Blue Iris

Alerts & Action Map • SMS alerts

2021-12-22T16:53:52+00:00

Introduction

This article discusses how to trouble shoot SMS alerts.

If you are interested in learning how to create SMS alerts or other alerts go to Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert and click on the Help button in the Action set dialog. This will immediately take you to the Alerts and Actions section of Help.

Furthermore, the Triggers and Alerts section of the online Checklist provides references to articles and webinars for deeper understanding.

Troubleshooting

Log files

Confirm alerts are being sent from the server

Understanding the logs is key to understanding what is going on.

Code:

3 12/3/2021 12:41:27.834 AMADF1                MOTION_A0 12/3/2021 12:41:28.809 AMADF1                DeepStack: person:76% [484,287 525,378] 111ms0 12/3/2021 12:41:31.734 AMADF1                SMS: 1112223333@tmomail.net with 1 attachment/s

This camera was setup for Motion trigger and DeepStack AI. In the above log snippet, ADF1 (camera name) detected motion at 12:41:27.834 AM.
DeepStack identified a person at 12:41:28.809 AM. At 12:41:31.734 AM an SMS alert was sent. Note the gap between the MOTION event and the Alert should not be more than 1-2s.

If the logs state the SMS alert was NOT sent, skip below section and jump to No SMS alert section to troubleshoot your server settings.

SMS alert

If the logs state alerts are being sent, then you can be confident the camera is triggering on motion and alerts are being sent by BI.
The issue must reside with your email server settings or your ISP provider.

Send alternative alerts
If you are only sending one type of alert, e.g. an SMS alert, create an Email alert to try and isolate the issue. Does the Email alert work?

If so, the email server must be setup correctly. SMS and Email alerts both leverage the email server. Assuming the same email server is being used for both Email and SMS alerts, if one alert works then the email server must be setup correctly.

SMS alert dialog
It's possible a setting in your SMS alert dialog is blocking the alert from being sent. Double-check your Profiles and Trigger and Zones section.

ISP Provider
It's very possible you were sending too many alerts and your ISP provider throttled your service. It's also possible that you selected image attachments with the text and your ISP provider blocked sending the message because the data size was too large.
FYI, many users send SMS alerts with no image. They also create an Email alert with image attachments. When an SMS arrives, the user checks his email to see the images.
Telegram is also becoming popular with users as an alternative to SMS alerts.

Email server
If an Email alert does not work either, the common denominator is the email server.
Global settings -> Email servers.

Email process: BI Server -> Email server -> Email notification
SMS process: BI Server -> Email server -> Mobile provider email to text service -> SMS message

Easy to check if SMS and Email alerts are being processed correctly by your email server. Simply login to your email server. Go to the sent folder.

If you see sent emails to your cellular provider (for an SMS text) or to the email address specified in the Email alert settings, your mail server processed the alert correctly. BI emails are easy to spot because the subject starts with Blue Iris. If you do not see any BI sent emails, your email server is not setup correctly.

No SMS alert

If you are here, the logs state no SMS alert fired. The question is why?
First understand how alert actions(SMS, Email, Push etc) are generated.
Camera triggers (trigger tab settings) -> AI (if enabled) -> Alert filters (if any, alerts tab settings) -> Alert action filters (if any, alert action settings)

Details
Trigger tab: Camera triggered (motion event in logs). Easy to confirm whether camera triggered (besides checking the logs). In the Trigger tab, set Add to alerts list: = Hi-res JPEG files. If the camera triggers, a corresponding alert image is created in your Alerts folder! Easy way to use BI to tell you what is going on.

-> AI: If using AI, DeepStack analysis will tell you if an object was found, i.e. confirmed alert. Fortunately a DeepStack event will also be registered in the logs.

-> Alerts tab: Filters in the AIerts tab can block an alert. Easy to check. Do you see the event in the Alerts list. If not, then you know the Alerts tab is somehow blocking the Alert!

-> Alert action: Filters in the Action map settings can block an alert

If the logs state the camera triggered (i.e. Motion event in logs) and NO alerts are being sent, then you can be confident there has to be an issue with Camera settings on the Alert tab and/or the SMS Alert action. You need to figure out why alerts are being blocked, since you know the camera triggered.

If the logs state the camera did NOT trigger (i.e. no Motion event in logs) then you will have to revisit your Trigger tab settings.

Statistics: Posted by varghesesa — Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:53 pm

Alerts & Action Map • Email alerts

2021-12-22T16:24:39+00:00

Introduction

This article discusses how to trouble shoot Email alerts.

If you are interested in learning how to create Email alerts or other alerts go to Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert and click on the Help button in the Action set dialog. This will immediately take you to the Alerts and Actions section of Help.

