LEARNING
MORE ABOUT WAM - WEB ACCESS MODULE SERVICE
What
is it?
What will WAM do for each user?
Minimum requirements for WAM service?
N.B.: This SECURITHOR module is currently in development and release should be announced during 2011. Features and functionalities may change without further notice.
What
is it?
WAM is a module for SECURITHOR from MCDI Security Products. It's role is to let subscribers, dealers/installers and key CMS personnal access some of SECURITHOR data and functions over the web. Each of these users is allowed a specific access level and can use specific features of WAM.
WAM for
SECURITHOR is available as a server to install along SECURITHOR or as a service
runned by MCDI Security Products on it's own servers.
What
will WAM do for each user?
Subscribers
Subscribers
can access reports on their alarm system, know if their system is armed or the
status of a service ticket. They can modify part of their contact info or
service options if you elect to let them.
Subscribers access WAM by typing www.yourcentralname.securithor.com in a regular browser. By entering their user id and password they access information according to levels pre-defined by the CMS.
Dealers
and installers
Dealers and installers only have access to their accounts. Given
you decide to let them use the WAM, they have the same access as subscribers plus the ability to get more reports such as traffic from the last day or the complete history of specific accounts. They can change several informations of subscribers accounts such as contact info, alarm codes and manage service tickets. They can check which of their accounts are armed or disarmed at any given time
They can see the list of service ticket, by customer, by group of customer or for all their accounts. Service tickets can be flagged as in process, completed, cancelled or postponed. They can make notes to customer history.They can't process alarms or modify an account that is already in being treated by the CMS. They are allowed access to their own accounts only.
Dealers and installers can send messages to the Central to suspend one or several accounts or one or several codes for their accounts.
CMS
personnal
This is
the ultimate level of access in WAM. They can do everything the dealers and
installers are able but they also have a special window to monitor some of the
key indicators of the Central. They get special reports from the Operator awareness
checks and can see indicators of the alarm traffic.
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How
does it work?
WAM is
available as a server you can install at your CMS or as a service from MCDI
Security Products. In this presentation, we will concentrate on MCDI SP WAM service.
MCDI
runs redundant servers with the WAM program. Those servers are hosted in a secure
data center in Montreal Canada with limited access, redundant electrical and
air conditionning feeds.
For
superior connectivity to the internet, our servers are linked to several high quality
carriers such as Peer 1, Teleglobe, Cogent and Level3. This insure the utmost
uptime and very fast service all around the world. Our goal is zero downtime.
Each
Central who contracts WAM with MCDI gets a share of the server space. Each Central
runs a distinct WAM application and connects only to his own share. Upon need,
a Central can be installed on a dedicated server.
Simply, a request from a subscribers is sent to your share on MCDI servers when they type www.yourcentralname.securithor.com in their browser such as Firefox or Explorer. MCDI server then contact your SECURITHOR to get the data, verifies the access right of the subscriber and returns the information in a web page.
All
this is done as fast as normal web browsing because most of the load is handled
by MCDI's servers not by your SECURITHOR. Of course it helps to have fast
internet links between the CMS and MCDI but regular ADSL links will do the job
for normal traffic.
SQL strength and speed
All this is possible because SECURITHOR database is SQL and handled by a very strong and fast SQL engine, PostgreSQL. Numerous requests can be handled by SQL at the same time and speed of SQL engines will insure your Central is not slowed down by request from the web.
Priority
to the Central
At all
time, SECURITHOR always gives priority to the Central operators and will queue
the WEB request to insure alarm processing is done in time.
Internet links and redundancy
Inexpensive routers are now made with redundancy in mind. Features such as dual Internet ports for load balancing and connection redundancy are easily available in routers such as Linksys RV042. Those router come standard with firewalls and VPN.
You can
connect only one internet link (ADSL or cable suggested for low to mid size
traffic) and enhance it with dual links and router with dual ports to insure
better uptime and speed. If you experience heavy traffic from the web, an
internet connection with a better upload speed should be looked into.
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How
many accounts are supported?
WAM
service is designed to handle loads of a typical CMS with up to 3000 accounts
and 50 different installers. This means around one hundred persons could be
simultaneously looking at your WAM service and SECURITHOR before performance
decreases. Numbers are lower if you use SECURITHOR single station or use a
slower PC to handle the SECURITHOR database. Performances increases highly if
you are running SECURITHOR on a server instead of the single station version and
speed will vary according to your internet link.
If you
experience heavier traffic or have a larger CMS, you should look into decicated
solutions such as running your own WAM server or contracting a dedicated
hosting with MCDI.
For
heavier traffic, CISCO and Nortel telecom both offer equipement with built-in
redudancy and the hability to manage heavy bandwitdh. Contracting dedicated internet
links should be looked into if you expect heavy traffic from the web.
SECURITHOR
security
Of
course we had internet security in mind when designing SECURITHOR. Authentification between WAM and SECURITHOR is built-in and data between both is encrypted. NO direct request is made from the subscribers on the web to SECURITHOR. Out of data being transmitted to fulfill subscribers web requests, NO data is stored on MCDI's WAM server. All requests are made to WAM which is the sole device with direct access to your SECURITHOR.
If you decide
to run WAM at your CMS, you can benefit from all the security mecanism
you already have for your CMS such electrical and air conditionning, supervised
access, secure phone and internet links etc...
WAM server grants you more control on how you set-up your internet connections and on the web
pages you broadcast to your subscribers. With the WAM server you can also use your own DNS
arrangemetns (domain name server) and have your subscribers access WAM trough
yourcentralname.com instead of a sub-domain from securithor.com making this access transparent.
