How To: Create a parent or managed site

Whether you have one site or many, you will always need to configure a parent site. A configured parent site allows the Boring Windows services to connect to Milestone XProtect and retrieve information about the VMS. Here, you will also set up the email server configuration, live monitoring emails, and notification settings.

Quick Links

• Creating a Parent Site
• Creating a managed site

Configuring a parent site

1. Install the Boring Services on the XProtect Management Server that you would like to make a parent
2. Open Boring Toolbox
3. Connect to the XProtect Management Server
4. On the left navigation, Click Managed Sites
5. Click Add Parent Site
6. In the Managed Site Configuration dialog

1. Site details
   • Site Name
     • This is a nickname you would like to give the site and does not have to match the host name of the computer
   • Server Address
     • This can be the IP or hostname of the management server you have installed The Boring Toolbox.
2. License Channel Allocation
   • Click "Allocate all site hardware" to populate the correct license count.
     • If you only have one management server, allocate your entire license count to the parent site
   • Include interconnect (yes or no)
     • When set to "on" you will see interconnected devices throughout the Boring Toolbox including live monitoring and reports.  When off, interconnected devices will be filtered out which is recommended when using multi-site management (Default = On)
3. Email Server Configuration
   • Enable Notifications
     • Toggle the switch to enable or disable Live Monitoring email notifications (default is on).
   • Optional, turn on Custom SMTP settings
     • Use this if you would like to use your organization's SMTP server.
4. Live Monitoring Configuration
   • From Email Address
     • Update is desired (default = alerts@theboringlab.com).
   • Send Emails To
     • Add multiple TO emails addresses by separating them with a semi-colon (;)
       Optionally, add CC and BCC
   • Camera not providing video threshold
     • The amount of time Boring Toolbox will wait before marking a camera as not providing video and sending a notification (Default = 90s)
   • Recording server offline threshold
     • The amount of time Boring Toolbox will wait before marking a recording server as offline and sending a notification (Default = 0s)
   • Critical Only
     • Optionally, enable Critical Notifications
5. Advanced Settings (Optional)
   • Minimum cameras not providing video  
     • This value sets the minimum number of cameras which must stop providing video prior to Boring Toolbox Live Monitoring sending an email notification. The default is 1.
   • Max Notifications within time period
     • This value sets the maximum number of emails Boring Toolbox Live Monitoring will send within the period defined in the "time between max notification" setting (Default = 0 = No Maximum)
   • Time between max notifications (seconds)
     • This is the time period, in seconds, in which Boring Toolbox Live Monitoring can send the defined maximum number of emails set in the "Max Notifications within time period" setting (Default = 0 = None)
6. Send Test Email
   • Tests your email configuration.
   • The test email will be initiated from the Milestone XProtect Management Server.
7. Save Changes

Creating a managed site

A managed site is another XProtect Management Server that you would like to see in the Global Dashboard when you log into the parent and which you would like to manage in Boring Toolbox.

Setting up a managed site is very similar to setting up a parent site. Repeat steps 1-4, but instead of finishing at step 4, click the 'Add Managed Site' button located underneath the parent site information you just added.

Once the managed site is added a couple things happen.

• The parent creates a connection to the managed site
• Parent pushes notification and live monitoring settings to the managed site
• Scheduled reports and live monitoring are ready for use on the managed site
• The managed site is added to the global dashboard when you connect to the parent site