Furthermore, the Triggers and Alerts section of the online Checklist provides references to articles and webinars for deeper understanding.

Troubleshooting

Log files

Confirm alerts are being sent from the server

Understanding the logs is key to understanding what is going on.

Code:

3 12/2/2021 10:03:11.239 AMnorman              MOTION_A0 12/2/2021 10:03:11.546 AMnorman              DeepStack: car:86% [304,67 395,117] 85ms0 12/2/2021 10:03:11.546 AMnorman              DeepStack: Car:86% [299,63 400,124] 85ms0 12/2/2021 10:03:12.720 AMnorman              Email: xxxxx@yahoo.com with 1 attachment/s

This camera was setup for Motion trigger and DeepStack AI. In the above log snippet, norman (camera name) detected motion at 10:03:11.239 AM.
DeepStack identified a car at 10:03:11.546 AM. The camera was set to sample the Motion leading edge in addition to the trigger leading edge, thus the two DeepStack calls very close in proximity. At 10:03:12.720 AM an email alert was sent. Note the gap between the MOTION event and the Alert should not be more than 1-2s.

If the logs state the Email alert was NOT sent, skip below section and jump to No Email alerts section to troubleshoot your server settings.

Email alert

If the logs state alerts are being sent, then you can be confident the camera is triggering on motion and alerts are being sent by BI.
The issue must reside with your email server settings or your email provider.

Send alternative alerts
If you are only sending one type of alert, e.g. an email notification, create an SMS alert to try and isolate the issue. Does the SMS alert work?

In the screenshot above, this email alert will ONLY fire in Profile 2.

Email server
If an SMS alert does not work either, the common denominator is the email server.
Global settings -> Email servers.

Email process: BI Server -> Email server -> Email notification
SMS process: BI Server -> Email server -> Mobile provider email to text service -> SMS message

Easy to check if SMS and Email alerts are being processed correctly by your email server. Simply login to your email server. Go to the sent folder.

If you see sent emails to your cellular provider (for an SMS text) or to the email address specified in the Email alert settings, your mail server processed the alert correctly. BI emails are easy to spot because the subject starts with Blue Iris. If you do not see any BI sent emails, your email server is not setup correctly.

No Email alert

If the logs state the camera triggered (i.e. Motion event in logs) and NO alerts are being sent, then you can be confident there has to be an issue with Server permissions. As stated above, double check your Profiles and Trigger and Zones section of the Email alert dialog.

If the logs state the camera did NOT trigger (i.e. no Motion event in logs) then you will have to revisit your Trigger tab settings.

Alert images
The Email alert provides a lot of choices for image/mp4 attachments.

Troubleshooting
If there are issues with the image attachments for example some frames are black, the underlying cause is often the video stream. Either frames are not available when the email is being generated or the encoding is causing errors. Confirm the camera window has no warning symbols and the video stream has no issues. The Live view article has details.

Issue
Confusion arises when dual streams are connected to the camera. Users may want high-res images or they may be fine with low res images. This section provides clarity as to what to do to meet your needs.

Background info
The thumbnail image which is actually stored in the database and associated with the Alert is 240px.
In earlier versions of 5.x, the thumbnail image was 480px, but the increased size really did not add much value, but did eat up database storage so was changed back to 240px.

The fix
To get higher resolution main stream Alert images, select Hi-res JPEG files for Add to alerts list:. Camera settings -> Trigger tab.

Dual streams
If your camera has dual streams and Hi-res JPEG is selected (as stated above), but the alert image is not the higher resolution image, the issue is often the main stream does not have the corresponding key frame. If the hi-res (mainstream) alert could not be saved, the software will use the alert image which is cached in memory (sub stream if camera has dual streams).

The fix is setting an appropriate pre-trigger buffer size.

Server errors
If the above two fixes do not resolve the issue, right click on an alert -> Open containing folder.
Is the corresponding JPEG the correct resolution? 240p is what's in the database. However if there's a hi-res JPEG file, this should be served instead.

If the Open containing folder selection is greyed out, then there is an issue.

The most obvious cause is you did not set Add to alerts list = Hi-res JPEGfiles
OR There is an issue with the setup of the Alerts folder (image below), folder permissions or something else.
Check the log for errors, in particular Storage errors.

Note on email alerts
Email alerts provide many more options.
The Motion leading-edge image will always come from the sub stream.
The Trigger leading-edge, aka the Alert image, will only be high-res if you select Hi-res JPEG (as stated above) AND the main stream has a key frame in the buffer (thus, the need for a pre-trigger buffer as stated above).
The Additional images will always be hi-res (if you have a main stream key frame in the buffer).
Finally, the Email alert dialog also provides quality controls (default is 50/50) which can alter the alert image.

