Troubleshooting Avigilon Home Assistant Integration Problems
Integrating your professional Avigilon security system with the flexible and powerful Home Assistant platform opens up a world of automation possibilities. However, making these two distinct systems communicate can sometimes present challenges. If you're encountering errors or your Avigilon devices aren't appearing in Home Assistant, this guide is here to help.
This troubleshooting manual provides professional, clear steps in British English to help you diagnose and resolve the most common integration issues, from initial setup errors to persistent connection problems.
The Foundation: Your configuration.yaml File
The vast majority of integration problems begin and end with the configuration file. The Avigilon integration requires precise details to connect to your Avigilon Control Center (ACC) server. A tiny typo can prevent the entire system from working.
Key Configuration Checks:
- Host IP Address: Have you entered the correct IP address for your ACC server? Double-check it. Do not use a hostname unless your Home Assistant instance has reliable DNS resolution for your local network.
- Username and Password: Are the credentials exactly correct? Remember that they are case-sensitive. It is highly recommended to create a dedicated, non-administrative user account within ACC specifically for the Home Assistant integration.
- Port: Are you specifying the correct port? This should match the web endpoint port configured on your ACC server.
- YAML Formatting: Ensure your YAML syntax is correct. Indentation is critical. The Avigilon configuration block should be properly aligned with other integrations in your file.
Example of a correctly formatted configuration:
avigilon:
host: 192.168.1.100
username: "ha_user"
password: "YourSecurePassword"
After making any changes to configuration.yaml, you must restart Home Assistant for the changes to take effect.
Diving into the Logs: Your Best Diagnostic Tool
If your configuration looks perfect, the Home Assistant logs are the next place to look. They provide detailed error messages that can pinpoint the exact nature of the problem.
How to Access Logs:
- In your Home Assistant UI, navigate to Settings > System > Logs.
- In the log viewer, look for any entries that contain the keyword
avigilon.
Common Log Errors and Their Meanings:
Connection refused: This is a network-level error. It means Home Assistant is trying to connect to the ACC server's IP address and port, but the server is actively rejecting the connection. The most common cause is a firewall.Authentication failed: This error is straightforward. The username and password provided in your configuration are incorrect. Carefully re-enter them and restart HA.Host not foundorName or service not known: This means you used a hostname (e.g.,acc-server.local) in your configuration, and Home Assistant's DNS resolver could not find a corresponding IP address. Switch to using the direct IP address of the server.
The Firewall: A Common Blocker
A firewall running on the Avigilon ACC server (very common if it's a Windows machine) is a primary suspect for Connection refused errors.
- Identify the Firewall: This is typically the built-in Windows Defender Firewall.
- Create an Inbound Rule: You must create a new inbound firewall rule on the ACC server.
- The rule should be for a Port.
- Specify the TCP port you are using for the integration.
- Allow the connection.
- Crucially, for security, you should scope the rule to only allow connections from the IP address of your Home Assistant server. Do not open the port to all networks.
Advanced Troubleshooting
If the basics above don't solve your issue, consider these next steps.
Check User Permissions in ACC
- Log in to the ACC Client with an administrator account.
- Go to Users and Groups and find the user account you created for Home Assistant.
- Check the user's permissions. Does it have the rights to log in and view the specific cameras or devices you want to integrate? The user needs at least view-only access to the necessary devices.
Network Connectivity
- Can your Home Assistant machine actually reach the Avigilon server?
- If you have shell access to your Home Assistant instance, use the
pingcommand to test basic connectivity:ping 192.168.1.100. - You can also use
curlto test the connection on the specific port:curl http://192.168.1.100:80. A successful connection will likely return some HTML or an error message from the Avigilon web service, confirming the port is open. A 'connection refused' error here again points to a firewall.
By systematically working through your configuration, checking the logs, and verifying network and firewall settings, you can resolve the vast majority of issues preventing a successful Avigilon and Home Assistant integration.