Colin McNamara - CCIE 18233 , VCP, EMCIE, NCDA, GEEK » 4s ranch rancho bernardo san diego witch fire evacuated

Simplifying remote site security with Cisco’s new video surveillance modules on the ISR

colinmcnamara — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:31:13 +0000

One giant pain I have always faced when working with high security environments is dealing with surveillance systems. They are a necessary and required part of your security infrastructure. However they just never seem to integrate as well as your network, storage, or server devices.

When I work with data center infrastructure I expect the following – clean, remotely manageable, secure devices that runs on the same power and similar cabling, and everything can have a 24x7x4 support contract for hardware replacement. For the most part, you get this when dealing with Cisco, HP, Sun and similar manufacturers.

More often then not (with a few very cool exceptions), when I run into video surveillance infrastructure the video management infrastructure runs on some random third tier manufactured server. It never fails that the video management software is on Windows (normally XP or win2k). I have even seen some systems where the vendor requires you to have a session open to run the software.

And then when you get to the encoders themselves, it never fails. You have two choices.

The Uber package that can run a Casino, Identify and track dust mites , and if you point it at space, determine if there is life on mars.
Individual dinky encoders that run one or two camera’s each. They have limited encoding choices, limited camera control, no remote management, and normally run on 110 volt system that require different power distribution then the 220 that is common in systems today.

Cisco’s answer to this mess

Cisco has released both a video management solution, as well as a video encoding solution in a network module form factor for the Integrated Services Router (ISR).

The first part of this system, the Video Management and Storage System (VMSS) module fills the following roles -

Management of multiple video streams from one interface, including IP cameras, 3rd party encoders, and streams from Cisco’s video encoding module
Streaming of live and archived footage through a web browser interface
This one is pretty cool – The module can mount external storage via iSCSI. So, in addition to its 160 gig internal drive, you can mount a filer and utilize external storage to scale the system.
“fast forward” to events, as well as notify security and other personnel through SMS and email

The second part of the system (the module on the left in the picture above) is the Analog Video Gateway Network Module (EV-IPVS-16A). It has a couple functions -

It can take up to 16 analogue video inputs and encode them with MJPEG or MPEG4 codecs
You can use the first two ports to output video to a external monitors
If you are using MPEG4, it can be used as a motion detector (handy for fast forwarding to important events, or triggering alerts)
It can control pan and tilt cameras. This is good for pointing the camera at the janitor unplugging your servers each night to vacuum
You can configure analogue contacts as an alarm. This can be bound to a door switch, or even temperature and water level monitors in a remote data center. This one will be very handy.

The third part of this solution is Cisco’s Video Surveillance Operations Manager. It manages, archives, displays and distributes the content that was created and collected on the two previous modules. You would use this if you had many branches to aggregate, or needed to staff a video wall (e.g. casino gaming commission operations). Now, you can run each of these components individually. Buy run together as a whole, Cisco has an enterprise class security solution.

Want to learn more ?

Branch office security page on cisco.com http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9671/prod_module_series_home.html

Cisco’s product page for the Video Managment Module – http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/modules/ps9671/data_sheet_c78_462225.htmlSimilar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Simplifying remote site security with Cisco’s new video surveillance modules on the ISR

Tags: archived footage, C, camera control, CCIE, center infrastructure, CISCO, cisco secure, Colin, Data Center, dust mites, encoders, Gadget, hardware replacement, HP, ip cameras, isr, legal, life on mars, linux, management infrastructure, mars, mitiigation, Network, network storage, Pic, Power, Router, security, security environments, security infrastructure, storage, storage system, support contract, surveillance systems, switch, Technology, threat, two choices, video encoding, video management, video streams, video surveillance

How close did the fire come?

colinmcnamara — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:40:00 +0000

On google maps, it shows that the fire came withing two thousand feet of our place. It circled us on three sides, basically surrounding the valley. I took a screenshot from one of the news sites for everyone. The little red houses are homes that did not make it. The neighborhood to the right (just over the hill is rancho bernardo).

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

How close did the fire come?

Tags: blog, C, CCIE, Colin, san

San Diego WildFIre Update

colinmcnamara — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:25:00 +0000

Great news,

Mandatory evacuations for our neighborhood were lifeted at 11:30 this morning. We returned home, and everything is here. The fire burned on three sides of our neighborhood, and took out a couple of the homes up on the hill.

Thanks to everyone for being so supportive.