Statistics: Posted by varghesesa — Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:24 pm

Alerts & Action Map • Push notifications - Alert images

2021-12-21T16:38:41+00:00

Introduction

Alert images are the thumbnails that appear alongside the Push notification on your phone.

By default an alert image is included with a Push notification.

Alert images work by the mobile app first receiving a Push notification from the BI server (via Apple/Android push servers). The mobile app then makes a request for the corresponding alert image associated with the Push notification. If the alert image is not included with the Push notification, this communication between the app and the BI server has been broken.

This article explains how to self-correct your settings if the Alert image stops working. See Push notifications article, if you are not receiving Push notifications.

Troubleshooting

There are two ways to crack this nut. You can either (1) double-check your settings or (2) identify the issue in the logs and work backwards. Both approaches are provided.

Settings

All the suggestions below are based on past tickets.

IP Address

The most common issue is the IP Address on the BI server changed. Logout of the mobile app.
Go to your server settings and hit the Lookup key (iOS) / Get IPS key (Android) to update the LAN / WAN addresses. Confirm LAN/WAN addresses are correct. Wait for the next Push notification to confirm issue is resolved.

Android + SSL

Android / Google came out with tighter certificate restrictions recently. You need to make some changes to your Stunnel config file. The Android Gotcha article documents how other customers resolved issue.

Network

The network setup is critical to getting the apps working on the WAN. When the alert image is not present, use the mobile browser on the phone to connect to the web interface. If the phone cannot connect to UI3, you know the network is not setup correctly.
Double check your network setup.

If the UI3 interface is working, the IP address is wrong or the incorrect protocol (http/https) is selected.
Revisit the Server settings on your mobile app.

Login

When you don't get the image, are you able to login with the app?
If you cannot login, and you ruled out network issues (above), double check the permissions associated with the user/mobile device trying to connect.

Logs

The debug logs will tell you the issue. When the next notification arrives on your phone without an alert image, go to the app (do not select notification) -> ? tab -> Debug log.
Scroll to the bottom of the log and look for downloadTaskWithURL commands associated with your recent alerts. I numbered the lines key for attaining alert images.

Code:

2021-09-08 7:55:10: handleRemoteNotification: 'ADF7' (MOTION_A) triggered on 'Mabury Square' at 7:54:39 AM, long-chime-sound.wav 2642021-09-08 7:55:10: Server now Mabury Square --> 4 server=Mabury Square, cam=ADF7, wanip=(null)3    2021-09-08 7:57:40: downloadTaskWithURL http://10.0.0.5:7000/thumbs/alert.2057329278.jpg?session=54d67b8a1a3b65880775655e0eb1098d fails The request timed out.2021-09-08 7:57:40: Requesting image from http://xxxx.ngrok.io/thumbs/alert.4118562208.jpg?session=2e4742d111f37fc81f1b3e2a25ee13d65    2021-09-08 7:57:40: downloadTaskWithURL http://xxxx.ngrok.io/thumbs/alert.4118562208.jpg?session=2e4742d111f37fc81f1b3e2a25ee13d6 fails The resource could not be loaded because the App Transport Security policy requires the use of a secure connection.2021-09-08 7:58:39: didDetermineState: 12021-09-08 7:58:39: http://xxxx.ngrok.io --> {    cmd = geofence;    inside = 1;    session = 00a939f740fe6f735b582ded29ce028d;}2021-09-08 7:58:39: http://xxxx.ngrok.io/json <-- {"result":"success","session":"00a939f740fe6f735b582ded29ce028d"}

downloadTaskWithURL calls: Calls to get alert image using LAN address (line 3) and WAN address (line 5). There are 2 requests per notification because the app automatically checks the LAN and WAN addresses.

Line 3: 2021-09-08 7:57:40: downloadTaskWithURL http://10.0.0.5:7000/thumbs/alert.2057329278.jpg?session=54d67b8a1a3b65880775655e0eb1098d fails The request timed out.

You can first confirm whether the URL makes sense. Is the IP addresses accurate? Are the ports accurate?
In my scenario for this example, I was NOT on the LAN thus the LAN call times out.

Line 5: 2021-09-08 7:57:40: downloadTaskWithURL http://xxxx.ngrok.io/thumbs/alert.41185 ... 2a25ee13d6 fails The resource could not be loaded because the App Transport Security policy requires the use of a secure connection.

