IP/network cameras, SecuritSpy and OS 10.5.x

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Level 1

23 points

IP/network cameras, SecuritSpy and OS 10.5.x

Hello, all. I'm trying to set up a home video surveillance system using an old (G4) iMac as a dedicated server for SecuritySpy, connected to my home LAN by ethernet, running Panasonic C140 IP cameras (on the SS supported cameras list). In short, the wiring runs and hardware hookups are complete and the old iMac is running fine on the LAN (ethernet switch in attic linked to a Linksys router in a bedroom, various other Macs and two network printers, Airport base station, etc.).

Issues:

1. Can't access the Linksys router (BESR81, 8-port wired) via Safari (or any other browser) to adjust settings for port forwarding and get the IP address of the new cameras. It hasn't been touched since installed years ago so I suspect I should just do a reset and a "fresh" setup. Any other options from within OSX to get that camera IP address? I've heard of "pinging" to see if a web site is active - is there anything like that which would work?

2. For port forwarding to get remote access - do I need to set the port opening on the router and the OSX firewall or just one of them?

3. Suggestions for an iPhone remote viewer and video surveillance tips gladly accepted...

Kevin

Posted on Apr 18, 2011 1:05 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Camelot

Level 9

54,333 points

Apr 18, 2011 8:48 PM in response to kwolson

> Any other options from within OSX to get that camera IP address? I've heard of "pinging" to see if a web site is active - is there anything like that which would work?

Sure - you can ping your network broadcast address - you should get a response back from each device on the network. Either cross-reference this with a list of known devices, or try to connect to each one in turn to see who responds. 🙂

You can use /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility to run a Ping - set the address to your network's broadcast address (typically the same first three octets as your machine's IP address, with the fourth octet set to 255 - e.g. if your Mac's IP address is 192.168.1.20 then your broadcast address is probably 192.168.1.255)

> 2. For port forwarding to get remote access - do I need to set the port opening on the router and the OSX firewall or just one of them?

The only port forwarding that matters is on the device that's running NAT - typically at your network edge. That's probably the Linksys router but that's impossible determine from the available information. In either case the OS X firewall only matters if your Mac is running as an internet gateway (hint: it should not be).

> 3. Suggestions for an iPhone remote viewer and video surveillance tips gladly accepted...

I don't know about specific iApps, but I can view my Security Spy camera via the standard web browser.

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Answer 2

kwolson Author

Level 1

23 points

Apr 22, 2011 2:44 PM in response to Camelot

Thanks for the prompt reply - I'll be trying your suggestions this weekend...

Another CCTV discussion forum has said that the default IP address for Panasonic cameras is 192.168.0.253, which I believe puts the camera on a different "subnetwork" of my LAN. Perhaps that is the reason I haven't been able to locate it so far (when I used the ping command it only showed four entries - our three desktop machines and the HP networked printer).

Since my Linksys router has not been "adjusted" in years, I also plan to reset that from scratch, work on the UPnP settings/port forwarding and check the DCHP table to see if it shows up there as well.

It's been an interesting project - hope I see some remote video soon...

KWO

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Answer 3

kwolson Author

Level 1

23 points

Apr 29, 2011 8:45 AM in response to Camelot

Camelot:

Well, I'm up and running using your suggestions - thanks! Once I got the local IP address issue figured out using Net Utility, the Panasonic web page camera setup showed up immediately and the rest of the configuration was uneventful - there is a web-based Panasonic viewer if I want to use only that for remote access, too.

Security Spy also recognized the network camera and started operation right away - a nice program and I'll spend some time getting it set up soon, particularly the web server.

More questions:

1.The camera actually came with an default fixed IP address of 192.168.1.253 (the info I mentioned earlier was incorrect). I assume that I could change that through router settings or the Panasonic web-based configuration. Once I add other cameras (which might come with the same initial IP address) will they "compete/conflict" with another? There is a setup tab that includes "automatic/DCHP/static IP" for the camera, currently set to automatic (the default) but I only have one camera to worry about at present.

2. Am I correct in thinking that I would not use any of the remote access feature settings on the camera web server itself if I plan to use Security Spy for that function? Port forwarding, etc?

3. Regarding #2, if I set my router for port forwarding to Security Spy, it will forward remote viewing requests to the appropriate camera so the camera's own web server is unneccessary in this situation? Along with this, I assume I would set the SS server Mac to have a fixed IP address on my LAN using Network preferences? Or does the DDNS service take care of this, too?

KWO

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