Frigate is a powerful tool for creating your own home surveillance system with a few IP cameras and an available network-attached storage (NAS) enclosure, single-board computer (SBC), or home lab server. I've been running the software for a few weeks now and have come to appreciate all the features it offers over the competition. Like anything you self-host, however, there are always things you learn along the way, and here are some points I wish I knew before getting into the world of Frigate.
4 Multiple LAN ports are a bonus
Keep everything separate and secure
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Although it is not necessary to get Frigate working on a NAS or some other system, I find having more than one LAN link invaluable for the best NVR solution. Not only can you configure link aggregation, which is fairly important for security systems such as this, but you can also configure the LAN to have all the security cameras on their own VLAN without direct internet access. Another port can then be used to route all the traffic through to Home Assistant, which keeps everything separate yet allows us to continue using the IP cameras as normal.
Depending on how you plan to run Frigate, you could work out some other solution to keep your cameras from being directly accessible through the internet. You never know when something goes wrong, a lesser-known branded camera attempts to call home, or someone manages to break into your network and works their way onto your less secure IP cameras. Keeping everything separate on the LAN is good practice, creating VLANs for guests, IoT devices, and IP cameras.
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3 Frigate doesn't need that much space
HDDs are still king, however
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When you think IP cameras and footage retention, you think big data and lots of drives, but Frigate can work with lower resolutions and can be configured to keep a specific range of video files, depending on the capacity you're working with. Using AI, Frigate is also pretty powerful, even without the optional subscription for Frigate+. AI detection and filtering ensure you're only recording actual events that are noteworthy, instead of a subtle breeze pushing some leaves across the yard.
I started with 32TB of capacity for our NVR solution, but found this to be massively overkill. Luckily, it was using drives we already owned from previous system builds, so there wasn't any wasted budget, but it simply wasn't sustainable, as the capacity could be used elsewhere. Depending on how many IP cameras you plan on hooking up to Frigate, you can get away with much smaller drives, even SSDs if you wish to completely remove all moving parts from your storage.
Some handy storage calculators are available, such as this one from JVSG. A good rule of thumb for me is 300GB per camera (15 FPS, FHD) with detection configured for recording and saving footage. This saves around 30 days' worth of content on the system for playback. I then have one additional drive available that's not part of the same pool, which is used for cold storage. Any events we wish to keep beyond the 30 days are moved here.
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2 Frigate+ is worth every penny
Fine-tuned detection with models
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I like to donate and subscribe to free and open source software whenever possible, and Frigate was one I completely missed out on. I somehow overlooked Frigate+, which has a few benefits over the free plan. It's perfectly usable without parting with a single penny from your account, but Frigate's Plus plan offers some enticing features, namely better model fine-tuning for accurate detection. It's also possible to upload images for this straight from your Frigate NVR installation, which is handy to keep everything flowing smoothly.
As well as this, you're supporting the future development of Frigate and can make use of the ability to upload & annotate, as well as AI-suggested labeling. The best part? Models trained using Frigate+ (costing $50 per year) are available indefinitely, even if you cancel the plan at a later point. That's a great bonus for an optional subscription such as this. I only wish I upgraded sooner!
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1 PoE is your new best friend
Power everything with one cable
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Most cameras either transmit data via an Ethernet cable or through a wireless connection. I must prefer keeping everything hardwired, especially for home security, which is why I made full use of an available PoE network switch. All our IP cameras are connected to this switch and the dedicated VLAN. A side effect of this is the omission of any power cabling to each camera. The one cable can handle power delivery and data transfer to Frigate, making it easy to add new IP cameras should they be required.
I've used PoE in the past for our access points, but having a dedicated switch for all the cameras makes sense and keeps everything organized.
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Frigate is great for home security
Setting up Frigate to manage all your IP cameras is great for keeping your home (and everyone residing inside) safe. Not only are you able to enjoy live streams of all your feeds, but automated detection and recording make it easy to store all your events, even while away on vacation. It's free, though I would recommend Frigate+, and you can run the software on just about anything, so long as you have ample bandwidth and interfaces for the required storage space. Throw in Home Assistant integration for one powerful smart home.
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