Creating and configuring a Security Center Federation role - Security Center 5.11

To connect to a remote Security Center system using Security Center Federation™, you must first create a Security Center Federation role. Then configure the role on your system using the credentials for your Federation™ user.

1. From the Config Tool homepage open the System task and click the Roles view.
2. Click Add an entity () and click Security Center Federation™.
3. In the Directory field, enter the name or IP address of the remote Security Center Directory.
4. Enter the username and password for the Federation user.
   The Federation role uses these credentials to log on to the remote Security Center system
   Best Practice:

   • Give the Federation™ user a descriptive name. For example, instead of federation_1, use PoliceDepartment or Headquarters. Descriptive names help the administrator of the Federated™ host easily identify the connected federated systems.
   • To secure communications, ensure that Use secure communication is enabled in the Media Router on both systems. Enabling Use secure communication also allows logging of Live/Playback streaming requested from Federation in the Activity trails report. This applies to Security Center 5.11.1.0 and later.
5. In the Federated events section, select the events that you want to receive from the federated system and click Next.
   
6. On the Basic information page, enter a name and description for the role.
7. Select the partition that this role belongs to and click Next.
   All federated entities are created in this partition. Only users in this partition can view or modify those entities.
8. Click Next > Create > Close.
9. Select the new Federation™ role () and click the Properties tab.
   The connection status is either Synchronizing entities or Connected.
10. To reduce the loss of a role in case of connection interruption, configure the following settings:

    Resilient connection

    When this option is turned on (default=OFF), if the connection between the Federation™ role and the federated Security Center Directory server is temporarily interrupted, the Federation™ role attempts to reconnect to the Directory for a set amount of time before the connection is considered lost and the role goes into a warning state.

    NOTE: Activating Resilient connection is highly recommended for remote systems that might have an unstable connection to the cloud.

    Reconnection timeout

    Specify the number of seconds that the Federation™ role attempts to reconnect to the Directory before the connection is considered lost.

11. If required, configure these features for Security Center Federation™:

    Forward Directory reports

    When this option is turned on (default=OFF), you can view user activities, such as viewing cameras and activating the PTZ, and configuration changes performed at the federated site from the Activity trails and Audit trails reports on the Federation™ host. The Federation™ user must have the privileges and access rights to view these activities and changes.

    IMPORTANT: Forward Directory reports is only supported with 5.8 systems and higher, including federations. This means that if your federated system is 5.7 or lower, the Forward Directory reports option is grayed out and not available.

    Default live stream

    Default video stream used for viewing live video from federated Security Center cameras (default=Remote).

    If your workstation does not require specific video stream settings for Federation™, you can use the default stream settings from Security Desk instead.

    Enable playback requests

    When this option is turned on, users can view playback video from federated Security Center cameras.

    Federate alarms

    When this option is turned on, alarms are received from the federated Security Center system.

12. Click Apply.
13. If necessary, change the default multicast addresses used by the Media Router for local and federated streams.

After you finish

In the Area view task, expand the Security Center Federation™ role () and ensure that all the role-based federated entities were imported.

The entity hierarchy corresponds to the Area view on the federated remote system.