SAFR Genetec Integration Guide

Integrated SAFR Genetec 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.

Note: SAFR has the native capability to detect age, gender, and sentiment, while other information needs to be manually entered by an operator.

Integrating the two systems also allows SAFR's information about individuals to trigger Genetec alerts and other actions within the Genetec system. Genetec's metadata within bookmarks are enriched with SAFR's additional information, allowing you to more easily find relevant bookmarks.

This page discusses how to install and configure SAFR and Genetec so that the two systems are properly integrated. The SAFR Genetec Operation Guide discusses how to operate the integrated systems.

Integration Overview and Requirements

A typical deployment requires the following:

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.

System Requirements

Genetec has the following system requirements:

SAFR has the following system requirements:

Licensing and the Genetec Part Number

An accompanying Genetec part number must be added to your Genetec connection license. Do the following to discover and add the Genetec part number:

  1. Go to the Genetec Portal and sign in using your Genetec credentials.
  2. In the applications section, search for SAFR. From the results, click SAFR Facial Recognition.
  3. On the SAFR Facial Recognition Solution Details page, in the right column, the Genetec Part Number is displayed.
  4. 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:

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.

Install and Configure the Genetec Security Center

  1. Download the latest version of Genetec Security Center from the Genetec Portal.
  2. Run the installer. For details about which install options to select, see the Security Center Installation and Upgrade Guide.

Create a SAFR User

To create a user with the permissions that SAFR will require, do the following:

  1. Open the Genetec Config Tool.

  2. Click Tasks > User Management.

  3. Create a new user (with a username of, for example, SAFR) with the following permissions:

    All privileges

    • Application privileges
      • Log on using the SDK

    Administrative privileges

    • Physical entities
      • View camera properties

    Access control management

    • View cardholder group properties
    • View cardholder properties
    • View visitor properties

    System management

    • View general settings
      • Modify custom events

    Action Privileges

    • Cameras
      • View live video
      • Add bookmarks

Add Permissions for Event-to-Archive Actions

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

Set Minimum Cardholder Image Size

Do the following:

  1. Open the Genetec Config Tool.
  2. Open Tasks > Administration > Access Control > General Settings.
  3. Set Maximum Picture File Size to 128k or larger.

Configure the Media Gateway

Do the following:

  1. Open the Genetec Config Tool.
  2. Open Tasks > Administration > Video.
  3. Click the arrow next to the Video Unit button in the bottom left corner, and select Media Gateway.
  4. Click Next, and in the Create Media Gateway wizard, click Create. Accept the default values; no changes are needed.
  5. Select Media Gateway, and click the Properties task.
    • This adds a Media Gateway entry in the list on left side.
  6. 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.
  7. To add this user to the Accessible To section, click the + icon. In the bottom right, click Apply to save the changes.
  8. 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.
  9. Save the username and password.
    • This is the password that must be used in the Media Gateway credentials fields in the SAFR preferences window.

Install and Configure SAFR

  1. On the machine(s) where you plan to install the SAFR Desktop Client, install the Genetec SDK from the Genetec Portal.
  2. Go to the SAFR Download Portal.
  3. If you're doing a cloud deployment, download and install Windows SAFR Desktop. Make sure to select the Genetec Security Center install option.
  4. If you're doing an on-premises deployment, download and install Windows SAFR Platform. Make sure to select the Genetec Security Center 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:
      1. Click OK to edit port configurations.
      2. Notepad will open, displaying the safrports.conf file.
      3. Edit any conflicting ports to new values. (e.g. CoviHTTP=18080)
      4. 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, two icons will appear on your desktop: one labeled SAFRActions and another labeled SAFR. SAFRActions launches SAFR Actions, while SAFR launches the Desktop Client. The SAFR Server (when installed as part of a local deployment) automatically runs as a collection of background services.

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.

Connect SAFR to Genetec

  1. 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.

  2. 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:

  1. On the SAFR Desktop Client, open Tools -> Preferences -> Camera.
  2. Cameras connected to Genetec system should be visible.
  3. All cameras connected to Genetec have the Genetec prefix in their names.

Troubleshooting

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:

  1. Use the Genetec Config Tool to connect to the Genetec Security Center server.
  2. Click About on the left side.
  3. Click the Certificates tab.
  4. 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.
  5. 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:

  1. Connect to the Security Center server using the Genetec Config Tool.
  2. Go to the Video task.
  3. In the left pane, right-click on the Media Gateway role.
  4. Select the Maintenance->Deactivate role.
  5. After the role turns gray, right-click on it again.
  6. Select the Maintenance->Activate role.
  7. The Media Gateway will go through a startup routine. It will turn red, yellow, and eventually white.
  8. After it turns white, try connecting again.

See Also