CluebaseVMS

Ubuntu Server/Desktop 22.04 / 24.04 / 26.04 Pre-Configuration Guide for High-Load VMS

This guide describes the recommended initial configuration of Ubuntu systems for stable operation of a high-load video surveillance platform based on Cluebase VMS running in Docker containers.

The recommendations apply to:

The system is expected to operate under:

1. Fully Update the System

Update package indexes and install all available updates.

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y && sudo apt autoclean && sudo snap refresh

Reboot after updates:

sudo reboot

2. Disable Automatic System Updates

Automatic updates may restart services unexpectedly and affect VMS stability.

Disable unattended upgrades:

sudo systemctl stop unattended-upgrades && sudo systemctl disable unattended-upgrades

Disable periodic APT updates:

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades

Set:

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";

Save the file.

3. Install Additional System Packages

Install useful administration and monitoring utilities:

sudo apt install -y \
mc \
htop \
curl \
unzip \
apt-transport-https \
ca-certificates \
gnupg \
lsb-release \
gnupg2 \
iotop \
net-tools \
iftop \
nvme-cli \
smartmontools \
jq

Package purpose:

Package Purpose
mc File manager
htop Process monitoring
iotop Disk I/O monitoring
iftop Network traffic monitoring
smartmontools Disk health monitoring
nvme-cli NVMe SSD management

4. Check Secure Boot Status

Secure Boot must be disabled in BIOS/UEFI before installing proprietary NVIDIA drivers.

Check status:

mokutil --sb-state

Possible output:

SecureBoot enabled

or

SecureBoot disabled

If Secure Boot is enabled:

  1. Reboot the server

  2. Enter BIOS/UEFI

  3. Disable:

    • Secure Boot

    • Fast Boot (recommended)

  4. Save settings and reboot

5. Install NVIDIA Driver and NVIDIA Container Toolkit

Install NVIDIA drivers only if the server has an NVIDIA GPU.

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Reboot:

sudo reboot

Verify driver installation:

nvidia-smi

Expected result:

Install NVIDIA Container Toolkit only after installing Cluebase VMS or Docker

Official documentation:

NVIDIA Container Toolkit Install Guide

curl -fsSL https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/gpgkey | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg \
  && curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/stable/deb/nvidia-container-toolkit.list | \
    sed 's#deb https://#deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg] https://#g' | \
    sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-container-toolkit.list

Update the packages list from the repository:

sudo apt update

Install the NVIDIA Container Toolkit packages:

export NVIDIA_CONTAINER_TOOLKIT_VERSION=1.19.0-1
  sudo apt-get install -y \
      nvidia-container-toolkit=${NVIDIA_CONTAINER_TOOLKIT_VERSION} \
      nvidia-container-toolkit-base=${NVIDIA_CONTAINER_TOOLKIT_VERSION} \
      libnvidia-container-tools=${NVIDIA_CONTAINER_TOOLKIT_VERSION} \
      libnvidia-container1=${NVIDIA_CONTAINER_TOOLKIT_VERSION}

Configure runtime:

sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker

Restart Docker:

sudo systemctl restart docker

6. Enable TCP BBR Congestion Control

BBR improves network throughput and reduces latency under heavy traffic.

Open sysctl configuration:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Add:

net.core.default_qdisc=fq
net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=bbr

Apply settings:

sudo sysctl -p

Verify:

sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control

Expected output:

net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control = bbr

7. Configure Static IP Address

Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/24.06 uses Netplan.

Find interface name:

ip a

Example interface:

ens18

Edit Netplan configuration:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

Example configuration:

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    ens18:
      dhcp4: false
      addresses:
        - 192.168.1.100/24
      routes:
        - to: default
          via: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses:
          - 1.1.1.1
          - 8.8.8.8

Apply configuration:

sudo netplan apply

Verify:

ip a
ip route

8. Configure Additional fs.aio-max-nr Parameter

Increase asynchronous I/O limits for high-load applications.

Edit sysctl configuration:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/99-aio.conf

Add:

fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

Apply:

sudo sysctl --system

Verify:

sysctl fs.aio-max-nr

Additional Recommended Optimizations for High-Load Cluebase VMS Systems

Increase File Descriptor Limits

Large video systems require high open-file limits.

