Avigilon Alta 

Supported Features

• Live Video
• PreAlarm Recording
• Camera Playback
• Playback
• PTZ (Pan / Tilt / Zoom)
• Quality Control
• Alarms
• Get Configuration  (Note: Get Config Filters not supported)
• Sync  (Note: Sync Filters not supported)

Requirements

Package Requirements

The following packages will be deployed by your SureView Engineer

• CC-CORESERVICE-SureViewEnterpriseHTTPReceiver-1.5.2.663 (or above)
• CC-DEVICE-AltaVideoDynamicIntegration

Important: This integration is for SureView Enterprise only. SureView Response SaaS is currently not supported.

Version Requirements

Validated against Avigilon Alta 8.2.11

Note: Avigilon Alta is a cloud platform, so this version is not a hard requirement

Manufacture License Requirements

N/A - No additional manufacturer license required

 

Network Requirements

Include the default network requirements such as

*Avigilon Alta Cloud refers to the address used to access the Alta Web Interface for your account, typically in the format [deployment].[region].alta.avigilon.com, e.g. mycompany.us1.alta.avigilon.com.

Permission Requirements

Avigilon Alta user with at least the "Operator" user group/role

These can be configured in the "users" setup section of Avigilon Alta

Sureview Device Setup

The following Device Setup can be used with Sync or with Get Config. 
  
Sync or Get Config is required for setup as the entity identifiers are not visible in the Aviglon Alta interface so cannot be configured manually.

Important: The Avigilon Alta integration does not support Sync/Get Config filters. Any Sync or Get Config will return all Avigilon Alta Cameras, Alarm Points and Outputs/Relays that the Avigilon Alta user has access to.

Cameras

Camera fields will be automatically populated by Get Config / Sync

Alarm Points

Alarm point fields will be automatically populated by Get Config / Sync. One alarm point for each camera on the system.

Avigilon Alta Alarm Setup

First Time Setup - Webhook

The first time you set up your Avigilon Alta system to send alarms into Sureview you will need to configure a webhook. Once this is created you will be able to use it with any subsequent Alarm Rules that you make in Avigilon Alta

Before Starting you will need your Sureview external host address and your Avigilon Alta device "ServerID".  

1. Login to Sureview
2. Go to Setup: Devices
3. Edit your Avigilon Alta Device
4. Note the number shown at the top of the device edit window. This is the ServerID
   

Next you will need to configure the Webhook in Avigilon Alta

1. Login to Avigilon Alta Video web interface
2. Go to Rules using the side bar menu
3. Click the ... in the top right corner and select "Webhooks"
   

4. Click the "Add New" + button on the bottom left and enter the following fields 

   Field	Value
   URL	https://{SureviewHostAddress}/receiver/{serverid}   example https://mysureviewaddress.com/receiver/1043   Note: The Sureview Sureview alarm receiver is also compatible with HTTP instead of HTTPS but we recommend using HTTPS
   Sending method	From cloud
   Method	HTTP POST
   Ignore SSL Certificates	Enabled Note: This can be "Disabled" if Avigilon Alta does not accept your SSL Certificate
   Authentication	None
   Payload Type	JSON
   Payload	{ "source": { "sourceId": "$sourceId", "sourceName": "$sourceName", "deviceId": "$deviceId", "deviceName": "$deviceName", "deviceGroupId": "$deviceGroupId", "deviceGroupName": "$deviceGroupName", "siteId": "$deviceSiteId", "siteName": "$deviceSiteName" }, "alarm": { "ruleId": "$ruleId", "ruleName": "$ruleName", "ruleType": "$ruleType", "importance": "$importance", "time": "$time", "timeIso": "$timeIso", "timePretty": "$timePretty", "serverGroupId": "$serverGroupId", "serverGroupName": "$serverGroupName", "nodeName": "$nodeName", "issueType": "$issueType", "url": "$url", "externalLink": "$externalLink" }, "accessControl": { "cardholderName": "$cardholderName", "cardholderId": "$cardholderId", "badgeId": "$badgeId", "accessPoint": "$accessPoint" }, "detection": { "objectType": "$objectType", "objectCount": "$objectCount", "countingArea": "$countingArea", "audioClass": "$audioClass", "licensePlate": "$licensePlate", "licensePlateGroup": "$licensePlateGroup", "lpMatch": "$lpMatch", "note": "$note", "profileId": "$profileId", "profileName": "$profileName", "watchlistIds": "$watchlistIds", "watchlistNames": "$watchlistNames", "gps": "$gps", "diskSerial": "$diskSerial" } }
   User-operable trigger	This can be disabled or enabled based on your own preferences

   

5. Press Done to save
6. Once completed you can manually test the webhook but going using the Test webhook button in the Webhook Setup. If configured correctly this will trigger an alarm in Sureview 
   
    

Avigilon Alta Rules

To configure Avigilon Alta to trigger alarms and send them into Sureview you will  need to configure the "Action" in your Avigilon Alta Rules to use the configured webhook. Either by editing your existing rules or creating new ones

