure the server has adequate ventilation)

Strong magnetic fields (avoid)

Power outages (make sure you use a UPS (on page 207))

Static electricity (make sure you ground yourself if you are going to handle a hard disk drive).

Fire, water and more (avoid).
About saving changes to the configuration
As you set up your system, you must save any changes you make to the configuration in order for
these to be applied to the system. When you change the configuration in the Management Application,
for example in the Camera Summary or User Properties, a yellow notification bar informs you that
you have made changes to the configuration. The bar appears in order to make sure that your