SAFR Genetec FaceRec Integration Guide
Integrated SAFR Genetec FaceRec is only available on Windows.
Integrating SAFR's facial recognition and analysis capabilities into Genetec enables you to use SAFR's video feed information overlays within Genetec camera video feeds, thus making it much easier to quickly and accurately separate unknown people from authorized people from known threats. You'll also have immediate access to additional infomation such as age, gender, sentiment, name, company, known associates, or any other configurable information you want to create.
Integrating the two systems also allows SAFR's information about individuals to trigger Genetec alerts and other actions within the Genetec system.
This page discusses how to install and configure SAFR and Genetec so that the two systems are properly integrated. The SAFR Genetec FaceRec Operation Guide discusses how to operate the integrated systems.
A typical deployment requires the following:
- A machine running Genetec Security Center.
- A machine running Genetec Security Desk and Genetec Config Tool.
- One or more machines running the SAFR Desktop Client to process videos.
- If you're doing a SAFR on-premises deployment, you'll also need a machine running SAFR Server. SAFR Server can run on the same machine as one of the Desktop Clients, provided the host machine meets the system requirements.
Cameras are connected to the Genetec Security Center. The SAFR Desktop Client(s) can then connect to the Genetec Security Center to perform analysis of the video and add overlays. Depending on the number of cameras you need, one or more machines may be required to run the SAFR Desktop Client, each processing multiple video feeds. The Desktop Client processes the video and returns information to Genetic to overlay the video feeds and generate events. The Desktop is also used to perform various management activities.
Genetec has the following system requirements:
- One machine running Genetec Security Center Version 5.7 or later.
- One machine running Genetec Security Desk and Genetec Config Tool.
- Each machine running a Genetec product must meet the following system requirements:
- Windows 10.
- Additional system requirements as described here.
- Genetec FaceReq plugin. Note: The installation of this plugin is performed when you install SAFR. See the Install and Configure SAFR section below for details.
SAFR has the following system requirements:
- One or more machines running Windows SAFR Desktop Client 1.3.228 or later.
- Each machine running the SAFR Desktop Client must meet the following requirements:
- Windows 10.
- Additional system requirements as described here.
- Local SAFR deployments require at least one machine running SAFR Platform 1.3 or later.
- Each machine running SAFR Server must meet the following requirements:
- Windows 10.
- Additional system requirements as described here.
An accompanying Genetec part number must be added to your Genetec connection license. Do the following to discover and add the Genetec part number:
- Go to the Genetec Portal and sign in using your Genetec credentials.
- In the applications section, search for SAFR. From the results, click SAFR Facial Recognition.
- On the SAFR Facial Recognition Solution Details page, in the right column, the Genetec Part Number is displayed.
- Contact Genetec and have them add the part number to your license. You need a quantity of the part number equal to the number of cameras SAFR will be processing plus one additional license for the metadata channel SAFR creates. In other words, if SAFR will be processing cameras, then you need quantity of the part number added to your license.
You'll need the following licenses: each Genetec camera where SAFR face detection and recognition is used, you'll need:
- A Genetec connection license with the accompanying Genetec part number is required for each connected Genetec camera.
- One additional Genetec connection license for the metadata channel SAFR creates.
- A SAFR license for each camera is required.
For example, if you have 300 cameras but only need face detection on 30 cameras at a time, then you would obtain a 31 connection license from Genetec and a 30 camera license from RealNetworks. Having a 31 connection Genetec license does not mean you are limited to face detection on a fixed set of 30 cameras. At any time, you can choose to connect the SAFR Desktop Client to a different camera. You may have cameras in your parking garage that you were not previously monitoring with SAFR recognition. You can use a few of your licenses that are connected to other cameras to connect to garage cameras instead.
- Download the latest version of Genetec Security Center from the Genetec Portal.
- Run the installer. For details about which install options to select, see the Security Center Installation and Upgrade Guide.
- Download and install the latest Genetec SDK package.
To create a user with the permissions that SAFR will require:
Open the Genetec Config Tool.
Click Tasks > User Management.
Create a new user (with a username of, for example, SAFR) with the following permissions:
All privileges
Administrative privileges
Access control management
- View cardholder group properties
- View cardholder properties
- View visitor properties
System management
Action Privileges
In order to create Event-to-Actions in the Genetec Config Tool, one or more of the following Action permissions must also be added to the SAFR user created in the previous section. Only those actions you want to trigger with SAFR events are needed:
All privileges
- Action privileges
- Set threat level
- Cameras
- Protect video from deletion
- Save/modify/print snapshots
- Access control
- Doors
- Explicitly unlock doors
- Override unlock schedules
- Elevators
- Override elevator schedules
- Alarms
- Users
- Send a message
- Send an email
- Send/clear task
- Macros
- Zones
- Areas
Do the following:
- Open the Genetec Config Tool.
- Open Tasks > Administration > Access Control > General Settings.
- Set Maximum Picture File Size to 128k or larger.
Do the following:
- Open the Genetec Config Tool.
- Open Tasks > Administration > Video.
- Click the arrow next to the Video Unit button in the bottom left corner, and select Media Gateway.
- Click Next, and in the Create Media Gateway wizard, click Create. Accept the default values; no changes are needed.
- Select Media Gateway, and click the Properties task.
- This adds a Media Gateway entry in the list on left side.
- Determine the user to be granted access to the media gateway.
- This can be the SAFR user or a different user; we recommend using the same SAFR user unless you already have one configured to use the Media Gateway.
