12 min read

Setting Up Sites

Before your team can start handling alarms in GC Surge, your cameras need to be connected. Camera onboarding is the process of linking your physical cameras to the GC Surge cloud so that alarm events can flow to your operators. GC Surge is built to minimize the manual work involved — connecting cameras on other platforms typically requires manual device configuration and IT involvement. For supported camera brands, GC Surge configures alarm forwarding automatically while onboarding continues in the background. Covers: How to Add Your Cameras, Connection Modes (Public / Private / Edge), What You Need Before Starting.

What Camera Onboarding Does

Devices are automatically assigned to sites during setup — no manual linking required. For publicly reachable cameras, onboarding takes approximately 5 minutes per 100 cameras. Genie, the built-in AI assistant, is available throughout setup to guide you based on the site type you are working with.

Connection Modes

You choose the connection mode through the Guided Setup in Configuration. Based on how your cameras are connected to the network, select the appropriate mode during setup. Three modes are available:

Mode 1 — Public IP: Your camera has a publicly reachable IP address. GC Surge connects directly and configures alarm forwarding automatically — no on-site work required.
Mode 2 — Private/VPN: Your camera is on a private network or behind a firewall. An on-site agent (Windows/macOS local agent) handles discovery and configuration from within the local network.
Mode 3 — Edge: Your camera only streams video and cannot send alarms on its own. GC Edge software runs on a PC at the site, connects to the camera RTSP stream, and triggers alarms from the stream.

What You Need Before Starting

Camera brand, IP address, protocol, port, username, and password for each site.
A site name for each location — review Site Naming Conventions below before you start, as names cannot be changed easily after activation.
Contact name, email, and phone number for Private/VPN or Edge sites — required only if you are not on-site yourself. If you are at the site, you can tick I'm at this site — I'll set it up myself and skip the contact fields.

How to Add Your Cameras

All camera and site additions are done from Configuration in the left sidebar. Click the ADD button to choose one of four methods:

Guided Setup (recommended) — answers a short set of questions about your camera type and network setup, then walks you through the correct steps automatically. Use this for first-time onboarding or when you are unsure which mode applies.
Add Sites Manually — add a new site or add a camera to an existing site by filling in the form directly.
Spreadsheet Import — upload multiple sites at once using the provided Excel template. GC Surge validates the sheet automatically before submission.
Connect a Single Device — connect one device via REST API, SMTP, or FTP without going through the Guided Setup.

What You Enter

Whether you are adding one site or uploading a spreadsheet, each site requires the same fields:

Site name.
Camera IP address and port.
Camera brand — the platform uses this to determine the correct configuration path. Supported brands for automatic configuration: Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, and NX Witness. Hanwha and Spike Box cameras run on the NX Witness platform, so select NxWitness as the brand for them.
Camera username and password.
Site contact name, email, and phone number — required for Private/VPN and Edge sites only if you are not on-site yourself. Optional if you tick I'm at this site — I'll set it up myself.

For bulk import, download the provided Excel template, fill in your sites, and upload the sheet. GC Surge validates the sheet automatically and shows you exactly what needs to be fixed before you can proceed.

Connection Modes: What Happens After You Submit

Mode 1 — Public IP

For cameras with a publicly reachable IP, GC Surge connects directly and injects alarm forwarding settings automatically — no on-site work required.

In Configuration, click ADD and select Guided Setup.
Choose Add a new site and enter the Site name.
Select A brand from our list if your camera is Axis, Dahua, Hikvision, or NX Witness (automatic configuration — no manual steps needed). If your camera is not on the list but can send alarms, select My camera can send alarms (API, FTP or SMTP).
Choose Public when asked if the camera is publicly exposed.
Fill in the camera details: Camera IP, Camera brand, HTTP port, toggle HTTPS (secure) if applicable, Username, and Password.
Click Add Site. GC Surge automatically pushes SMTP alarm forwarding credentials to the device (SMTP server: smtp.zeptomail.eu, port 587, TLS).

Mode 2 — Private/VPN

For cameras on a private network, the Guided Setup routes you through the Private/VPN flow. A local agent on a PC inside the same network handles discovery and alarm forwarding configuration.

In the ON-SITE CONTACT section: if you are physically at the site, tick I'm at this site — I'll set it up myself — contact fields become optional. If someone else at the site will complete the setup, enter their name, email, and phone — they will receive the Site Key and instructions via WhatsApp or email.

Field activation is completed using one of two tools:

GDA app (Android) — recommended: The on-site contact receives the Site Key from the admin via WhatsApp, email, or QR code. They open the GDA app, enter the Site Key, and the app automatically discovers all ONVIF cameras on the local network and configures alarm forwarding. See GDA App – Field Activation for the full procedure.
Windows/macOS local agent: Download the Windows or macOS installer from the Local Agent Not Connected box at the bottom of the form. Install and run it once on a PC on the same local network as the cameras. Click Retry Connection. Once activation is complete, the agent can be uninstalled — it is not needed after the initial setup. GC Surge connects and pushes alarm forwarding configuration automatically.

For bulk imports with private sites, the Bulk device configuration section appears after upload and applies settings to all private devices at once — no per-device steps required. The on-site contact must complete field activation before cameras go live.

Local Agent (Windows / macOS)

The Local Agent is a one-shot activation tool, not a permanent service. It runs once on-site, discovers ONVIF cameras on the local subnet via WS-Discovery, applies the alarm-forwarding settings, and registers the site back to GC Surge using the Site Key. Once that's done, cameras talk directly to the cloud ingest endpoint and the agent can be uninstalled — it plays no ongoing role. The Local Agent Not Connected status simply means GC Surge hasn't yet heard back from the agent for this site.

