Fedora 11 HowTo with ZoneMinder

Jun-9th-2009

Here’s a quick tutorial to get started with ZoneMinder on your Fedora PC/laptop. Let it be known that this may well apply to many other Linux distro’s, all I can say is that I have tested with my Fedora 11 PC.  Let me also tell you that ZoneMinder is a serious example of open source software at its very best.

zm_logo

Step 1- Install ZoneMinder using Yum:

-> su

-># yum install zoneminder

Step 2 – Allow web access to ZoneMinder

A prerequisite is that you have Apache installed, and you have an Apache server running.

You now need to allow  access via a web brower. By default, this is disabled, so you need to comment out the line: Deny from all # DELETE THIS LINE

From file: /etc/httpd/conf.d/zoneminder.conf

Step 3 – Setup the Database

A prerequisite is that you have mySql setup on your PC, and have the mySql server running.

You will need to import the zm_create.sql file, to create the database, and create the structure of the database for you. You will find this file here:

/usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql

You could either do this within phpMyAdmin, if you have it installed, or just at the command line:

># mySql – [username] -p < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql

Step 4 – Start ZoneMinder, and let’s setup a Webcam!

Start ZoneMinder: ># /etc/init.d/zoneminder start

Now log in: http://localhost/zm

It’s very intuitive..”Add New Monitor”. From now on, this very much depends on your webcam, the driver the webcam uses etc…

Step 5 – An Example Setup

Here’s my working example for webcam: Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Communicate STX USB info – 046d:08ad

source: local, function: MoDetect, Dev Path: /dev/video0, Capture Method: Video for Linux version 2, channel 0, Format: NTSC, palette RGB24, width 320, height 240.

Then.. in “Options”, under “Image” tab, I set “Stream Method” to “jpeg”.

Enjoy!

Comments

  1. Martin Said,

    Thanks for the tip, but unfortunately this recipe does not work as of 2009/06/30 on Fedora 11… Either something in the stream of updates breaks a component, or soneminder is broken. BTW, I also tried on SuSE. In both cases I was hoping I could go the RPM route to accelerate the deployment, but to no avail. Thanks anyway. Martin

  2. Pavol Said,

    This worked for me as written, no problem.
    Now getting my card to work is a different issue ;)
    Thanks for the instructions, Pavol

  3. Alex Kambas Said,

    This guide is very helpfull but it needed a few corrections for me to work.

    First, importing zm_create.sql from myphphadmin doesn’t work as it complains about a double entry and stops importing there. The db is bad and when trying to start the service you get a bunch of error warnings.

    So it HAS to be imported from prompt, only the command line you quote does nothing if you use the -[username] bit. So you need to run the command without it, i,e:

    mysql -p < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql

    *note mysql has NO caps

    Once this is done, check that the db is there and then BEFORE starting the zoneminder service and once you have edited the conf file as explained in the beggining of this howto, you MUST restart apache (service httpd restart).

    Then start zoneminder.

    Many thanks for all your work and sharing it with us, I hope this helps a bit more.

  4. Charles R Said,

    Mine works with Alex’s revisions, however:

    1). I can’t see the ZM Console from other computers, only locally if I enter http://127.0.0.1/zm into the browser

    2). Still having issues with the Axis 2100 camera setup.

  5. Luis C. Said,

    If you can’t see the console from other computers but you can from the local computer, make sure you have allowed http traffic, port 80 on the firewall (ipchains).

  6. Ray Kotara Said,

    Thanks for this guide, it was the only thing I really needed to get this running and is very concise. For Fedora 12 users, I thought I might include the commands and comments based on your great work for those that who need it (and a small fix for Fedora 12 PHP). I’m a bad boy and run all this as root, though. :)

    su – root
    #install apache if needed
    yum install httpd
    chkconfig httpd on

    #Setup mysql
    yum install mysql-server
    chkconfig mysqld on
    service mysqld start
    mysqladmin -u root password
    mysql -u root -p < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql #will ask for passwd typed above

    #setup zoneminder
    yum install zoneminder
    vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/zoneminder.conf # remove the line "Deny from all # DELETE THIS LINE"
    chkconfig zoneminder on
    service zoneminder start

    #fix fedora 12 php
    vi /etc/php.ini #Change the value for short_open_tag from 'Off' to 'On' on line 229

    #restart apache for all above
    service httpd restart

  7. Ray Kotara Said,

    Woops, I have it installing zoneminder twice.. If you can, please remove that line in the #Setup mysql section, provided you approve of my previous post. Thanks!!!!

  8. Rob Said,

    @Ray

    Thanks for adding your contribution, and for checking out my site. I have made the edit to your post…

    Glad it was of help to you :-)

  9. Sathishkumar Said,

    Thanks for the guide. I got some memory issues and i cleared it by increasing the kernel memory mapping.. Finally its working after resolving lot of bugs

Add A Comment

By Rob
Comments (9)