Hitting cameras web pages with a laptop in an NVR with POE

[Crazykiller]

If this works in the same way as the Hikvision NVR 'Virtual Host' facility - it may open up the ability to fully access the PoE-connected cameras from the LAN, independently of the NVR web GUI, as can be done with Hikvision NVRs.

If you'd like to try an experiment - what are the PoE-connected camera IP addresses and default gateway set to, and what is the IP address of the NVR PoE interface?

The NVR has the IP which I configured for the integrated switch, which is also the default GW for the cams. The ports are forwarded dynamically. It starts with port 10080 for the first cam you click and goes up for each you click. It's not static per channel.

 

[alastairstevenson]

OK, if the camera default gateway is already set to the IP address of the NVR integrated switch interface IP address, one less thing to tweak, unlike Hikvision NVRs which strangely set it to the NVR LAN interface IP address.

So the experiment would simply be to set a static route on the LAN gateway/router, something like:
"For <network addresses of NVR integrated switch> route packets via <IP address of NVR LAN interface>"
Then ping / tracert the PoE-connected camera IP addresses from the LAN-connected PC.

Then when it doesn't work - tidy up and wipe the static route.

 

[Crazykiller]

OK, if the camera default gateway is already set to the IP address of the NVR integrated switch interface IP address, one less thing to tweak, unlike Hikvision NVRs which strangely set it to the NVR LAN interface IP address.

So the experiment would simply be to set a static route on the LAN gateway/router, something like:
"For <network addresses of NVR integrated switch> route packets via <IP address of NVR LAN interface>"
Then ping / tracert the PoE-connected camera IP addresses from the LAN-connected PC.

Then when it doesn't work - tidy up and wipe the static route.

I already tried this before. But I'll give it another hit, now as Dahua added PAT

 

[Crazykiller]

I already tried this before. But I'll give it another hit, now as Dahua added PAT

Still no success…

 

[shaids]

Always wondered how it could be done and wanted to try it out for myself, but never had the time to sit and work it out. Your detailed information would be a plus am sure when i give it a try. Thanks for sharing this idea with us all.

 

[jmcu]

For the NVR5XXX-4K series:
Original Dahua firmware with Dahua logo
Generic OEM firmware without logo

What a great overdue release !!
It sure fixed a lot of issues and added a few needed features..

 

[Crazykiller]

And for sure some new bugs

 

[cctvnerd]

I found this on the dahua website. Im not sure if this is what you are looking for...

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/nvr-interface-setting-network.html

Scroll down to the bottom of the page till you reach the Switch Option. I cant proof this feature because i dont have a dahua nvr with built in poe. But i think its the same option like the virtual host on hikvision nvr. Im also not sure about the firmware version since this feature is supported.

 

[psycik]

I thought it might be interesting for some users, that Dahua added a port forwarding functionality to their new firmware. So now it is possible to access cams behind NVRs PoE ports. I don't know if they did this to all new firmwares or will do this in future. I've got a NVR5232-16P-4KS2 and with the new NVR5xxx-4k firmware it works like a charme.

This doesn't seem to work as advertised on my 4104p. I see the link, but when I click on the E link to go to the camera, it sends me to the internal ip address of the camera - internal from the NVR point of view. So my NVR is connected as 192.168.10.64, the internal lan of the nvr is 192.168.20.x. It just seems to be doing a http call

THe only thing I can think of is that the cameras are using fixed ip addresses on that 192.168.20 subnet

In this attachment of yours: https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/camera_through_nvr-png.19428/ the url is 192.168.1.108:10081
Is 192.168.1.108 your NVR address? and the 1 of the 10081 meaning port 2 (assuming port 1 is 0)?

 

[Crazykiller]

This doesn't seem to work as advertised on my 4104p. I see the link, but when I click on the E link to go to the camera, it sends me to the internal ip address of the camera - internal from the NVR point of view. So my NVR is connected as 192.168.10.64, the internal lan of the nvr is 192.168.20.x. It just seems to be doing a http call

THe only thing I can think of is that the cameras are using fixed ip addresses on that 192.168.20 subnet

In this attachment of yours: https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/camera_through_nvr-png.19428/ the url is 192.168.1.108:10081
Is 192.168.1.108 your NVR address? and the 1 of the 10081 meaning port 2 (assuming port 1 is 0)?

If the cam is connected to one of the NVR's PoE ports it's getting an IP from the separated subnet of the NVR. If I try to connect a cam which on the NVR's subnet I get the NVR's IP with a port starting at 10081. The port addressing is dynamic, so there is no way to reach the cam directly via that link, only by passing the NVR.
If I'm going to reach a cam which is not connected to the PoE ports and is reached via my normal subnet the link only redirects you to your cam with the same address you would use to reach your cam directly.