Windows installer — needs Windows 10/11 (or Server 2019/2022), local admin rights to install, and direct subnet access to the ONVIF cameras. Because WS-Discovery uses UDP multicast, the agent must sit on the same LAN segment as the cameras — it won't work across NAT or routed subnets.
macOS installer — on first run macOS prompts for Local Network permission (WS-Discovery uses multicast); grant it, or camera discovery returns zero devices. You may also need to allow the app under Privacy & Security if Gatekeeper flags it. After activation, the permission can be revoked and the app uninstalled.
Retry Connection — re-attempts the handshake between the agent and GC Surge. If it keeps failing, the usual causes are: the agent process isn’t actually running on the on-site machine; that machine has no internet access (the agent calls back over HTTPS, outbound 443 only); or the wrong Site Key was used. If the agent connects but no cameras are discovered, confirm it’s on the same subnet as the cameras and that the cameras have ONVIF enabled.

Mode 3 — Edge

Edge is for cameras that only stream video and cannot send alarms on their own. GC Edge software runs on a PC at the site, connects to the camera's RTSP stream, and triggers alarms from the stream. NOVA99x runs locally inside GC Edge on the site machine, using GPU acceleration if available or CPU otherwise.

How to set up an Edge site

In Configuration, click ADD and select Guided Setup.
Choose Add a new site and enter the Site name.
Select My camera only streams video. The setup automatically routes to Edge mode.
Fill in the camera details: Camera IP (private IP on the local network), HTTP/S port, RTSP port (default: 554), toggle HTTPS (secure) if applicable, Username, and Password. Camera brand is set to GCEdge automatically.
In the ON-SITE CONTACT section: tick I'm at this site — I'll set it up myself if you are present, or enter a contact person to receive the Site Key and instructions.
Click Add Site. The site is created with status Pending.
Click Send Site Key on the site row, complete the required fields, and copy the Site Key.
On the on-site PC, open the GC Edge software, paste the Site Key, and click Connect. GC Edge scans the local network, detects cameras, and displays a snapshot of each.
Select the cameras you want to activate and click Add selected cams.
⚠ ARM the GC Edge software — click the ARM button in GC Edge to start receiving alarms. The software does not arm automatically after setup. Alarms will not flow until it is armed.

Validate Before You Leave the Page

After adding a camera, complete these steps before marking the device as operational:

In Configuration, confirm the camera appears under the correct site and the device count has incremented.
Check the onboarding mode assigned to the site in the Sites dashboard.
In Video Search, confirm events from the new camera are appearing. This verifies the full alarm pipeline — from camera to cloud to processing to searchable. Allow a few minutes after activation.
Do not mark the device as operational until the site status has reached Done.

Where to Track Progress

Once your sites are submitted, the Sites dashboard is your central view. It shows the connection status, onboarding mode, and progress for every site.

Site statuses

Done — onboarding completed cleanly: all cameras discovered, configured, sending alarms, and visible in Video Search. No action required.
Pending — onboarding is in progress but not finished. Cameras have been added, but the cloud has not yet completed the configuration push or received a confirmation alarm. Resolves automatically; wait a few minutes before taking any action.
Error — at least one configuration step failed, usually an unreachable IP, wrong credentials, or an unsupported brand. The site needs intervention before alarms will flow. Correct the issue and use Retry in the Sites dashboard.
Part. Pend. (Partial Pending) — a multi-camera site where some cameras are Done and others are still being configured. Not fully ready, but not broken.
Part. Err. (Partial Error) — a multi-camera site where some cameras are working and others have failed. The site is partially operational; fix the failed cameras and use Retry.

If a site shows Error

The most common causes are invalid credentials, a blocked or incorrect port, unsupported firmware behavior, or a camera that appeared to be on a public IP but is still behind access controls the cloud cannot traverse. Correct the specific issue in the site detail view and click Retry — do not delete and re-add the site, as re-adding creates a duplicate entry and does not resolve the underlying problem.

Manual configuration (fallback)

If a camera can't be configured automatically — it stays in Error after Retry, or the brand/firmware doesn't accept the automatic push — you can set it up by hand: take the SMTP/FTP details GC Surge generated, enter them into the camera's own alarm-forwarding settings through its web interface, then confirm in GC Surge. The device is then marked Manually configured and sends alarms the same as any other device.

Monitoring after activation

Check the Sites dashboard regularly. Any site whose Site Status changes from Done without a known cause needs immediate investigation.
If a camera stops sending events, start from the camera’s device detail view in Configuration before taking any other action.

Site Naming Conventions

Site names appear across Video Search, Analytics, subscription filters, and Configuration. Consistent naming makes large deployments manageable and prevents confusion across all platform views.

Use a consistent format that maps to your business structure, such as City-BuildingType-Number (examples: Amman-Retail-01, Dubai-Warehouse-07).
Site names cannot be changed easily after activation. Choose names carefully before submission.
Avoid special characters, spaces within identifiers, or inconsistent capitalization — these cause parsing issues in bulk imports and confuse search results.
For bulk imports, run a small test batch of 5–10 rows first. Divide large imports into batches of 50–100 sites per upload.

Best Practices

Plan your site names before you start — see Site Naming Conventions above for the recommended format. Names are permanent once a site is activated.
Use bulk import for large deployments — it scales better than adding sites one at a time, and any errors are caught before a single site is submitted.
Add a site contact for Private/VPN and Edge sites if someone else will handle on-site activation. If you are at the site yourself, tick I'm at this site — I'll set it up myself instead.
Use Genie on each setup page — it adapts its guidance to the site type you are currently working with.