Client-Server Architecture
This document will introduce client-server architecture of ACTi unified solution. Network video recorder is in the role of server and the users can access it locally or remotely as clients.
The most important parts of the service are the cameras. In order to complete the service, the cameras have to be connected to the computer that has the Network Video Recorder software installed. The Network Video Recorder can shortly be called NVR. For example, in local area networks, the cameras can be connected to NVR through the data switch by using cat5 cables. This way, the server side is ready to serve the clients.
The client programs can access either NVR or cameras directly in order to get live video preview. It is also possible to control PTZ cameras by a client program, watch previously recorded videos or change the NVR settings. Workstation and Web Client are very similar client programs. Workstation can be installed into any Windows-based PC, whereas for Web Client you only need to use Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher in order to load the same user interface as Workstation does. You can also use Mobile Explorer in handheld mobile devices to do the remote monitoring.
There two kinds of recording servers NVR Professional and NVR Enterprise. NVR Enterprise supports remote access by client programs. In this cross table you can see which of the services of both NVR types can be accessed by either Workstation, Web Client or Mobile Explorer. You may notice that NVR Enterprise has a rich support for Web Client and Mobile Explorer.
So, how do those client programs access the NVR? What kind of network architecture can support this? Typically, the service side, which include cameras and NVR, are built on local area network. The NVR can be accessed by a local client, which means the client program is located in the same PC as the NVR itself. The client program running in any other PC is considered as a remote client, no matter the PC is located in the same LAN or in Wide Area Network. NVR will get the video from all the cameras and both local and remote clients will get the video from NVR.