Comprehensive documentation is provided by the installation process including context sensitive online help.

Most common support issues for NightWatch 

1. LICENCE KEYS
2. BACKUP/RESTORE SETTINGS
3. PAGING / TEXTING PROBLEMS
4. ROOM ALERT BOX CONNECTION FAILED

5. TRACE FILES

6. WEBCAM SETUP 

Note – installation is not supported through remote connections and should be done on the server running NightWatch. 

1.      LICENCE KEYS To generate a new licence key we need the System Number. Go to  START/Program Files/NightWatch/NightWatch Set Licence That will show the licence screen. At the top will be the

System Number. Please email that to the address in help/about.

New licence keys are required when moving servers and also if the upgrade changes either of the first 2 release numbers eg 5.0.1 to 5.1.0 

2.      BACKUP/RESTORE OF SETTINGS Go to Settings/Export to save settings to a disc file (default=NightWatch.cfg). To restore, create a shortcut to NightWatch.exe on your desktop. Then go to the shortcut Properties and edit the shortcut Target (the run command). Add the following text after the last quotes: 
                    config=NightWatch import 
NOTE: the file name MUST be identical to the Registry Key name andis case sensitive (default is "NightWatch") WITHOUT the .cfg extension. This will restore everything including the Monitored Objects. On a new machine you will need a new Product Licence Key, so just email me the new System Number. Run NightWatch Set Licence to display the 5 digit System Number. NOTE: on versions 4.4.0 and above we will always save the settings to the file                      
                                                backup.cfg  
whenever we save settings to the registry, for emergency restore purposes. 

3.      PAGING/TEXT ALERTS ISSUES There are only two reliable message scripts in use for UK mobile phones 

Service                                       Message File script name

=========================================
BT CELLNET UK                    cellnet.msg
VODAFONE UK                     vodafone(SMS).msg 

Either will work with any UK mobile phone. Try each of them if you are having problems. To test it you can set up a dummy MO eg Ping 1.1.1.1 which always fails. 

The data format in Vodafone(SMS) may need changing. Open the script file with Notepad and edit the following line near the top:

P 9600 NONE 8 1

to

P 9600 EVEN 7 1

which may solve the problem.

In a surprising number of cases simply changing the modem cures the problem. 

Create a trace file (see 5 below) if you are stuck and email it to the address in help/about. Occasionally the dial out fails because the switchboard is barring certain numbers.  

4.      ROOM ALERT BOX NOT RESPONDING If you are having problems, reboot the NightWatch server/PC and then power down the red RA unit and after 30 seconds power it back up. Give it 5 minutes to power up and then try the following tests: 

a)   CHECKING THE RA BOX INTERNAL COMMS SETTINGS Internally to the Room Alert box, the microprocessor connects serially to the Xport network interface device. These settings can occasionally get corrupted or accidentally changed and are therefore worth checking if you have a problem communicating with the box. 
OLD BOXES AND ALL RA LITE - set internal baud rate = 2400
NEW BOXES (FIRMWARE 1.02 ON BACK) - set internal baud rate = 9600 

These settings can be seen using TELNET on port 9999 but do not change anything else (APART FROM THE INTERNAL BAUD RATE) without checking with us first. Alternatively you can use the Lantronix Device Installer (see 2. below).  

b)    USING LANTRONIX DEVICE INSTALLER Older boxes use v3.6 and internal baud rate is 2400Newer ones (firmware 1.02 on the back) use v4.1 and internal baud rate is 9600 1. From the Lantronix Device Installer main window click Search. 2. Highlight the device you want to check3. Click ‘Configure’4. Click Ports tab Click ‘Edit Settings’ to change the settings.  

c)     TESTING THE NETWORK CONNECTION WITH HYPERTERMINAL The box connectivity can be tested with Windows Hyperterminal in “Winsock” mode, using the ip address and port 10001. Once connected, hitting ‘cr’ should get a string of digits from the box. 

Run Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/HyperterminalGive is a session name, eg RAChoose Connect using:    TCP/iP (Winsock)Give it the ip address and port 10001Go to File/Properties/Settings and check under Ascii Receiving"Append line feeds to incoming line ends" Click OK, Click OKThen hit Return and you should see two rows of numbers each time.  

d)       SETUP ON A LOCAL PC OR LAPTOP If there is still no response from the box we need to test if the box is faulty or if it’s a network or firewall problem.  To do this, use a CROSSOVER cable to connect the RA box directly to your own PC or laptop network connector. Now reconfigure the box using Device Installer on the laptop.  

e)      PC/NETWORK CARD PROBLEMS Occasionally the problem is not the RA box at all but the PC or server the monitoring software is running on. Re-install the software on a different PC and test again.  