 

[psycik]

If the cam is connected to one of the NVR's PoE ports it's getting an IP from the separated subnet of the NVR. If I try to connect a cam which on the NVR's subnet I get the NVR's IP with a port starting at 10081. The port addressing is dynamic, so there is no way to reach the cam directly via that link, only by passing the NVR.
If I'm going to reach a cam which is not connected to the PoE ports and is reached via my normal subnet the link only redirects you to your cam with the same address you would use to reach your cam directly.

Ahh on, so that's why if I try the NVR address and a port directly it didn't work.

But I tried the camera link and it just passed me to the cameras IP address, even though it's on the cameras subnet. It has to be something to do with me fixing the IP addresses of the cameras on the NVR internal subnet.

On the previous firmware, if dhcp was on, it tried being dhcp for both the camera subnet and the main lan one. This is why I turned it off.

 

[gawhara]

Well done

 

[rumlauf]

Has anyone tried, or know if it works, the IP Visiting feature on the newer NVR42xx-xP-4KS2?
Thanks.

 

[bigredfish]

Yes it does on my 4208-8P-4KS2

 

[rumlauf]

Thanks @bigredfish

 

[Gilean]

Hello everyone! I am in the same boat as OP, but I have a bit different setup and cannot log in to cameras via NVR. First things first, here's my setup:


I have my internet router connected with my Dahua NVR and my desktop computer. Three cameras are directly connected to NVR (and gets power from PoE+ ports) and one RJ45 cable goes to my Trendnet PoE+ switch inside my shed, and I have plugged three more cameras to that. Result is that I can see all six cameras in my computer screen, but I just cannot connect to cameras to do the needed setups there.

My home network is 192.168.0.X, that's what my Huawei DHCP gives to my home equipment (subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.0.1). Some devices, including NVR, have static IP's that are in the same range, for example my NVR is 192.168.0.50.

But NVR has it's own switch, and that is set up like this:
IP address: 10.1.1.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 10.1.1.1

Now when I look at web UI, it looks like this:

At some point of my testing, I might have set up a static IP addresses to some of my cameras, while some gets their IP from NVR's DHCP, but I could change those if I just was able to log in to cameras! I know at some point when I clicked that "web browse" it opened up another browser window, address was something like 10.1.1.67:8001 etc, but now it's only 10.1.1.67 and that doesn't lead anywhere. I have read this thread but I don't understand what exactly I have to do so I am able to connect those cameras from my desktop computer. I actually tried to plug my laptop directly to NVR when my laptop had IP address of 10.1.1.100, but that didn't work. Then I even tried to plug in camera directly to my laptop, but naturally that didn't work as my laptop cannot power the camera I don't understand NVR settings, there might be something that could help but there is no "Virtual Host" setting for example. My NVR's firmware is quite new: "System Version:3.215.0000000.4, Build Date: 2018-01-19"

Also, when power goes out, sometimes all cameras are found (and "green") automatically, sometimes 5/6 cameras are okay, you never know. And like in this screenshot, I get two "ghost cameras" that come there automatically, those that are marked as red. They also have same IP address as those cameras that are actually working! Don't know where those come from...

I would appriciate if someone could help me, what exactly I have to do in order to reach those cameras from my computer? :/ I didn't know it would be this difficult...

 

[Gilean]

I was able to do a quick video on this process. Hope it helps.

Now this video helped me to at least connect to cameras when I plug ethernet cable from my computer right in to PoE ports of NVR. Before I didn't manage to connect, because I had four cables in four leftmost PoE ports, and connected my computer to one of the remaining four ports. Well, I found out that not all those 8 ports are the same, they are divided between 4 and 4 ! So if I connect 3 cameras to three leftmost PoE ports and my computer to remaining port in same group, then I can connect straight to cameras! That already helps, thanks to Shockwave199 for his post, but now I only hope I could just log in without having to pull an ethernet cable from my computer to NVR every time I need to tweak the cameras (and because my setup is new, they need A LOT of tweaking!)

 

[Thedy Bratu]

Hi Gilean,
I believe I missed the info about what NVR port is connected to your router (and PC). The NVR WAN port has to be connected to the router. The POE switch that you use for connecting additional cameras has to be connected to one of the NVR POE ports but not to the PC as well.
From experience I found that the NVR doesn't like when you set up fixed IPs on cameras.
If all your cameras are connected behind the NVR and the NVR WAN port is connected to the router (PC connected to router as well), then you can access the cameras through the NVR' interface' links. Please note that the forwarded ports may change each time when you open the NVR interface, so you have to log in there (NVR GUI) first in order to access the cameras.
Connecting your POE switch to both NVR POE ports as well as to the router may create conflicts on both DHCP servers as well as on packets routing.
Your other option is to connect the cameras on the same network with the NVR WAN port (where the PC is connected) and set up cameras as external, but I believe you do not want to do that.
Prior to having that function on the NVR GUI that provides links (and temporary forwarded ports) to cameras, I used a very basic router configures as I described in one of my posts here and I was able to directly access the cameras behind the NVR without needing to change any cable connections.
I hope this helps.
Cheers

