Port Forwarding??

[01sporty 0]

I've been trying to wrap my head around this whole port forwarding thing and I'm really not even sure if that is what I need.

 

I got a Flir package for Christmas and have steadily been replacing the old analog cameras. (http://www.flirsecurity.com/pro/product/dn308p2e6-hd-poe-nvr-ip-camera-security-bundle/)

 

Half of the cameras are being mounted on the shop which is already wired to the office with cat6 so I bought a POE switch and plugged the cameras into that. The switch, in turn, runs to the router in the office. The NVR is plugged into the router, as well.

 

The router has assigned addresses to the NVR and each of the cameras as I have brought them on line and I've been able to access each of them in my browser. Perfect!!!! The assigned addresses are the 192.xxx.xxx.xxx format.

 

I just installed my first camera on the office which plugs into a POE port on the NVR. It found the camera just fine and started recording it but it is not sending it out to my network. The address it is assigning is the 10.xxx.xxx.xxx format.

 

Do I need port forwarding? All of the info I'm finding talks about setting it up to send everything out over the internet. I have no need for that. I just want to be able to see each of my cameras on any of my computers.

 

TIA

[goodolick 0]

I would need more information on the network topology. 192.xxx and 10.xxx are likely both internal addresses.

 

 

What is the IP of the computer that you are trying to access the application from? is it on the same network as the router in question?

[01sporty 0]

Ok, the more I think about it and read about it, the less I think I need port forwarding. I do think I need something similar.

 

I think the NVR is acting like a router and has set up it's own network. I just need to get the two networks to talk to each other.

 

Sounds easy until you get into the particulars. Here's a discussion of a similar problem: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1647778/connect-lan.html

The solutions are far ranging from 'sounds simple' to 'really? you want me to add another router?'.

 

This discussion sounds more hopeful: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/connect-networks-ip-addresses/

I don't really understand it yet but when I get more time, I hope to see if I can't get it to work with my system.

 

I'll try and get some screenshots to post.

[Boogieman 1]

Ok, the more I think about it and read about it, the less I think I need port forwarding. I do think I need something similar.

 

I think the NVR is acting like a router and has set up it's own network. I just need to get the two networks to talk to each other.

 

Sounds easy until you get into the particulars. Here's a discussion of a similar problem: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1647778/connect-lan.html

The solutions are far ranging from 'sounds simple' to 'really? you want me to add another router?'.

 

This discussion sounds more hopeful: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/connect-networks-ip-addresses/

I don't really understand it yet but when I get more time, I hope to see if I can't get it to work with my system.

 

I'll try and get some screenshots to post.

The NVR sets up its own "mini network"..there a are several was off connecting directly to the camera but you will need to connect your pc to one of the NVR ports...there are several threads on the forum discussing this with respect to hikvision NVR's

[01sporty 0]

goodolick, Boogieman,

 

Thanks for the replies. There are 5 computers on the network. Getting each of them talking to the new network sounds a bit tedious to me.

 

I was really hoping for a way to get the two networks talking to each other so they act as a single network.

[goodolick 0]

Help me make sure I understand the topology.

 

Let me know if I am understanding correctly.

 

 

Your NVR is hosting LAN1 and a 192.168.1.0/24 network handing out DHCP addresses to your cameras. Your NVR has an address of something like 192.168.1.1 and has it's default gateway pointing LAN2s router on your 10.x network.

Your 10.x network is your regular internal LAN for all your computers and other devices, and the 10.x net is hide natting behind your internet connection.

 

 

You are trying to access the NVR from but your internal 10.x net as well as from the internet?

[01sporty 0]

Help me make sure I understand the topology.

 

Let me know if I am understanding correctly.

 

 

Your NVR is hosting LAN1 and a 192.168.1.0/24 network handing out DHCP addresses to your cameras. Your NVR has an address of something like 192.168.1.1 and has it's default gateway pointing LAN2s router on your 10.x network.

Your 10.x network is your regular internal LAN for all your computers and other devices, and the 10.x net is hide natting behind your internet connection.

