Configure the system in the Management Application

This following checklist outlines the tasks typically involved when you set up a system.

Although the following information is presented as a checklist, a completed checklist does not in itself guarantee that the system matches your exact needs. To make the system match the needs of your organization, Milestone recommends that you monitor and adjust the system once it is running.

It is often a good idea to spend time on testing and adjusting the motion detection sensitivity settings for individual cameras under different physical conditions including day or night, windy or calm weather. Carry out such tests once the system is running. The set up of events and associated actions also depends on your organization's needs.

You can print and use this checklist as you go along.

	Install your system See Install your system software. If you are upgrading an existing version of your system, see Upgrading from one product version to another product version.
	Activate your software license file You may not need to go through this step as your vendor often takes care of the process for you. To activate you software license file, see About license activation.
	Open the Management Application Open the Management Application after installation. This is where you configure and maintain your system and features.
	Add hardware devices to your system When you open your system for the first time, the Advanced configuration wizard help assists you to add hardware devices (cameras, encoders and dedicated I/O boxes) to your system and configure them with user names and passwords. See Automatic configuration wizard.
	Activate your hardware device licenses You may not need to go through this step as your vendor often takes care of the process for you. If your surveillance system is online, you can also skip this step. You have now added your hardware devices, it is time to activate your hardware devices licenses.
	Configure cameras You can specify a wide variety of settings for each camera connected to your system. Settings include video format, resolution, motion detection sensitivity, where to store and archive recordings, any pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) preset positions, association with microphones, speakers and more. See About video and recording configuration.
	Configure events, input and output Use system events, for example based on input from sensors, to automatically trigger actions in your system. Examples of actions: starting or stopping recording on cameras, switching to a particular video frame rate, making PTZ cameras move to specific preset positions. Also use events to activate hardware output, such as lights or sirens. See Overview of events.
	Configure scheduling Set up when do you want to archive and if you want cameras to transfer video to your system at all times, and other cameras to transfer video only within specific periods of time as well as when specific events occur. Also specify when you want to receive notifications from the system. See Configure general scheduling and archiving and Configure camera-specific schedules.
	Configure clients' access to your system A number of different client applications are included with your system. Specify whether you want clients to access the system server from the Internet, how many clients you want to be able to connect simultaneously and more. See Configure server access.
	Configure master/slave servers You only need to follow this step if you want to run several servers together. The functionality is only available if you run XProtect Professional. A master/slave setup allows you to combine several servers and extend the total number of cameras you can use beyond the maximum allowed number of cameras for a single server. In such a setup, clients still have a single point of contact: they connect to the master server but also get access, transparently, to cameras and recordings on the slave servers. See Configure master and slave servers.
	Configure users Specify who should access your system and how. Set a password protection for the Management Application if needed. Decide who should have client access and which rights they should have. See Manage user access wizard, Add basic users, Add user groups and Configure user and group rights.
	Configure XProtect Download Manager Manage which features users see on a targeted welcome page when they connect to the system server. The features can include access to client applications, additional client language versions, plug-ins and more. XProtect Download Manager comes with a default configuration that ensures that users get access to XProtect Smart Client in the same language as the system server. See Use XProtect Download Manager.

The above list represents the configuration steps that most administrators are likely to cover. You can configure and edit system settings to match the exact needs of your organization.