Everything in Everest
A complete edge-to-cloud video storage platform for VMS/NVR/CCTV environments. From filesystem-level interception to cloud archival, disaster recovery, and enterprise administration.
Features
Across all categories
Lifecycle
L1 · L2 · L3
Drives
Per deployment
Cloud Providers
AWS · Wasabi · compatible
Core lifecycle management
Edge-to-Cloud Archival
Everest automatically replicates surveillance video from local VMS storage to S3-compatible cloud object storage using configurable three-phase lifecycle management — local-only, local plus cloud replica, and stubbed local with cloud primary.
Benefit: Eliminate single points of failure in local storage infrastructure. Cloud replicas ensure recordings are recoverable even after on-site hardware failure.
Tech: Three-phase lifecycle: L1 (local only), L2 (local + cloud replica), L3 (cloud + local stub file). Phase thresholds configurable in hours, days, months, or storage percentage.
Local Spool and Retry-Safe Upload
Files are spooled locally before cloud upload begins. Failed uploads are queued for retry with exponential backoff, ensuring no recording is permanently lost due to transient network conditions.
Benefit: Upload reliability regardless of intermittent connectivity. Suitable for remote sites with variable internet availability.
Tech: Configurable retry policy with exponential backoff. Spool-based queue prevents duplicate upload attempts and tracks partial multipart upload state.
Progressive Hydration and Reclaim
When Nx Witness requests playback of a stubbed video file, Everest transparently downloads the cloud copy and replaces the stub before allowing the read to proceed. After playback, the local copy can be reclaimed again.
Benefit: Seamless playback experience for archived recordings without manual operator intervention. Local storage is reclaimed automatically after the configurable grace period.
Tech: Stub files are 100–150 bytes and contain cloud key, original size, and checksum. Stub detection uses file size check followed by marker validation — no database lookup on every open().
Data pipeline architecture
Shared Memory Ring Buffer Pipeline
File write events are passed from the filesystem driver to the .NET worker via a high-throughput shared memory SPSC ring buffer, minimizing latency overhead and avoiding disk I/O round-trips for the interception pipeline.
Benefit: Minimal impact on VMS recording performance. The interception pathway does not add measurable write latency under production camera loads.
Tech: FUSE driver acts as ring buffer producer. .NET worker acts as consumer. eventfd/epoll-based notification. Supports real-time replication mode when configured.
Platform and driver support
Linux FUSE Driver Integration
Everest uses a FUSE-based userspace filesystem driver on Linux to transparently intercept file write and close operations at the VMS storage path, with zero modification required to Nx Witness or the host OS kernel.
Benefit: Deploy on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 without kernel patches, custom modules, or VMS reconfiguration. FUSE-level integration is stable and distribution-friendly.
Tech: FUSE driver mounts over the configured Nx Witness storage path. Supports per-drive instances via systemd template units (everest-fuse@.service). Up to 8 drives simultaneously.
Windows Driver Support (Planned)
Everest is designed for cross-platform deployment. A Windows minifilter kernel driver is planned to provide equivalent filesystem interception on Windows 11 Professional/Enterprise and Windows Server 2019/2022.
Benefit: Future-ready architecture supports heterogeneous environments with a consistent lifecycle model across both operating systems.
Tech: Windows minifilter driver targets kernel-mode file system filter registration. Planned to include WHQL signing readiness for enterprise deployment compliance.
VMS integration
Nx Witness / Network Optix Integration
Everest is designed specifically for Nx Witness VMS storage workflows. It intercepts at the configured Nx Witness storage path and preserves the full VMS directory structure in cloud storage, enabling seamless playback hydration.
Benefit: Nx Witness continues operating normally with no awareness of cloud operations. Administrators can archive video at cloud scale without reconfiguring or patching the VMS.
Tech: S3 object keys mirror the VMS folder hierarchy: {license_key}/{drive_label}/{server_guid}/{quality}/{camera_mac}/{year}/{month}/{day}/{hour}/. Stub files report original file sizes to VMS via getattr.
Cloud storage providers
AWS S3 Cloud Storage Support
Everest supports AWS S3 as a primary cloud storage provider through a unified S3-compatible API abstraction. Files under 100MB use single PUT operations; larger files use multipart upload with 64MB chunks.
Benefit: Leverage AWS S3's durability and global availability for long-term video archival. Multipart upload ensures reliability for large surveillance recordings.
Tech: Supports standard S3 storage class. Authentication via access key/secret key. All communication over HTTPS/TLS. Supports up to 10TB per individual file upload.
Wasabi Cloud Storage Support
Wasabi is the reference S3-compatible provider for Everest. Wasabi's cost-effective storage pricing makes it well-suited for high-volume surveillance archival workloads.
Benefit: Significantly lower cloud storage costs compared to standard providers, without sacrificing S3 API compatibility or standard storage tier access latency.
Tech: Wasabi Cloud Storage uses standard S3 API. No egress fees for many use cases. Object keys and multipart upload behavior identical to AWS S3.
