One or more key performance indicators are necessary to properly measure the health of video surveillance applications and the supporting infrastructure. Some of the key performance indicators include: Video Path Uptime (VPU), Video Stream Delivery Index (VSDI), and, Video Retention Compliance (VRC). From these metrics, it is possible to calibrate whether a surveillance infrastructure is operating properly. These metrics can be used to properly alert video network administrators of problems that are actually affecting the video surveillance application. It is also possible to use these metrics to build better analytics to determine root cause of problems as well as build prediction models for potential problems before they occur.