What are inbound notifications? | Broadflow Streams
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What are inbound notifications?

The system was designed to support a maximum number of devices. As such, the camera or other sensor’s existing email functionality is being leveraged. So instead of having your camera directly send you a notification, it will send it to the Broadflow Streams servers. That is called an inbound notification.

Inbound Device Notifications via Email

How are security cameras configured to send out an email?

Well, each camera manufacturer is a bit different, but the principle is the same. Email systems, like Gmail and Hotmail, use the SMTP protocol to send and receive email messages. Security cameras use this same SMTP protocol and therefore require an SMTP server, like Gmail, in order to work. Broadflow Streams provides your devices with their own credentials, while serving as an SMTP server to relay those messages.

To send an email from a device like a security camera, some basic information is required. This includes:

  • SMTP Host
  • SMTP Username
  • SMTP Password
  • SMTP Port

In addition, a recipient email address needs to be provided to tell the security camera where to send the email notification. Use your device’s inbound email address for this purpose. This can be accessed from your device view, in the Device Details tab.

Every email message sent out from your camera or device and into your Broadflow Streams account is called an inbound notification.

To view all of a device’s inbound notifications, navigate to the device view and click on the “Inbound Notifications” tab. Visible will be a list of all of the inbound notifications for that particular device.

Inbound notifications are retained for a number of days, based on your current plan.

Inbound Notifications using a Streams Bridge

The Streams Bridge is a low-cost physical appliance that can be used to handle inbound notifications without the need of SMTP settings or email. Just plug the bridge into your local area network (LAN) and the Streams Bridge will discover Onvif-compatible devices to provide an easy to use interface to manage how the inbound notifications should be handled.