5.      CREATE A NIGHTWATCH DEBUG TRACE To create a NightWatch trace file, please do the following:   (A) IF RUNNING ON DESKTOP (for running as a SERVICE, see (B) below)     

(1) Run 'NightWatch With Trace' from the Start Menu 

(2) Reproduce the problem    NOTE: YOU MUST ALLOW NIGHTWATCH TIME TO COMPLETE 3 FULL SCANS  (MINIMUM) OF ALL THE MONITORED OBJECTS.    ALSO NOTE: DO NOT GO INTO 'OPTIONS' WHILE SCANNING. 

(3) STOP and Shut down NightWatch  

(4) ZIP and Email the file NightWatch.tra to  CPL Systems

 HINT - if NightWatch is not in your START menu it may have been installed under a different user. You can create a shortcut to NightWatch.exe and add the word 'trace' in the Target line of Properties, like this:

"C:\Program Files\NightWatch\NightWatch.exe" trace

but don't run with trace all the time as it may create a massive file. 

(B) IF RUNNING NIGHTWATCH AS A SERVICE    =================================

If you are running NightWatch as a SERVICE, 
1) Shut down the NightWatch service 
2) add the word "trace" to the "Startup Parameters" box in theNightWatch Service applet under Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services 
3) Re-start the NightWatch service and reproduce the problem. GiveNightWatch time to finish its current scan and alerting before stopping. 
4) Stop the NightWatch service and ZIP/email the NightWatch.trafile to the above email address. 

TO BREAK UP LARGE TRACE FILES
====================================
We cannot analyse huge trace files, thereforeto solve intermittent problems which require big tracescreate the following new STRING Values in the registry under 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/NightWatch/Globals String Values:
TraceOverflow = 2
TraceAutoExtension = 1 

This will create overflow files with date and time extensionsrather than one huge file. Normally we only need the 1st file of the series and the one which contains the problem. The files will be of this form,

NightWatch.tra.20021120153012 

OTHER DEBUGGING INFORMATION
============================
If Dr Watson was involved, please put a .BMP screen dump of the message and the Dr Watson log file in the Trace zip. If an NT Event log was causing the problem, it can be saved from the Event Log Viewer and included in the Trace zip. 

6. Setting Up the Axis  210 Webcam in NightWatch

 

The only supported camera is the AXIS 210. The setup of the camera IP and so on are carried out using the software supplied with the camera on CD rom.

 

Once the camera has an IP address you can login in to it with your web browser. Once there you will be prompted to setup a root username and password.

 

Before setting up the camera in NightWatch, make sure that you browse onto the camera using Internet Explorer from the PC on which NightWatch is installed, and that you can see the live feed from the camera.

 

You should then be able to see the camera feed in the window of the Axis Camera MO setup screen (click OPTIONS, then Add Object then click Axis Camera MO icon), once the ip address/username/password have been entered.

 

Setting up Motion Detection alerts

 

More details are in the Axis documentation. The following is a brief overview.

 

The Camera MO (monitored object) listens for Motion Detection messages sent by Axis Video Cameras on the network. The Video camera must be configured to send such messages to the system hosting NightWatch on the port number set on this MO. If an IP address or DNS name is entered, then the MO will only process messages from the camera with that address or name.

 

If the IP address box is left blank, then the MO becomes the default camera MO and will process messages from any camera that is not handled by an MO with a specific address or name.

 

For motion detection to be monitored, you must configure the camera to have a TCP Event Server record that points to the system where NightWatch is hosted using the same Port number entered on this MO. Use the same port number for all cameras and all MOs. Then configure the Motion Detection feature in the camera and select the TCP Event Server you created for NightWatch. The motion detection message text configured in the camera is the alarm message text reported by NightWatch in the [MSG] substitution variable.

 

In the Axis software click the Setup button on the right and then click the Event Configuration button on the left. Click Motion Detection and ensure that the default window covers the area you want to monitor by dragging the pane to the required area.

 

Click Event Server then the Add TCP button. Enter a new name ‘NightWatch’ and enter the IP address of the PC where NightWatch is installed followed by an available TCP port number on that system, eg 1089.

 

Click Event Type then click ‘Add Triggered’. Select the alert options you need plus ‘triggered by motion detection’ and choose TCP alert at the bottom and enter the event server ‘NightWatch’.

 

The camera http port is the port on which you want to connect with the web browser to configure the camera. This should normally be 80.

 

When you set up the Event Server for motion detection, you specify the ip address of the NightWatch PC and whatever port you want to use, like 1089. Then in NightWatch, the camera MO must use the same port, 1089.

