User Authentication

In order to add QbProtect to a VMS or/and obtain the RTSP video stream from the device the user has to provide the credentials of an ONVIF key: an application key with the ONVIF / RTSP access option enabled.

  • Both ONVIF and RTSP are relying on the QbProtect user management system.

  • An ONVIF key has to be used to establish a connection with QbProtect via ONVIF (VMS systems) and/or via RTSP (video players).

An ONVIF key can be generated by enabling the ONVIF / RTSP access option from the user account page, as shown in the figure below. Please refer to QbProtect documentation in order to learn more about user management and application keys.

create onvif key
Figure 1. Creating an ONVIF key suitable for ONVIF/RTSP connections

The resulting ONVIF key (password) in combination with the account user name (login) can be used, when prompted, as credentials pair (login/password) in the VMS or video player (e.g. VLC).

onvif key
Figure 2. Resulting ONVIF key

  • Each user account has at most one ONVIF key of its own, used with the account user name.

  • The ONVIF key can be used as a password for VMS systems and video players.

Access levels

What a VMS may do over ONVIF follows the ONVIF default access policy, applied to the access level and the read-only option of the ONVIF key it uses:

ONVIF key Allowed over ONVIF

AUTHORIZED or ADMIN, read-only

Reading the device information and the network, time, discovery, media and imaging configuration, subscribing to events and streaming video.

AUTHORIZED

In addition, changing the media configuration.

ADMIN

In addition, changing the network, time and discovery configuration, rebooting the device, restoring the factory defaults (hard reset only), and listing and managing the ONVIF users.

An ONVIF key with ADMIN access level can be created from an account with ADMIN access level.

ONVIF users

A VMS with a writable ADMIN ONVIF key can manage users itself, with the ONVIF user handling commands (GetUsers, CreateUsers, SetUser, DeleteUsers). It sees and manages the ONVIF users of every account, and lists the ONVIF key of each account as a fixed user. An ONVIF user is an additional ONVIF key with its own user name, created on the account of the ONVIF key that created it. The ONVIF user levels correspond to the access levels as follows:

ONVIF user level ONVIF key

Administrator

ADMIN

Operator

AUTHORIZED

User

AUTHORIZED or ADMIN, read-only
onvif user
Figure 3. An ONVIF user created by a VMS, on the account page

  • An ONVIF user can not be given a higher access level than its account, nor more than read-only access on a read-only account.

  • ONVIF users are shown with their user name among the application keys of their account on the account page, and can be deleted there.

  • The ONVIF key of an account itself is managed on the account page only; the VMS sees it as a fixed user named after the account.