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- README: project overview, pricing, deployment model - ARCHITECTURE: system design, data flow, components, security - DECISIONS: Pi Zero 2W, Tailscale, reolink-aio, Wasabi S3 choices - ROADMAP: 3-phase plan (MVP, monetization, expansion) - CHANGELOG: concept (Aug 1) and full documentation (Aug 5) - Customer onboarding information request sheet
2.3 KiB
2.3 KiB
NVR Shield — Decisions
Why Pi Zero 2W?
- Cost: $15/unit keeps BOM at ~$41, enabling $149 retail with healthy margin
- Power: 5V micro-USB, can share NVR's UPS or any USB port
- Size: Tiny, fits behind NVR or in structured media panel
- OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Bookworm) — mature, read-only overlayfs support, Tailscale package
Alternatives considered:
- Pi 4/5: Overkill. 4x the cost, no benefit for API polling workload
- ESP32: Too constrained. No Python, limited HTTP client, no Tailscale
- On-NVR agent: Reolink NVRs don't support custom agents. Would require rooting
Why Tailscale Instead of Direct VPN?
- Zero customer firewall configuration needed — Tailscale punches through NAT
- Pre-configured at flash time, ships ready to connect
- Tag-based ACLs (
tag:nvr-shield) keep devices isolated from rest of tailnet - Customer never sees or manages the VPN
Why reolink-aio Library?
- Active open-source Python client for Reolink cameras/NVRs
- Supports both HTTP and HTTPS API
- Handles login/session management
- Maintained, documented, tested against Reolink firmware
Alternative: Direct HTTP calls with requests. Rejected — reolink-aio handles auth, errors, and data parsing.
Why One Pi Per Site (Not Per NVR)?
- Single Pi Zero 2W can poll 5-10 NVRs with zero performance issues (lightweight HTTP calls, no video)
- Simplifies deployment: one device per physical location
- Cleaner pricing: per-site, not per-NVR
- Reduces BOM for multi-NVR sites
Why Core Dashboard on :8090?
- Existing Ops Portal runs on :8090. NVR Shield is a natural extension
- Shares auth (central auth JWT validation)
- Path-based routing:
/nvr-shield/sits alongside existing/backup-restore/,/ops/
Why Wasabi S3?
- Already used for all ITPP backups (hermes, app1, app2, app3)
- No egress fees for clip retrieval/viewing
- Per-bucket IAM policies for customer isolation
- Immutability for compliance/audit trail
Pricing Decisions
- Hardware at $149: 3.6x BOM ($41) — covers labor (flashing, packaging, shipping), still competitive with off-the-shelf NVR monitoring appliances ($200-500)
- Monthly tiers: $49 (monitoring) / $97 (clip vault) / $147 (AI rules) — follows ITPP convention: annual = monthly, simple increments
- No per-NVR surcharge: cleaner pitch, fewer objections