The new Video Recording Manager (VRM) from Bosch Security Systems of Fairport, New York, provides centralized management and monitoring of video servers, cameras, and storage units within an IP-based video network. The VRM 1.0 enhances storage capacity by treating storage blocks in the system at the logical or virtual level, rather than the physical level, for flexibility and scalability in allocating storage throughout the network. Recorded video is distributed over all available iSCSI RAID units on the network rather than on a single storage device. It also provides enhanced data availability with the possibility to reroute video to alternative units in the event of an array failure. It keeps track of storage usage per camera and dynamically assigns storage capacity to devices on the basis of demand. A search database for recordings and metadata keeps track of storage locations. The VRM can be synchronized with a second instance of VRM running on another server to provide backup.