Quick Start

This guide takes you from a fresh Meridian VMS installation to live camera streams. By the end, you will have a location hierarchy, a registered recording server, and cameras streaming video.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes you have completed Installation and First Login. All services should be running and you should be logged into the web interface.

Step 1: Create a Location Hierarchy

Meridian VMS organizes cameras in a four-level location hierarchy:

Region
  └── City
        └── Area
              └── Site

Cameras and recording servers are assigned to site nodes only. The hierarchy above sites is for organizational grouping and filtering.

Add your first locations

1. Navigate to Settings in the sidebar.
2. Under the Locations section, click Add Location.
3. Create a top-level Region (e.g., “Head Office Region”).
4. Select the region and add a City underneath it (e.g., “Johannesburg”).
5. Select the city and add an Area (e.g., “Sandton”).
6. Select the area and add a Site (e.g., “Main Building”).

Tip

You can create as many levels as needed to match your organization. For a single-site deployment, you still need at least one node at each level (region, city, area, site) since cameras attach to sites.

Step 2: Register a Recording Server

A recording server handles video ingestion and storage. Each recording server must be registered with the management server.

If you installed the recording server on the same machine as the management server using the installer, it is already registered and will appear in Settings > Servers. Skip to Step 3.

For additional recording servers:

1. Run the installer on the new server and select Recording Server during setup.
2. Enter the management server URL when prompted.
3. The server registers automatically and appears in Settings > Servers.

Once registered, verify the server shows as Online in the settings panel.

Caution

The recorder daemon will not start ingesting cameras until it successfully registers with the management server and receives its camera assignments. Check the logs if the server remains offline:

sudo journalctl -u meridian-recorder -f

Step 3: Add Cameras

You can add cameras using ONVIF autodiscovery or manual configuration.

Option A: ONVIF Autodiscovery

1. Navigate to Settings in the sidebar.
2. Under Cameras, click Discover Cameras or ONVIF Discovery.
3. The system will scan the network for ONVIF-compatible cameras.
4. Select the cameras you want to add from the discovered list.
5. Enter credentials if prompted (camera username and password).
6. Assign each camera to a Site and a Recording Server.
7. Click Add Selected Cameras.

Option B: Manual Configuration

1. Navigate to Settings in the sidebar.
2. Under Cameras, click Add Camera.
3. Enter the camera details:
   • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., “Front Entrance”)
   • RTSP URL: The camera’s RTSP stream address (e.g., rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/stream1)
   • Site: The site this camera belongs to
   • Recording Server: The server that will record this camera
4. Optionally provide ONVIF credentials for additional features (PTZ, events).
5. Save the camera.

Finding the RTSP URL

Most IP cameras provide their RTSP URL in their web interface or documentation. Common formats include:

• Uniview: rtsp://user:pass@ip:554/media/video1
• Hikvision: rtsp://user:pass@ip:554/Streaming/Channels/101
• Dahua: rtsp://user:pass@ip:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

Step 4: Verify Live View

Once cameras are added and assigned to a recording server, the recorder daemon will automatically begin streaming.

1. Navigate to Live View in the sidebar.
2. Use the location tree on the left to find your site.
3. Select a camera or site to view live streams.
4. You should see live video within a few seconds.

The camera status indicator will show:

• Recording — Camera is streaming and segments are being saved
• Online — Camera is reachable but not yet recording
• Offline — Camera is not reachable
• Error — An error occurred (check recorder logs)

Step 5: Verify Recording

After a camera has been streaming for at least 10 minutes (one full segment), verify that recordings are being stored.

1. Navigate to Playback in the sidebar.
2. Select a camera from the location tree.
3. The timeline should show recorded segments as filled bars.
4. Click on a time range to begin playback.

Note

Segments are 10 minutes long by default. The first segment will only appear on the timeline after the initial recording period completes. You can check the recorder logs to confirm segmentation is working:

sudo journalctl -u meridian-recorder -f | grep segment

Step 6: Verify System Health

Check the Dashboard for an overview of system health:

1. Navigate to Dashboard in the sidebar.
2. Review the summary statistics:
   • Total cameras and their online/offline status
   • Recording server health
   • Storage usage
3. Address any cameras or servers showing errors.

What to Do Next

With cameras streaming and recording, you can explore additional features:

• Events — View detected events and filter by camera, type, or time range
• AI Detection — Configure object detection zones and class filters (requires a supported hardware accelerator on the recording server)
• Heatmap — Visualize activity patterns across cameras over time
• Alarms — Set up alarm rules with standard operating procedures
• Views — Create saved camera grid layouts for monitoring

Common Issues

Camera shows “Offline” after adding

• Verify the RTSP URL is correct by testing with VLC: vlc rtsp://user:pass@camera-ip:554/stream
• Check that the recording server can reach the camera on the network
• Verify camera credentials are correct

Live view shows black screen

• Check the MediaMTX service is running: sudo systemctl status meridian-mediamtx
• Verify the RTSP port (8554) is not blocked
• Check the recorder logs for errors: sudo journalctl -u meridian-recorder -f

No recordings appearing on timeline

• Wait at least 10 minutes for the first segment to complete
• Verify the recordings directory has correct permissions
• Check that the recorder is sending segment metadata to the management server