 

The port in the camera Event Server config ( eg 1089) should be the same port used in the camera MO in NightWatch. This port number MUST be used on ALL cameras and ALL camera MOs.

 

If 1089 works then use that. The only criteria in that the port number chosen must be available on the PC running NightWatch, and not used by any other application.

 

 

The Event Server test button in the camera setup does not really do anything other than see if the NightWatch PC is listening.

 

You then set up MO and confirm that you can get the camera video in the box on the MO screen.

 

Then you run NightWatch to scan ('START') and then get in front of camera and you should get an event.

 

Note that the event text string is expected to have the format detailed in our help.

 

NightWatch MUST be scanning for alarms to be processed. In the triggered event type setup you have to select 'send tcp notification' and the message should be Motion Detection.

 

Capturing the image when motion is detected

 

When motion detection messages are received, you may capture the current image on the camera to the directory entered. If you capture an image, and the Alarm Object you have selected sends SMTP email notification, that image will be attached to the email notification.

 

Images are stored in the specified directory and have the file name format:

 

AxisImage_Source_yyyymmddhhmmss.jpg

 

Source will be the camera DNS name (if available) or the camera IP address.

 

If you wish to have the MO capture an image from the camera on a regular basis, you must enter the IP address or DNS name of the camera and check the appropriate box. Then, on each scan, subject to any defined Schedule, the current image will be captured from the camera and stored in the specified directory.

 

If cameras require a login, then you must specify the user name and password to be used in order for any images to be capured. If you want to use logins on cameras, it is suggested that you create a standard login user name and password for use by NightWatch and put that in all cameras.

 

In order for the camera DNS name to appear in alarm reporting or in the captured image file name, you must have a reverse DNS lookup record that maps the camera IP address to it's name configured in your DNS server. This is in addition to the normal DNS record that maps the name to the IP address.

 

 

Axis Camera MO Settings

 

Description

This is an optional description of the monitored object.

 

Enabled

Enables/disables the object for monitoring. Used to temporarily exclude an object from monitoring.

 

Address/Name

This is the IP address or DNS name of the Axis Video Camera. See below for information about how to use this field.

 

Severity

This is the Severity indicator for this object. It allows you to rank the importance of alarms on this object. The range is 0-9, with 0 as the most severe alarm condition.

 

User Name

This is the user name used to login to the camera if required.

 

Password

This is the password used to login to the camera if required.

 

Port Number

Normally this MO listens on the network for messages from the camera. The camera must be configured with the IP address of the system where NightWatch is located and a port number must be selected for communication between the camera and NightWatch. This port number MUST BE THE SAME for all Axis Camera MOs.

 

View Button

Click this button to view live video from the camera. Only works if the IP address/Name of the camera is supplied. If there is any problem accessing the camera, the picture of the Axis 210 will be displayed instead of the live image.

 

Save Image on Alarm

When checked, if a Motion Detection message is received from the camera, the current image on the camera is retrieved and stored in the directory entered below. If the camera requires login, the user name and password must be supplied above.

 

Save Image on scan

When checked, on each scan (subject to the schedule, if any) the current image on the camera is retrieved and stored in the directory entered below. If the camera requires login, the user name and password must be supplied above.

 

Save Path

This is the directory path were camera images will be saved. The directory must exist.

 

Alarm Object

Identifies the Alarm Object to be used for alarm notification when this monitored object generates an alarm. The drop down list shows all available Alarm Objects.

An Alarm Object must be selected to perform paging, broadcasting or email of alarm events for this object.

 

Alarm Text

When an alarm is generated for an object, a default alarm notification message is issued by NightWatch. This message identifies the object and describes the alarm. You can override the default alarm message by entering custom alarm notification message text in this box. You can use substitution keywords in the message which will be replaced by their run time values when the message is generated. Keywords appear as [keyword] in the message text. The keywords you can use for this object are:

 

 Keyword        Description

 

[TYPE]            expands to the monitored object's type.

[ID]      expands to the monitored object's unique identification string.

[IDX]   expands to the monitored object's unique identification string with the Data Source Name appended.

[DESC]            expands to the monitored object's long description.

[SOURCEIP]   expands to the IP address of the camera that sent the last motion detection message.

[SOURCENAME]       expands to the DNS name (if available) of the camera that sent the last motion detection message.

[SOURCE]      expands to the DNS name if available and if not, the IP address of camera that sent the last motion detection message.

[MSG] expands to the actual content of the last motion detection message.

[ALARMID]    expands to the unique numeric identifier for the monitored object's current alarm event.

[TIME]            expands to the current time.

[DATE]            expands to the current date.

[AGENT]         expands to the the application name of "NightWatch".

[SYSTEM]      expands to the name of this system.