# Working with Nx Witness

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Nx Witness is a group of software applications, the primary purpose of which is to view, store and manage video from surveillance cameras. Nx Witness uses client-server architecture – client and server applications are used for different purposes and can run on different computers.

The server application is primarily used to get and record videos from cameras; store and manage video archive; track and react on certain events.

Client applications are used to view live or recorded videos and manage servers and cameras.

Server

Server icon

"Server” in this manual can refer to either the s erver application (also call the Media Server) or the computer on which the Media Server application is installed.

Servers can:

1.Receive video-stream from cameras

2.Manage cameras settings

3.Record video from cameras to internal or external storage

4.Process and analyze video – for example, detect motion

5.Manage users database and users access level

6.Track certain events and react on them

7.Work with different hardware devices – NVRs, I/O modules, door locks, and so on.

System

System icon

Camera icon

Many servers can work together if there are several locations with cameras, or if the total number of cameras is too large to process with just one computer, or in order to improve system stability, or in order to improve system stability. The agglomeration of all connected servers, cameras and other devices is a System.

A System can have several Servers | A System can have just one Server | A Server by itself will also create a System
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If there is only one server, there is little difference between the server and the System, and they can be considered equivalent. However, with more servers in a System the differences will become significant.

All servers in a System are equal and each of them has all the information about all cameras, users, and settings in the System. Video archive, however, is not shared. Recorded video is stored only on the server to which a camera is connected. Therefore, if you replace one server in the System with a new one (e.g. for an upgrade or repair), all System settings will be retained but the video archive recorded on the old server is not.

Clients

Client icon

Current Server icon - indicates server to which you are currently connected (with small user in bottom right corner)

Client applications can connect to servers, and can show live or recorded video from cameras in the System. Clients are also used to manage the System, server, and cameras settings.

A client can be connected to different servers, but only to one at a time. However, any number of clients can be connected to one server at any time. If the client is connected to a single server in the System, it has access to the entire System through this server – to all other servers and cameras, system settings, and camera settings.

Desktop Client

The most powerful of the applications. Works on Windows, MacOS and Ubuntu Linux.

1.Can be used to connect to any server

2.Can playpack live and recorded video, and local video files

3.Can playback up to 64 videos at once

4.Can control cameras – PTZ, 2-way-audio, I/O ports

5.Can display web pages in the built-in browser

6.Can be used to manage cameras, system, and server settings

7.Can be used to view event and user behaviour logs

Mobile Client

Works on Android and iOS

1.Can be used to connect to any server

2.Can playback live and recorded video

3.Can control cameras – PTZ, 2-way-audio

Web Client

Also called "Web Admin". Can be opened in any modern web browser.

1.Belongs to a specific server.

2.Can playpack live and recorded video

3.Can be used to manage a very limited number of system and server settings

Users

Every system has an admin user account with owner rights – only this account can grant administrator rights to other users. An administrator can specify every parameter of a new user - name, password, email, etc., and manage these parameters in the future. Users can be added to or deleted from the System by the owner or administrators. To log in to a system you must be authorized as a user. Every System has a list of user accounts that can access it, and each user may have different access rights within the System.

Some users have access to everything in the System and can edit or manage its settings. | Other users only have access to a few settings or none at all, and can see only certain cameras.
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User with accounts having limited access rights may not be able to see certain servers or change their settings, but can use other servers to log in to the System and watch video. The term user can mean the same thing as the term account, or it can refer to a physical person. In the second case, the user can have multiple accounts – to access different systems, or several accounts with different access rights for a single system. "User Roles" are used to assign the same set of access rights to multiple users.

Nx Cloud

An important part of Nx Witness is Nx Cloud. It is a cloud service, hosted in the Internet and extending functionality of the Nx Witness Systems.

cloud icon

In additional to the default functionality, Nx Cloud also gives the ability to:

1.Log in to multiple systems with a single account

2.Connect to servers through the internet which don’t have an external IP address

3.Add users to your Systems via an email invite

To access cloud features, a System must be connected to the cloud – which makes it a cloud System (as opposed to a local System).

Cloud accounts

To interact with Nx Cloud you have to create a Cloud account. With it, you can:

1.Log in to cloud systems in the same way as with regular user account

2.Log in to the Cloud in desktop and mobile clients

3.Log in to a Cloud portal

4.Connect your Systems to Nx Cloud

5.Restore a password using your email address

Users with Cloud accounts are also referred to as Cloud users. Users with regular accounts are referred to as Local users, and their accounts, accordingly, as Local accounts.

Local accounts belong to the System, and cannot be moved elsewhere or used in the different services.

Cloud accounts do not belong to any system, so system administrators are not able to create a new account – they can just add an account to their system, and grant some rights to this account. To do that they specify only the account itself – all other parameters, such as name and password, the cloud account’s owner defines himself.

With a Cloud Account you can log in to Nx Cloud from the desktop and mobile clients.

Users 1–5 are local accounts; they exist only in the System databases and are managed by System administrators. User 6 is a Cloud account; it is the same for both systems, and is managed on the Cloud Portal by the Cloud account owner. The System database has information about this account but does not manage it.

Cloud Portal

Cloud accounts can be created on the Cloud Portal – a web service which is independent of any system and available to everybody.

On the Cloud Portal you can see all your Cloud Systems, view video, and edit some of the settings.

You can log in to all Systems associated with your Cloud account from the client Welcome Screens.

Connecting a System to Nx Cloud

To connect a System to Nx Cloud, you must log in to the System using the owner’s account. In the Nx Cloud tab of the System Administration dialog, specify a Cloud account the System will be associated with. This account will also get owner’s access permissions and be displayed in the interface as System owner.

After a System is connected to Nx Cloud, it has access to all Cloud features, and can be disconnected from Nx Cloud at any time. After being disconnected, a System becomes a local System again. The Cloud owner and all other Cloud users will be deleted, but other settings and video archive will not be affected.