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Set a Default or Camera-Specific Location for Image and Video Data
Set a Default or Camera-Specific Location for Image and Video Data

Learn how to set your default image and video data location in Verkada Command

Updated over a week ago

Verkada systems store all of their data in the cloud, leveraging Backblaze for the storage of cloud backups in the United States (US) and European Union (EU), and AWS cloud services in Canada (CA) and Australia (AU). Learn how Verkada manages and processes data.

Important. When you first created your organization, if you selected Europe as your data processing location, then the option to set a default data location is not available. All data types will default to Europe.

Set a default location for image and video data

In Verkada Command, Org Admins can set the default image and video data location for their organization as follows:

  1. Sign in to an Org Admin account.

  2. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Admin.

  3. At the top, click Privacy & Security > Data Residency.

  4. Next to Default Image & Video Data Location, click the dropdown and select the desired region for your data to be hosted and processed during org creation: US, European Union (EU), Canada (CA), and Australia (AU).

Note: This change is not retroactive, so only data uploaded after the selection will be stored in the new location.

Set a specific location for camera image and video data

In Verkada Command, from the Admin tab, Org Admins and Site Admins can set individual cameras to different data storage locations, if desired.

  1. In Command, sign in to an Org Admin account or an account with Site Admin privileges to the desired site.

  2. At the top left, click All Products > Cameras.

  3. On the Cameras page, select the desired camera.

  4. At the bottom right of the camera live feed, click the Settings (gear) icon and open the camera's settings page.

  5. On the settings page, select Privacy.

  6. To the right of Data Storage Location, click the dropdown and select the desired region (US, EU, CA, AU) for your data to be hosted and processed. The Org Default is US.

Note: Only video and image follows the selected location. Camera configurations, authentication, updates, analytics, and so on are processed or stored in the US.

In addition, if you create a zip file using the Incident Management feature and have chosen only archive clips with a storage location in the US, copies of the archived clips are temporarily stored in the US to facilitate creation of the zip file. For zip files consisting of archive clips from different regions, clip copies are temporarily stored in the EU.

Feature details

Note: Notwithstanding your selection, certain types of data relating to the use of your camera may be processed outside of your selected region, as specified below. These include authentication data, metadata, remote video playback, and so on. These are processed in the US or EU, depending on your organization’s chosen data processing location.

Configuration data

Feature

Details

US

EU

CA

AU

Authentication and user management

Example: audit logs, user info, permissions

Note: Authentication data is stored in the US (including CA and AU) and data for EU users is stored in the EU.

Video data

Feature

Details

US

EU

CA

AU

Local network video playback

When possible, cameras default to streaming over the local network when a user and device are authenticated.

Remote video playback

⚠ Important: Image and video data is proxied through our AWS infrastructure: (i) in the EU for customers in Verkada's EU data center and (ii) in the US for all other customers.

Note: Image and video data may be temporarily stored on the US infrastructure only if the configured organization region is US.

Cloud backup data

Every Verkada camera comes with 30 days worth of free cloud backup storage. This feature is enabled on a per-camera basis. If cloud backup has been configured and a camera goes offline:

  • You can view all footage that has been successfully uploaded to the cloud prior to the outage.

  • The camera continues to record locally, even if offline.

  • Once the connection to the cloud is re-established, all footage is again backed up to the cloud.

By default, cloud backup data is stored on Backblaze servers. If the chosen region is within the US or EU, the data is stored through Backblaze; for other regions, AWS is utilized.

Archives

Archives are stored using AWS cloud storage services, and these are stored on the corresponding region configured.

When you archive a video clip in Command, the files are retained in Verkada’s cloud service indefinitely until one of these events occurs:

  • You delete the file in Command.

  • You terminate your Verkada organization.

Note: If you create a zip file using the Incident Management feature and have chosen only archive clips with a storage location in the US, copies of the archived clips are temporarily stored in the US to facilitate creation of the zip file. For zip files consisting of archive clips from different regions, clip copies are temporarily stored in the EU.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails are stored using AWS cloud storage services, and these are stored on the corresponding region configured.

Thumbnails are briefly stored in camera memory before being uploaded to the cloud.

Note: This data remains in the cloud as long as the camera retention or extended cloud backup retention allows. After this period, the Verkada system automatically deletes the oldest thumbnails.

Metadata

In the cloud, the Verkada system stores metadata related to the camera’s settings and status, including time and network connectivity.

Metadata is briefly stored in camera memory before being uploaded to the cloud.

This data remains in the cloud as long as the camera retention or extended cloud backup retention allows. After this period, the Verkada system automatically deletes the oldest metadata.

Metadata (timestamp, and so on) is stored in our US-based AWS infrastructure, DynamoDB.

Analytics

Feature

Details

US

EU

CA

AU

People and Vehicle Analytics

When an Org Admin enables the People and Vehicle Analytics features, Verkada cameras capture high resolution images of people and vehicles in the scene. These images are processed on our AWS infrastructure (i) in the EU for customers in our EU data center and (ii) in the US for all other customers. See also User Guide for People Analytics.

Important: Outside of the onboard retention and cloud backup retention of the camera, no versions or copies of the video are retained by Verkada, unless the video has been archived or the customer has consented to the retention.

Related resources


Need more help? Contact Verkada Support

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