DW Spectrum and Tiger Surveillance Bridge

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Affected Roles: Owner, Administrator

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum IPVMS

Software Version: DW Spectrum v5.1

Last Edit: November 29, 2023

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Tiger Surveillance Bridge

The Tiger Surveillance Bridge provides customers with the option to connect the local storage of a DW Spectrum Server with Tiger Surveillance’s cloud storage options for additional disaster recovery.

This article will outline some of the recommended Dos and Don’ts in partnership with Tiger Surveillance.

**NOTE: The Tiger Surveillance Cloud Service is a cloud-based storage as provided by DW Partner, Tiger Surveillance. This is different from the DW Cloud Service, which is primarily only for use of creating remote connections for users with their DW Spectrum systems.

About Tiger Surveillance Bridge

What Surveillance Bridge Does

Bridge uses stub-files (pointers to free Bridge uses stub-files (pointers) to free up local space while maintaining access to the Tiger Surveillance cloud service.
Bridge deletes content in the cloud when local files (or stub files) are deleted.
Bridge moves data to/from local disk and Tiger Surveillance cloud service.
Bridge is extremely resilient. If the system is rebooted or internet connectivity is lost, it resumes operations automatically.
Bridge can recover data from the Tiger Surveillance cloud service when the Disaster Recovery feature is enabled.

What Surveillance Bridge Does NOT Do

Bridge will NOT delete content in the Tiger Surveillance cloud, unless local files are deleted.
Bridge will NOT interact with the DW Spectrum database.
Bridge’s MIP plug-in only controls the underlying engine.

How DW Spectrum Interacts with Tiger Surveillance Bridge

What DW Spectrum Does

DW Spectrum always reads and writes from/to the local drive.
- Tiger Surveillance Bridge streams data from the cloud.
DW Spectrum sees a local drive that can contain an infinite number of recordings.
DW Spectrum sees a stub-file (just a pointer to the cloud) exactly like it sees a regular file.
DW Spectrum will keep writing to the physical disk as long as there is free space available. Once storage capacity has been reached for the DW Spectrum Media, older data will begin to be overwritten by new data in a cyclical manner.

What to Look For

DW Spectrum’s retention period defines when recordings are overwritten.
Evidence locks remain in the Tiger Surveillance cloud as long as DW Spectrum does not delete them locally.
Recording server’s storage “Max Size” setting on Management Client must take the local drive into account as well as Tiger Surveillance cloud storage capacities
It is VERY important that DW Spectrum NEVER runs out of local disk space as the recording server may attempt to delete stubs, thinking it is making space – but deleting stubs doesn’t make local space, it only deletes content in the Tiger Surveillance cloud.

What NOT to Do

Never delete files on the local drive of the DW Spectrum Server unless you also want to delete the associated content in the Tiger Surveillance cloud.
Do NOT use backup software on a Bridge-managed disk because backup software cannot backup stubfiles and will restore garbage instead of pointers to Tiger Surveillance cloud.
Do NOT uninstall Bridge or stop its services. If you need to stop them, make sure to restart the services promptly.
Avoid moving cameras to a different DW Spectrum recording server, as all associated recordings will need to be retrieved from the Tiger Surveillance cloud. Such an operation should be properly planned and executed.

**NOTE: You can contact Tiger Surveillance technical support at Support@Tiger-Surveillance.com.

What is Safe to Do

It is safe to stop or reboot the DW Spectrum recording server (or any other Digital Watchdog component).
It is safe for DW Spectrum to rebuild its database(s).
It is safe to perform ALL normal DW Spectrum operations and run all supported plug-ins.
It is safe to temporarily lose connection to the Tiger Surveillance cloud (as long as there is sufficient disk space locally to keep recording during the outage).

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For More Information or Technical Support

DW Technical Support: https://www.digital-watchdog.com/contact-tech-support/

DW Sales: sales@digital-watchdog.com | www.digital-watchdog.com