How to find my external IP address?

[ilan1h2020]

To be fair: I had linksys tech support on the phone (level 2) for 90 minutes and they couldn't solve the problem. I also tried Spectrum tech support and they didn't have a clue. I then had this camera installation guy who I mentioned in my previous post. After that I had my own IT guy come to give it a try. He's a brilliant computer whiz who has literally solved every tech problem in my office for the last few years. Even he was confused and did all the usual things that the others had done. Finally I told him that someone on the ipcamtalk site had suggested a program called SADP and perhaps he should take a look. Reluctantly he installed it on one of the computers and almost immediately understood exactly what the problem was. Approximately 2 minutes after that he had a new internal IP address for me and 5 minutes later, an external IP address. He told me that it was rare for a client to guide him to the correct solution in this way (I looked like a genius!).

 

[alastairstevenson]

the ipcamtalk site had suggested a program called SADP

The neat thing about SADP is that because it relies on broadcasts the device discovery works across all IP address ranges on the LAN that the PC is on.
So a device 'hidden' on another subnet, on the same LAN, is able to be discovered.

 

[fenderman]

To be fair: I had linksys tech support on the phone (level 2) for 90 minutes and they couldn't solve the problem. I also tried Spectrum tech support and they didn't have a clue. I then had this camera installation guy who I mentioned in my previous post. After that I had my own IT guy come to give it a try. He's a brilliant computer whiz who has literally solved every tech problem in my office for the last few years. Even he was confused and did all the usual things that the others had done. Finally I told him that someone on the ipcamtalk site had suggested a program called SADP and perhaps he should take a look. Reluctantly he installed it on one of the computers and almost immediately understood exactly what the problem was. Approximately 2 minutes after that he had a new internal IP address for me and 5 minutes later, an external IP address. He told me that it was rare for a client to guide him to the correct solution in this way (I looked like a genius!).

linksys low level tech support has no experience....anyone who installs cameras for a living will have this figured out in 2 minuets...with or without sadp....the guy was screwing you...why in the world would he assume that the NVR was suddenly defective simply because you switched out the router...i would also advise you to NOT portforward your dvr/nvr...it will be hacked...have your guy setup a vpn...your router may support it.

 

[Silas]

If it's the same guy, I wouldn't let him anywhere near my house to setup a VPN '-) he would probably suggest a dedicated T1 line for your security .....

 

[TonyR]

Thank you so much for the SADP advice. It solved the problem immediately. I had a camera installation guy at my office who did not know to do this and was just about to install an entirely new DVR. I ran SADP and immediately realized that for some reason the IP address of the DVR had been changed. I put in the correct IP address into my IVMS program and the problem was solved. This site is fantastic.

Good call, @alastairstevenson !

Yep, you'd think a 'level 2 tech' or a 'IT guy' could use his (or her) google-fu a bit better. From Hikivision Support describing SADP:

"The Search Active Device Protocol (SADP) tool allow users to detect Hikvision products on their local area network in order to activate them, change network settings including IP address, Subnet mask, default gateway and port numbers. It also allows them to reset or change forgotten passwords. Batch configuration of IP address and Activation included. SADP is the best tool for troubleshooting and diagnosing Hikvision networked devices."

A great 'How to' on SADP, also.

 

[c hris527]

A "camera guy" who did not know this is either an idiot or a scammer, likely the latter...and you should let him know.

HaHA I have seen Camera guys that did not know diddely shit about networking.. TYCO comes to mind

 

[TonyR]

HaHA I have seen Camera guys that did not know diddely shit about networking.. TYCO comes to mind

Reminds me of what goes on in the rural south with home building where there's no inspections, no permit process. If a guy can make a light come on, he's deemed 'an electrician', but he couldn't tell you what circuit breaker amperage should go on a #14 conductor (and why!) even if you held a gun to his head. And troubleshooting an actual issue? You can forget that ! Most have their hands full memorizing wire colors for 120 VAC. They think the NEC is akin to the SEC (Southeastern Conference) only up north!

It's no wonder there are so many house fires in this neck of the woods!

 

[alastairstevenson]

This site is fantastic.

It's even better when you can be open about problems and attempts at solutions some of which generate the jokey type of responses that show it's a community here.

 

[Silas]

HaHA I have seen Camera guys that did not know diddely shit about networking.. TYCO comes to mind

Is that the one determined to use a single cat6 cable with 8 cameras ? Never came back to say how it went...

 

[c hris527]

Is that the one determined to use a single cat6 cable with 8 cameras ? Never came back to say how it went...

That is a professional security company I had to deal with, needless to say the tech was glad i was working with him and the poor guy has NO clue what he was doing and why his system was not up and running. I was called in because I set up the network a few years back and they were pointing the finger on the network. The tech had spent a half a day trying to figure out why he could not see the NVR on the network. I had to explain to him that their was NO DHCP server enabled and gave it a static IP and MAGIC happened in his mind. Hard to believe because he said he set them up all the time.

 

[ilan1h2020]

I thought my problems were solved but apparently not. For about one day I was able to see the cameras externally but now I can't. I can see them internally without any problems. At this point my IT guy has come and gone, so I will need to figure it out by myself. I went back to SADP and I am able to see my internal IP address (listed as IPv4 Address). I am also able to open the "Modify Network Parameters" window but am not sure what to modify there (I see port, gateway, ipv6 etc). I looked at the settings of the linksys router and the internal and external ip addresses seem to be correctly identified. However, when I access the "DHCP table" I noticed that the DVR device is now set to a different IP address (it ends in .136 instead of .158). Therefore, the IPv4 address and the one in the DHCP table is not the same. What am I missing?

 

[Q™]

Luke 11:9 - "So I say to you: Seek and your external IP address shall find you."

 

[ilan1h2020]

I think I solved the problem. I went into the router settings and noticed that the IP address range was incorrect. It was set to
50 users with range of 192.168.100 to 192.168.1.149. However, my internal IP address is 192.168.1.158. So what I did is that I increased the "Maximum number of users to 59" and this now increased the range up to 192.168.1.158. Once I did that it immediately began to work perfectly. I guess my question now is why this happened and will it happen again? Somebody mentioned something about doing a "DHCP reservation"...I found this option in the Linksys router but am not sure how to use it. Will probably need some more research.