Blue Iris and R7000 router.

[ccso151]

Hello all,

Periodically the internal and external IP addresses change and I have to assign the ip cameras (two in total) new addresses. Also, the external (dynamic) addresses change from time to time as well causing me to have to reconfigure the Blue Iris software.

I was told by a friend, who didn't really want to take the time to explain to a novice, that there is a way to "lock" the internal ip addresses to my cameras and to set up a DNS server to keep my external ip address from being a problem.

I hope I am explaining this well enough. In a nutshell I just want my cameras to work all the time without having to mess with the ip addresses every few weeks. Any help would be appreciated. Also, feel free to ask me more indepth questions. Thank you!

 

[bp2008]

This is two separate problems requiring two separate solutions.

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To solve the problem of your internal IP addresses changing, you can assign each camera a static IP address. It sounds like right now your cameras are using DHCP which means your router assigns an address automatically to each camera, and this address can change from time to time.

When you assign a static IP address, there are some basic conditions to consider.

1. Addresses in your network must all be unique. If two devices have the same address, one or both of the devices will become inaccessible.
2. All static addresses should be outside the range of addresses used by your router's DHCP server, otherwise the router could randomly assign an address that you already had assigned as a static address.
3. The addresses must all be in the same subnet. Typically this means the first 3 sets of digits must be the same.

For example if your router's DHCP server uses the range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.149, then you might consider assigning your cameras the static IP address 192.168.1.150 and 192.168.1.151.

Alternatively, your router probably has a static DHCP feature which will let you instruct the router to always assign your cameras the same address. I'm just not sure how easy Netgear made it to set this up.

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For the external IP address problem, you will need to set up a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) address. If you are unfamiliar with the terminology, here is a simple explanation: http://www.noip.com/free

The first step is to look in your router's Dynamic DNS (DDNS) settings and see which service providers are supported. The provider I linked above, no-ip, is supported by many, but not all routers. Most likely your router will support about 3 different providers and most of them will have free service options.

 

[ccso151]

This is two separate problems requiring two separate solutions.

---

To solve the problem of your internal IP addresses changing, you can assign each camera a static IP address. It sounds like right now your cameras are using DHCP which means your router assigns an address automatically to each camera, and this address can change from time to time.

When you assign a static IP address, there are some basic conditions to consider.

1. Addresses in your network must all be unique. If two devices have the same address, one or both of the devices will become inaccessible.
2. All static addresses should be outside the range of addresses used by your router's DHCP server, otherwise the router could randomly assign an address that you already had assigned as a static address.
3. The addresses must all be in the same subnet. Typically this means the first 3 sets of digits must be the same.

For example if your router's DHCP server uses the range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.149, then you might consider assigning your cameras the static IP address 192.168.1.150 and 192.168.1.151.

Alternatively, your router probably has a static DHCP feature which will let you instruct the router to always assign your cameras the same address. I'm just not sure how easy Netgear made it to set this up.

---

For the external IP address problem, you will need to set up a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) address. If you are unfamiliar with the terminology, here is a simple explanation: http://www.noip.com/free

The first step is to look in your router's Dynamic DNS (DDNS) settings and see which service providers are supported. The provider I linked above, no-ip, is supported by many, but not all routers. Most likely your router will support about 3 different providers and most of them will have free service options.

Wow, thank you so much. All of that makes perfect sense to me in theory. I'm just not sure how to put it into practice. Please bare with me as I ask the following...

1- "All static addresses should be outside the range of addresses used by your router's DHCP server" How do I find those values?
2 - "The addresses must all be in the same subnet. Typically this means the first 3 sets of digits must be the same" I'm sorry but I'm not sure what this means exactly. Where might I address this in my router settings?
3- "For the external IP address problem, you will need to set up a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) address." My router has a DNS setting and I did set up a DNS server, but it did not give me an ip address. only "(hostname).mynetgear.com" Is there a way to find the actual address?

Again, Sorry I'm so green at this. I do know a lot about computer hardware but networking is not my forte. I appreciate your help on this my friend. - John.

 

[bp2008]

1. Log in to your router and look for any options related to "DHCP". You will find info about the IP range here.
2. You shouldn't have to worry about this. Just remember that all the addresses on your network need to have the first 3 sets of digits be the same. Only the 4th set should be different and unique for each device. If you are asked for a subnet mask, this will be 255.255.255.0
3. The router will deal with the public IP address so all you have to know is the host name you signed up for. Maybe Netgear automatically assigned you a host name?

Any other questions, feel free to ask!