 

 

You are trying to access the NVR from but your internal 10.x net as well as from the internet?

 

Your NVR is hosting LAN1 and a 192.168.1.0/24 network handing out DHCP addresses to your cameras.

 

No. My LAN1 is my router. Until this last camera, everything has been handled by my router. It has given everything addresses of the form 192.168.1.xxx. This includes all of the cameras and the NVR.

 

Your 10.x network is your regular internal LAN for all your computers and other devices, and the 10.x net is hide natting behind your internet connection.

 

No. The 10.x network was created by the NVR. The last camera I installed was the first camera to be plugged directly into the NVR. It was assigned an address of 10.1.1.xxx. I'm not sure what the internal address is of the NVR but I suspect it's 10.1.1.1. And, I suspect it may actually be a switch. Can a switch assign addresses? Maybe its 8 ports have permanent address assigned to them?

 

I say this because of this setup page. The IP Address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway values all can be changed but I'm very hesitant to just start trying stuff. I'd really hate to lock myself out.

[goodolick 0]

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I dont know much about the Flir system, but there might be a "bridge" mode setting that would turn the switch ports on the NVR to be just switch ports and not do routing.

 

Does the NVR have a serial connection? If it does you should be able to make any changes you want and be able to access it via serial.

 

 

I will do some more research into the Flir interface to see if there are any other work arounds.

 

 

If there is no way to turn off the routing function of the Flir, than you are correct, you would need to forward ports.

[01sporty 0]

RS232: Service only; not in use.

 

That's a quote from the manual. The RS232 port is there but there is no telling how useful it is.

 

The manual is very good at going over the obvious in great detail and keeping the hard stuff secret.

Typical.

 

Here's a link to it: http://www.flirsecurity.com/pro/product/dn308p2e6-hd-poe-nvr-ip-camera-security-bundle/

[01sporty 0]

While you're there, there's a file called: IP-Cameras-Networking-FAQ_EN_R1.pdf

 

My setup is just like 'Scenario 2: 8-Channel NVR with 4 PoE Ports and 8 IP Cameras'.

[goodolick 0]

I had a chance to look at the manual and the illustration. It does not appear that the FLIR system does not have a way to run the built in switch in bridge mode. So you have a couple of options to access the cameras directly on the 10/24 default network.

 

1.) You can either get a POE switch and plug it into your existing 192.168.1.x/24 and hook up the other 4 cameras to that.

 

2.) If you are using the default settings 10.1.1.1 for the switch IP address, you could add a static route statement on your 192.168.1.x/24 router to point it to the 192 address of the flir.

 

Example, the Flir assigns the camera an IP address of 10.1.1.2, the static route on your 192 router would say

 

Destination = 10.1.1.2 Netmask= 255.255.255.255 Gateway= 192 address of Flir.

 

 

What is likely happening when you try to access the 10/24 IPs on your local 192.168 network, the 192 router does not know to send the traffic to your Flir. The router then sends the traffic out the default route (internet) and the traffic never makes it to the Flir.

 

 

Hope this helps, please write back if you need clarification.

 

Also, if you can get me the make/model of your 192 router, I can tell you EXACTLY how to make the route statement.

[01sporty 0]

Cool. It's a Motorola NVG510. AT&T.

Let me know if you need any screenshots or whatever.

[01sporty 0]

Here's something you may or may not find interesting.

In the Firewall/NAT/Gaming tab, there's something called Service and Needed by Device.

In the Service dropdown there are a bunch of games and things like SMTP and Pop3.

In the Needed by Device dropdown, a bunch of my stuff is listed. The last four are the NVR and the three cameras that I can access.

Under that is Manage Custom Services. Is any of this helpful?

[goodolick 0]

I do not think it is a port issue, it is a routing issue. Computers on the 192 net have no clue what the 10 net is, the router does not know what the 10 net is, and is sending it out the default route (the internet).

[goodolick 0]

I could not find anything on a quick google search on your router's config.

 

Here is how I would configure it on my router, you should look for a similar setting in your router.

 

 

 

What this statement does....

