Configuring a different retention period for the secondary Archiver server - Security Center 5.10

Security Center Administrator Guide 5.10
Product
Security Center
Content type
Guides > Administrator guides
Version
5.10
Language
English
Last updated
2023-06-12

To help manage your data storage, you can set a different retention period for the secondary Archiver server that is used for failover or redundancy from the Archiver.gconfig file.

What you should know

  • The Archiver.gconfig file has two sections: ArchiverRole and ArchiverAgent. The settings in the file apply to all the Archiver roles or Archiver agents that are hosted on the server. The retention period settings are modified in the ArchiverRole section of the file.
  • If you do not specify a different retention period for the secondary Archiver server or if the value is equal to zero, the retention period of the primary Archiver server is applied.
  • If a custom retention period is configured for a camera, the Archiver configuration is ignored for that camera.
  • The configuration for the redundant retention period does not apply to archive backups.
CAUTION:
Only modify a .gconfig file if you are sure the changes are valid. Incorrect code in a .gconfig file can cause issues on your system or cause your system to go offline.

Procedure

  1. On the secondary Archiver server, do one of the following:
    • Back up the Archiver.gconfig file by copying it to another folder.

      The file is located by default in C:\Program Files (x86)\Genetec Security Center 5.x\ConfigurationFiles on a 64-bit computer and in C:\Program Files\Genetec Security Center 5.x\ConfigurationFiles on a 32-bit computer.

    • If the Archiver.gconfig file does not exist, generate it as follows:
      1. Log on to Server Admin and select the secondary Archiver server.
      2. Click Actions > Console > Commands > Archiver Role commands > GenerateConfigFile.
  2. On the secondary Archiver server, launch Notepad with the Run as administrator option.
  3. In Notepad, open the Archiver.gconfig file and change the DefaultRetentionPeriodForSecondaryArchiver value to the number of days you want to retain the secondary recordings.
    For example, DefaultRetentionPeriodForSecondaryArchiver="1" sets the secondary retention period to one day.
    NOTE: If the Archiver.gconfig file already existed on the computer but the options are not listed, it is due to one of the following reasons:
    • You have an outdated version of the file. Generate the file using step 1.
    • The file was previously generated for the Archiver agent (Actions > Console > Commands > Archiver Agent commands > GenerateConfigFile), and you are missing the ArchiverRole section of the file. Generate the file using step 1.
  4. Save the file.
  5. Copy the DefaultRetentionPeriodForSecondaryArchiver setting to the Archiver.gconfig file on the primary Archiver server.
  6. Restart the Archiver role.