Connect Remotely to a Network

Stingray

Not sure if this is the correct forum but here goes-

I want to view remotely a DVR that I have in Site A from Site B. Site A is home, site B is work, so I don't have any fancy hardware etc

The basic setup I have is:-
a) Broadband line (without a fixed IP address from Vodafone @ home)
b) Wireless Router (Belkin)

In a general way, is all that is required is to:-
1) Obtain a fixed IP address from my ISP
2) Set an IP & Gateway up on the DVR (similar to the Belkin??)
3) To connect 'dial' the fixed IP address

But how on (3) above do I get directed to the DVR? A practical example would help me

Thanks

Spear

Stingray wrote: »

Not sure if this is the correct forum but here goes-

I want to view remotely a DVR that I have in Site A from Site B. Site A is home, site B is work, so I don't have any fancy hardware etc

The basic setup I have is:-
a) Broadband line (without a fixed IP address from Vodafone @ home)
b) Wireless Router (Belkin)

In a general way, is all that is required is to:-
1) Obtain a fixed IP address from my ISP
2) Set an IP & Gateway up on the DVR (similar to the Belkin??)
3) To connect 'dial' the fixed IP address

But how on (3) above do I get directed to the DVR? A practical example would help me

Thanks

For 1) no need, try a dyndns.org account instead.

2) I'm not sure what you mean here. I think you mean you want to assign a static internal IP to the DVR and then forward any appropriate ports from the Belkin to the DVR.

3) Depends on what interface the DVR provides.

bhickey

When in Site A where the DVR is, how do you currently view whatever it is that you want to be able to view remotely? For example do you access it using a browser on a computer (and if so what is the URL format?) or is there a client program that you run?

sparktest

Spear, can you explain further...?

Will a dysdns.org account mean you do not need a static IP??
Is this free?

bhickey

sparktest wrote: »

Will a dysdns.org account mean you do not need a static IP??Is this free?

Yes and yes.

sparktest

Just bought this today for a small CCTV job at home.
http://docs-europe.origin.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0e04/0900766b80e04d3f.pdf

Barely know what an IP address is. No DVRs support Dynamic IP addresses do they? Either way i'll either need a static IP or get a free dysdns account?

I am sorry if that is a silly question.

Really finding my feet with this whole network scene, just after watching ten different videos on youtube on networking... I'd like to say I've missed my calling but I haven't.

Any advice etc would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sparktest.

Zab

The router that connects to your ISP dynamically obtains (i.e. requests one on each connect) an IP address from your ISP. This IP address is the IP address that devices/servers on the internet see you as. Because it can change periodically (if your connection goes down or the router gets rebooted etc) it means that if you want to contact your network from somewhere on the internet you need to know the current IP (this is basically what dyndns does for you) or you need the IP to not change (static IP).

On your home network you have a whole different set of IP addresses. These addresses never make it past your router to the internet. These addresses can also be dynamic or static.

What you need to do first is set up your DVR and get it working with your computer at home. Work out what you're going to want to do from work, and make sure that it's doable via a web browser as this will make things easier. You will have to work out what port it is using, 80 (the default for http) and 8080 are common.

Your DVR should be assigned an IP address by your router. You need to set up a NAT entry on your router telling it to forward the relevant port to your DVR. This could be called NAT, Custom applications, custom services, servers etc depending on the make of router. These days you can usually tell it to forward to a device by name (after the device has been assigned an IP), if not then you'll have to give the DVR a static IP. The protocol with be TCP.

What all this means is that when the router gets traffic coming in from the internet on port X it will forward it on to the DVR. Of course, you'll have to make sure that the DVR supports some sort of security (at least basic username/passowrd, preferably with SSL).

sparktest

This is tricky. Apologies if any of the questions below are repeating themselves, If I am rambling on [though I have spent some time editing], or if the questions are bordering on the ridiculous.

Any help is appreciated…

I purchased a 4channel DVR to enable viewing of 4 cameras on an Iphone.
The DVR I got was cheap [from radionics] and does not come with Iphone app as others do. I will be downloading a generic app which will work hopefully. The DVR will be standalone – if and when it works, and not connected to a dedicated PC.

I have connected the DVR to my Netgear wireless router and verified the camera operation with it on the tv. The setup mode of the DVR is DHCP, LAN and ADSL.

According to the networking setup, if the DHCP option is used an IP address is assigned by the DHCP server and no further settings are required here. For LAN, an IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS [what is this??] are to be entered. The next setting is HTTP setup with port number required. Finally DDNS setup is available, with DDNS Server, SMTP Server, Username and Password required to be entered.

Question 1:
I don’t think ADSL is applicable to me but are DHCP, LAN, HTTP and DDNS applicable to what I want to do?? OR is this different ways of doing the same thing? Is DHCP negated by DDNS – i.e is it one or the other? For LAN, I ran the script ipconfig and I have the details I think I need.. or do I??

Question 2:
I have set up a dyndns account called sparktest.dyndns.com say…
What does this allow me to actually do?
Can I type sparktest.dyndns.com into the web browser and this will allow me access to my network/PC at home once router is set up?

I have found my IP address from a checkIP website, say its xyx.xyx.xyx.xx

Question 3:
Why will this not work if I type http://xyx.xyx.xyx.xx into the web browser? Is it because the router is not set correctly?

Question 4:
I’ve inputted all the following DDNS settings in the DVR are they correct?
DDNS server: dyndns.org
SMTP Server: sparktest.dyndns.com
User name: username
Password: password

Question 5:
Logging into the Router – the router is set as a DHCP Router with starting IP address 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. There is an option on the router to get internet IP address dynamically [which is selected] or use a static IP which is not selected. The remote management port number is 8080.

Question 6:
Why can’t I access my network/PC if I type http://xyx.xyx.xyx.xx:8080? Wrong router settings??

