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CVEDIA-RT Plugin for Milestone XProtect - Setup Guide

This guide is designed for technical users responsible for installing, updating, and maintaining the CVEDIA-RT Plugin integration with Milestone XProtect systems.

The integration of CVEDIA-RT with Milestone XProtect is facilitated through the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Pugin and the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service.

The CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin extends both the XProtect Management Client and Smart Client interfaces. It is installed via a lightweight, dedicated installer and should be deployed on any workstation where users need to:

  • Manage licenses
  • Configure analytics settings
  • Access the Smart Events filter for forensic search

This plugin enables interaction with CVEDIA-RT's AI analytics directly from the familiar Milestone XProtect interface.

The CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service is responsible for communication between the Milestone XProtect system and the CVEDIA-RT Servers, that perform the actual AI inference tasks. This service should be installed on the Milestone XProtect Management Server.

Note

The CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin and Connector Service should be installed only on a single Management Server. Multiple installations on different Management Servers within the same Milestone XProtect environment are not yet supported.

Arcihtecture Overview

The CVEDIA-RT Plugin for Milestone XProtect operates by connecting the Milestone VMS to one or more CVEDIA-RT Servers that handle AI inference.

Architecture

Requirements

CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin

  • Appropriate CVEDIA licensing

Milestone XProtect

  • XProtect Professional+, XProtect Expert, and XProtect Corporate version 2023 R2 or newer.
  • All available patches installed.

Important

The CVEDIA-RT plugin utilizes one XProtect device license. This license is allocated for a Metadata Device that is created to stream bounding box data generated by the analytics.

Supported Decoders

  • "video/h264" for H264 streams
  • "video/hevc" for H265/HEVC streams

Initial Setup Requirements

CVEDIA-RT plugin is compatible with XProtect Professional+, XProtect Expert, and XProtect Corporate version 2023 R2 or newer.

Before proceeding to further steps, please make sure you have a compatible version and license of XProtect software installed on your machine.

Notes

Please check https://www.milestonesys.com/products/software/xprotect-comparison/ to learn more about the different variants of Milestone software.

Create a Dedicated User

CVEDIA-RT AI Analytics integration requires a dedicated administration user account in Milestone XProtect VMS to communicate with CVEDIA analytics engine and to automate the configuration of the system.

  1. On the target system, open the XProtect Management Client and sign in with administrator credentials. In the tree view on the left, choose Security > Basic Users and right-click on the Basic User view to bring up the context menu. Create basic user

  2. Choose Create Basic User and specify the user name and password.

    Make sure the "Force Basic User to change password" checkbox is NOT checked.

  3. Navigate to Security > Roles in the tree view on the left and select "Administrators" role. Press the "Users and Groups" button to view assigned users:

  4. Press "Add" to select the previously created user and assign them to the Administrator role.

    Once you complete these steps, you can proceed to install the CVEDIA-RT AI Analytics Plugin.

Installation and Activation

Components Overview

The CVEDIA-RT integration for Milestone XProtect consists of three primary components:

CVEDIA-RT Plugin for XProtect

A lightweight plugin that extends both the Management Client and Smart Client interfaces.

CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service

A background service that manages communication between Milestone XProtect and the CVEDIA-RT Servers.

CVEDIA-RT Servers

The core AI engine responsible for real-time video analytics.

CVEDIA-RT Servers can be deployed on any compatible device within the same local area network (LAN).

For testing or small-scale deployments, you can also install CVEDIA-RT Server, and all the other components on the same machine as the Milestone XProtect Management Server, assuming the hardware meets the necessary requirements.

Deployment options:

  • CVEDIA AI Appliances — Pre-configured hardware with drivers, licenses, and CVEDIA-RT Server ready to use. Recommended for most deployments. See the AI Appliance documentation.
  • CVEDIA-RT Server on Windows or Linux — Install on your own hardware for custom deployments or integration with existing infrastructure. Choose one of the following install guides based on the requirements:

Installation

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that you have one or more CVEDIA-RT Servers set up and running on your network.

You will be able to manage the licenses on the CVEDIA-RT Servers using the XProtect Management Client after completing the installation of the CVEDIA-RT Plugin.

  1. Create an admin user

    As described in the Initial Setup Requirements.

  2. Download the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Installer

    The installer can be found at https://rt.cvedia.com/Milestone.