Edit:

sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf

Add:

* soft nofile 1048576
* hard nofile 1048576
root soft nofile 1048576
root hard nofile 1048576

Also configure systemd:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system.conf

Add or modify:

DefaultLimitNOFILE=1048576

Edit:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/user.conf

Add:

DefaultLimitNOFILE=1048576

Reload:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec

Increase Network Buffers

Edit:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Add:

net.core.rmem_max = 67108864
net.core.wmem_max = 67108864
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 67108864
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 67108864
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 250000

Apply:

sudo sysctl -p

Set Performance CPU Governor

Install tools:

sudo apt install -y linux-tools-common linux-tools-generic

Set performance mode:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance

Verify:

cpupower frequency-info

Enable TRIM for SSD/NVMe

sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer
sudo systemctl start fstrim.timer

Verify:

systemctl status fstrim.timer

Recommended BIOS Settings

For stable 24/7 operation:

Disable:

Enable:

Monitoring Recommendations

Useful commands:

CPU:

htop

Disk I/O:

iotop

GPU:

watch -n 1 nvidia-smi

Network:

iftop

Disk health:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

Final Recommendations

For production Cluebase VMS servers:

WebRTC Setup for Cluebase VMS

Local Network Usage

WebRTC works inside a local network by default.
No additional configuration is required.

A TURN server is only needed if remote access to Cluebase VMS is required over the Internet.

1. Install a TURN Server in Docker on a VPS

Create a compose.yaml file with the following content:

services:
  coturn:
    image: coturn/coturn
    container_name: coturn
    restart: always
    network_mode: 'host'
    command:
      - -n
      - --log-file=stdout
      - --listening-ip=0.0.0.0
      - --relay-ip=local_ip
      - --external-ip=public_ip
      - --min-port=40000
      - --max-port=59000
      - --no-auth

Replace the following values:

Start the TURN server:

docker compose up -d

2. Using the Same Server for Cluebase VMS and TURN

If the server where Cluebase VMS is installed has a public IP address, the TURN server can be installed on the same server.

In this case:

Ports that need to be forwarded in the router:

If a firewall is enabled, make sure these ports are allowed in the firewall rules.

3. Configure Cluebase VMS

Edit the .env file of Cluebase VMS.

Change:

ENABLE_STUN_TURN=0

to:

ENABLE_STUN_TURN=1

Add the following parameters:

STUN_SERVER_HOST=turn_server_ip
STUN_SERVER_PORT=3478

Replace turn_server_ip with the IP address of your TURN server.

Enabling Visual Assistant in Cluebase VMS

1. Install and Run Ollama with the LLaVA Model

Create a compose.yaml file with the following content:

volumes:
  ollama:

services:
  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama
    container_name: ollama
    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: all
              capabilities: [gpu]
    environment:
      - OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD=1
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    volumes:
      - ollama:/root/.ollama
    restart: always

Start the Ollama container:

docker-compose up -d

After the container is running, download the llava model:

docker exec -it ollama ollama pull llava

2. Enable Ollama Support in the MySQL Database

Connect to the MySQL database container:

docker exec -it vms-db mysql -uroot -p

When prompted, enter the MySQL root password.

Select the vcloud database:

USE vcloud;

Enable Ollama integration by executing the following query:

UPDATE GeneralSettings SET ollamaStatus="ACTIVE";

Exit the MySQL console:

exit

Result

After completing these steps:

Optimizing PTZ Performance in Cluebase VMS

To achieve the lowest possible latency and the most responsive PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) control, please ensure your system is configured with the following settings:

  1. Set Camera Codec to H.264. Configure your camera's primary stream to use the H.264 video codec. While H.265 is efficient for storage, H.264 typically offers better compatibility and lower processing overhead for real-time control.

  2. Use WebRTC Protocol. Ensure that WebRTC is selected as the streaming protocol in the Cluebase VMS interface. WebRTC is specifically designed for real-time communication and significantly reduces the delay compared to traditional protocols like WS or HLS.

    image.png

Enabling NVIDIA GPU Support for the LPR Module in Cluebase VMS

Prerequisites

NVIDIA GPU support requires the NVIDIA drivers and NVIDIA Container Toolkit to be installed on the host system.

Install and configure NVIDIA Container Toolkit before proceeding:

NVIDIA Container Toolkit Documentation

You can verify that Docker has access to the NVIDIA runtime using:

docker info | grep -i nvidia

You can also verify GPU availability on the host system with:

nvidia-smi

1. Load the Docker image

Copy the roadar_lpr_websocket.tar.gz archive containing the Docker image to the server.

Load the Docker image using the following command:

sudo docker load -i roadar_lpr_websocket.tar.gz

2. Stop the existing vms-lpr container

Navigate to the directory where Cluebase VMS is installed and stop the vms-lpr container if it is currently running:

sudo docker compose down vms-lpr

3. Update the docker-compose.yml configuration

Open the docker-compose.yml file in a text editor.