Disaster recovery
Disaster Recovery Backup and Restore
When a site failure occurs, Everest's disaster recovery feature enables administrators to restore video files, SQLite metadata, configuration, and credentials from cloud storage to a replacement server through a guided dashboard workflow.
Benefit: Reduce recovery time after hardware failure, ransomware, or network outage. Cloud-replicated data and configuration make site restoration predictable and auditable.
Tech: Restores video files, SQLite metadata DB, INI configuration, and license credentials. Post-restore checksum verification. Configurable parallel download threads and bandwidth throttle.
Operational controls
Scheduled Upload Windows
Administrators can configure a daily time-of-day schedule for cloud replication cycles, allowing upload to occur during off-peak hours and avoiding bandwidth contention with active VMS recording or business operations.
Benefit: Protect daytime recording performance and business-critical bandwidth. Schedule overnight replication to match available internet capacity.
Tech: Schedule stored in INI config and SQLite DB. Time zone aware using host OS timezone. Estimated replication duration displayed based on pending data volume and measured bandwidth.
Administration and portal
Multi-Tenant Administration
The Everest admin portal supports tenant onboarding, license provisioning, subscription lifecycle management, and billing metric collection across multiple customer deployments from a centralized management interface.
Benefit: Service providers and system integrators can manage multiple customer sites from a single portal without per-customer infrastructure overhead.
Tech: Each tenant assigned a globally unique identifier. JWT-based authentication with role-based access control. All onboarding events recorded in tamper-evident audit log.
Admin Portal (Local Web Dashboard)
A locally hosted web-based administration portal provides real-time storage statistics, lifecycle state visibility, file management, configuration editing, billing metrics, and health monitoring — accessible from any browser at localhost.
Benefit: Platform-agnostic administration without requiring command-line access. Dashboard works from any browser on the same network as the VMS server.
Tech: Blazor Server-based dashboard. Accessible at http://localhost:<port>. Not cloud-hosted. Supports role-based access (read-only and administrator roles). JWT authentication.
Licensing and subscriptions
Site-Based Licensing
Everest licensing operates at the VMS site level. Each site receives a unique license key associated with a subscription plan. License validity is continuously enforced with configurable grace periods for network outages.
Benefit: Clear, predictable per-site licensing model. License renewal does not require software reinstallation. Subscriptions can be upgraded or downgraded without service interruption.
Tech: License keys validated against centralized licensing service over TLS. Credentials stored in tamper-resistant form. Periodic re-validation at configurable intervals.
Monitoring and observability
Upload and Download Metrics
Everest captures monthly operational metrics including storage utilization, S3 upload/download latency averages, upload throughput, edge-to-cloud upload lag, and API error rates.
Benefit: Operational visibility across all deployed sites. Support teams can identify underperforming deployments and validate SLA compliance without accessing video content.
Tech: Metrics pushed to central web application monthly or on demand. Stored per site using server ID as primary key. Full month-by-month history retained.
Agent Health Monitoring
Everest performs periodic health checks covering FUSE mount status, cloud connectivity, replication and reclaim worker thread status, management UI availability, and service uptime.
Benefit: Automatic detection and recovery from transient failures minimizes manual intervention. Administrators receive alerts before failures impact surveillance coverage.
Tech: Health check results exposed via REST API endpoints. Failed services restart automatically with exponential backoff. Critical failures escalated via configured alert mechanisms.
Security and access control
Audit Logs
All lifecycle state changes, cloud deletion events, administrator actions, license events, and configuration changes are recorded in a structured audit log accessible from the management dashboard.
Benefit: Maintain an auditable trail of all operations for compliance, incident investigation, and operational review. Logs include actor identity, timestamp, and action detail.
Tech: Log entries include ISO 8601 timestamps, log level, component identifier, file paths, operation duration, and cloud API call status. Log rotation with configurable size limits.
Secure Configuration
Cloud provider credentials are stored encrypted at rest. The management interface enforces HTTPS communication. Self-signed certificates are generated at installation with an option to replace with CA-signed certificates.
Benefit: Credentials are never stored in plaintext. HTTPS enforcement prevents administrative credential interception on local networks.
Tech: Encryption key backed up to S3 after administrator approval, protected using the product license key. bcrypt password hashing for administrator credentials. JWT token-based session management.
Billing and usage metering
Billing-Ready Transfer Metrics
Everest tracks camera channel counts, gross managed capacity (upload + download bytes), and monthly peak usage figures to support accurate billing. Both folder-scan and Nx Witness API camera counts are captured for reconciliation.
Benefit: Transparent, auditable usage data for billing, cost forecasting, and invoice validation. Exportable as CSV from the billing tab.
Tech: Hourly snapshots of cumulative managed bytes persisted to SQLite. Monthly peak (high-watermark) computed and stored per billing period. Supports pro-rated billing for mid-cycle tier changes.
All features. One platform.
Download the Everest agent for Ubuntu and connect your Nx Witness deployment to cloud storage today.