For self-hosted Camlocus installation, the customer must provide a clean Ubuntu server and SSH access to the Camlocus technical team. Camlocus team performs the platform installation and configuration.
Required Operating System
- Ubuntu 22.04 or newer
- Clean OS installation
- No pre-installed applications, panels, web servers, databases, or custom services unless agreed in advance
Recommended: provide a freshly installed Ubuntu 22.04+ server before installation.
Customer Must Provide
- Clean Ubuntu 22.04+ server
- SSH remote access
- sudo/root privileges
- public server IP address
- domain or subdomain if required
- enough storage for planned camera recording
- stable internet connection
Installation Process
- Customer prepares a clean Ubuntu 22.04+ server.
- Customer provides SSH access to the Camlocus technical team.
- Camlocus team connects to the server and installs the platform.
- Camlocus team configures required services.
- Camlocus team verifies that the platform is working correctly.
- Customer receives platform access details after installation.
- Additional servers can be added later if more storage or processing capacity is required.
Recommended Server Type
- Dedicated server for production use
- VPS is not recommended for production video workloads
Reason: video surveillance systems generate constant network traffic and may require CPU/GPU resources for transcoding, video processing, and playback. Dedicated servers provide more predictable network, storage, and CPU performance.
Hardware Sizing
Exact server sizing is calculated individually based on the customer installation. Requirements depend on:
- number of cameras
- camera resolution
- bitrate per camera
- 24/7 recording or motion-only recording
- playback retention period
- transcoding usage
- number of simultaneous viewers
- AI / analytics workload if used
Scaling Model
Camlocus can scale by adding additional dedicated servers from the administration panel. New camera data can be distributed across multiple servers, allowing the system to grow from smaller installations to larger multi-server deployments.
When the system grows, additional servers can be added with the required storage and processing capacity. New cameras can then be assigned to different servers, so camera data does not need to be stored on one single machine.
Recommended SSH Access Policy
Add this as a security recommendation. Keep it short and practical:
- Use SSH key access where possible
- Create a temporary sudo user for Camlocus installation
- Restrict SSH access by IP if possible
- Remove or disable temporary access after installation
- Do not send root passwords through unsecured channels
Do Not Ask Customers To Install Camlocus Themselves
The manual should not instruct customers to manually install the full self-hosted platform. The correct process is:
Customer prepares clean Ubuntu 22.04+ server -> Customer provides SSH access -> Camlocus
team installs and verifies the platform
Implementation Checklist for Developer
- Add new FAQ question and answer for self-hosted requirements.
- Create manual page: Server Management -> Self-Hosted Requirements.
- Keep formatting consistent with the rest of the manual.
- Use clear headings and short paragraphs.
- Use bullet points for requirements and process steps.
- Do not publish internal installation commands for full self-hosted platform unless approved.
- Mention Ubuntu 22.04+ as required OS.
- Mention clean OS requirement clearly.
- Mention that Camlocus team performs the installation.
- Mention dedicated server recommendation and VPS warning.
- Mention that exact sizing depends on camera count, bitrate, retention, transcoding, viewers, and AI/analytics workload.
- Mention scaling through additional dedicated servers in admin panel.
- Add SSH access security recommendations.
Final Content Summary
Customer responsibility: provide a clean Ubuntu 22.04+ server and SSH access.
Camlocus responsibility: install and configure the platform.
Production recommendation: use dedicated servers, not VPS.
Scaling: add more dedicated servers from the admin panel and distribute new camera data across servers.