What uptime takes
Availability comes from redundancy of critical nodes and maintenance discipline. These measures can be implemented in stages without replacing all equipment.
Power
- UPS for recorders and switches sized for a correct recording shutdown.
- Separate power lines for outdoor nodes and indoor cameras.
- Monitoring of backup power activation and notification of the responsible person.
- Surge protection on outdoor lines.
Network
- Managed switches with port and PoE budget monitoring.
- Ring or redundant topology for backbone segments.
- CCTV segmentation into a dedicated VLAN with restricted access.
- Packet loss and latency monitoring for high-bitrate cameras.
Archive
- Capacity planning with at least 20% headroom for bitrate growth.
- RAID or recording redundancy for critical cameras.
- SMART monitoring of disks and replacement before failure.
- Verification of actual archive depth, not just settings.
Procedure
Technical measures only work together with a process: who reviews alerts, how fast they respond, and how the result is recorded. The minimum procedure is daily review of critical events, weekly archive checks and a monthly fleet health report.