Agent Configuration

Agent Types

There are two types of agents: Health Agent and G-SIM Agent. Both are Windows services that function as monitoring programs. They monitor video surveillance devices (cameras, media sources, storage) and report problems to the G-SIM server.

Health Agent

The Health Agent is a low-resource Windows background service that performs the following tasks:

  • Runs on remote servers.

  • Health monitoring:

    • Loads of health agent plugins that monitor cameras, media sources and storage devices.

    • Detects problems such as a disconnected camera, a failed media source, or low storage place, and generates a health alarm.

  • Report to the G-SIM server:

    • Periodically connects to the G-SIM server and reports all collected health alarms and device state changes.

    • After sending the report, it disconnects from the G-SIM server. It reconnects during the next cycle (every few minutes). If it cannot reach the G-SIM server, it aborts the connection attempt and tries again during the next cycle.

    • Alarms that have not been sent are queued and stored on the hard drive, so that they are retained even after a restart.

    • Knows about primary and backup servers in case of a failover.

G-SIM Agent

The G-SIM Agent is a Windows background service that performs the following tasks:

  • Runs on the local G-SIM server.

  • Health monitoring:

    • Loads of health agent plugins that monitor cameras, media sources and storage devices.

    • Detects problems such as a disconnected camera, a failed media source, or low storage place, and generates a health alarm.

  • Report to the G-SIM server:

    • Periodically connects to the G-SIM server and reports all collected health alarms and device state changes.

    • Receives the configuration from the G-SIM server (which devices to monitor, which plugins to enable, which events to listen for).

    • Stays permanently connected to the G-SIM server. If the connection is lost, it keeps trying to reconnect until the connection is restored.

    • Alarms that have not been sent are queued and stored on the hard drive, so that they are retained even after a restart.

    • Knows about primary and backup servers in case of a failover.

  • Work with devices:

    • Controls PTZ cameras during alarms (moves the cameras to preset positions).

    • Records video events from G-Core and GeViSoft media sources.

    • Directly connects to media source to query device status ( broadcast TCP 13000).

    • Synchronizes users from Active Directory (LDAP) with the G-SIM system.

Comparison

Feature

Health Agent

G-SIM Agent

Health monitoring and alarm report

Connection after reporting

Disconnects

Stays connected

Media source event recording

PTZ camera control

Active Directory (LDAP) user synchronization

Direct media source connections

Server failover (primary/backup)

Configure Agent

The agents must be configured on each machine using the agent configuration tool.

  1. Run the GSIM.AgentConfig.exe file, which is located in the Health Agent folder within the G-SIM installation directory. The configuration tool opens.

  2. Specify the agent settings:

    Setting

    Description

    Select Agent

    Select the agent type: Health Agent or G-SIM Agent.

    Connection Settings

    Agent Name

    Enter the agent name used for the connection to the G-SIM server.

    Password

    Enter the password used for the connection to the G-SIM server.

    Hostname or IP Address & Port

    Enter the hostname or IP address and the port of the G-SIM server to which the agent connects.

    Use encrypted connection

    Enable this option if you are using an encrypted connection for G-SIM.

    GeViSoft Settings

    Hostname or IP Address

    Enter the IP address or hostname of the GeViSoft server to which the agent connects.

    Username

    Enter the username for the connection to the GeViSoft server.

    Password

    Enter the password for the connection to the GeViSoft server.

    Redundancy Settings

    These settings are required if you have a G-SIM cluster system.

    Additional Unicast IPs

    Enter the IP addresses of all systems in the cluster, separated by semicolons. The first IP address is the local IP address.

    Allow only 1

    If this option is enabled, only one agent processes the alarms when both are running, to prevent duplicate entries.

    The additional unicast IP addresses are only considered if the Allow Only 1 option is enabled in the cluster mode of the agent. The cluster function works as follows: Each G-SIM server is assigned an agent. The agent on the primary server is treated as the master agent, and only the master agent sends alarms and events to the G-SIM server. If the G-SIM server of the master agent is not available, the other agent takes on the role of master agent.

  3. Add the configured agent in the Management Console (see Health Agents).