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NovaVMS Manual

Install a gateway

Use this procedure for a gateway that will stay at the site — Raspberry Pi 5, Intel NUC, or an Ubuntu/Debian box. The gateway talks to cameras on the LAN and tunnels video to the cloud over TCP 443.

What you will need

  • The gateway unit: Pi 5 (8 GB) + PoE HAT, Intel NUC, or equivalent per Supported hardware.
  • Power: PoE+ (802.3at) on the switch port, or 12 V DC injector + barrel jack.
  • One terminated Cat6 drop from the gateway location back to a PoE-capable switch port.
  • A pairing code from the admin: 6-character uppercase alphanumeric, 10-minute expiry (US-GW-1).
  • Optional for first boot: USB keyboard, HDMI cable, a monitor.

Procedure

  1. Unbox the gateway and confirm the model matches the work order.
  1. Mount the gateway. Horizontal shelf, 600 mm above floor minimum, away from direct heat. For rack mounts use the vendor’s 1U or half-rack kit. Torque rack screws to 1.8 N·m.
  1. Connect Ethernet. Terminate the Cat6 drop with T568B at both ends. Test with a cable meter — end-to-end continuity on all 4 pairs, no shorts.

  1. Apply power. For PoE+: plug the Cat6 into the gateway’s PoE-in RJ45 and bring up the switch port with PoE enabled. For DC: plug the 12 V barrel jack.

  2. Wait for first boot. Pi 5 takes 30-45 seconds; NUC takes 20-30 seconds. The gateway’s front LED stays solid green when the WebSocket to the cloud is up.

  1. Open a laptop on the same LAN. Run ping <gateway-ip>. The IP comes from the site IP plan or DHCP lease table.

  2. SSH to the gateway or attach the USB keyboard. On the Pi 5 with the reference image, the login is novavms. On a fresh Ubuntu/Debian box, run the installer script:

    Terminal window
    curl -fsSL https://novavms-manual.novalien.com/install/gateway.sh | sudo bash

  3. Pair the gateway. Replace <CODE> with the 6-character code from the admin:

    Terminal window
    sudo /opt/novavms-gateway/novavms-gateway pair --code <CODE> --cloud-url https://novavms.novalien.com

  4. Confirm the heartbeat. The admin’s Gateways page shows a green dot for this gateway within 30 seconds. Ask them to confirm.

  1. Close up. Lock the rack door or replace the shelf cover. Tag the gateway with its asset ID and the site code.

Variations

  • Airgapped install. If the site has no internet, you cannot pair from the cloud. Use the offline bootstrap kit: USB stick with a pre-provisioned gateway.yaml and API key. Consult novavms-gateway-deploy internal runbook.
  • Pre-provisioned gateway. If the unit was paired at the office, skip steps 7-8 — power-on is all that is needed. Verify step 9 still passes.
  • Silent pairing via QR. Scan the QR printed on the pairing dialog with the gateway’s camera input (if fitted). The gateway paired automatically.

If this didn’t work