From Line 5, it should be obvious based on the URL, I implemented NGROK. It now becomes easy to check whether the URL is correct. If not, perhaps logging out and hitting the lookup key will update the address (see IP address section above). If that does not work, you will have to revisit your web server settings.

I purposely created a scenario where I setup the BI server to communicate via https and the app is setup for http. Thus the error message.

The resource could not be loaded because the App Transport Security policy requires the use of a secure connection.

The fix is to logout of the mobile app, edit the Server settings, and switch the WAN protocol from http to https.

If I were using port forwarding, the URL would have a WAN IP address similar in structure to Line 3. You can then confirm whether the WAN address is correct. If not, revisit your network setup, in particular the web server settings. Global settings -> Web server tab. If the WAN address is correct, you may need to revisit your router and the port forwarding setup.

In this example, both requests failed and the notification was sent without an image. The LAN address failed because the phone was on the WAN.
The WAN address failed because the BI server was setup for https but the mobile app was using http communication.

Statistics: Posted by varghesesa — Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:38 pm

Alerts & Action Map • Push Notifications

2021-12-21T03:02:04+00:00

Introduction

This article discusses how to trouble shoot Push notifications.

If you are interested in learning how to create Push notifications or other alerts go to Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert and click on the Help button in the Action set dialog. This will immediately take you to the Alerts and Actions section of Help.

Furthermore, the Triggers and Alerts section of the online Checklist provides references to articles and webinars for deeper understanding.

Troubleshooting

Update to the latest version or the latest stable version of the BI server. Update to the latest version of the mobile app. Features/functionality on the mobile app are not guaranteed to run with older versions of the server.

Divide the problem into server vs mobile app.
Did the BI Server send the Push alert?

Log files
The log files will state whether push alerts are being sent from the server.

Understanding the logs is key to understanding what is going on.

Code:

3 12/16/2021 8:30:48.325 AMCam4                MOTION_AB0 12/16/2021 8:30:56.132 AMCam4                DeepStack: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 30ms

In the above log snippet, Cam4 detected motion at 8:30:48.325. DeepStack cancelled the alert. Thus there is no following Push event.

Code:

3 12/16/2021 8:32:38.420 AMCam4                MOTION_AB0 12/16/2021 8:32:40.975 AMCam4                DeepStack: car:81% [147,273 359,432] 28ms1012/16/2021 8:32:41.238 AMServer              [::]: Connected0 12/16/2021 8:32:41.631 AMCam4                Push: OK to varghesesa’s iPhone1012/16/2021 8:32:41.632 AMServer              [::]: Connected0 12/16/2021 8:32:41.770 AMCam4                Push: OK to Galaxy S10

In the above log snippet, Cam4 detected motion at 8:32:38.420. DeepStack identified a car and confirmed the alert. Thus two Push events fired, one to an iPhone and a second to an Android device.

Notice with confirmed Alerts, the Push notifications are sent seconds after BI senses Motion. The gap between the MOTION event and the Alert should not be more than 1-2s.

If the logs state the Push notification was sent, the server settings are fine. The Mobile app or the Phone has issues. Skip below section and jump to Push alerts section further below.

No Push alert

If you are here, the logs show no Push events. First confirm the camera is triggering, i.e. Motion events are recorded in the logs. If not, visit the Triggers and Alerts content in the Checklist. Some obvious areas to investigate:

Cameras
Are the cameras working?
See Camera Stream Gotchas article.

Trigger settings
Are you still receiving motion triggers? The Alerts list will tell you! Also check the Cancelled alerts folder. If not, there is a problem with the Trigger tab.

If the camera does trigger, the BI server settings (global settings, alerts tab) are causing BI to NOT send the Push notification. This section helps troubleshoot issues associated with the BI server NOT sending Push alerts.

Permissions

Walk through permissions article.

Alerts tab - Action Map

If the motion trigger is present, there is a problem with the Alerts tab.

I would look closely at my Push notification settings. One common mistake is the Profiles for the alert are NOT active for the Profile you are testing.
Camera settings -> Alerts tab -> On Alert.

If you do not know how to debug alerts, watch the Triggers and Alerts webinar. The information is also available in the Alerts and Actions section of Help (Testing the Action Set).

Alerts tab

Alerts are turned off (accidentally) on the camera.

Revisit the Camera settings -> Alerts tab.
A common mistake is you accidentally turned off Alerts.

One user accidentally switched Any to All. With all the Zones checked you are effectively telling BI the Motion had to cross ALL zones for an alert to trigger.
I have yet to see a use case where a user had all zones set. Basically, he cancelled alerts for all motion triggers coming from the motion sensor.

