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NovaVMS Manual

Restrict when a camera records and triggers alerts

Restrict when a camera records and triggers alerts

Use this procedure when a camera should only record or fire alerts during certain hours — for example, a loading-dock camera that only matters after business hours, or a lobby camera that should stop firing when staff are on site.

NovaVMS schedules sit on the alert rule, not on the camera itself. You attach the camera to an alert rule that has a schedule, and the rule’s schedule decides when alerts fire.

Procedure

  1. Go to Alerts → Rules.
  2. Click New rule (or click an existing rule to edit it).
  3. In Step 2 – Scope, select the camera you want to restrict.
  4. In Step 4 – Schedule, choose Custom.
  5. Select the days of the week the rule should be active (e.g. mon, tue, wed, thu, fri).
  6. Set the start time and end time in 24-hour HH:MM format.
  7. Complete the wizard and click Create rule (or Save on an existing rule).

The rule fires only during that window. Outside the window the rule is evaluated as “not active” — no alert, no notification — even if the underlying event is recorded.

Common variations

  • Overnight windows (20:00 → 06:00): enter 20:00 as start and 06:00 as end. NovaVMS treats the end-time-before-start-time case as wrapping past midnight.
  • Different schedules per camera: create one rule per schedule and scope each rule to the relevant cameras. Schedules live on rules, not on cameras, so two cameras on the same rule share the same window.

If this didn’t work

  • If alerts still fire outside the window, check the site’s timezone (Settings → Sites → your site → Timezone). The rule uses that timezone, not yours.
  • If the rule does not fire at all during the window, verify the rule is enabled on the Rules table.