Offload Network Cam Traffic- Possible or Impossible?

[crazy4offroad 0]

First, network structure:

TP-Link Archer C5 (gigabit) running as DHCP server for LAN

 

2 personal computers, wife's and mine (DHCP), 1 file/backup server (static IP), 1 DVR server (static IP), assortment of cell phone/tablets also connecting to LAN.

 

4-port 100Mb/s PoE switch for 2 network cams connected to LAN through TP-Link. Network cams have static IPs.

 

I'll try to work on a map of the layout in the next few days.

 

DVR server has 2 NICs. One is connected to the LAN and the other is unused. I was wanting to offload the network traffic of the 2 network cams from the TP-Link to the unused NIC in the DVR server and I'm not sure how to approach it. I connect to the DVR server for administrating via RealVNC and the couple times I tried to configure the NICs for this, I had to get out a kb/mouse to undo what I did... I had tried bridging connections and that went nowhere. I tried to configure the unused NIC as a DHCP server with a different IP than my other network. (NIC in use 192.168.0.112, available NIC I tried 192.168.1.1 and got an error that it wouldn't work.) Seems like a decade or more ago there was an option for network sharing in XP but cant find it in Win7.

 

The main reason I want to do this is to try to eliminate glitchiness observed with live video and archive playback of network cams, since everything seems to be going through the DVR and TP-link twice, then to my PC for viewing on client software. The archive playback problem may not be network related since recorded video is what it is, but playback is over the network while recording is still ongoing and network cams are still going, so it may be network related.

 

More info on DVR/cams:

Norco RPC-800 4U server chassis

PC Power & Cooling 800w power supply, Gigabyte EP35-DS3P mainboard, LGA775 Core2Quad Q6600 (stock clock), 2x4GB DDR2-800 RAM, ATI Radeon HD4650 (core 600mhz/mem 400mhz, 1024 MB/128bit), Realtek onboard gigabit NIC, Realtek 100Mb/s NIC card on PCI slot

Luxriot H.264 hardware capture card HC7008 240 fps/8 channel with 6 analog cams connected running at 30 fps

Luxriot Professional VMS software (9 camera limit)

Win 7 Pro

2- 2TB SATA drives for archive storage, 1- 250GB drive for operating system

*System can hold 7.5 days of video on the archive

Hodge-podge of various makes of analog cams, 6 total. Network cams: 1-LTS Platinum 4.1MP 6mm lens (LT-CMIP1142W-6). 1- Hikvision CD2332 3MP 6mm lens (HIKVDS2CD2332I6). Also have an Airlink101 747 wireless cam connected.

CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD 600w UPS

 

You can see my DVR's hardware could use an upgrade, CPU/RAM/GPU possibly barely adequate. But before I added the network cams and eliminated a few analog cams everything ran as smooth as mother's butter with 9 total cams. That's why I'm thinking the glitch is network congestion. There may also be a way to configure the current config for better efficiency I'm not aware of. I plan on eventually eliminating the analog cams one by one, and also plan on more storage for the DVR. I want to do another hot swap bay and run RAID-1 like I have set up on the file/backup server. I really hope someone has done this before lol. I'm certain there will be more details that may be needed, and it may be a couple days before I can reply because of the holidays. Any input anyone has will be warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated. Merry Christmas-eve by the way.

[mattaggie 0]

No big deal to do. You just need to connect your POE switch directly the the second NIC Card. Give the 2nd NIC card a different IP address. So if your main network is 192.168.1.x, make 2nd 192.168.0.x. You will then have to change your IP cameras to 192.168.0.x. This is really the way IP systems should be set up, segregating camera traffic to its own network.

[ak357 0]

No big deal to do. You just need to connect your POE switch directly the the second NIC Card. Give the 2nd NIC card a different IP address. So if your main network is 192.168.1.x, make 2nd 192.168.0.x. You will then have to change your IP cameras to 192.168.0.x. This is really the way IP systems should be set up, segregating camera traffic to its own network.

 

You probably want to say different subnet

[crazy4offroad 0]

No big deal to do. You just need to connect your POE switch directly the the second NIC Card. Give the 2nd NIC card a different IP address. So if your main network is 192.168.1.x, make 2nd 192.168.0.x. You will then have to change your IP cameras to 192.168.0.x. This is really the way IP systems should be set up, segregating camera traffic to its own network.

Thanks for the fast reply. Will I need to VNC into the DVR to config the cams later or will they be available on the other (read "main" or LAN) network? That's why I was wondering if I needed to set up Network Connection Sharing, or bridge the two NICs. I dont mind doing the VNC method, just adds another step to the process. Since the LAN NIC is 192.168.0.112 I thought about assigning 192.168.0.113 to the second NIC, since the cams have static IPs as well I wont need a DHCP server running on it, but wasn't sure if they need bridged or ? If I assign the unused NIC 192.168.1.x I'll have to config the cams with similar IPs first so I dont have to use the NVSM software from the DVR to do it later. (Sorry, I've had a lot of holiday cheer this evening and really should leave this for another day lol.)

[crazy4offroad 0]

OK just got through tinkering with this for quite a while. I enabled ICS on the main NIC in the DVR (193.168.0.112) and assigned the PCI NIC 192.168.0.113 and everything works fine. Except, I cannot connect to the cams to admin them from any other computer on the LAN except the DVR. It may be possible, but I don't know how to structure the address in the address bar (i.e. "http://192.168.0.113/192.168.0.164" times out after a minute or so like it may work if a setting is tweaked). I tried that^ one, I tried "http://192.168.0.112/192.168.0.164" which also timed out after a minute or so, I tried "http://192.168.0.1/192.168.0.164" which of course didn't work, prompting me the username/passwd was wrong to connect, to the TP-link I assume. I googled the crap out of it and got nowhere. It may be a setting in the router, or the firewall in the DVR. Or both. I had also checked the box for "allow users to control connection" in ICS and noticed the Hkvision had added several exceptions to the firewall for various ports auto-magically. The LTS camera did not. Also I am wondering if network traffic is still bouncing through the router and back to the DVR or if the cam information is going directly to the DVR software at the PCI NIC. If anyone knows of any network monitoring software that could shed light on this let me know. I will keep pounding at this and if I figure it out I will post back. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to enlighten me!

[mattaggie 0]

Im not sure Im following you, but the second NIC card needs to have a different subnet as someone above mentioned. So if you network is 192.168.0.X, then second NIC in your DVR needs to be 192.168.1.X. If everything is 192.168.0 then everything is still on the same network. Your second NIC card can be anything, as long as its not 192.168.0. And of course your cameras would then need to match the second NIC subnet. When you do this, you will only be able to access the cameras direclty using their IP address from the DVR, nothing else. Everything else (other PCs, phones, tablets, etc) are on a different network. These other devices would only be able to view the cameras through the DVR.

[crazy4offroad 0]

Here's a screenshot of a statistics log from my router. I removed the MACs and put their names in there. It looks like the cams are not passing anything through the router, although the fact they are recognized by the router would suggest something, just no traffic. The network cams 1 & 2 have static IPs, and I guess since they're on the same subnet is why it can see them. I have noticed less cam lag on the network, and the DVR does show traffic but I keep the cams up on my computer all the time and wife pulls them up on her tablet very often as well. It still doesn't show as much traffic as our computers or devices. Kinda makes me wish I did a before screenshot for comparison.