Storage & retention

Storage paths

Each node records to its own storage path, set on the node's edit page or at install time. There is no global path. A node without a storage path records nothing, and the node list flags it.

Retention

Retention is how many days footage is kept. It's set globally under Settings → Storage & retention, and can be overridden per node and per camera; the most specific value wins. 0 keeps footage forever.

A camera can also have a storage quota in GB. When it goes over, its oldest footage is removed first.

Watermark

The watermark is a hard limit on how full a node's disk may get (90% by default). Above it, the node archives its oldest footage early, or deletes it if archiving isn't available, until the disk is back under the limit. The node list shows storage full while this is happening.

Archive

A node can have an optional second archive path, such as an SMB share or a USB drive. It must be a separate location from the storage path. With archiving on, footage that ages out of retention is moved to the archive instead of being deleted, and kept until the archive retention is reached. Archive retention is counted from the original recording date, and 0 keeps forever.

Playback, thumbnails, and exports work the same from either volume. The node list shows free space and an estimate of days left for both volumes. The estimate is based on the last 24 hours of writing.

Leftover footage

When a camera moves to another node or is removed, its old footage stays on the previous node until it ages out. The ⚠️ count next to a node's status shows how many cameras still have footage there. It clears on its own.

Encryption

Footage can be encrypted on the recorders' disks, so a stolen or discarded disk shows nothing. It's off by default.

Set it up under Settings → Encryption and signing:

1. Create master key. It's kept on this server and unlocks every encrypted recording.
2. Download a backup of the master key, protected by a passphrase you choose. Encryption can't be turned on until you have one. Keep the file and the passphrase somewhere other than this server: if the server is rebuilt, Restore with the backup is the only way to read encrypted footage again. Lose both and the footage is gone for good.
3. Choose what to encrypt: Video (recordings and two-way talk audio), or Video, snapshots and thumbnails. That's the default for every camera; each camera can override it on its own page (Cameras → Edit, Storage).

Each segment is encrypted on the recorder a moment after it finishes recording, so only the segment being recorded is ever unencrypted on disk. Footage recorded before encryption was turned on stays as it is; encrypt existing footage on the camera's page converts it in the background. Turning encryption off later leaves encrypted footage readable.

Playback, thumbnails, snapshots and exports work the same as before. Exported files are not encrypted, since they're meant to be handed on. The recorder fetches each camera's daily key from this server when it needs it and keeps it only in memory, so an encrypted recording can't be played while the recorder can't reach the server.