When Will Changes I Make Take Effect at the Door(s)?
Critical Door Operations such as Lockdown, Unlock, and Allow Momentary Access are sent to the doors immediately, as long as the door controller is online and communicating properly on the network.
Other changes require the door to be programmed with new schedules and/or credentials. Some examples of changes that require programming updates at the door are changes in permissions or credentials, Door Operations like Lock Door for the Rest of the Day or Change Today’s Hours for This Door. Please allow at least several minutes for these changes to go live at the affected door(s).
The amount of time it takes for doors to be updated varies based on several factors including network speed and bandwidth, the amount and timing of changes being made in the system, and the load on the BlueView server. Contact BlueWave technical support for help in optimizing your system, if needed.
Software Migrations
What is involved in a software migration?
The high-level steps are to install BlueView Server software and supporting components on the new machine, back up the BlueView database from the original machine, and then restore the database backup file to the new machine. A software migration is typically a 1-2 hour task for an IT professional or one of our support specialists. Downloading and installing software on the new machine, including setting up the web interface and/or configuring the SQL Server database for remote client access (if applicable) takes the majority of this time.
The most common complications we run into are not having adequate Windows or SQL Server login credentials, so this is where having an IT professional familiar with your network and computers comes in handy.
Will I experience system down time during the migration?
Yes and no. NetGen door controllers make admit/reject and unlock decisions locally at the door,
independent of the server software. While the migration is happening, these will continue to operate on the configuration with which they were last programmed, and they will store events that occur at the door until the next time they are retrieved by the server software.
During the migration, once software is shut down on the original machine, users will not be able to make any changes to door programming or configuration until the data has been migrated and the new software is ready. For most installations, this software downtime lasts 15-20 minutes.
Once the new software is installed, BlueWave strongly recommends sending full permissions
activations out to all doors in the system. During a full activation, the configuration on the door is
cleared and then reprogrammed. While the full activation is occurring, cardholders will not be able to gain access to the door for a period ranging from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on how many credentials are programmed into the door. Permissions activations can be scheduled to occur overnight to minimize disruptions at the door.
Should I use migration as an opportunity to update/upgrade my software?
Yes! Our newly updated software can run on a laptop, workstation, server, or virtual machine, provided that the machine is adequately resourced. Reach out to your BlueWave contact for more information.
Active Directory Integration
How does the system know not to deactivate non-AD people from BlueView?
The sync service keeps track of which cardholder records come from Active Directory by linking the imported cardholder records with a unique identifier assigned by your Active Directory system. The sync service does not affect any BlueView cardholder records that did not come from Active Directory. This allows the BlueView administrator to create and manage BlueView users that may not have a corresponding Active Directory account.
The software is also smart enough to ignore Built-In Active Directory accounts like the Domain Administrator.
A new BlueView cardholder must have a credential (pin or card) manually assigned to them before they can start accessing the doors. Additionally, they may need to be manually sorted into one or more groups, and then an activation will need to be scheduled so that the door controller is updated with the new information. Generally, these tasks will need to be accomplished by an administrator using the BlueView management software or web interface.
For systems that use Employee IDs to distinguish between cardholders with the same first and last name, BlueView's spreadsheet import feature may also be used to import credentials, after the initial Active Directory sync is complete. BlueView software relies on the Employee ID field to match people from the spreadsheet import to existing BlueView cardholders.
Can BlueView sync with more than one OU?
The Active Directory module can only be pointed to one OU at a time. If the Active Directory contains OU's or groups that are not pertinent to access control, BlueWave recommends that an access-control-specific OU is created for BlueView to use. Any Active Directory users or groups that need to be synced with BlueView should then be nested within the new access-control-specific OU. This allows the administrator complete control over the users and groups that BlueView accesses, without disturbing the organization of the rest of the Active Directory structure.
Will BlueView software make changes to the Active Directory?
No, BlueView software access to the Active Directory is READ ONLY.
Which LDAP software does BlueView sync with?
At this time, BlueView supports Microsoft Active Directory only.