Self-Hosted CCTV Server

A self-hosted CCTV server is a Linux machine you control that pulls video from IP cameras, records it to its own disk and lets you watch live and recorded footage without a vendor cloud or monthly subscription. It replaces the closed DVR/NVR box with open software such as Frigate, ZoneMinder or MotionEye.

• Cameras: IP cameras that publish an RTSP stream on the local network and, ideally, support ONVIF for discovery. Most PoE cameras from Hikvision, Dahua, Reolink and Amcrest do; many consumer “cloud only” cameras do not.
• Recorder: a Linux host running Docker, with a disk sized for your retention period and enough CPU (or a GPU/accelerator) to decode the streams.
• Remote access: a private VPN tunnel such as WireGuard or Tailscale, never a port forwarded from the router to the recorder.

Storage depends on bitrate and retention, not megapixels: one camera at 4 Mbps writes about 43 GB a day, so four cameras recording 24/7 for 30 days need roughly 5.2 TB. The arithmetic is bitrate × 86,400 seconds ÷ 8 bits, then × cameras × days.

Frigate's continuous recording is off by default; you choose how long each kind of footage is kept. This configuration keeps motion footage for 3 days and anything that triggered an alert or detection for 30, which uses far less disk than 24/7 recording, depending on how busy the scene is:

record:
  enabled: true
  motion:
    days: 3
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 30
      mode: motion
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 30
      mode: motion

If the disk drops below roughly one hour of recording space, Frigate deletes the oldest footage regardless of retention settings, so size the disk for the retention you set and keep other data off it.

Frigate runs as one Docker container: map a config folder and a footage disk, set the shared-memory size, then list each camera's RTSP URLs in config.yml. An MQTT broker is optional unless you use Home Assistant.

services:
  frigate:
    container_name: frigate
    image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
    restart: unless-stopped
    shm_size: "512mb"
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - ./config:/config
      - /mnt/cctv:/media/frigate
      - type: tmpfs
        target: /tmp/cache
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    ports:
      - "8971:8971"

mqtt:
  enabled: false
cameras:
  shop_front:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://viewer:PASSWORD@192.168.1.20:554/stream1
          roles: [record]
        - path: rtsp://viewer:PASSWORD@192.168.1.20:554/stream2
          roles: [detect]
    detect:
      width: 1280
      height: 720

RTSP paths differ by camera brand; check the camera's manual or ONVIF device info for the main and substream URLs. Use a dedicated low-privilege camera account rather than the admin password. Port 8971 is Frigate's authenticated web UI; port 5000 is unauthenticated and should not be exposed outside the Docker network. Docker basics are in what a Docker container is.

Usually no: keep the recorder on the camera network and use a VPS as a WireGuard relay or an off-site copy of important clips. Streaming every camera to a data centre needs sustained upload (four 4 Mbps cameras need about 16 Mbps continuously), and recording stops whenever the site's internet link drops.

Frigate's own documentation recommends Docker on bare-metal Debian-based Linux and advises against running it inside a virtual machine, because detection accelerators and GPUs need low-overhead hardware access; a typical VPS has neither, so detection would be CPU-only. Where a VPS does earn its place:

• Relay: when the site sits behind carrier-grade NAT, a small VPS running WireGuard gives both ends a fixed meeting point. A Linux VPS with root access does this; WebJi® lists VPS plans from ₹499 a month plus GST (published price read 29 October 2026; checkout confirms the current figure).
• Off-site copy: sync exported alert clips to storage that is not the recorder's disk, so theft or fire at the site does not take the evidence with it. Server backup solutions cover that storage, and the 3-2-1 backup rule explains why.

WebJi® sells the server, not a managed CCTV service or camera hardware. Running other tools on the same box is covered in self-hosted automation tools.