gdmss plus IVS push notification not working

Sammy0815 said:
Hi Catcamstar, thanks so much for your support, and yes, I stop whining and get down to it. :)

Ok, so the Cam itselft seems to see the events. Not only does my light come on on the cam, also I see that event in the log of the cam, for instance this:
14
Username: System
Time: 2020-06-07 11:22:33
Type: Event End
Content: {Channel NO.:1 Event Type:Motion Detection Region Name:Region1 }

So now, I giess I can assume that this was forwarded to the router, right?
Now on the router, I deactivated any kind of Firewall (Asus AC88U) - but still, nothing is triggered on my gdmss App.

How does the gdmss exactly work? Where should it get the data from and how?
To me it looks like its something within or around that App, dont you think?

Thanks again,
Sammy
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to debug!

Indeed, by having this in the logs, you have verified step 1: camera did see something! That's good! Thanks!

Assuming this "event" got pushed outside your network is a huge leap. So let's debug that next step:
  • do you happen to have Rmerlin ASUS firmware? That would certainly help - it's free and secures your router to the latest & greatest.
  • if so, you can "verify" and tweak the iptables inside it: default iptables settings (merlin 380.59 on rt-ac68u)
  • more importantly, you can access the firewall logs (or enable those): Firewall logging --> it has been a long time ago I did this (I'm now on Ubiquity gear), but even stating you "deactivated" any kind of firewall (did you verify parental controls too?), with the iptables stuff, you 'll see the big picture.


Regarding your question how gdmss works: you have 3 involved parties: A - your camera (or an NVR if the nvr handles the IVS/MD triggers), B - push notification service and C - your mobile device.

So for the push notifications to work, A needs to be able to talk to B. That's why I suggested you to investigate if that path is "open" and "working". This is typically done through this TCP2195 path. This covers both your internal LAN and your ISP.
The next step is path B to C. This is more complicated, because your C can be at home (LAN) or WAN (eg 5g). Debugging that part is harder.

When you "subscribe" to the camera's service, you are not actually browsing on (B), you are actually looking at the services on your (A) devices. How to be sure? Put your (C) mobile on 4G without home LAN access. Open that menu and try to subscribe. Last time I did this, it didn't work (because it couldn't find (A) device(s)). Once you are subscribed, you should receive push notifications when they occur.

Hope this helps!
CC
 
catcamstar said:
Thanks for taking the time to debug!

Indeed, by having this in the logs, you have verified step 1: camera did see something! That's good! Thanks!

Assuming this "event" got pushed outside your network is a huge leap. So let's debug that next step:
  • do you happen to have Rmerlin ASUS firmware? That would certainly help - it's free and secures your router to the latest & greatest.
  • if so, you can "verify" and tweak the iptables inside it: default iptables settings (merlin 380.59 on rt-ac68u)
  • more importantly, you can access the firewall logs (or enable those): Firewall logging --> it has been a long time ago I did this (I'm now on Ubiquity gear), but even stating you "deactivated" any kind of firewall (did you verify parental controls too?), with the iptables stuff, you 'll see the big picture.


Regarding your question how gdmss works: you have 3 involved parties: A - your camera (or an NVR if the nvr handles the IVS/MD triggers), B - push notification service and C - your mobile device.

So for the push notifications to work, A needs to be able to talk to B. That's why I suggested you to investigate if that path is "open" and "working". This is typically done through this TCP2195 path. This covers both your internal LAN and your ISP.
The next step is path B to C. This is more complicated, because your C can be at home (LAN) or WAN (eg 5g). Debugging that part is harder.

When you "subscribe" to the camera's service, you are not actually browsing on (B), you are actually looking at the services on your (A) devices. How to be sure? Put your (C) mobile on 4G without home LAN access. Open that menu and try to subscribe. Last time I did this, it didn't work (because it couldn't find (A) device(s)). Once you are subscribed, you should receive push notifications when they occur.

Hope this helps!
CC
Click to expand...

Thanks so much again.
Just a side note what I just discovered: So far i always used "local" devices and also those were added to the local messages/alerts in the App.
What I tried now is to use the Dahua Account, I logged in, I added one camera to the Cloud, activates messages in the Cloud, and voila, I instantly get messages about motion alerts.
I am not sure what that tells me though and also I dont want to add any devices to the Dahua account. I want all my cameras to be working locally only.

In regards to my homework:
Unfortunately I dont have RMerlin on my Router and if not absolutely necessary, I wouldnt want to install it cause everything else in my network works just fine.
Is there a way to proceed without that change?

For the working of DMSS:
How does A send the alert to B? And where and what is B? Is B the backend of the DMSS App on the Dahua side?
So if that is right, my router sends the alert through TCP2195 to... where? How does the router know where to send it to?
I think I almost got it. :)
 
Sammy0815 said:
Thanks so much again.
Just a side note what I just discovered: So far i always used "local" devices and also those were added to the local messages/alerts in the App.
What I tried now is to use the Dahua Account, I logged in, I added one camera to the Cloud, activates messages in the Cloud, and voila, I instantly get messages about motion alerts.
I am not sure what that tells me though and also I dont want to add any devices to the Dahua account. I want all my cameras to be working locally only.

In regards to my homework:
Unfortunately I dont have RMerlin on my Router and if not absolutely necessary, I wouldnt want to install it cause everything else in my network works just fine.
Is there a way to proceed without that change?

