Guardian
Installation Guide

1Before you start

1.1 How Guardian fits on a site

Guardian reads the video from the site's own cameras, directly or through its video management system, and runs on a server on site. Operators use it in a web browser.

1.2 The server

Guardian is installed on Alphalogix Guardian hardware. Every model has NVIDIA graphics, a drive for Ubuntu and a separate drive for recordings.

Note: how many cameras a server watches depends on the cameras' resolution and frame rate. Alphalogix confirms it for your project.

Note: the recordings drive must be empty. The installer finds it by itself and prepares it. If it has old partitions on it, clear them first.

1.3 Cameras

Any fixed camera with an ONVIF or RTSP video stream, in H.264 or H.265. You add them in the Guardian portal once it is installed.

1.4 The site's network

The site's own firewall stays under the site's control. Guardian needs:

1.5 You will need

• A USB stick of at least 8 GB, and a keyboard and screen for the server.
• An IP address for the server on the site network. It becomes Guardian's address.
• Your Guardian licence file, for after the install.

2Install Ubuntu

Guardian runs on Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS. Do not install the desktop edition or a newer version.

2.1 G100 and G200: set up the RAID first

In the server's RAID set-up (iDRAC), create two virtual disks, and do not format them:

• RAID 1 across the two M.2 SSDs. Ubuntu goes here.
• RAID 10 across the hard drives. Guardian keeps its recordings here.

The ZOTAC ZBOX has no RAID: skip this step.

2.2 Make the USB installer

1. Download Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Server from releases.ubuntu.com/22.04.
2. Write it to the USB stick with balenaEtcher (or Rufus).

2.3 Install

1. Start the server from the USB stick and choose Try or Install Ubuntu Server.
2. Choose English, then Continue without updating.
3. Keyboard: English (US), or your own.
4. Type of installation: Ubuntu Server.

5. Network: on the first network port, choose Edit IPv4 → Manual and enter the server's address. This is the address you will open Guardian on.

6. Proxy: leave empty. Mirror: Done.
7. Storage: choose Use an entire disk and pick the smaller drive (on a G100 or G200, the RAID 1 disk). Leave the recordings drive alone: Guardian prepares it.

8. Your name, the server's name, a username and a password. Write them down.
9. Ubuntu Pro: Skip for now.
10. SSH: tick Install OpenSSH server.
11. Featured snaps: tick nothing.
12. When it finishes, Reboot Now, and remove the USB stick.
13. Sign in at the server's screen with the username and password you chose.

3Install the NVIDIA driver

Type each command at the server and press Enter. The first sudo asks for your password.

wget https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu2204/x86_64/cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y nvidia-driver-580 nvidia-utils-580

sudo reboot

After the restart, sign in again and check. It shows the graphics card and driver 580:

nvidia-smi

4Install Docker

Docker, Docker Compose and the NVIDIA container toolkit.

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --batch --yes --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

curl -fsSL https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/gpgkey | sudo gpg --batch --yes --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg

curl -fsSL https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/stable/deb/nvidia-container-toolkit.list | sed 's#deb https://#deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg] https://#g' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-container-toolkit.list

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin nvidia-container-toolkit

sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker

sudo systemctl restart docker

No internet at the site? Skip sections 3 and 4. The Guardian installer carries the driver and Docker, and installs them itself.

5Install Guardian

Each server gets one installer, for the kind of node it is. Install the Operations node first. Every site has one; Recognition and Sage nodes are added to it.

No internet at the site? Download the installer from the Downloads list on another computer, copy it to a USB stick, and copy it onto the server.

5.1 Operations node

wget -O guardian-operations.run https://dl.alphalogix.com.au/guardian/operations.run

sudo bash guardian-operations.run

5.2 Recognition node

wget -O guardian-recognition.run https://dl.alphalogix.com.au/guardian/recognition.run

sudo bash guardian-recognition.run

5.3 Sage node

wget -O guardian-sage.run https://dl.alphalogix.com.au/guardian/sage.run

sudo bash guardian-sage.run

That is the whole installation. It checks the server, prepares the recordings drive, and installs and starts Guardian. If it needs to restart the server, it carries on by itself afterwards. On the Operations node it finishes with:

6Sign in to Guardian

1. On a computer on the site network, open the address the installer showed, for example https://10.1.1.20. The browser warns the connection is not private: continue to the site.
2. Sign in with the email and password the installer showed, then choose your own password.
3. Everything else is set up in Guardian:
   • Settings → Users: create an account for each person.
   • Settings → Licence: add your licence file.
   • Settings → Cameras: add your cameras (ONVIF or RTSP).

7Add Recognition and Sage nodes

A Recognition or Sage node has no portal of its own. When its installer finishes, it says so and waits on the network. Add it from the Operations node:

1. In Guardian on the Operations node, open Settings → Nodes and press Add a node.
2. Guardian finds the new node on the network. Choose it and confirm.
3. It joins the site and appears under Settings → Nodes.

Note: the new node must be on the same network as the Operations node.

If something goes wrong

The installer says on screen what stopped it. Run it again once that is fixed: it carries on from where it stopped. Otherwise, raise a ticket or call the helpdesk and send the file /var/log/guardian-install.log.