From Zabs mail, I have set up a custom service in the router for port forwarding, the start port I said was 8080 as well as the end port with server IP 192.168.1.4, which I got from IPconfig script. Is this correct? What setup mode is this applicable to? LAN? HTTP? Zab said the protocol will be TCP? I’m not sure what this is.

I have 1 PC which is on the wireless network. I have installed the software which came with the DVR just for testing purposed. As I don’t have the router settings above correct I cannot see the footage on the DVR. Again, what is not allowing me to access I wonder?

So I have 2 basic problems [if you can ignore the nose bleed that I am due from all this troubleshooting]
1. I can’t get access to the DVR over the net.
2. I cant get access to the DVR over the home network.

The instructions with this DVR aren’t at all specific as the manual is directed to someone who has a clue about networking…

So ya…… to summarize……
I haven’t a notion but do look forward to figuring it out with yer help and hand holding if ye have the patience to get back to me with some answers.

Thanks,
Sparktest.

bhickey

sparktest wrote: »

I cant get access to the DVR over the home network.

To keep things simple, this is as far as you should try to go initially. Get access working from a local PC on the home network to the DVR first. The remote access is a completely separate issue and should only be looked at when you know that the basics are all okay first.

Zab

Yeah, lets take it step by step.

Attach the DVR to your home network. It should use DHCP to get an IP address from your computer. Find out what IP it was given by logging into the router (you'll have to look around, it's different on all routers). Then check the DVR manual to see how to connect to the DVR. Hopefully this will be via a browser where you go to [url]http://ip.address.from.above:somenumber/[/url] . If that isn't how you connect to it then tell us what is.

I use a black background so please don't write in black!

sparktest

Thanks for your feedback guys.

I connected the DVR to the router, I set up the Ip address xxx.xxx.xx.200,[picking the number 200 myself] Subnet Mask, G/W and DNS as per IPconfig /all.

I set the above IP address and port 8080 on the DVR software on the PC [which is on the wireless network].

I am now able to see the camera on the DVR software on the PC and also see the camera when I type http:/xxx.xxx.xx.200:8080 in the internet browser.

I presume no one outside my wireless network can see this link/DVR?

Is there a quick way of seeing this from an internet connection externally?

I am impressed with my progress so far. :cool:

From here???

Spear

sparktest wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback guys.

I connected the DVR to the router, I set up the Ip address xxx.xxx.xx.200,[picking the number 200 myself] Subnet Mask, G/W and DNS as per IPconfig /all.

I set the above IP address and port 8080 on the DVR software on the PC [which is on the wireless network].

I am now able to see the camera on the DVR software on the PC and also see the camera when I type http:/xxx.xxx.xx.200:8080 in the internet browser.

I presume no one outside my wireless network can see this link/DVR?

Is there a quick way of seeing this from an internet connection externally?

I am impressed with my progress so far. :cool:

From here???

In the port forwarding options of the router, you need to forward port 8080 to the external WAN interface to the internal address of 192.168.1.200 or so.

Zab

Spear wrote: »

In the port forwarding options of the router, you need to forward port 8080 to the external WAN interface to the internal address of 192.168.1.200 or so.

Yeah, it's like you said you did as custom service in Q6 above except use 192.168.1.200 instead of 192.168.1.4. This will put your DVR on the internet so it's imperative that it requires a password.

After you do this you should be able to access the DVR from your office on http://x.x.x.x:8080 where x.x.x.x is your home router's IP address (you can get from the router's webpage or from www.getip.com). However, this IP address can change essentially without notice which is why you could use a dyndns account.

sparktest

Thanks guys.

Zab wrote: »

After you do this you should be able to access the DVR from your office on http://x.x.x.x:8080 where x.x.x.x is your home router's IP address (you can get from the router's webpage or from www.getip.com). However, this IP address can change essentially without notice which is why you could use a dyndns account.

can you tell me how to use the dyndns account to view it?
I understand that it changes but cant understand how i use the account i set up to use it.

Thanks again.

Zab

Try getting it working by IP first. The IP will change but unless your internet connection is flapping up and down then it shouldn't be daily or anything. Assuming that it isn't changing rapidly there's no need to try dyndns until you verify that everything is working.

When you type www.google.com into your browser, you computer asks whatever DNS server it has set what the IP address of www.google.com is and then communicates with that IP. The internet does not work on domain names like google directly, they have to be converted to an IP first.

With dyndns they give you a domain name and set it up for your IP address. You then install something on your home network that updates the dyndns records whenever the IP changes. If your router supports this then it's the best place, next it's possible that your DRV supports it and failing all this it would have to be your PC (which would therefore have to be on).

sparktest

Just a quick update - got the camera working on the internet and eventually found an app that works with my cheap DVR [ after downloading about 20 of them]

I still haven't set up the dysdns accout and wont be for another few weeks, I'll be back on this thread though for more advice.

Thanks again for all your replies and patience.

Sparktest.

NullZer0

You may be interested in :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmCzujDd1d0

Morf3h

Hey OP,

check this guide out it's excellent:

http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/16/how-do-i-access-my-device-from-outside-my-home-network

Stingray

FYI, got mine working with a remote connection, just typed in the Host name account I set up on Dyndns.com in to my browser and it connected. I did setup port forward on my router to the DVR and also setup my Dyndns account info on my DVR (there was a place for it) and also on my router (there was also a place for it), so all or a combination of this, worked for me

When I typed the host name in to my browser up popped "Webservice V2" application (which I use on my home PC also), after a few glitches installing this I logged in successfully. Not sure if my dynamic IP address has changed yet, so don't know if the Dyndns host name is working the way it should, i.e. updated my dynamic ip address, but is seems to (only up today, so not fully tested)