For the working of DMSS:
How does A send the alert to B? And where and what is B? Is B the backend of the DMSS App on the Dahua side?
So if that is right, my router sends the alert through TCP2195 to... where? How does the router know where to send it to?
I think I almost got it. :)
Click to expand...

I never worked with the Dahua account, so I cannot comment on it. I always add my devices by local IP (hence the subscription on the LAN requirement). As long as you didn't portforward any WAN traffic TO your cams, it's OK.
I suspect that it "facilitates" the linking between your app across different devices. If you want to be sure about security in general, I suspect you follow the packet sniffing way below.

So in general: ASUS is rather good in providing new fixes to their firmwares. However, RMerlin (with his firmware) uses the same "original" firmware but improves it with some additional linux programs, ànd all the latest CVE patches. So with Rmerlin, you are way more safe than with the "standard" ASUS firmware. Also stuff that got broken in the original FW might be even fixed in his. There is no warranty "breach", I even called ASUS to tell them that something did not work in the original FW, and when telling that that feature worked in RMerlin, they agreed that this particular patch would eventually make it in theirs. So if I was you, and you were tempted for the "added value", you may take the plunge. But the iptables/ssh access for the communication sniffing does not require RMerlin.

How does A send the alerts? There is a list of "service-IPs" which are "hardcoded" in your camera. These services are linked to iOS push notification and Google push notifications (remember there is an iDMSS and gDMSS app). Hence my suggest in step 1 to see if your firewall does block these connections (then you know why it doesn't work), but on the other hand, if you block ALL connections from your camera, you will see immediately to which IPs it is trying to throw out these push notifications. In other words: your router will simply let them "pass through", it does not "add" anything, it simply transfers them. The camera does know what to do to which service-ip.

Hope this helps!
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Ok, I am trying hard here... I installed the Firmware, thanks so much for the advice.

I checked the routing tables, all goes from "anywhere" to "anywhere".
I double checked all firewall settings and made sure everything is deactivated.

Still, no messages on DMSS. :-(
Just thinking of the workflow, isnt it possible that Dahua decided on the backend to just turn this feature off the other night and thats why I dont get messages as long as the cameras are on my local network?

Update: I just used an iphone from my neighbor, installed DMSS, put it all in: WORKS!
So, its either my Service provider not letting through that traffic, or its indeed the Dahua backend, correct?
 
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Okido on the Rmerlin upgrade, you won't regret this.

I'm betting that if you work with Dahua account, it creates some kind of p2p network with your DMSS app and your camera's, and it may (or may not) use the "real" push notification systems. So let's step back again: iIf you ssh into your router, and execute "iptables -L -v", do you see entries blocking cams (eg IP's, mac addresses, .. ) from leaving your network? Remember: all rules are followed sequentially top-down, if there is no "exception/allow" rule, and the last line is "deny all", nothing will pass through. This is worth checking out.

If you'd like to post the output of that iptables, please remove all WAN-IP address references.
 
Did you just see my update?
I just used an iphone from my neighbor, hooked it up to my Wifi, installed DMSS, put it all in: WORKS!
So, its either my Service provider not letting through that traffic, or its indeed the Dahua backend, correct?
 
Last edited:
Sammy0815 said:
Did you just see my update?
I just used an iphone from my neighbor, hooked it up to my Wifi, installed DMSS, put it all in: WORKS!
So, its either my Service provider not letting through that traffic, or its indeed the Dahua backend, correct?
Click to expand...

Ow, you ninja'd your initial post, sorry! If you say your neighbor used HIS phone on YOUR wifi, which means YOUR ISP, connecting to YOUR cams, then I'm 100% confident it is not YOUR ISP but YOUR phone. I suggest you fully uninstall the app. And reinstall it. I'm confident this will fix your problem.

Good luck!
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Sammy0815 said:
Told'ya, I didnt do anything. :)
Of course reinstalling was the first thing that I tried... no luck. :(

Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

You are gDMSS right? What happens if in "App management" you first wipe all data and then uninstall. To make sure nothing is left behind. Re-install, and add the device by IP/domain. No Dahua account login (as this might mess up some things in the background too).
 
Sammy0815 said:
Yes, gDMSS, and I did it all... nothing. :(
Like I described, Thursday night, all of the sudden it stopped working.
Click to expand...

Any neighbors with Android phones around? ;-) Because if another Android is borked, you know it's the google push notifications! Because iOS is using different ones.

Oh, and it could also be that a Boom Beach updated brook something in the back ;-)
 
Same here, push stopped working yesterday for no reason. Seems this happens from time to time and Google has been blamed. Maybe Andy can verify?
 
Dahua will stop the update for the idmss or gdmss, here is the email from them.

I'm glad to inform you that the new version of DMSS V1.2 is released. New app name is DMSS. Please pay attention the name.
DMSS only launched to overseas market. And then, iDMSS plus and gDMSS plus overseas version will stop development. So we suggest users download the new app to manage their device and enjoy DMSS service. DMSS is getting better and better
 
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Hi Andy,
I see a DMSS with version 1.31 and a DMSS HD with version 1.30.

The DMSS works apparently, the DMSS HD I cant use on my phone, cause the screen doesnt resize, so I cant skip this one notification when I first start it.

Any idea?

Best regards
Sammy
 
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