The Mobotix-tools repository contains some utilities which might become handy when configuring larger number of Mobotix camera's. Currently it contains:
- mxbackup.py - Creates backups of a list of camera's just like the "Save current configuration to local computer" option on your camera but then performed automatically on a list of camera's.
- mxrestore.py - Restores multiple backups made with mxbackup.py or manually with the "Save current configuration to local computer" option.
- mxpgm.py - Changes mobotix camera configurations on the fly according to the configuration script supplied. Instead of installing python3, Windows users can also use the executables from the /dist folder in a DOS box.
DISCLAIMER: This software is built out of personal interest and not related to Mobotix AG in any way. You are free to use these tools for personal use. I will not be liable for any damage, loss of data or other forms of unexpected behaviour. See MIT license for more details
usage: python mxbackup.py [options]
(or mxbackup.exe [options] when using the exe builds from the dist folder)
Options:
-d or --deviceIP = IPv4 address of the device to be backed up
-l or --devicelist = csv file with devices to be backed up. Must contains header line and
IP address in first column
-u or --username = Device username (default admin). All devices should use this username.
-p or --password = Device password (default meinsm). All devices should use this password.
-s or --ssl = Device will be contacted using HTTPS (certificate SA will not be checked)
Currently different usernames/password for the devices in the list is not yet supported.
After supplying the correct arguments configuration backup files will be written named IPaddress_datetime.cfg like: "192-168-1-24_170903-2214.cfg (or hostname instead of IP addr)
usage: python mxrestore.py [options]
(or mxrestore.exe [options] when using the exe builds from the dist folder)
Options:
-d or --deviceIP = IPv4 address of the device to be restored
-l or --devicelist = csv file with devices to be restored. Must contains header line and
IP address in first column
-u or --username = Device username (default admin). All devices should use this username.
-p or --password = Device password (default meinsm). All devices should use this password.
Currently different usernames/password for the devices in the list is not yet supported.
-o or --override = Override the warning when the Camera SW version of cfg file and camera
are different (this might cause serious trouble)
-r or --reboot = Reboots the camera after the configuration has been restored
-s or --ssl = Device will be contacted using HTTPS (certificate SA will not be checked)
After supplying the correct arguments configuration backup files will be searched starting with an IPaddress or hostname as found in the provided list or device parameters like "192-168-1-24_*.cfg" If a valid config file has been found in the current directory the SW version number in the file is checked with the SW version of the camera. Should these not be the same the file will not be restored unless the -o or --override parameter is supplied. If more device backups are present in the current directory the most recent one will be restored. The config in the file will be entirely restored, stored in flash and an update command is issued. A final reboot is optional an will be issued when supplying the -r or --reboot parameter. Restoring takes about 90 seconds per camera.
usage: python mxpgm.py [options]
(or mxpgm.exe [options] when using the exe builds from the dist folder)
Options:
-d or --deviceIP = IPv4 address or devicename of the device to be restored
A warning is issued when a non IP adres is supplied
-l or --devicelist = csv file with devices to be restored. Must contains header line and
IP address in first column
-u or --username = Device username (default admin). All devices should use this username.
-p or --password = Device password (default meinsm). All devices should use this password.
Currently different usernames/password for the devices in the list is not yet supported.
-c or --commandfile = filename of textfile containing commands to perform
-v or --verify = Do not program but just show resulting merged commandfile
-f or --fileout = depricated from version 1.3 onwards
-s or --ssl = Device will be contacted using HTTPS (certificate SA will not be checked
-o or --verbose = depricated from version 1.3 and replaced with
-o or --output = show response of the camera
-t ot --timeout = Override timeout (default 10 seconds)
Configuration changes could be easily made by backing up config files, changing them with a text editor and restoring the result. Using MxPgm this is even easier. Mobotix IP camera's come with an overwheling amount of configuration options. When configuring these camera's for larger projects it can be time saving when configuration parameters can be pushed to a number of camera's at once. Mobotix supports copying parts of the config to other camera's but often this overwrites parts you wouldn't like to be overwritten. For instance: If you would like to enable the speaker on every camera you would need to copy the audio section which would overwrite the sip number which is unique to each camera. So a more granular configuration tool would be useful.
Mobotix camera's support a Remote configuration API which enables to write configuration lines in the syntax found when viewing the camera's raw config. This API is documented at http://developer.mobotix.com/paks/help_cgi-remoteconfig.html MxPGM (short for Mobotix Programmer) utilizes this API.