 

When your computer (on 192.168.1/24 network) goes out and tries to reach the camera (on 10.1.1/32) it checks it's routing table to see if there is a statement to tell it to go to 10.1.1.2 (camera). If the computer does not see a statement, it sends the traffic to the default route (your ATT routers 192.168.1/32 ip address). The router then checks to see it has a statement for 10.1.1.2, it does not, so it sends the the default route (internet IP), and the connection is never made.

By adding the route statement at the local computer or the router, when someone tries to access 10.1.1.2, it knows to forward the traffic to the 192 address of the Flir, the flir then responds back "Hey, I know who 10.1.1.2 is!, I will get the traffic where it needs to go)

 

If you can not make the route statement on your router (easiest way), you could make individual route statements on the each computer that needs to access the camera.

 

 

Assuming they are windows computers, you can let me know what version (xp, 7, 8 ) and I can tell you how to write the static route on the computer, this would also work. I also could help with Linux computers.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Guest

[goodolick 0]

I just noticed an error in my screenshot.... you want to use a netmask of 255.255.255.255 not 255.255.255.0. You only want host routes, that way if you do have anything on a separate 10 net, it would not route to the Flir

 

 

Again, if you cant find the settings on your router, it would be possible to add the route to each computer.

 

If you are worried about breaking anything on your router, you can test my theory on a Windows computer.

 

(this is assuming the Windows computer you are working from is 192.168.1.2, the router is 192.168.1.1, the Flir is 192.168.1.3, and the camera behind the Flir POE port is 10.1.1.2, substitute IPs where needed)

 

from a cmd prompt, enter the following command

 

route add 10.1.1.2 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.3 metric 2

 

if it works YAY! problem solved, add routes to each computer, or one to your router if possible

if it does not work or causes other network issues, reboot the computer and the route goes away.

 

if it does work, and you want it to survive a reboot, try adding the route with the -p flag

route add -p 10.1.1.2 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.3 metric 2

 

 

Let me know if that fixes you up!

[goodolick 0]

Did you get this problem resolved?

[01sporty 0]

I'm back.

I checked my router and couldn't find anything like what you're showing.

 

So, I found an AT&T forum to see what they had to say. Bottom line is my router is lacking in those kind of advanced features.

 

Just to make sure I had tried everything, I contacted tech support at Flir. They confirmed that any cameras that are connected directly to the NVR are only visible on the NVR not on the network.

 

That's pretty much what I expected to hear but I never hurts to check.

 

When I purchased the unit I had assumed the 8 POE ports worked like a built in POE switch. If I had known how useless those ports are for my situation I would have bought a plain Jane unit without any ports. Even from the NVR I could find no way to directly access the camera menus. Those menus have a lot of good stuff. I wonder if this is a common situation? I haven't seen any other discussion on it.

 

So, I was left with the hardware solution. A bit of good news there. The NVR came equipped with two power supplies. A 12 vdc for the recorder and a 48 vdc, 2.5 amp for the POE ports. I found a 7 port POE switch that can be purchased separately from the power supply and just happens to be a perfect match for that 2-1/2 amp unit that came with the NVR.

 

I'll let you know how it works out when the switch arrives.

[goodolick 0]

Ok,

 

Like I said, if your router is lacking those features, you could just add the route on the local computer instead.

 

I gave you the commands to do it in previous posts in windows.

 

 

I can give you the command for Linux or Mac if you do not have windows computers.

 

Adding a route is not really an "advanced task" and I would be ticked if ATT gave me a router that did not have that ability. The only drawback of adding the route on a computer is you would have to do it on every computer that needs access to the cameras. If you had the ability to do it at the router, you would not need to do it on each computer.

 

 

Before you order a bunch of hardware, you might want to test what I mentioned.

[msnow 0]

Here's what I did on my Flir DNR400. It is the 16 channel model with 8 PoE's. 1) connect your router to the ethernet input as normal then connect another cable from your router (or switch if you have that) to one of the PoE ports. You will then be able to see all of the cameras on your local network instead of the 10.x.x.x network.