    For simplicity, we recommend installing the Connector directly on the Milestone XProtect Management Server. This ensures that the Connector Service will be able to communicate with the Management Server and with the Recording Servers without network restrictions.

    If you choose to install the Connector on a different machine, ensure that it has network access to both the Milestone XProtect Management Server and the CVEDIA-RT Servers. Please check the troubleshooting section in case of connectivity issues.

  3. Run the Installer

    Double-click the downloaded installer file to launch the installation wizard.

    Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

    When requested, provide the credentials for the dedicated Milestone XProtect user you created earlier.

    • Use the Admin User created in the setup phase.

    • Input the Address of the Milestone Management Server. You can specify the IP address or the Milestone Server Address, but it's preferred to use the server address.

      Note

      The Address of the Milestone Management Server can be found in Milestone Management Server -> Milestone Server Configurator -> Registering Servers Tab

  4. Configuration Validation

    The installer will confirm that the credentials are valid and that the CVEDIA-RT Xprotect Connector service has started successfully.

    If the authentication fails, please step back to the previous screen, verify the provided credentials and ensure that the user has administrator privileges, and try again.

  5. Additional workstations (optional)

    If you have additional workstations where the XProtect Management Client or Smart Client is used, you should install the CVEDIA-RT Plugin using the "Installer for XProtect Clients" from https://rt.cvedia.com/Milestone.

License Management

You can activate and deactivate new CVEDIA-RT licenses from within the XProtect Management Client by navigating to the MIP Plug-ins / CVEDIA-RT Plugin page.

The operation of activating a new license key may require a few seconds. You can refresh the XProtect Management Client page by pressing F5 to check if the changes have been applied.

If you didn't choose to activate a trial license during installation, you can also do this here by clicking on the Activate Trial License button.

Notes

CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector service needs to be running for license management to work correctly. You can check if the service is running via the Windows Services application.

License Status Panel

You can check the licensing status from within the XProtect Smart Client by navigating to the Camera / Pressing the CVEDIA logo in the top right corner.


  • No License Found - The panel shows Status: No license keys found, indicating that no valid license has been added to the system. As a result, Analytics can still be configured but remain inactive until a valid license is added.
  • License Active and Within Limits - The panel shows Status: OK, confirming that the configured Analytics are within the existing license limits.
  • License Exceeded - The panel shows Status: Too many streams, indicating that the number of configured Analytics has exceeded the maximum allowed by the license(s).

CVEDIA-RT Server Connection, Naming and Scalability

When the analytics are enabled for a camera, the plugin uses the appliance name to route the inference requests to the appropriate CVEDIA-RT Server, based on the selected namespace.

If you have multiple CVEDIA-RT Servers with different names, you can choose various multiple namespaces to assign the inference workload to a specific group of servers.

Each CVEDIA-RT Server is assigned the default name.

CVEDIA-RT Servers can be given specific names to create separate namespaces for different analytic roles or functions. This is particularly useful in cases where different license types or performance levels are required for various tasks.

When multiple CVEDIA-RT Servers share the same name, the CVEDIA-RT Connector:

  • Automatically discovers all servers with that name on the network
  • Distributes inference workloads across the entire group
  • Routes requests based on available licenses across devices
  • Migrates the workload to a different server if one becomes unavailable
  • Immediately includes a newly added server without configuration changes

IP Override

There could be scenarios where you may want to bypass the server name resolution and directly assign the inference for a camera stream to a specific server. This is where the IP override feature comes into play.

This feature may be useful when the CVEDIA-RT Server is not discoverable in the local network, or when you want to ensure that a specific server is used for inference regardless of the server's namespace.

To configure an IP override:

  1. In the Analytics tab, navigate to Global Settings and enable Expert Mode

  2. Once Expert Mode is enabled, the Expert tab will appear. Here you can specify an IP address to bypass server name resolution and directly assign the inference instance to a specific server.

Analytics Status Identifier

Once Analytics is configured and properly licensed, the Analytics Status Indicator will display whether it was set up successfully [✓] or otherwise [x]. If Analytics is not configured, no status will be shown.

User Access Management

This feature allows administrators to control who can view or modify analytics settings by assigning permissions through Milestone XProtect Management Client roles. This ensures per-user access control, helping maintain system integrity and compliance with organizational policies.

