Safer Security Camera System with Motion

Now that you have your motion activated security camera system, you could make if safer by uploading the captured images automatically to a remote server just in case something happens to your computer. I’m using Slackware Linux but the setup should be very similar on other distributions.

1. Create an executable batch file containing the following (pico ~/batch_file):

    rsync -avz /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/cam1 destinationserver.com:~/
   

2. Edit /etc/motion.conf and add/uncomment the following line

    on_event_end /home/user/batch_file
   

3. Edit ~/.ssh/config (create the .ssh folder if it doesn’t exist) and add the following lines to it:

    Host destinationserver.com
    HostName destinationserver.com
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_dsa
    User your_user_name
   

Install and setup keychain so that ssh doesn’t ask for your pass-phrase every time it tries to connect. Take a look at this keychain/ssh-agent tutorial

You can use a webcam like the one listed below, which features infrared lights for improved night vision (and it is USB so don’t need any special hardware for composite input).

Infrared Night Vision Security Camera