Milestone Health Check Flashcards

Why is the ADM/Camera Review important?

It catches licensing gaps, incorrect camera settings, clock drift, and hardware problems before they cause footage or coverage loss.

What should you check during the ADM/Camera Review?

• Camera count matches Milestone licenses

• Camera and server timestamps match

• Model group recording settings are correct

• FLIR devices communicate and stream

• Time and timezone are correct

• iDRAC/iLO and servers are healthy

• Both MSAs are healthy

What is edge recording?

Edge recording stores footage on the camera’s SD card when the network or recording server is unavailable.

Why is edge recording important?

It prevents permanent footage loss during a network or recording-server outage.

What should you check for in edge recording?

• Camera reads the SD card

• Edge configuration test passes

• Camera is actively recording

• Manual edge retrieval works

• Automatic edge retrieval works

What is Tiger High Availability?

It uses two synchronized recording nodes so the other node has the footage if one node fails.

Why must Tiger HA nodes be synchronized?

An HA pair that does not have matching footage cannot provide true redundancy.

What should you check in Tiger HA?

• Secondary backfill after rebooting primary

• Primary backfill after rebooting secondary

• Every camera connects to both nodes

• No camera mismatches

• Primary node is serving after reboots

• Switch nodes if needed

• Footage synchronization reaches 100%

• Server status shows Green/Green 100%

What is backfill?

Backfill transfers footage recorded during an outage or failover back to the appropriate recording node.

What does Failover Cluster Manager protect?

It protects the Management Server and its core services if the active cluster node fails.

Why check Failover Cluster Manager?

To verify that the management cluster can fail over without taking core Milestone services offline.

What should you check in Failover Cluster Manager?

• Both nodes are online

• Active node owns the SQL and management roles

• All cluster resources are online

• Cluster events contain no errors

What is a Failover Recording Server?

It temporarily records camera footage when a regular recording server becomes unavailable.

Why must the Failover Recording Server be reset after an event?

Its footage must transfer back, and the server must be ready for the next recording-server failure.

What should you check on a Failover Recording Server?

• Failover data transferred back

• MediaDatabase folder is empty

• Failover Server Service is running

• State is ColdStandby

• Time is synchronized

• Timezone is UTC

• Failover logs have no important errors or warnings

• Event Viewer has no important errors or warnings

What is the Management Server?

It is the brain of the Milestone system and manages communication between system components.

Why is Management Server health important?

Database synchronization problems, resource exhaustion, or clock drift can cause system-wide instability or communication failures.

What should you check on the Management Server?

• SQL databases are synchronized in SSMS

• SQL drive storage is healthy

• CPU usage is healthy

• Memory usage is healthy

• Disk usage is healthy

• Time is synchronized

• Timezone is UTC

• Milestone logs have no important errors or warnings

• Windows Event Viewer has no important errors or warnings

What is the main purpose of a Recording Server?

It receives, records, stores, and archives camera footage.

Why is Recording Server health important?

Storage, resource, and log problems can threaten recording continuity and the integrity of video evidence.

What should you check on Recording Servers?

• Milestone logs

• Windows Event Viewer

• Live disk usage

• Archive disk usage

• Milestone storage values match Windows

• Drives are healthy

• Time is synchronized

• Timezone is UTC

• Resource consumption is healthy

What does the Database log show?

Database reads, writes, connection issues, and database-level errors.

Why check the Database log?

It identifies data-layer problems before they cause recording gaps.

What does the DeviceHandling log show?

Camera connections, disconnections, communication problems, and driver-level errors.

Why check the DeviceHandling log?

It helps identify why a specific camera is unstable or offline.

What does the RecorderEngine log show?

Recording-process activity, including starts, stops, stream handling, and recording failures.

Why check the RecorderEngine log?

It shows whether footage is actually being captured.

What does the EdgeStorage log show?

SD-card activity, edge retrieval activity, and edge-storage errors.

Why check the EdgeStorage log?

It confirms edge recording and retrieval are functioning, not merely configured.

What does the Failover log show?

Failover triggers, server handoffs, and recovery activity.

Why check the Failover log?

It confirms failover events completed properly without losing footage.

What does Windows Event Viewer show?

• Application: Software errors

• System: Operating-system, driver, and service errors

• Security: Login and audit events

Why check Windows Event Viewer?

It can reveal operating-system problems that do not appear in Milestone logs.

What is the Rapid Review Server, or XPRR, used for?

It processes Rapid Review jobs so investigators can quickly access flagged footage and alerts.

Why is XPRR health important?

Stalled services or processing jobs can prevent investigators from quickly reviewing footage and alerts.

What should you check on XPRR?

• All Rapid Review services are running

• All tasks completed successfully

• Failed tasks are investigated

• Event Console has no unusual alerts

• Event Viewer has no important errors or warnings

• Time is synchronized

• Timezone is UTC

• Embedded Smart Client SSO login works

What is the Jumpbox?

It is the access point used to enter the Milestone environment.

Why is Jumpbox health important?

Login or time-synchronization problems can block legitimate access and create inaccurate audit trails.

What should you check on the Jumpbox?

• Smart Client login works

• Windows Event Viewer has no important errors or warnings

• Time is synchronized

• Timezone is UTC

What is the Management Client used for?

It is used to configure and review licensing, cameras, recording servers, storage, logs, and other system settings.

Why check the Management Client?

Licensing, storage, camera, and system-level problems often appear there before they become larger failures.

What should you check in the Management Client?

• Every camera is licensed

• No licenses are in the grace period

• Offline cameras are investigated

• No Recording Servers are in failover

• Recording Server storage is healthy

• No active or stalled tasks, such as archiving

• Server logging is running

• Audit logging is running

• Server logs have no SMTP or server errors

• SMTP works through a test email

What is the Smart Client used for?

It is the end-user application for viewing live video, playing recorded footage, reviewing alarms and maps, and exporting video.

Why check the Smart Client?

The system is not completing its actual purpose if users cannot view, play back, or export footage.

What should you check in the Smart Client?

• Live view is steady

• No FPS drops

• Live playback is smooth

• Archive playback is smooth

• Playback has no gaps

• Live and playback timestamps align

• Unusual alarms are reviewed

• Milestone Maps populate correctly

• Map icons link to the correct camera view

• Live footage can be exported and played

• Archive footage can be exported and played

• Exports play in the standalone player

Why must every server use synchronized UTC time?

Time drift makes it difficult to match events across cameras and can make footage unreliable as evidence.

Why check Windows Event Viewer on every server?

It catches operating-system failures that application-level logs may not show.

Why check resource and storage health?

Full disks or exhausted server resources can silently interrupt or stop recording.