The Rule Name will match to the "EventCode" in Sureview so Each Rule you configure in Avigilon Alta will need an Avigilon Alta Event Type set up in SureView Event Configuration setup screen

Editing Rules

1. Login to Avigilon Alta Video web interface
2. Go to Rules using the side bar menu
3. Click the Rule you want to Edit
4. Click the "Actions" filed
5. Enable "Webhook"
6. Select the Sureview Webook you created in the drop down
7. Press Done
   

Adding Rules

1. Login to Avigilon Alta Video web interface
2. Go to Rules using the side bar menu
3. Click the Add Rule + button in the top right corner
4. Give your Rule a name (this will match to the alarm Event Type in Sureview) and select the Detection Type
5. Press Next and then configure your Rule settings (What Where When etc)
6. In the "Actions" section Enable "Webhook"
7. Select the Sureview Webook you created in the drop down
8. Press Done
   

Note: Any System Rules that aren't associated with a camera will still trigger in sureview as configured however won't match to an alarm point and will instead trigger on the Device's main area (the "Root" are)

Sureview Alarm Event Types

Important: Rules are unique for each customer enviroment so Sureview does not pre-load any event types on installation

Sureview Alarm Event types match against the Rule Name in Avigilon Alta. These can be configured in the Sureview Event Configuration Setup Screen using the Event Code that matches the Avigilon Alta Rule Name

If you have a very large number of Rules to import to Sureview please contact Sureview support for assistance.

Alarms that area received in Sureview show the "Event Code" in the alarm text this can be used to add new Event Types manually in the Event Configuration Setup screen as needed. (see Sureview Alarm Text below)

Sureview Alarm Text

SureView builds the alarm text you see in the alarm queue from a fixed template. The placeholders in curly braces are replaced with real values from SureView and the integration:

{Alarm Point Name} - {Event Type Name} - {ruleName} ({ruleType}) | device: {deviceName} [{deviceId}] @ {siteName} ({deviceGroupName}) | importance: {importance} | issue: {issueType} | note: {note}

Example

AHF7-R7VB-PAOR alarm - Person - Person (Appearance) | device: AHF7-R7VB-PAOR [a3ef882e-db07-4799-a908-cc4d28a299ac] @ Swansea Office (Default) | importance: high | issue: N/A | note:

The table below explains each part of the example line, in the order it appears:

Note that Person appears twice in a row in the example above, but these are two different fields that happen to match. The first "Person" is the SureView Event Type title, which is editable by the customer. The second is the decoder's {ruleName}, which is the underlying event code that SureView actually matches on. These are normally the same, since the Event Type title is set from the event code when the integration syncs, but a customer can rename the Event Type title afterwards without affecting matching, since matching always uses the event code rather than the title.

You'll also notice AHF7-R7VB-PAOR appears twice: once at the start as part of the Alarm Point name, and again later as {deviceName}. The Alarm Point name is set when the Alarm Point is created in SureView, normally taking its value from the camera's name in Avigilon at that time. The {deviceName} value, by contrast, is sent fresh by Avigilon on every alarm. In most cases these match, but if the camera is later renamed in Avigilon, the two can drift apart, since {deviceName} always reflects the current name while the Alarm Point name only updates if daily sync is enabled (SureView syncs camera and Alarm Point names once a day by default). Seeing the two differ usually means either the camera was renamed since the Alarm Point was created and sync hasn't caught up yet, or sync is disabled, not a fault with the integration itself.

Troubleshooting

Not receiving data from Alta

Confirm the Host, Username and Password match your Alta account exactly, and that the host resolves to a valid Alta deployment address. If the account password has changed, update it in SureView.

Video works, but alarms aren't coming through

This usually means the connection to Alta is working but the webhook isn't fully configured. Check that the webhook is set up correctly in Alta and switched on for the relevant Security Rules (see Triggering Notifications above).

No cameras appear after sync

Confirm the Alta account used for the connection has visibility of the relevant cameras in Alta. If the account can't see them there, SureView won't be able to sync them either.

Event Type doesn't match

If the Event Type doesn't match, SureView won't have a title to prepend, so you'll only see the event code once in the alarm text rather than twice. For example, instead of Person - Person (Appearance), you'd see just Person (Appearance). This missing duplication is the main sign that the Event Type hasn't matched.

To fix it, take the event code from the alarm text (this is the value immediately before the rule type in brackets, e.g. Person in Person (Appearance)) and add it as a new Event Type in the Event Type configuration for this integration. Once added, future alarms using that code will match and display the configured title alongside it.

Alarm Point doesn't match

If the alarm isn't matching to an Alarm Point, this usually means sync or Get Config needs to be run again. To confirm this is the issue, take the device ID from the alarm text, shown in square brackets after the device name, e.g. a3ef882e-db07-4799-a908-cc4d28a299ac, and compare it against the ExtraValue set on your configured Alarm Points. If no Alarm Point has a matching ExtraValue, the device either hasn't synced yet or its configuration is out of date, and running sync or Get Config again should resolve it.