The commands to be send to the camera first need to be saved in a configfile, like:
storeandreboot.conf:
helo
store
reboot
quit
Now we also need a list of device IP adresses (or DNS names) to send these commands to like:
devicelist.csv
IP
192.168.1.100
mycamera
192.168.1.102
Say, these cam's have an admin account "john" with password "mysecret" MxPGM can now be put to work with:
> python mxpgm.py -c storeandreboot.conf -l devicelist.csv -u john -p mysecret -v
The -v (verify) option tells mxpgm to just print out the commands without actually programming any camera. Then, leaving the -v out, the camera's can be programmed. MxPGM will have a communication timeout of 5 seconds and will assume that a command is processed within 10 seconds (a reboot takes about 12 seconds to process, the reboot itself nearly 2 minutes). If a longer timeout should be required the timeout can be overridden with the -t option.
The devicelist could also contain parameters, unique to each camera, to be passed to the specific camera. Consider the example where we would like to configure the devicename of each camera:
devicelist.csv
IP;devicename
192.168.1.100;Cam01
192.168.1.102;Cam02
The configuration file can take the devicename parameter put between curly brackets
setdevicename.conf
helo
write params
ethernet/HOSTNAME={devicename}
store
reboot
quit
and issue MxPGM with
> python mxpgm.py -c setdevicename.conf -l devicelist.csv -u john -p mysecret -v
In these cases the -v option is valuable since we can verify the merging of the parameter to avoid rubbish being send to the camera's. Files can have any name. The devicelist file is a CSV file with ";" as a separator and starts with a header line. NOTE: Parameters can only be supplied in columns additional to the IP column (the first "IP" column cannot be used as a parameter).
When programming a single camera without parameters instead of a camera device list (the -l option) a single IP can be passed with the -d option like:
> python mxpgm.py -c storeandreboot.conf -d 192.168.1.100 -u john -p mysecret -v
- Use the "write" option to replace an entire section when "write params" is not possible. This is usually the case when dealing with profiles which may have random generated profile ID's in it.
- If you still need to change a single line in a section with profiles, refer to the correct profile
as described in the API documentation. Supply the profile name after the section:
<section name>/<profile name>/<parameter>=<value>example:
helo
write params
events/ima_5a805a6b/ima=ima_5a805a6b:_profilename=VM2:ima_dead=5:ima_sens=vm:activity_level=33...etc
store
quit
- Be careful when programming camera's with a mix of software versions. A sample section taken from a camera with a different firmware might not work on another firmware.
- Some configurations don't seem to end in a proper way and cause a timeout in the end. Although after investigation the proper config seemed to be stored. This behaviour should have been fixed as of 1.3
- Using "append", "write" and "write params" in a single config file might cause trouble. Better write separate configs but be aware to use the right order when parts of these configs rely on each other (like calling an IP Notify which needs to be programmed before).
Sometimes you just need to send a HTTP API command to some camera's and overwriting the config is too complicated, like disable an action handler and storing the config. I used to craft a batch file with a series of curl commands for that but decided to write a small program to make life easier.
usage: python mxapi.py [options]
(or mxapi.exe [options] when using the exe builds from the dist folder)
Options:
-d or --deviceIP = IPv4 address of the device to be restored
-l or --devicelist = csv file with devices to be restored. Must contains header line and
IP address in first column
-u or --username = Device username (default admin). All devices should use this username.
-p or --password = Device password (default meinsm). All devices should use this password.
Currently different usernames/password for the devices in the list is not supported.
-a or --apicommand = api url like /control/rcontrol?...etc...
-s or --ssl = Device will be contacted using HTTPS (certificate SA will not be checked)
-t ot --timeout = Override timeout (default 3 seconds)
When lots of Mobotix camera's have the Microphone Event (MI) enabled and there will be lots of noise like on New Years fireworks this will cause an overload in alarm messages. For this specific usecase MxMic was programmed.
usage: python mxmic.py [options]
(or mxmic.exe [options] when using the exe builds from the dist folder)
Otions:
-d or --deviceIP = IPv4 address of the device to be restored
-l or --devicelist = csv file with devices to be restored. Must contains header line and
IP address in first column
-u or --username = Device username (default admin). All devices should use this username.
-p or --password = Device password (default meinsm). All devices should use this password.
Currently different usernames/password for the devices in the list is not supported.
-s or --ssl = Device will be contacted using HTTPS (certificate SA will not be checked)
-t ot --timeout = Override timeout (default 10 seconds)
-miccheck or -micon or -micoff
-miccheck will probe alle camera's from the IP list generating a new CSV file mic_on.csv
A second run with the "-micoff -l mic_on.csv" options will now switch off the MI event.
After the new years celebration the microphone can again be enabled by running the
program a third time using the "-micon -l mic_on.csv" options.