Best practices for IP Cam setup

[camipman]

Hello all...long time listener, first time poster. Need some advice on a setup I have where I will have 50 ip cameras going to three poe 24port switches. Customer wants to have a handful of computer/printer devices also connected to the network with internet access. What would be a good way to accomplish this network wise?

Components I have so far are: 64ch NVR with dual lan ports and three POE switches.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Keep all the cameras on the PoE switches. Add one more switch, not a PoE, for the regular network. Keep the cameras totally isolated from the internet and shut off P2P in the NVRs to keep them safer. Connect the PoE switches to the NVR, they can be "daisy chained" if necessary, and the network port of the NVR to the non-PoE switch on the regular network.

 

[camipman]

I'm more of a visual guy...like this?

 

[sebastiantombs]

There you go. Keep in mind the NVR "expects" cameras to be plugged into it directly though. They can be added when connected to a switch but the method to add them is a little different. I don't use an NVR and can't give you a lot of advice in that regard, but it's done all the time without any real problems. Also keep in mind that even though you won't populate every physical port of the NVR you're still limited to 64 cameras on it even with the PoE switches supplying power for them.

 

[camipman]

Well this will be a heck of a learning curve I'm in for!...Thanks for your help.

 

[mat200]

FYI - I would try to put a firewall device between the NVR and "normal LAN" if this is a serious business ...

 

[camipman]

There you go. Keep in mind the NVR "expects" cameras to be plugged into it directly though. They can be added when connected to a switch but the method to add them is a little different. I don't use an NVR and can't give you a lot of advice in that regard, but it's done all the time without any real problems. Also keep in mind that even though you won't populate every physical port of the NVR you're still limited to 64 cameras on it even with the PoE switches supplying power for them.

The NVR I am using only has the two Lan ports on it. It has no "direct" camera ports on it. So maybe then I would have to connect the camera POE switches to the non-POE switch and segment the switch? Ugh.

 

[mat200]

The NVR I am using only has the two Lan ports on it. It has no "direct" camera ports on it. So maybe then I would have to connect the camera POE switches to the non-POE switch and segment the switch? Ugh.

It gets more complex now than your original picture .. basically 2 separate "LANs" and a router / firewall device between the 2 ...

 

[camipman]

Hmm...yea my brain is like scrambled eggs with what way would be the simplest and less stressful way.

 

[sebastiantombs]

What make/model are the cameras and NVR? That would help a bit.

 

[camipman]

Hikvision

 

[camipman]

I am thinking something like this now?

 

[sebastiantombs]

No, you're putting the cameras and NVR on a "forward facing", internet access, switch. Just add the firewall between "network 1" on the NVR and the regular network switch in your original sketch to provide better security as matt200 said.

 

[mat200]

FYI - took the following diagram and modified it for what I am thinking you should do ..

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If your primary Router is solid and has enough ports you can combine the router / firewall for the security cameras to it .. otherwise if a affordable router I would move the servers to the primary switch ( you want to reduce traffic on the main router .. so the main router I would only have the wifi router connected to it .. )




( note: "PC Ring network segment" - that is old stuff .. should not look like that in a new network .. so scratch that part .. )

 

[camipman]

You guys are awesome....thanks for the visual...hahaha pc ring. Dang, I am sure getting schooled with this setup. Sure...I probably took on more than I can chew but I have to learn someday with these larger setups and from what I am familiar with the resi setups.

Sooooo...could I just say: Lets make this simple for everyone and just have a closed network for the cameras and be done with it. In that case I would only need a switch that is capable of dhcp and I would be good to go?

 

[mat200]

You guys are awesome....thanks for the visual...hahaha pc ring. Dang, I am sure getting schooled with this setup. Sure...I probably took on more than I can chew but I have to learn someday with these larger setups and from what I am familiar with the resi setups.

Sooooo...could I just say: Lets make this simple for everyone and just have a closed network for the cameras and be done with it. In that case I would only need a switch that is capable of dhcp and I would be good to go?

I prefer fixed IPs for IP PoE cameras ..

 

[wittaj]

+1 above! DHCP runs the risk of the cameras being assigned new IP addresses and then the whole thing goes to crap. Fixed IP's and then power outage, reboot, etc. and the VMS can still find the cameras in the proper order.