Push alert

Log states alerts are sent

Send alternative alerts

Leverage BI functionality to test further.
If all of the above permissions are set correctly and Push notifications are still NOT working, then create/test an Email / SMS alert.
If those alerts work, then you know the issue probably does NOT reside with your Server permissions or motion trigger settings.
This is a strong hint that something is wrong with mobile phone settings or the mobile app.

Apple / Android Push servers

It's very possible, the issue could reside with Apple/Android Notification Servers, your mobile device or maybe even your cellular provider.
If you created an SMS alert as stated above and the SMS alert is responsive, you can assume BI sent the Push correctly as well.

Firewall settings
Maybe your firewall is blocking ports for Push notifications?
Highly unlikely. Most firewalls do not prevent outbound traffic.

If issue is still not resolved, include mobile app info to the ticket for BI engineering to review.
See Next steps / Submitting a ticket section in Mobile devices article.

Statistics: Posted by varghesesa — Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:02 am

Alerts & Action Map • Remote access - User & Mobile device permissions

2021-12-20T19:22:35+00:00

Introduction

An often overlooked aspect of remote access is user and mobile device permissions. Many users will spend hours on their Alerts tab or Action map or Network setup to only discover the issue was with permissions. If not setup correctly, functionality on your Mobile apps or the UI3 web interface (remote endpoints) may not be working as you expect.

Common issues that lead to tickets:
Cannot connect from the WAN.
I do not receive push notifications.

This article deep dives into the Global settings -> Users tab and Global settings -> Mobile devices tab. We document all the ways permissions can affect remote endpoint functionality.

Users tab

Global settings -> Users tab
The Users tab sets permissions for the user logged into the remote endpoint.

Accessible times and profiles

Make sure the user is allowed remote access. LAN only is unchecked.
Make sure the user is allowed access to BI during the appropriate profiles.

If not set correctly the user will not be able to access BI from the remote endpoint. If you are using a custom schedule, double check those settings as well.

Camera groups

If you are using camera groups, the user must have access to a group that contains the appropriate cameras.

If not set successfully, specific cameras may not be visible at the remote endpoint. Push notifications will also NOT be received by the device.

Push notifications

In the user profile, you have the ability to restrict Push notifications by Profile. Confirm Push notifications are active in the user's profile for the appropriate profiles. Always good to start with NO restrictions, get the alerts working, then applying any restrictions.

Specific to mobile apps, this setting can prevent Push notifications to mobile devices.

Testing

If another user on another phone is receiving push alerts, test the non-working phone with the working user account. If working user account works on the non-working phone, then you know the phone is fine. The user account must not have correct permissions. An example of isolating the issue to user permissions or mobile device by leveraging a user account that we know works.

Mobile devices tab

Global settings -> Mobile devices tab
Setting permissions correctly for the mobile device is equally important as the user permissions.

Mobile device
The first check is to confirm whether your phone is listed in the Mobile devices tab. This confirms your Server settings on the mobile app are correct and your device is registered with the BI server.

Mobile app server settings
If your phone is NOT listed, you first need to double check your Server settings on the mobile app.

User permissions
If the Server settings are correct, double check your User permissions above.

Web server advanced
Review the Web Server Advanced dialog. Make sure the mobile device is not blocked via the IP address.

Push notifications

If this device should receive Push notifications, confirm Push notifications are enabled for the user's phone (above).
This is another reason why Push notifications may not be going to your device.

Mobile Tags

Mobile tags can also prevent Push notifications and Alert actions. If you are using tags make sure the mobile phone in question has the tag associated with the alert.

The below action map shows this particular Push notification ONLY goes to devices with the security tag.

Tags can prevent any alert (not just Push notifications) from being sent to a mobile device. Best to not use tags and confirm the alert works. Afterwards, apply tags if necessary.

Legacy GCM

Make sure Legacy GCM is unselected. Only needed for very old models which get phased out over time.

Testing

If another user on another phone is receiving alerts, maybe test the non-working phone with the working user account. If the working user account does NOT work on the non-working phone, then you know the phone is the issue. An example of isolating the issue to user permissions or mobile device permissions by leveraging a user account that we know works.

If the working account does NOT work on the new phone:

You have to double check your Server settings on the mobile app.
Revisit your network setup, especially the Global settings -> Web server tab. Review the Web Server Advanced dialog as well. Make sure the mobile device is not blocked via the IP address.

Mobile device/phone settings

If you are trying to troubleshoot alerts to your mobile app, the other aspect of permissions is in regards to the Phone settings. The Server settings section of the Mobile devices article explains how to use the Wizard to setup the Phone settings correclty.

Statistics: Posted by varghesesa — Mon Dec 20, 2021 7:22 pm