Remote Storage (FTP, SFTP, SMB)

Remote Storage copies files from the camera to servers on your own network. It can send three kinds of file:

Output	What it sends
Images	JPEGs of inspected parts: the raw capture, a copy with the tool overlays drawn on it, or both
Metadata	The inspection result for each capture as a JSON file, and a running results log in CSV or JSONL
Recipe backups	Scheduled copies of your recipes, daily or weekly

You can set up two destinations, for example one server for images and another for backups. Each destination is an FTP (or FTPS) server, an SFTP server, or a Windows SMB share.

Go to Integration → Remote Storage:

The left rail lists the Overview, your two Destinations, and the three Outputs, each with its own on/off switch. Nothing is sent until you turn on at least one output.

Screens shown from an OV Spark Pro

The screenshots on this page come from an OV Spark Pro. On OV Spark everything is the same except the image sizes, which read 1280×960, 640×480 and 320×240.

Step 1: Add a destination

1. In the left rail, click Destination 1.

2. Choose the Protocol:

   Protocol	Use for	Notes
   FTP	Most network storage drives (NAS) and FTP servers	Passive mode. Tick Use TLS (FTPS) to encrypt; the server certificate must be valid
   SFTP	Linux servers, and anything else you reach over SSH, the secure remote login protocol	The server's host key is learned on the first successful test
   SMB	Windows file shares	SMB 2 and 3. Enter the Share name, and a Domain if your network uses one

3. Fill in Host (the server name or IP address only, without ftp://, a port or a folder), Port, Username and Password.

4. Optionally set a Folder. On FTP and SFTP, a path without a leading / is relative to the account's home folder, for example inspections/line3. On SMB it is a folder inside the share.

5. To rename the destination, click the pencil next to its name. The name appears in the rail and on the Overview.

Advanced: timeouts, parallel uploads holds the connect and idle timeouts (1 to 600 seconds) and Parallel uploads. Most FTP servers allow two connections per user.

Use a dedicated account

Ask IT for an account that can only write to the inspection folder. The camera needs to create folders and write files; it does not need to delete anything, and it never touches files already on the server.

Step 2: Test the connection

Click Test connection. The camera works through five checks and stops at the first one that fails, with the reason and the fix:

1. Resolve the host name
2. Connect on the port (with TLS, if you chose FTPS)
3. Sign in (on SMB, also open the share)
4. Create the folder
5. Write, append and delete a 1 KB test file

Message	What it means
Host name not found	Check the spelling, or use the IP address
Connection refused	Wrong port, or the service is not running on the server
Timed out, Server unreachable	The server cannot be reached from the camera's network. Check routing and firewalls
Sign-in rejected	Wrong username or password. On SMB the domain may also be required
Folder creation not allowed, Write not allowed	The account lacks permission on that folder
Share not found	The SMB share name is wrong
TLS handshake failed	The FTPS certificate is not trusted, or TLS is not enabled on the server
Delete not allowed	Harmless. The test file was left behind; uploads do not need delete

Then click Save in the bar at the bottom of the page.

SFTP: check the host key fingerprint

The first successful SFTP test trusts the server's host key and shows its fingerprint. Compare it with the one your IT team gave you. If the key ever changes, the camera refuses to upload and reports Host key changed. That happens after a server reinstall, or if another machine is answering as that server. Confirm with IT before you press Forget and test again.

Step 3: Choose what to send

Click an output in the rail, pick its Destination, set it up, and turn on Enabled. Two outputs can share one destination.

Images

Which captures decides what is uploaded:

Option	Sends
All captures	Every inspection
Fails only	Fail and Not inspected results
Passes only	Pass results
Fails + 1 in N passes	Every fail, plus one pass in every N (1 to 10,000)

Folder and File name are templates built from tokens, and the line under each field shows an example of the path it produces. The defaults are:

• Folder: {camera}/{YYYY}/{MM}/{DD}
• File name: {YYYY}{MM}{DD}_{hh}{mm}{ss}{ms}_{trigger_id}_{result}

Then choose the image itself. Raw image is the capture exactly as taken. Annotated image is the same capture with the tool overlays drawn on top: boxes, labels, heatmaps and regions. Turn on either or both. Each has its own:

• Size: Full 1280×960, Half 640×480 or Quarter 320×240. Smaller images save server space and bandwidth; the overlays are drawn the same at every size
• Quality (1–100): JPEG quality, 85 by default
• Hide overlay kinds (annotated only): leave out Boxes, Polygons, Arcs, Lines, Points, Text, Heatmaps or Masks

Estimated bandwidth at the bottom works out the MB/s and GB per day for your settings, at the rate the recipe is running, or at 60 inspections a minute if it has not run yet. Check it against what the server and network can take.

