I GAVE UP TRYING TO GET THIS TO WORK RELIABLY!
zoneminder runs as a systemd server, so can be stopped, started and restarted using systemctl.
Installation was tricky. I had already installed ZoneMinder 1.32 several years ago, but it no longer worked (error 500 wen trying to view the home page).
I tried purging the installation and re-installing from the latest Ubuntu:
apt purge zoneminder
apt autoremove
apt update
apt install zoneminder
but this had the same (error 500) problem.
I tried installing from Isaac Connor's repository as recommended on the ZoneMinder download page:
add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.36
apt update
apt install zoneminder
but the installation failed with dependency conflicts. So I removed the repository and various other files found using 'locate':
add-apt-repository -r ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.3
rm /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/iconnor-ubuntu-zoneminder-1_36.gpg
rm /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/iconnor-ubuntu-zoneminder-1_36.gpg~
rm -rf /var/cache/zoneminder/
The /var/cache directory dated from the original installation in 2019, so I suppose it may have caused problems with later attempts at installation.
I tried downloading the Ubuntu 22-04 package from the Zoneminder download page and installing that:
dpkg -i ~fog/Downloads/zoneminder_1.36.35~20241022.27-jammy_amd64.deb
This produced a long list of unmet dependencies, which I couldn't install because of dependency conflicts.
Attempted major cleanup:
apt --fix-broken install
apt purge zoneminder
apt autoremove
mysqladmin --defaults-file=/etc/mysql/debian.cnf -f drop zm
rm -rf /var/log/zm/
apt purge zoneminder-doc
rm -rf /usr/share/doc/zoneminder
rm /var/lib/doc-base/documents/zoneminder-doc
rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/zoneminder-doc.list
rm -rf /home/fog/.config/zmninjapro
rmdir /var/tmp/zm
rm -rf /www/zm
Tried installing the Ubuntu package again:
apt update
apt install zoneminder
a2enconf zoneminder
systemctl reload apache2
but still got error 500.
I decided to investigate the error 500 instead ot trying alternative installation sources. The PHP error log contained:
WARNING: ZoneMinder configuration file found but is not readable. Check file permissions on /etc/zm/zm.conf
The permissions were -rw-r----- and it was owned by 'root', so the web server couldn't read it. I changed the permissions to -rw-r--r-- and tried again. Now get:
ZoneMinder Error
Unable to connect to ZM db using dsn mysql:host=localhost;dbname=zm
SQLSTATE[HY000] [1049] Unknown database 'zm'
Found the following in the ZoneMinder forum:
mysql mysql < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql
mysqladmin reload
mysql mysql
grant select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';
\q
to create the zm database.
Success at last!
Following guidance from ZoneMinder's Getting Started.
Set Options->System->TIMEZONE to Europe:London.
Probably don't need this since I'm not planning to expose sage's website to the internet, but set ut up anyway.
Enabled Options->System->OPT_USE_AUTH.
Set Options->System->AUTH_HASH_SECRET. Had to login as user admin password admin afterwards.
Used Options->Users->admin to change the admin password, set the language to en_gb.
Clicked ADD button, and setup as:
General:
Name: Foscam
Source type: Ffmpeg
Function: Modect
Source:
Source Path: rtsp://<user>:<password>@192.168.183.12:554/videoMain
Capture Resolution: 1280x720 720p (selected from drop-down list)
ONVIF (don't whether setting this actually did anything!)
ONVIF_URL: 192.168.183.12:888
Username: macsof
Password: ********
Enabled OPT_USE_EVENTNOTIFICATION to enable the Event Notification Server.
Disabled SYSTEM_SHUTDOWN - don't a ZM admin user to shut down sage.
Enabled OPT_EMAIL to get emails sent for events.
Entered MESSAGE_ADDRESS: zoneminder@tinhaze.co.uk
Entered EMAIL_HOST: granite.wingpath.co.uk
Entered FROM_EMAIL: zoneminder@sage.wingpath.co.uk
Entered URL: https://sage.wingpath.co.uk/zm
Logging can be configured under Options->Logging.
Errors appear to be sent to /var/log/syslog.
Other logging goes to files in /var/log/zm/.
Created file /etc/zm/conf.d/10-fog.conf'containing:
ZM_PATH_ZMS=/zm/cgi-bin/zms
to fix stupid setting of /zm/cgi-bin/zms in /etc/zm/conf.d/01-system-paths.conf.
Not surpisingly, zms hadn't been running!
I have downloaded the user manual.
I can't login to the Foscam web interface (I think it needs ActiveX, which isn't supported by browsers now).
However, it has a "cgi-bin" interface, which allows getting and setting of configuration options using URL parameters.
For example, the following gets the contrast, brightness, etc:
http://192.168.183.12:88/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?usr=macsof&pwd=knarf1&cmd=getImageSetting
resulting in:
<CGI_Result>
<result>0</result>
<brightness>60</brightness>
<contrast>48</contrast>
<hue>50</hue>
<saturation>56</saturation>
<sharpness>48</sharpness>
<denoiseLevel>50</denoiseLevel>
</CGI_Result>Used getInfraLedConfig to check that IR LEDs are controlled automatically.
Used setPwrFreq&freq=0 to ensure that power frequency is set to 50Hz. I couldn't find a way to check the power frequency.