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Cisco Meraki

Sharing Video

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You can either share video clips or a video stream from both the video wall or the camera status page. You will need the proper camera permissions to use these features.

Video clips

If you have export privileges, you can share video clips using the Export feature. Exporting of video clips currently requires at least 1Mbps upstream bandwidth per export. (Note this does not apply to the viewing of historical footage on dashboard, just exports.)

Export Video

  1. Navigate to a camera's video page, or to a video wall. If you are using a fisheye camera, you can zoom and pan into a specific dewarped view and export with that view. To view the fisheye camera in dewarp, refer to this article.

  2. Select Share > Export.

    • Note that for the fisheye camera, you can export in both the warped (circular) and dewarped views. 

      Screen Shot 2019-04-01 at 10.21.39 AM.png

  3. If exporting through the video wall with multiple cameras, you must also use the drop-down to select which camera you wish to export video from.
    select_camera.png
    Note: dewarp video tiles are not presently supported. Only full frame exports are possible from video wall at this time. For dewarped video exports of fisheye footage, use the single camera page, adjust your field of view as desired, and proceed with exporting the desired footage.

  4. Select start and end time and date for the export. You can also schedule your export so that you can choose the time most convenient for exporting.  Scheduling exports after hours can help reduce the potential bandwidth impact on other business critical applications, allowing your organization to run more smoothly.
    export_options.png

    • Alternatively, use the timeline slider to chose the export duration.slider.png

  5. Click Export to start the export.

  6. You can monitor the status of your exports by navigating to Share > Show recent exports. Click on each item to download the export, copy link to clipboard, delete the export, or calculate the checksum. You can also view all exports within your network from the Exports page.
    show recent.png

Note: The current minimum time allowed for a single export is 5 seconds and maximum time allowed for a single export is 12 hours. Video exports are trimmed to the requested size with no buffer. If an invalid time range is selected, the export will automatically default back to 30 seconds to provide a valid export. The download link for an export is good for one hour at time of page load. Refreshing the dashboard page generates a new download link. 

Exports Checksum

You can verify the integrity of a video clip by saving a copy of the original export's calculated SHA-256 checksum provided on the dashboard and referring to it every time you need to compare a copy to the original. A SHA-256 checksum is a 256-bit or 32-byte hash serves as the file's "signature", and can be calculated over and over again to the same result. However, once the file is changed in any way, this value becomes different. It is generated using the SHA-256 secure hash algorithm. The algorithm is a one-way function, it cannot be decrypted back. 

 

  1. You can find out what the video checksum is by clicking on the export under Recent Exports and then Calculate checksum.
  2. The 256-bit checksum will be printed underneath. Take a screenshot or copy-paste to save this in a safe place.Screen Shot 2019-04-01 at 9.56.05 AM.png
  3. Every time you want to verify that any copy of the exported video is legitimate, you can calculate this copy's checksum and compare it to the one provided on the dashboard. If they match, the video is identical. Otherwise, it has been corrupted or tampered with.
    • To calculate the SHA-256 of a downloaded file, you can use a terminal. We provide the instructions for Windows, Mac or Linux below.
      • Windows Power Shell
        • Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 .\Filename.mp4
      • Linux
        • sha256 .\Filename.mp4
      • Mac OS Terminal
        • shasum -a 256 .\Filename.mp4

Exports Page

You can also view all exports within your network from the Exports page. Additionally, combine exports into a single file from this page.

Exports Retention Period

By default, an export will be stored for a year in the Meraki cloud ecosystem. If a max retention time is set on a node, the export retention period will respect that value.

 

Note: If a firewall is in place, it must allow outgoing connections on particular ports to particular IP addresses. This is due to MV export functionality requiring connectivity to the Cisco Meraki cloud infrastructure. The most current list of outbound ports and IP addresses for your particular organization can be found here.

 

Video Links

For dashboard users, you can share a link to live video or to a timestamp in the past that users can view. Alternatively, you can also share a link that can be opened directly by non-dashboard users. 

Internal Dashboard Link

If you have both live and historical camera viewing privileges, you can share a video link by navigating to either the Video Wall or the Camera Status Page and selecting Share > Video Stream > Share link internally. 