–Colin
Copyright ©2008 | Colin McNamara | CCIE 18233 | All Rights Reserved”

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

San Diego WildFIre Update

Tags: blog, C, CCIE, Colin, NDA, san

Evacuation status update

colinmcnamara — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Our official status tonight is that we are still evacuees, and not allowed home. There is not a master list of what address’s are allowed back. However the county did provide a PDF which allows us to approximate which areas are allowed to return. The map is available here.

--Colin McNamara

Evacuation status update

Tags: C, CCIE, Colin

Witch fire in San Diego – Notes from an evacuee

colinmcnamara — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:32:00 +0000

On the fire maps of the San Diego Witch fire, we are pretty much under the big red spot (directly under lake hodges, to the west of the 15). We moved to 4s ranch in June , on the intersection of rancho bernardo and ralphs ranch road. (pretty much right under the big red spot). We left on on monday at around 10 am with fire on 3 sides of our community.We got out with a couple changes of clothes, important documents, and the kids. Almost everything else is replaceable.

the fire directly upwind of us, coming up the ridge -

Getting out of 4s ranch was crazy though, traffic was jammed up through camino del sur, and the police were not helping. We ended up sneaking out through a backroad and coming out through Del Mar. Our final destination (and temporary home base) is the Ramada plaza hotel in Anaheim.

The winds were blowing 60 mph +

While it is rough having to flee from our home, we are much more fortunate then those people stuck at Qualcom, or Del Mar, etc. While they have been sleeping on the cold cement for two days my family has enjoyed two queen size beds + a fold out couch. Kylie is a little shell shocked, I think fleeing from her home was a bit much, while Chris is just being a normal little two year old terror.

Fireman going after the fire where it wrapped around our neighborhood -

We have also been very fortunate to have many supportive friends. I thank everyone of them for all the support and help they have given. It makes things much easier when you know that you aren’t alone in this struggle. We have a couple standing offers of homes to stay in, a home cooked meal (from the best mexican food cook I have ever met) waiting for us tonight, clothes / diapers for Chris, pretty much everything we could have wanted.

The view as we were leaving (sorry about the blur, we were in the truck)

During this whole ordeal I there have of course been challenges, but I am amazed how everyone is pulling together. In the hour before the police forced the evacuation neighbors were helping each other with information, people were grabbing hopping in trucks and running to help with the fire lines. While it was a post apocalyptic scene with the choking smoke, ash everyone, and blood red sun, people were helping each other. It is to see the best of people when they are under the worst conditions.

The blood red Sun

The two big questions every day are – Is my home still there ? and If it is there, when can I go back? As of right now the evacuation order still stands for my neighborhood. It is directly downwind (about 1 kilometer) from the homes in Rancho Bernardo they have been showing on the news. When we left, fire was coming up the Ridge that separates our neighborhoods. On signonsandiego.com ‘s firemap it looks like we may have been spared, but we are still in the middle and downwind of the major fire. The only thing that will signal a change an all clear is for the santa anna winds to subside.

neighbor checking taking pictures of the fire prior to the evacuation order

One thing that is important in any emergency is to go through a lessons learned.

The things that worked well were -

1. Having a 4×4, it allowed us to choose creative escape routes, and avoid the possibility of getting stuck in traffic with the fire behind us.

2. Having decent non-perishable snacks (granola, raisins, etc)

3. Having lots of water bottles laying around – dehydration is a big issue with the dry air.

4. having travel kits ready – because I travel a bit, I normally have my carry-on bags prepped.

5. Bringing a toy, and a little video player for Chris – this saved lots of heartache for everyone

Things that I could have done better -

1. Inspected my wife, daughters, and sons bags before we left – they didn’t pack enough clothes, my daughter forgot things like underwear, socks, etc.

2. Had the key to the breachlock on my shotgun handy – i couldn’t find the key to unlock my weapon. If this would have devolved to Katrina standards then this would have been essential. In retrospect I would have done better with a semi-auto handgun. It is easier to transport and conceal while traveling.

3. I should have had better radios. I am a ham operator, have my license. But I have always used peoples base stations tethered through the Internet (basically a big ip based microphone / speaker connected to their transceiver. Ham operators are a godsend in situations like this, and having a mobile unit in my truck would have added valuable information in a time when we had none.

Colin McNamara
CCIE #18233

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Witch fire in San Diego – Notes from an evacuee

Tags: blog, breach, C, CCIE, Colin, error, NDA, Pic, san

Study on Perspective – Set 1

colinmcnamara — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:03:00 +0000

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Study on Perspective – Set 1

Tags: blog, C, CCIE, Colin, Pic