To manage user access to CVEDIA-RT Plugin analytics settings, follow these steps:

  1. Milestone XProtect Management Client -> Roles -> Security-Roles Settings -> CVEDIA-RT Plugin tab

  2. Milestone XProtect Management Client -> Roles -> Overall Security -> CVEDIA-RT Plugin

    Important

    Managing access through the Overall Security is only available in the Corporate version of Milestone XProtect.


    Users who do not have permission to view the CVEDIA-RT Plugin analytics setup will encounter the following pop-up when attempting to open it.


    Users who have permission to View the plugin analytics setup, but not to Edit it, will see the window in read-only mode. No options to modify or save changes will be available.

Advanced Configuration

This section provides details about advanced configuration options designed for XProtect system administrators. While these settings are not necessary if the installation and initial configuration have been successfully completed, they can be useful for addressing specific or specialized use cases.

User Credentials

If you need the integration to use a different XProtect user, you can update the credentials directly through the command line without editing any configuration files.

Follow these steps:

  • Stop the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector service:

    Ensure the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector service is stopped via the Windows Services application before proceeding.

  • Open an Administrative Command Prompt:

    • Navigate to the folder where the integration is installed:

    C:\ProgramData\CVEDIA\CVEDIA-RT-XProtect-Plugin\Server\files\MilestoneController

    • Open a command prompt session with administrative privileges in this directory.

  • Update the Credentials:

    Use the following command format to update the credentials:

    .\RTController.exe -c -u <username> -p <password> -a <method> -s -m <server_uri> -r -i <remote_ip>

    Example: Changing Credentials for Local Setup

    Below is an example command to configure the system to use the basic XProtect user TestUser, with both the XProtect server and CVEDIA-RT running on the local machine:

    .\RTController.exe -c -u TestUser -p Password123! -a Basic -m http://localhost

    See the table below for detailed information about each parameter.

  • Verify and Save:

    The application will attempt to log in to the XProtect system using the specified credentials. If the login is successful, the new settings will be saved and used automatically in future sessions.

  • Final Step:

    Restart the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector service in the Windows Services application.

Parameters Reference Table

The following table provides details about the parameters used with the RTController.exe command to update XProtect user credentials

Parameter Required Description
-c YES Runs the XProtect Connector in credential setting mode.
-u username YES Specifies the new user name that should be used
-p password YES Specifies the password for new user
-a method YES Authentication method to use when logging into XProtect. Basic is the only supported value.
-m server_uri YES Specifies the URI of the XProtect server to use (eg. http://localhost)
-s NO Optional parameter that enforces using a secure connection when connecting to XProtect. Depending on your system setup, this might have to be used in order to correctly log into XProtect VMS.
-r NO Optional parameter that enables CVEDIA-RT remote mode. Should not be used unless you have CVEDIA-RT running on a different server
-i remote_ip NO Optional parameter specifying the IP to use for the remote CVEDIA-RT server. Can be used only when using the -r parameter above. If the IP is not specified, the CVEDIA-RT server will be auto discovered in the network

Updating

  • Check for new plugin versions on the official website: <https://rt.cvedia.com/Milestone>
  • Ensure you have the same version of the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service, the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin, and the CVEDIA-RT Servers for compatibility.
  • Update first the CVEDIA-RT Servers.
  • Before running the installer to update to a new release of the CVEDIA-RT Plugin, make sure to close the Smart Client and the Management Client.
  • All configured settings and applied licenses will be preserved.

Uninstalling

  • Close the Smart Client and the Management Client.
  • Open Settings: press Windows key + I or click the Start menu.
  • Go to Apps: click on Installed Apps and find the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin or the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service in the list.
  • Uninstall the Plugin: select CVEDIA-RT XProtect Plugin or the CVEDIA-RT XProtect Connector Service and click Uninstall. Confirm if prompted.
  • If prompted, restart your computer to complete the process.

Warning

After uninstalling the plugin, the Metadata Device must be manually deleted from one of the recording servers. If not removed, it will continue to consume one device license from XProtect.

Technical Support

For comprehensive technical support information, including troubleshooting guides, log file locations, and reporting procedures, please refer to our Technical Support Documentation.

Key support resources:

  • System troubleshooting guides
  • Log file collection procedures
  • Hardware diagnostics
  • Performance optimization
  • Bug reporting workflows

For immediate assistance, you can also submit a support request through the CVEDIA Tech Support Portal.