Replace the following configuration block:

vms-lpr:
  image: vcloudaiorg/vcloudai-vms-lpr:latest
  restart: always
  container_name: vms-lpr
  network_mode: host
  extra_hosts:
    - host.docker.internal:host-gateway
  depends_on:
    - vms-server
  volumes:
    - ./static/lpr:/data
  environment:
    WS_HOST: host.docker.internal:${WS_SERVER_PORT}
    API_HOST: 127.0.0.1
    API_PORT: ${ROADAR_PORT}
    STATE_FILE: /data/state.json
    LICENSE_SERVICE_HOST: 127.0.0.1
    LICENSE_SERVICE_PORT: 32433

with the following GPU-enabled configuration:

vms-lpr:
  image: roadar_lpr_websocket
  restart: always
  container_name: vms-lpr
  network_mode: host
  extra_hosts:
    - host.docker.internal:host-gateway
  depends_on:
    - vms-server
  runtime: nvidia
  deploy:
    resources:
      reservations:
        devices:
          - driver: nvidia
            count: all
            capabilities: [gpu, compute, video]
  volumes:
    - ./static/lpr:/data
  environment:
    - WS_HOST=host.docker.internal:${WS_SERVER_PORT}
    - API_HOST=127.0.0.1
    - API_PORT=${ROADAR_PORT}
    - STATE_FILE=/data/state.json
    - LICENSE_SERVICE_HOST=127.0.0.1
    - LICENSE_SERVICE_PORT=32433
    - TRIAL_TIME=0
    - NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all
    - NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=compute,video,utility

Save the file and exit the text editor.

4. Start the vms-lpr container

Run the following command to start the container with NVIDIA GPU support enabled:

sudo docker compose up -d vms-lpr

5. Verify NVIDIA GPU support inside the container

To verify that the container has access to the NVIDIA GPU, run:

sudo docker exec -it vms-lpr nvidia-smi

If GPU support is configured correctly, the command will display information about the installed NVIDIA GPU(s).

Connecting a NAS to Linux via iSCSI

If your vCloud server and NAS storage are on separate machines, the most reliable way to connect them is iSCSI.

iSCSI allows the NAS to present a disk over the network, and Linux sees it as a local block device (like /dev/sdb). This is ideal for video storage because it usually performs better than SMB/NFS for large sequential writes.

Architecture

+-------------------+        iSCSI        +-------------------+
|   vCloud Server   | <-----------------> |        NAS        |
| Ubuntu Server     |                     | Synology/TrueNAS  |
| 192.168.1.10      |                     | 192.168.1.20      |
+-------------------+                     +-------------------+

Step 1 — Prepare the NAS

You need to configure the NAS and create an iSCSI LUN. To do this, refer to the user manual for your NAS server.

Step 2 — Install iSCSI Client on Ubuntu

On the vCloud server:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install open-iscsi -y

Enable the service:

sudo systemctl enable --now iscsid

Step 3 — Discover the NAS Target

Replace 192.168.1.20 with your NAS IP.

sudo iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p 192.168.1.20

You should see something like:

192.168.1.20:3260,1 iqn.2026-07.local.synology:vcloud-storage

Step 4 — Configure Authentication (if CHAP is enabled)

Edit the node configuration:

sudo nano /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf

Find and set:

node.session.auth.authmethod = CHAP
node.session.auth.username = vcloud
node.session.auth.password = StrongPassword123

Save the file.

Restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart iscsid

Step 5 — Log In to the iSCSI Target

sudo iscsiadm -m node --login

Expected output:

Login to [iface: default, target: iqn.2026-07.local.synology:vcloud-storage, portal: 192.168.1.20,3260] successful.

Step 6 — Verify the New Disk

List disks:

lsblk

Example:

sda    1.8T
├─sda1
└─sda2
sdb   10.0T

The iSCSI disk is usually sdb.

Step 7 — Create a Filesystem

⚠️ This will erase the iSCSI disk.

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb

Step 8 — Create a Mount Point

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/vcloud-storage

Step 9 — Mount the Disk

sudo mount /dev/sdb /mnt/vcloud-storage

Check:

df -h

Example:

/dev/sdb        9.8T   24K  9.3T   1% /mnt/vcloud-storage

Step 10 — Make the Mount Persistent

Get the UUID:

sudo blkid /dev/sdb

Example:

/dev/sdb: UUID="a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-1234567890ef"

Edit /etc/fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add:

UUID=a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-1234567890ef /mnt/vcloud-storage ext4 _netdev,nofail 0 2

Test:

sudo umount /mnt/vcloud-storage
sudo mount -a

If there are no errors, the configuration is correct.

Step 11 — Ensure iSCSI Reconnects After Reboot

Enable automatic login:

sudo iscsiadm -m node --op update -n node.startup -v automatic

Check:

sudo iscsiadm -m node

Useful Commands

Check iSCSI sessions

sudo iscsiadm -m session

Log out

sudo iscsiadm -m node --logout

Rediscover targets

sudo iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p 192.168.1.20