Note: Normal dashboard permissions apply to whoever receives this link. For example, if an account does not have view privileges for the linked camera the user will be unable view the shared link. If an account only has live viewing access, it cannot view a link to historical video.

internal_link.png

External Live Stream Link

You will need the necessary permissions to share an external live stream URL. The necessary permissions are:

  • Full/read-only organization admin
  • Full/read-only network admin
  • Camera-only admin with export footages permission

There are some instances where an administrator might want to provide quick and easy access to video, however it may not be convenient to add someone as a new Meraki dashboard administrator in an emergency, or when their need for video access is only temporary. For these use cases, you now have the ability to share live video streams externally to any user once provided with their email address. These links expire after 24 hours and can also be revoked, so you can be certain no one can get access to sensitive information when not required.

All streams initiated this way are using cloud proxy.

Initiating a Stream

  1. Navigate to the camera whose live stream you wish to share.

  2. Select the Share button.

  3. Select Share stream externally.
    external_stream.png
     

  4. Fill out the following fields: 

  • Email (required)

Note: If the same email has been previously shared another camera’s stream, all active streams will be accessible through the new link as well.  The links will now also all share the same expiration time (24 hours for any new stream). If the same email has been previously shared another camera’s stream, but that stream is no longer active, you will need to extend the stream to be able to receive a valid link. The user will be deleted from list of users on the now-expired cameras. 

  • Name (optional)

  • Description (optional)

    • As a best practice, you can use this field to add reasoning for why you are sharing the stream.

share_stream.gif

These stream shares are also tracked on the network-wide External stream users page. 
 

  1. Select Share stream. This sends a unique link to the email address provided that will automatically expire after 24 hours.

  2. Select Done.

Note: This link can be used to view any other active streams shared to the same email address.

Opening a Stream

  1. The share recipient will see an email entitled “Cisco Meraki Live Stream - [camera name]” with the name of the shared camera.

  2. Open the email and select the View live stream link.

Note: This will also be the new link used for any previously shared camera streams to the same email address.

  1. This will open a page in your browser that contains a cloud proxy stream from the selected camera along with details about the camera name and location. 

    • You will not be able to see dewarp views of the MV32 using this live stream link. You are also unable to hear any audio.

open_stream.gif

Note: Though the link to navigate to the previous streams will be invalidated when new streams are created to the same email, the resulting URL on the browser for the previous streams will still be valid. 

Switching Between Camera Streams

If an email has been shared multiple camera streams, the recipient can select the camera name on the top-left of the page and select the camera they wish to view from the dropdown.

toggle_cameras.png

Extending a Stream

  1. Navigate to a camera’s video page, and click Share > Video stream > Share stream externally.

  2. From there, you will see a list of all the previous users that have been given live stream access.

  3. Select which user you wish to extend access for.

  4. Select Extend for 1 hour as many times as needed.

Note: This will extend access for all the active streams shared to this user.

  1. Select Done.

extend.gif

Deleting a Stream 

Note: Streams can be revoked on a per-camera basis, even if you have multiple cameras shared to a single user/email. 

  1. Navigate to a camera’s video page, then select Share > Video Stream > Share stream externally.

  2. From the dialog box, you will see a list of all the previous users that have been given live stream access.

  3. Select the checkbox for the stream share you wish to delete.

  4. Select Delete.

  5. Select Done.

delete.gif

Tracking External Live Stream Link Access

You can track when a live stream link is generated, viewed, extended or disabled by visiting the Video access log.

  • The "Recipient" column indicates the external email the link was shared to.
  • The "User" column will be blank for entries pertaining to viewing the external link since these are non-Dashboard viewers. 

stream_log.png

Tracking External Live Stream Users

You can view all users who were shared live stream links, and when they expire/d through this list under the Cameras > Video access page. 

External_stream_users.png

Summary of Important Considerations to External Live Stream Link

  • This technical capability allows authorized users with live and historical camera viewing privileges to share a link to live video streams externally to any email address.  This action is logged on the Video access log with the action “External stream link generated”. 

  • These temporary links provide external access to live streaming video for anyone with the link.

  • These links do not limit the number of external participants viewing the live video stream. 

  • These links provide unauthenticated access and do not confirm the identity of remote viewers.

  • These links contain no warnings and do not require any acceptance of terms and conditions prior to access.

  • These links can be easily forwarded to others over email, messaging, and social media. 

  • In addition to possible images of subjects, the streams provided by these links include the following information: 

    • Meraki Dashboard Organization Name

    • Provisioned Meraki Network Name 

    • Meraki MV Camera Name

    • Physically Installed address of the camera (if added by Meraki Dashboard user)

  • Access for these live links is logged by original email and IP address as “External stream link viewed” 

  • To revoke access, the links must be manually removed prior to automatic expiration after 24 hours.

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