 

[Gilean]

Hi Gilean,
I believe I missed the info about what NVR port is connected to your router (and PC). The NVR WAN port has to be connected to the router. The POE switch that you use for connecting additional cameras has to be connected to one of the NVR POE ports but not to the PC as well.
From experience I found that the NVR doesn't like when you set up fixed IPs on cameras.
If all your cameras are connected behind the NVR and the NVR WAN port is connected to the router (PC connected to router as well), then you can access the cameras through the NVR' interface' links. Please note that the forwarded ports may change each time when you open the NVR interface, so you have to log in there (NVR GUI) first in order to access the cameras.
Connecting your POE switch to both NVR POE ports as well as to the router may create conflicts on both DHCP servers as well as on packets routing.
Your other option is to connect the cameras on the same network with the NVR WAN port (where the PC is connected) and set up cameras as external, but I believe you do not want to do that.
Prior to having that function on the NVR GUI that provides links (and temporary forwarded ports) to cameras, I used a very basic router configures as I described in one of my posts here and I was able to directly access the cameras behind the NVR without needing to change any cable connections.
I hope this helps.
Cheers

Hello Thedy Bratu, and thank you for info! My NVR WAN port is connected to router, and POE switch is connected only into POE port of NVR, but not also into my router. So everything *should* be fine. Well, this morning when I read your message, I decided to log in to cameras and switch them back to DHCP instead of static IP. I remember doing that earlier, and that caused me to lose the cameras completely, as there is no way to tell which IP address that NVR gave them! And I had to reset each camera using reset button, and then install them again and setting them to static IP. Luckily back then all my cameras were on my living room floor, but now that resetting is very difficult as my cameras are installed outside already, some of them quite high as well..

Anyway, today morning I noticed that my NVR was just blinking yellow light inside, and it was not responding at all! Also PTZ camera that is getting power from NVR was still - the other one was moving as that is getting power from my POE switch. I thought it was dead already, as nothing seem to help (pulling power plug off didn't), so finally I pulled all network cables off and plugged only power cable in - and it came back alive! I added all network cables back, and it worked - until I plugged another network cable to one of the POE ports, as I was trying to connect my desktop computer. The whole NVR turned itself off - and went back on when I unplugged my desktop computer's cable! I can connect my laptop though without problems. Not sure if my NVR is faulty or not, but it seems as if it tries to give power to all devices even when they don't need it. As last night was the first time I had my PTZ cameras "on tour" during the night, so maybe that touring in addition to IR lights were too much? But it shouldn't, as the NVR should only give power to one PTZ and two turret cams... :/

Anyway, when I got that sorted out, I was able to log in to each camera, switched them back to DHCP and rebooted each camera. Well, that resulted me losing ALL my cameras, like I expected :/ Web service and SmartPSS still shows my cameras with their old addresses on bottom part of the screen (and I dare not to remove them), and no cameras are found by searching. Even ConfigTool cannot find but my NVR. I really don't understand why my cameras are so hard to find by my NVR... Even when I had static IP's, Web service never found any cameras, SmartPSS was the only software that found them - and even then, initially nothing, but when I left it alone after a while, all cameras were found :/ Now even that doesn't seem to help. I am going for a short holiday now, so I guess I have to find this small router while I am away. I really wouldn't mind my cameras being in the same subnet as my computer, but NVR prevented that, and my camera cables are now too short to reach my main router...

 

[Thedy Bratu]

What a mess....
You can use any router for that setup, I believe you don't need any additional frustration with the one that I used (I had to change the firmware on it as the one that it had did not have the option to disable the WIFI). If you have an old router laying around, just use that one.
Anyhow, it is really strange how your system behaves. I noticed all your cameras are Dahua. If so, the two ones that are not connected (in your picture) are not using the right ports, as Dahua uses its own protocol on port 37777.
With regard to the POE ports, I am not sure of the specs of your NVR, but in principle it is possible the port to be unable to provide all power required for the PTZ camera, so why don't you put the PTZ ones on your POE switch?
I understand that your cameras are not easy to physically reach, but that should not be a problem as you can connect them directly to the router through a POE switch and reconfigure them the way you wish. I wonder if part of the issue is not related to the combination of lower cpu specs on the NVR and plugging all cameras at the same time on the initial config. I would unplug them all, delete them off the NVR and then plug them one by one giving each of them time to be identified by the NVR, etc.
I am really surprised your NVR prevented the camera to work if connected on its WAN side. Please note that if the cameras are on the NVR' WAN side, you have to search for them on the NVR by using the function of searching for "remote" cameras, I am not sure if I recall well the name of that function. I was actually sorry that I bought a POE version of the NVR as its power supply fan drives me nuts.I already bought all the bits to replace it original power supply with another solution, but I didn't have time to do it yet
When you connect your PC to the LAN part of the NVR, why don't you use one of the non-POE ports of the switch?