WAM
server is also a complete linux/apache server. With it, you can host your Central
web site and reduce web hosting costs.
For
several customers, WAM server may be the best choice as they can scale equipement
and ressources to their own need. Using equipement, environnement and redundancy
already built for your CMS may help reducing costs.
If you
run a large CMS with high traffic, WAM server maybe the best solution for you
as you probably already have all the environnemental control, IT personnal, large
IP links and fast servers needed for web operation.
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Nothing
much to do and no up front investment. With low monthly fees, MCDI takes the
hassle out of running a web server. No investment in servers or in big internet
connections are traded for a low monthly fee.
The WAM service solution may be the best choice for most CMS who want to scale the WEB service of offer it as an accessory to their main monitoring services. You can use shared WAM with a large number of accounts before a dedicated solution is needed.
It also
helps you validate if WAM is a service you want to offer to your customer
and if they appreciate it without making a commitment to a WAM server.
Frankly
we think that once you experience it, you will ask yourself how CMS where
doing before. The WAM is design to make your life easy and to lower operators
time dedicated to answering queries subscribers and installers routinely make
over the phone. By lowering your manpower costs, WAM should pay for itself very
fast.
First
you need your CMS software SECURITHOR. WAM service works with either the single
station or the network versions. Speed and capacity will vary depending on the
version and the traffic you experience.
A good
internet connection, preferably DSL or cable modem type. If you can get two
connections from different providers (not on the same telephone pole would be
best) you can use a dual port router and achieve better uptime.
Contact
MCDI to arrange a WAM service with your SECURITHOR. MCDI asks a set-up fee of
200USD. This includes setting up your personnal share on our servers including
setting a subdomain name for your central and support for WAM/Securithor
docking. The fee is waived if you take a one year contract of WAM service.
WAM service is sold as a monthly fee of 60 euros payable every three months. Monthly fee is reduced to 50 euros if you take a one year contract. Payments can be scheduled on credit card or by company check. Service can be cancelled with remainder of your three months payment being the end of the term or at the end of a yearly contract.
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MCDI
servers are located in a secure and up to date data centre located in Montreal Canada.
Architecture, equipment and service are run with only one thing in mind :
100% uptime!
ACCESS CONTROL
Access
control is only by datacenter personnal, It's locked at all time and restricted
by biometric readers, watched by surveillance cameras.
POWER SUPPLY
Data
center being located in Montreal, it's powered by Hydro Quebec, one of the world
best electrical company running mainly hydro dams. If power fails, a 300KVA UPS
takes the relay. After it fails, an automatic transfer switchto a 500KVA diesel
generator installed in 2005.
Air
conditionning and climate control
Temperature
control in a datacenter is as important as a reliable power supply. The
datacenter air-conditioning is supplied by completely redundant 22 ton Liebert
units that are linked to independent compressors. These units are used to
regularize the temperature and humidity within the datacenter.
NETWORKING
Cisco
equipments are used for network distribution to all servers and racks.Main
connections are 1Gbps Fiber to Cogent and 1Gbps Fiber to Teleglobe, possibly
the largest IP backbone on the planet. With those two main IP providers, uptime
is nearly 100% and latency times are among the fastest ones available. Several
other connections are available upon need with Peer 1 and Level 3 networks. All
this let's us offer unmetered usage of WAM service and fast speeds no matter
where you are on the planet.
SERVERS
ARCHITECTURE
All our
servers are equipped with at least6GB of RAM and raid disk. Ratio of accounts handled vs server is limited to 40,000 accounts for each server. We typically use Dual Xeon servers for normal traffic and 2x Quad Xeon for CMS with high traffic. Each server is monitored continuously and regular back-ups are made.
Uptime warranty
MCDI aims for 100% and offers one free month if our servers monthly uptime is less than 99% in the previous month.
PERFORMANCES
CMS
with up to 3000 accounts and 50 installers can use shared WAM service. Each of
our servers can typically handle several thousands web pages request and around
100 simultaneous requests to SECURITHOR SQL databases. Requests are served on a
first in first served basis and queued one after the other. Our ratio of
accounts/servers is calculated to accomodate peak hours and our clients SECURITHOR
are spread on servers to make sure peak hours are evenly distributed according
to the time zones.
A
typical customer will look at WAM once per day and dealers/installers are bound
to used it around 10-12 times a day. This is is easily accomodated by our servers.
CMS
with with more than 3000 accounts/installers or unusual traffic should look
into a dedicated solution with our sales and support personnal.
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WAM service programing
WAM
Service is a complete package of server and service. The application used to power
WAM is developped and maintained internally by MCDI Security Products and runs
under Linux. All our servers are using Linux as operating systems.
Web
pages served by WAM are PHP and Html. Customers who contract special services
can run flash and shockwave files and files with video streams such as IP
cameras. We provide one formmail contact script for each share.
A
standard sert of files is proposed for each CMS. Identification with logo and specific
languages are possible at CMS expense.
One main access file with identification of the CMS.
Dedicated
access file for each type of users: subscribers, installer, CMS personnal.
Each access point will ask the user for a user ID and password.
One contact form to the CMS.
A page of links for users guides and CMS prefered links. This is a preliminary document and actual specification may change at WAM release in November. If you wish to know more about WAM or SECURITHOR, check this page regularly and look for securithor.com opening in August or contact MCDI Security Products Inc. at +514-481-1067 or securithor@mcdi.com
Revised March 21st 2011. All specifications preliminary and subject to change without notice. All performance stated can vary depending of actual configuration and traffic expercienced by each CMS.
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