LucidLink is certified for use with Milestone XProtect. XProtect cannot directly record and stream video data on-demand to and from object storage.

LucidLink is a distributed streaming filesystem for object storage that allows true read and write access to object storage as if it were a local disk. LucidLink integrates with the host operating system as a file system mount point.

In order to use LucidLink with Milestone XProtect, first you need to create a LucidLink Filespace:

1. Create a user account if you don't already have one. Set up a filespace using your desired object storage provider. Note that object storage settings may be specific to your deployment. Review setup information relating to your object storage vendor.
2. Download and install the LucidLink Client for Windows on the same machine where Milestone XProtect is running.
3. Initialize your filespace to use as Milestone Archive storage. This will use the default LucidLink block size of 256KB.
4. LucidLink configuration data is stored in the active user profile. It is recommended you run LucidLink as a Windows service with a drive letter --mount-point instead. You should now have a Lucid drive show up in Windows Explorer. Ensure that the service is configured to start before Milestone starts up.
5. You may wish to use a different cache size or change the cache location to allow more data to be stored locally. LucidLink will be used for either as archive storage or a direct destination for recordings. It may make sense to change the overall cache size depending on your design goals, and network or internet speeds. The way LucidLink works is that data is written to the local cache, immediately after which, it is offloaded to the cloud as long as there is available bandwidth. If the cache fills up the application writing to LucidLink will end up writing at line speed.
6. Configure archiving and retention in XProtect to meet your requirements. XProtect recording storage has no default archive when it is created. If you wish to add LucidLink as an archive destination in XProtect, select the storage in the "Recording and Archiving Configuration" list and click the "Archive Settings" button. Name your archive storage and select the path to your LucidLink Filespace. Remember to configure XProtect to retain data longer than the archival interval. Effectively you need to make sure the archive schedule occurs within the video data retention period; otherwise no data will be stored.

Using LucidLink to store Milestone XProtect footage is only one part of the equation. You can access Archive Database footage from anywhere using the Smart Client in Offline Mode.

The LucidLink Filespaces distributed filesystem splits data and metadata layers, using a unique data layout with a specific block size. Review LucidLink Filespaces - Cloud-Native File Service Architecture Overview for more details.

Note: This solution was tested in combination with Wasabi hot storage. Learn more about this joint Wasabi and LucidLink solution.