Ubuntu Server 14.04 64-bit with Zoneminder 1.28.1 the easy way

Zoneminder 1.28.1 on Ubuntu 14.04. Should also works on Ubuntu 14.10 running init.

I did this install on a 64 BIT server but it should work on 32 BIT. As of 20FEB15 I have tested this with a local USB camera and a remote h.264 camera with Ffmpeg and Libvlc.

If you install from CD install Ubuntu Server, OpenSSH Server, and LAMP Server (LAMP installs Apache2, PHP, and MySQL server)

If you use the minimum ISO CD install Basic Server, OpenSSH Server, and LAMP Server (LAMP installs Apache2, PHP, and MySQL server)

Log in then become root:

sudo su

If you used the server install CD

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

Optional: Set static IP address

nano /etc/network/interfaces

Make changes similar to this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
  address 192.168.1.10
  netmask 255.255.255.0
  gateway 192.168.1.1
  dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1

Note: for Ubuntu 14.04 the resolv.conf is dynamically assigned. The "dns-servers" entry in the interfaces file will set the DNS Multiple DNS server entries can be used.

Reboot server

Log in and become root

sudo su

Suggested changes to MySQL

For most of you Zoneminder will run just fine with the default MySQL settings. There are a couple of settings that may, in time, provide beneficial especially if you have a number of cameras and many events with a lot of files. One setting I recommend is the "innodb_file_per_table" This will be a default setting in MySQL 5.6 but should be added in MySQL 5.5 which comes with Ubuntu 14.04. A description can be found here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/innodb-multiple-tablespaces.html

To add "innodb_file_per_table" edit the my.cnf file:

nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Under [mysqld] add

innodb_file_per_table

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Restart MySQL

service mysql restart

As you add cameras to your system and the events build up you may need to increase the size of the "innodb_buffer_pool_size" when this setting runs out of space your system may act like it is out of disk space. One way to check this is to install mysqltuner and run it from the command line. When the results are shown you can edit the my.cnf file and change the buffer size. The default "innodb_buffer_pool_size" is 128M. In the ZM forum I have found a recommended setting of 256M. My production server required a setting greater than 410M. Install and run mysqltuner to determine the recommended size for your system. Be sure to restart MySQL after making changes.

Add Repository

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder

apt-get update

Install Zoneminder

apt-get install zoneminder

Create Zoneminder database in MySQL (Note: this also creates the default Zoneminder user and permissions in MySQL)

This next step creates a file which contained the MySQL user and password. Otherwise you will have to enter the user and password on the

command line which is not secure!

Go to the root dir

cd ~

Create a hidden password file

nano .my.cnf

Enter this content

[client]
user=root
password=(mysqlpass)

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Create database

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

mysql 

grant select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';

\q (enter) (to quit)

Remove password file

rm .my.cnf

Set permissions of /etc/zm/zm.conf to root:www-data 740

chmod 740 /etc/zm/zm.conf

chown root:www-data /etc/zm/zm.conf

Add delay to allow MySQL to start before Zoneminder

nano /etc/init.d/zoneminder

Add sleep 15 as shown:

start() {
     sleep 15
     echo -n "Starting $prog: "

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Create a new user

adduser www-data video

Enable CGI and Zoneminder configuration in Apache.

a2enmod cgi

a2enconf zoneminder

a2enmod rewrite

Start Zoneminder

service zoneminder start

Add timezone to PHP

nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Search for [Date] and make changes as follows for your time zone

[Date]
; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
; http://php.net/date.timezone
date.timezone = America/New_York

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Restart Apache

service apache2 reload

Install Cambozola (needed if you use Internet Explorer)

cd /usr/src && wget http://www.andywilcock.com/code/cambozola/cambozola-latest.tar.gz

tar -xzvf cambozola-latest.tar.gz

replace 936 in the next line with cambozola version downloaded

cp cambozola-0.936/dist/cambozola.jar /usr/share/zoneminder

You should now be able to access the web server using https://servername

NTP Daily Sync

nano /etc/cron.daily/ntpdate

Copy the following into nano

!/bin/sh 
ntpdate ntp.ubuntu.com

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/ntpdate

Open Zoneminder in web browser

http://serverip/zm

Click Options

Uncheck: Check with zoneminder.com for updated versions (?) click Save

Click Images tab

check Is the (optional) cambozola java streaming client installed (?) Click Save