DW Spectrum Time Synchronization

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Affected Roles: Administrator, Owner

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum

Software Version: DW Spectrum v4.0 or higher

Last Edit: September 10, 2024

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Time Synchronization

When using a Video Management System (VMS), it is important to ensure that the server’s date and time settings are accurate. By doing so, this ensures that the footage that is recorded to the server’s archive can be considered as a reliable resource and is timestamped correctly.

This article will outline the way that DW Spectrum® IPVMS manages its time synchronization to ensure accurate timestamps for your security recordings.

Supported/Affected Devices:

DW Blackjack® Server Series

How It Works

DW Spectrum® IPVMS follows the clock settings of the Operating System (OS) that the DW Spectrum Media Server is hosted on. In doing so, the software compares the OS time against that of an external UTC time server over the Internet. This ensures that DW Spectrum can self-correct and mitigate clock drift.

In the event that the Server loses Internet connection with the time server, the system will maintain the time offset between the OS time and the last connection with the time server until the Internet connection is restored and synchronization can resume.

Considering this, you may be wondering how DW Spectrum knows which server the system if you have merged multiple servers together into a single DW Spectrum System. By default, each server will synchronize the time value to the aforementioned external UTC time server, as if they were still acting as individual systems. However, if you want to set one of your DW Spectrum Servers as an NTP server due to having a closed network or for other purposes, you may certainly do so.

**NOTE: We recommend that you allow DW Spectrum to synchronize its time with the external UTC server unless otherwise necessary.

Selecting An NTP Server (Multi-Server)

To set a merged server to act as an NTP server:

Open the Main Menu and select System Administration.

Alternatively, use CTRL+ALT+A to prompt the System Administration menu.

Select the Time Synchronization tab.

From here, you may perform one of the following:

To synchronize the VMS time with the UTC time server (Internet), enable the Sync Time with the Internet toggle.

To synchronize the VMS time with the local time on a given server, disable the Sync Time with the Internet toggle, then select the desired server. VMS time will synchronize with the selected server’s OS time while DW Spectrum maintains the time offset from last connection with the UTC time server. The offset will display for the Server OS Time only, relative to the server OS time on the selected server.