Image settings are locked in Production

Which captures, size, quality, the raw and annotated switches and hidden overlay kinds can only change in Setup, because they change the work done on every inspection. The destination, folder and file name can change at any time.

Tokens for folder and file names

Click Show tokens you can use in folder and file names, then click a token to insert it into the last field you edited.

Group	Tokens
Date	{YYYY} {YY} {MM} {DD} {hh} {mm} {ss} {ms} {timestamp} (epoch milliseconds)
Device	{camera} (camera name), {hostname}, {serial}, {model}
Inspection	{recipe}, {recipe_id}, {trigger_id}, {capture_id}, {result}, {variant}
PLC / HTTP	{trigger.<key>}, any field the trigger carried, such as a part number sent by the PLC

Rules the camera enforces:

• The file name must include {trigger_id}, {capture_id} or {timestamp}, so two captures can never overwrite each other
• Folders may use / to nest; the file name may not
• {variant} only works in the file name. If both raw and annotated are on and you leave it out, _raw and _annotated are added for you

Put the part number in the file name

If the PLC sends a part or serial number with the trigger, add it with {trigger.<key>}. Anyone looking for a specific part on the server can then find its image by name, without opening the camera.

Metadata

Metadata uses the same Which captures choices and the same file name as the images, so the two line up. It has two parts, and you can turn on either or both:

• JSON file per capture: one file named like its image, ending .json. It holds the capture time, trigger data, recipe, overall result, every tool's result, score and detail, and the paths of the images uploaded with it
• Results log: one growing file with a line per capture, in CSV (opens in Excel) or JSONL (one JSON record per line, for scripts and databases). Choose Daily or Hourly for when a new file starts. The log file name must include {DD} for daily files, and {hh} as well for hourly ones

Include tool detail adds each tool's full result to both. A log never mixes recipes: if the columns change part way through a period, a new file starts rather than corrupting the old one.

Some servers cannot append

If the server cannot add to an existing file, the camera says so and writes the results log as one file per capture instead. Images and JSON files are not affected.

Recipe backups

Setting	Options
What	All recipes, or Active recipe only
When	Daily, or Weekly on a chosen weekday
Time	24-hour time, in the camera's own time zone (shown under the field)
Include training images	Off: compact bundles that run but cannot be retrained. On: full bundles you can retrain from; recipes whose bundle would exceed 2 GB are skipped

Each run writes one bundle per recipe, plus a manifest.json listing every file with its recipe, version and checksum. Back up now runs one straight away, using the saved settings. Last run and Next run show what happened and what is due.

A run that collides with another backup, import or export waits and runs as soon as it can, rather than failing. If the camera was off when a backup was due, it runs once when the camera comes back.

Backups contain your server passwords

Every recipe bundle, scheduled or exported by hand, carries the camera's settings, including the Remote Storage passwords in plain text. Anyone who can read the backup folder can read those passwords. Protect that folder like a credentials file.

Check it is working

The Overview shows each output's summary, what has been uploaded since boot, and anything waiting in the queue.

State	What it means	What to do
Sending	Files are going out normally	Nothing
Retrying	A connection failed; the camera retries on its own	Run Test connection to retry at once
Dropping captures	The server is slower than the line, so the queue filled and the oldest jobs were discarded	Send smaller images, send fails only, or add Parallel uploads
Blocked	A permanent error, such as a certificate failure. Uploads to that destination stop	Fix the setting, then run Test connection; a passing test resumes uploads

Remote Storage is a copy, not the record

Inspection keeps running whatever happens to the server, and the camera's own Library stays the full record. A failed upload is logged in Diagnostic Logs, but the part is still inspected and its result still reaches the PLC.

Where to go next

• All Recipes, to export or import a recipe by hand
• Library, the captures kept on the camera
• Diagnostic Logs, for failed uploads
• System Settings, for the camera name, time zone and NTP that tokens and backup times rely on