How to get Hikvision camera connected to POE ports of Hikvision NVR to access WAN (WWW) ?

Any reason I should be concerned about the setup?
I think that varies with the camera brand / firmware. Hikvision aren't too bad.

My Cameras do not cover any sensitive or indoor area's.
It's as much about what can be done by a bad actor via the Linux device that's inside your private network as it is about seeing what the camera is seeing.

You might find it instructive to temporarily create a WAN block rule with logging for an individual camera IP address just to see what if anything gets attempted.
edit Sorry - a LAN block rule. Though that may pick up the redirected traffic from the static route if the source device doesn't do the redirect itself.
I have a couple of Chinese cameras that 'beacon' a few cryptic bytes on a specific port to a couple of Chinese IP addresses every few minutes.
It's probably the manufacturer trying to judge the installed base, but it gets blocked anyway.
 
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I think that varies with the camera brand / firmware. Hikvision aren't too bad.


It's as much about what can be done by a bad actor via the Linux device that's inside your private network as it is about seeing what the camera is seeing.

You might find it instructive to temporarily create a WAN block rule with logging for an individual camera IP address just to see what if anything gets attempted.
edit Sorry - a LAN block rule. Though that may pick up the redirected traffic from the static route if the source device doesn't do the redirect itself.
I have a couple of Chinese cameras that 'beacon' a few cryptic bytes on a specific port to a couple of Chinese IP addresses every few minutes.
It's probably the manufacturer trying to judge the installed base, but it gets blocked anyway.


Thanks, I will do some research on how to do that logging and make this a weekend project.
 
Thanks, the Camera's are set to plug and play, but I manually edited the Gateway to 192.168.254.1.

I ended up getting it working. Here are the complete steps for those wanting to use PFSense in the future.


NVR LAN IP#192.168.1.75
NVR PoE IP# 192.168.254.1
NVR Camera IP's# 192.168.254.3-6

On Cameras
  • Manually Update the Gateway on each Camera to the NVR PoE IP (192.168.254.1)

On PFSense Router
  • Create a new gateway for the NVR 192.168.1.75 (System/Routing/Gateways)
    • Interface LAN
    • Gateway IP = NVR LAN IP (192.168.1.75)
  • Create a static Route between the NVR LAN & NVR PoE (System/Routing/Static Routes)
    • Destination Network = PoE IP Range (192.168.254.0/24)
    • Gateway - Point to Gateway Created in step Above (192.168.1.75)
  • Adjust Outband NAT Settings (Firewall/NAT/Outbound)
    • Interface = WAN
    • Source = Network, Enter IP Range of NVR PoE (192.168.254.0/24)
  • Create Firewall Rule to allow Outbound traffic (Firewall/Rules/LAN)
    • Clone "Default allow LAN to any Rule"
    • Source = Network & IP of PoE (192.168.254.1/24)


Hoping this helps someone in the future.
Neatly done, Are you using separate VLAN's for the NVR? I have a similar setup did not get it to work correctly on Unifi Dream Machine, but I try this out.

BTW, my NVR is Hilook (Hilook NVR - NVR-108MH-C/8P).) and (Camera is Hikvision). After enabling virtual host on the NVR and the NVR reboots, the virtual host setting gets disabled? Is this normal? Is there a workaround for this?
Once the NVR virtual host setting gets disabled, the email notifications stop being sent. Many TIA, appreciate any suggestions!
 
Neatly done, Are you using separate VLAN's for the NVR? I have a similar setup did not get it to work correctly on Unifi Dream Machine, but I try this out.

BTW, my NVR is Hilook (Hilook NVR - NVR-108MH-C/8P).) and (Camera is Hikvision). After enabling virtual host on the NVR and the NVR reboots, the virtual host setting gets disabled? Is this normal? Is there a workaround for this?
Once the NVR virtual host setting gets disabled, the email notifications stop being sent. Many TIA, appreciate any suggestions!

Not using a VLAN, just a separate Subnet for the NVR.