- This user does not need to have specific permissions. The permissions for media gateway are granted to this user in the next step.
- To add this user to the Accessible To section, click the + icon. In the bottom right, click Apply to save the changes.
- When prompted, enter a password for the user you are adding.
- This password can be the same as the user's normal password or it can be different.
- Save the username and password.
- This is the password that must be used in the Media Gateway credentials fields in the SAFR preferences window.
Click Add an entry, choose Plugin, then choose FaceRec.
Click Next, Next, then Create to create the new unit.
Select FaceRec entity, click Add an entry, then choose FaceRec Unit.
- Enter "safr" as the same and click Save.
- Select Properties.
- Set the following features to OFF:
- Face recognition: Enable subject overlay
- Hitlists: Enable hitlists matched overlay
- Face detection: Enable overlay
Select safr unit.
- Select Properties.
- In the API dialog area click the + button to add a new API Key entry.
- Name it "safr" and make a note of the API Key value. (The value is only available once.) Note: API Key is used later when configuring the SAFR Desktop Client.
- Click Apply.
Select Cameras.
- Click the + button and add all relevant cameras which require face recognition.
- On the machine(s) where you plan to install the SAFR Desktop Client, install the Genetec SDK from the Genetec Portal.
- Go to the SAFR Download Portal.
- If you're doing a cloud deployment, download and install Windows SAFR Desktop. Make sure to select the Genetec Security Center with FaceRec install option.
- If you're doing a local deployment, download and install Windows SAFR Platform. Make sure to select the Genetec Security Center with FaceRec install option.
When installing the SAFR Platform, the default SAFR port assignments sometimes conflict with other software port assignments. If a port conflict occurs, the error message shown below will pop up in the middle of your installation.
If this happens, do the following:
- Click OK to edit port configurations.
- Notepad will open, displaying the safrports.conf file.
- Edit any conflicting ports to new values. (e.g. CoviHTTP=18080)
- Save and exit Notepad.
The Platform installer will then restart and the new port values will be used. You can find the modified safrports.conf file at C:\Program Files\RealNetworks\SAFR\
.
- After the installation finishes, a message will appear saying where you can locate the Genetec FaceReq plugin installer on your machine. Make a note of the installer location.
- Immediately following installation, the installer opens the Desktop Client and prompts you to log in with your SAFR Account credentials. Make sure to log in; it's important in acquiring the SAFR license.
- Go to the location specified in Step #5. Copy the installer (FaceRecSetup621.exe) to every machine running Genetec Security Center, and then run the installer on each of those machines.
Two icons will have appeared on your desktop: one labeled "SAFRActions" and another labeled "SAFR". SAFRActions launches SAFR Actions, while SAFR launches the Desktop Client. If you did a local deployment, SAFR Server will be automatically running as a collection of background services.
- Within your SAFR Desktop Client, select Tools->Preferences->Genetec.
Note: If the Genetec preference tab is not showing, it means that the Genetec SDK was not properly installed on your machine.
- Enter the following information in the Genetec preferences tab.
- Username: Enter the SAFR user you created earlier.
- Password: Enter the Password you created for the SAFR user.
- Directory: IP address of the server running the Genetec Security Center server.
- Media Gateway: Used for acquiring video streams.
- Username: Enter the SAFR user you created earlier.
- Password: Enter the Password you created for the SAFR user.
- Port: Enter the port on which to connect to the Media Gateway. You can use the default value of
654
unless that would create a port conflict.
This should cause your SAFR system to establish a connection with the Genetec system.
To verify that your SAFR system successfully connected to the Genetec system, do the following:
- On the SAFR Desktop Client, open Tools -> Preferences -> Camera.
- Cameras connected to Genetec system should be visible.
- All cameras connected to Genetec have the Genetec prefix in their names.
How do I Resolve a Certificate Registration Error when Logging in from SAFR to Genetec?
This error is caused by a mismatch between the SAFR Genetec certificate and the Genetec Security Center license. SAFR builds have either a Genetec production certificate or a development certificate. The production certificate can be used only with Security Center installations that use a production or demonstration license. The development certificate can be used only with Security Center installations that use a development license.
Here are some steps you can take to try to diagnose the issue:
- Use the Genetec Config Tool to connect to the Genetec Security Center server.
- Click About on the left side.
- Click the Certificates tab.
- If you see a line that says, "Generic certificate for developers" then the Security Center server is using a developer license. You must use a SAFR build that uses a developer certificate. Builds with developer certificate are available only from SAFR build farm and should be used only by developers.
- If that line is not present, then Security Center is using a production or demonstration license. You must use a SAFR build that uses a production certificate. Download SAFR build with production certificate from the SAFR Download Portal.
- Click on the Purchase Order tab. Production or demonstration licenses must also have a license for SAFR attached to it. There should be a line with
Part #GSC-1SDK-RealN- FaceRec
. The quantity must be equal to or greater than the number of cameras that SAFR will be processing.
How do I Resolve a Connection Error when Logging in from SAFR to Genetec?
There can be many different causes for a Connection Timeout error from SAFR. However, if you are in a situation where this consistently happens and no cameras are connecting, then doing the following will most likely resolve the error:
- Connect to the Security Center server using the Genetec Config Tool.
- Go to the Video task.
- In the left pane, right-click on the Media Gateway role.
- Select the Maintenance->Deactivate role.
- After the role turns gray, right-click on it again.
- Select the Maintenance->Activate role.
- The Media Gateway will go through a startup routine. It will turn red, yellow, and eventually white.
- After it turns white, try connecting again.