Alarm Configuration Guide

Set up intelligent alarm rules for monitoring and notifications

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Overview

Kalytera's alarm system lets you create rules that trigger actions when specific events occur — such as a camera going offline, motion being detected, or storage running low. The system supports 42+ trigger types across multiple categories.

License requirement: Alarms and analytics are available on Standard tier and above. Community Edition users do not have access to the alarm system.

Predefined Alarm Templates

Kalytera includes 6 ready-to-use alarm templates for common scenarios. These can be activated with a single click:

Device Offline

Triggers when a camera or device loses network connectivity.

Motion Detection

Triggers when motion is detected by the analytics engine.

Recording Stopped

Triggers when a device unexpectedly stops recording.

Storage Low

Triggers when recording storage falls below a threshold.

Tampering

Triggers when camera tampering is detected (covered, moved, or defocused).

Video Loss

Triggers when the video signal from a camera is lost.

Creating Custom Alarm Rules

For more specific monitoring needs, create custom alarm rules using the 5-step wizard:

1

Basic Info

Name, severity, description

2

Trigger & Devices

Event type & target devices

3

Schedule & Conditions

When & under what conditions

4

Actions

What to do on trigger

5

Settings

Cooldown & advanced options

  1. Basic Info — Give your rule a name, set the severity level (Critical, High, Medium, Low, Info), and add an optional description.
  2. Trigger & Devices — Select the event type from 42+ trigger categories and choose which devices to monitor. Use "All Devices" to apply to every camera, or select specific devices.
  3. Schedule & Conditions — Optionally restrict when the rule is active (e.g., business hours only) and set trigger-specific thresholds (e.g., motion sensitivity, storage threshold percentage).
  4. Actions — Define what happens when the alarm fires: start recording, capture snapshot, send notification, trigger relay output, or fire a webhook.
  5. Settings — Configure cooldown period (minimum time between repeated triggers), auto-acknowledge, and other advanced options.

Trigger Categories

Alarm triggers are organized into categories:

Category Trigger Types Mode
Network & Connectivity Ping Check, Port Check, Device Offline, Device Online, Bandwidth Usage, Connection Count Monitoring
Analytics Motion Detection, Object Detection, Line Crossing, Intrusion Detection, Analytic Rules, Tampering, Video Loss Event-based
Recording & Storage Recording Stopped, Recording Started, Storage Low, Storage Full, Recording Gap Monitoring
System & Hardware CPU Usage, Memory Usage, Disk Health, Service Crash, Temperature, Fan Speed Monitoring
Security Login Failed, Unauthorized Access, Configuration Changed, Firmware Update Available Event-based

Analytics Triggers

Analytics-based triggers use Kalytera's built-in AI detection engines. You can create Analytic Rules that define specific detection conditions, then reference them in alarm rules:

  • Motion Detection — Frame-differencing based motion with configurable sensitivity and minimum motion percentage
  • Object Detection — AI-powered (YOLOv8) detection of people, vehicles, and other objects
  • Overcrowding — Triggers when detected object count exceeds a threshold
  • Zone Intrusion — Triggers when objects enter a defined polygon zone
  • Line Crossing — Triggers when objects cross a virtual line (configurable direction)
  • Loitering — Triggers when objects remain in a zone longer than a defined dwell time

Analytics triggers require Standard tier or above. GPU acceleration (NVIDIA with CUDA) is recommended for AI-based detections (object detection, line crossing, zone intrusion, loitering).

Alarm Actions

When an alarm rule triggers, it can perform one or more actions:

  • In-App Notification — Shows a real-time alert in the Kalytera web interface
  • Email Notification — Sends an email to configured recipients
  • Start Recording — Begins recording on the affected camera
  • Capture Snapshot — Saves a still image from the camera at the time of the event
  • Webhook — Sends an HTTP POST to an external URL for integration with third-party systems

Feature Availability

Feature Community Standard Professional+
Alarm Rules
AI Analytics (YOLOv8)
Analytic Rules (Zone, Line, Loitering)
I/O Control Actions