I.
How to set-up an IP
Camera.
II.
Run the MAC software
that came with the camera.
- This will allow you to manually copy IP numbers
from your router to the camera.
- Completing this should let you view video from
your computer entering its IP address. At this point camera and computer is
connected using a Ethernet cable.
III.
Run PC software. Use the
software included in a CD or download.
- This will configure the camera to connect to the
Wi-Fi.
- - This is much like setting up a computer for Wi-Fi.
IV.
At this point you can
see video using a browser. Enter the IP address of the camera nnn.nnn.n.nnn:nn.
- - This allows you to do this while the camera
and PC connected via Wi-Fi. This also works while ONLY using your local/personal
Wi-Fi router. Once you’re outside your intranet. Use somebody’s Wi-Fi or surf
using your Smartphone. It will not be able to connect.
- Reason is that the Wi-Fi Router is blocking
access to the camera’s IP address via firewall.
n When you
enter the camera's’ IP address outside your network the ‘Internet’ doesn’t know
what that IP address is. There can be thousands of that camera with the same IP
address connected to the internet. And those thousands of cameras’ are inside someone’s
Intranet or personal network shielded by their routers’ firewall.
n It’s like trying to call your missing dog out on
the street but your dog is inside someone’s apartment. Doors being closed so it
can’t hear you.
n You need to have a one of windows open so that
when you call your dog’s name, it can hear you. This is when router PORTS come
into the picture.
n Let’s imagine a router is the house and port is
one of the windows.
n We need to open at least one window to allow my
voice to get into the house.
V.
We now need to manually
tinker with the router setup. This appears intimidating or just too much work.
For me I thought of just returning the IP Cam just because I hate doing that.
- To do this we need to setup the virtual server
of the router.
n in English that meant assign a house window to
be open so I can be heard by my dog.
- At this point we need to somewhat drill down to
that screen.
n Search for “Firewall”. Under that should be
Virtual Servers. Click on that.
n by now you should see rows and rows of blanks
that needs to be filled up.
1.
Every row is a window of
a house that is closed.
n We need to just fill in the blanks of one row
since we only need to open one window.
n Let’s start entering information of the first
empty row.
n Enter any word in the description (e.g., camera
one).
n Enter the external port.
n Choose a number between X to XX and enter that
in the external port field. This will be the window number or port number in
the case of the router.
n Sometimes it’s better to use the port assigned
by the camera at the initial steps.
1.
Port number is the
number after colon “:” after the bunch of numbers with periods.
n Enter last 3 digits of the camera’s IP address.
That would be the three numbers on the left side of the colon.
n Enter the internal port.
1.
Now copy the port number
of the camera. Sometimes the hardcoded PORT of the camera (on a sticker on the
camera) can be different as the PORT eventually shows up on the first step when
you look at the cameras setup.
2.
When the camera port is
different (sticker against camera IP Port in its configuration), use the PORT #
in the camera’s config or setup. This PORT # is saved into the camera’s memory.
n Now we have told the router to open window
(PORT). No when we scream outside our voice can port through that window
(PORT).
VI.
To test, enter the IP
Address of your computer (check web on how to get assigned IP of your computer)
plus colon and PORT number. XX.XXX.X.:NNN. This will only work when you are
outside your network.
VII.
Now to be able to make
this work all the time. This is an extra measure of stuff we need to do to make
this always work.
- Yes you enter your computers’ IP address plus
PORT then you can access your camera but the kicker here is that the computers
IP address changes. It changes because whoever invented the internet didn’t
think far enough that they agreed to have this few numbers on a IP address.
VIII.
It’s like the car’s
license plate. Imagine if there are only three digits on a license tag and the
1000 car need a plate? We have painted ourselves in a corner. So what the
internet gods did is that whenever you reboot your computer the gods selects a
number for you. When you switch off they give it to another computer.
- Now comes the DNS or DDNS providers. These
businessmen made software that associate your IP to a text that we can easily
remember (e.g., APPLE.COM). Since the internet gods’ change your IP whenever
they get bored, these DDNS businessmen makes sure that the text associated to
your IP address gets updated with the new IP. Now you just have to remember the
text (e.g., amazon.com) instead of the ever changing IP address.
IX.
Now coming back to
accessing your camera outside your network, instead of typing the IP address,
you just type in the text plus the port, of course separated by a colon (e.g.,
yahoo.com:80).
X.
Ayos!
