Frigate NVR with Coral PCIe Accelerator

This project sets up a complete Frigate NVR system with Google Coral PCIe accelerator on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, including Docker, Portainer, and network storage integration.

Features

• Automated installation of Frigate with Coral PCIe support
• Hardware-accelerated video decoding with AMD iGPU (radeonsi VAAPI driver)
• Network storage integration (SMB/CIFS)
• Docker and Portainer for container management
• Ansible-based deployment for repeatable setup

Hardware Requirements

• x86_64 system with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Google Coral PCIe accelerator
• AMD iGPU (for hardware-accelerated decoding)
• Minimum 2GB RAM (4GB+ recommended)
• At least 10GB free disk space

Network Requirements

• Static IP assignment recommended for the server
• Access to SMB share (update in ansible/templates/frigate/config.yml.j2)
• MQTT broker (update host/port in ansible/templates/frigate/config.yml.j2)

Configuration

Before running the playbook, update these configuration files:

1. Ansible Inventory (ansible/inventory):

   [all]
   your-hostname ansible_user=your-username
   

   Replace your-hostname with your server's hostname or IP, and your-username with your SSH username.

2. Frigate Config (ansible/templates/frigate/config.yml.j2):

   • Update MQTT connection details
   • Configure camera settings
   • Update any IP addresses or credentials

3. Network Shares:

   • Update SMB/CIFS share paths in the Frigate config
   • Ensure proper permissions are set for the media directory

Directory Structure

frigate_setup/
├── ansible/                  # Ansible playbooks and templates
│   ├── templates/
│   │   └── frigate/         # Frigate configuration templates
│   │       ├── config.yml.j2  # Main Frigate config template
│   │       └── docker-compose.yml.j2  # Docker Compose template
│   ├── inventory            # Ansible inventory file
│   ├── site.yml            # Main playbook
│   └── README.md           # Ansible-specific docs
└── README.md               # This file

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

   • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS installed
   • Python 3.8+ and pip installed
   • SSH access with sudo privileges

2. Install Ansible

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install -y ansible

3. Configure Inventory Update ansible/inventory with your server's IP and SSH user:

   [all]
   192.168.50.5 ansible_user=your_username
   

4. Run the Playbook

   ansible-playbook -i ansible/inventory ansible/site.yml --ask-become-pass

   When prompted, enter your sudo password.

Configuration

Frigate Configuration

The main configuration is managed through Ansible templates in ansible/templates/frigate/. Key settings:

• Configuration File: config.yml.j2 (templated to /opt/frigate/config/config.yml)
• MQTT: Configured for broker at 192.168.50.84:1883
• Recording: 7-day retention with motion-based storage
• Hardware Acceleration: Using AMD radeonsi VAAPI driver
• Coral TPU: Configured for PCIe accelerator (coral_pci detector)

Storage Configuration

• SMB share mounted at /mnt/cameras
• Frigate media directory: /media/frigate (inside container)
• Database stored in /opt/frigate/db

Verifying the Setup

1. Check Coral Device

   docker exec -it frigate ls -la /dev/apex_0

2. Verify VAAPI

   docker exec -it frigate vainfo --display drm --device /dev/dri/renderD128

3. Check Frigate Logs

   docker logs -f frigate

Accessing Services

• Frigate Web UI: http://your-server-ip:5000
• Portainer: https://your-server-ip:9443

Maintenance

Updating Frigate

1. Update the image tag in ansible/site.yml
2. Re-run the playbook:

   ansible-playbook -i ansible/inventory ansible/site.yml --ask-become-pass

Backing Up Configuration

Back up these files:

• ansible/templates/frigate/config.yml.j2 (main configuration template)
• /opt/frigate/config/config.yml (generated config)
• /opt/frigate/db/frigate.db (database)

Troubleshooting

Coral Device Not Detected

1. Check if the device is visible on the host:

   ls -la /dev/apex_0
   lsmod | grep -i gasket

2. Reboot the system if the device isn't found

VAAPI Issues

If hardware acceleration isn't working:

1. Verify the driver:

   docker exec -it frigate vainfo --display drm --device /dev/dri/renderD128

2. Check the driver in use:

   docker inspect frigate --format '{{json .Config.Env}}' | jq -r '.[]' | grep LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• Frigate NVR
• Google Coral
• Ansible