Logs

Meridian VMS provides access to service logs through the web interface and via the command line. Logs are the primary tool for diagnosing recording failures, connectivity issues, and detection problems.

Web Interface

Logs are accessible from Settings > General > Logs in the web interface.

Service Selector

A dropdown at the top of the log viewer lets you select which service to view:

Service	systemd Unit	Description
Management Server	`meridian-management`	Management server logs — API requests, database operations, ONVIF events, alarm processing
MediaMTX	`meridian-mediamtx`	RTSP relay and WebRTC streaming logs — connection status, stream errors, codec negotiation
Recorder (per server)	`meridian-recorder`	Recording daemon logs — FFmpeg process management, segment completion, heartbeat, detection events

For multi-server deployments, each recording server appears as a separate entry in the dropdown. Remote recorder logs are proxied through the management API, so you can view logs from any recording server without SSH access.

Controls

Line count : Configure the number of log lines to display, from 100 to 5,000 lines. Higher line counts are useful for tracing issues that span longer time periods but may take longer to load for remote servers.

Auto-scroll : When enabled, the log viewer automatically scrolls to the bottom as new lines arrive. Disable auto-scroll when reviewing historical log entries to prevent the view from jumping.

Command Line

For direct access on the server, use journalctl with the appropriate systemd unit name:

Management Server

# Follow live logs
sudo journalctl -u meridian-management -f

# Last 200 lines
sudo journalctl -u meridian-management -n 200

# Logs since a specific time
sudo journalctl -u meridian-management --since "2026-04-03 10:00:00"

# Logs within a time range
sudo journalctl -u meridian-management --since "10:00" --until "11:00"

Recorder Daemon

sudo journalctl -u meridian-recorder -f
sudo journalctl -u meridian-recorder -n 200

MediaMTX

sudo journalctl -u meridian-mediamtx -f
sudo journalctl -u meridian-mediamtx -n 200

Key Log Identifiers

When searching through logs, these identifiers help locate relevant entries:

Identifier	Context
`camera_id`	UUID of the camera — appears in recording, detection, and streaming logs
`server_id`	UUID of the recording server — appears in heartbeat and registration logs
`segment`	Segment file path — appears when segments are started, completed, or indexed
`ffmpeg`	FFmpeg process events — spawn, exit, restart, error codes
`mediamtx`	MediaMTX stream events — RTSP connection, codec detection, reader/writer counts
`onvif`	ONVIF operations — discovery, event subscription, time sync
`detection`	AI detection events — inference results, zone filtering, event creation
`alarm`	Alarm lifecycle — trigger, escalation, acknowledgement, closure

Common Log Patterns

Healthy Camera Pipeline

INFO  Starting FFmpeg for camera {camera_id}
INFO  FFmpeg process started (PID: 12345)
INFO  Segment completed: /recordings/{server_id}/{camera_id}/2026/04/03/1430.mp4
INFO  Segment indexed: camera={camera_id} start=2026-04-03T14:30:00 end=2026-04-03T14:40:00

Camera Connection Failure

ERROR FFmpeg exited with code 1 for camera {camera_id}
WARN  Restarting FFmpeg for camera {camera_id} (attempt 2, backoff 10s)
ERROR FFmpeg exited with code 234 for camera {camera_id}: codec parameters not found

MediaMTX Stream Issue

WARN  [mediamtx] {camera_id}: no readers for 30s, closing source
ERROR [mediamtx] {camera_id}: TCP connection refused
INFO  [mediamtx] {camera_id}: source ready, 1 reader(s)