Is it possible to do this?

[Greg Castiglione]

I own a 16 channel Lorex NR9163. So far I am VERY happy with it. I have 13 out of 16 channels filled up at and around my home all connected to the NVR with just Cat6 cables and the internal POE switch in the NVR.

Now I want to install and monitor a camera 30 miles away. If I give that camera a fixed IP address, how can my NVR 'find it' and start using it just as if it was hooked up directly and locally to the NVR? Is this possible?

I realize I now must give the remote IP camera a local source of DC power. That's a given but just how is it possible to monitor and control a PTZ IP camera many many miles away? How difficult is this? What do I need to do to make this happen? Thanks --Greg--

 

[alastairstevenson]

Now I want to install and monitor a camera 30 miles away.

What are the available upload and download speeds of the internet connections at both the local and remote sites?

 

[Greg Castiglione]

What are the available upload and download speeds of the internet connections at both the local and remote sites?

OK, at my home (where the HVR is), I have a gigabit download speed and 50Meg upload speed or often better. This is NOT fiber but cable modem. I expect to have the same at the remote site. It IS fiber based. Should be even better. Comcast internet at both locations. --Greg--

 

[SouthernYankee]

Did you purchase a static external IP address for the new camera ?
Or you can with the correct routers set up a fixed permanent VPN so both sites are on e the same local network.

 

[Greg Castiglione]

Not sure I understand your question. I did not purchase a separate ip address for any of my cameras. And I haven't purchased the camera that I plan to use. Probably a Lorex 4mp ptz come type outdoor camera. If I decide to go the VPN route, I need specific help on how to do that. I unfortunately do not know how to setup vpn. Not a clue. However, with specific guidance in sure that I can do it. Is VPN the way to accomplish this?

At my home site, I have Comcast cable modem 1gb speed. One short cat6 feeds a 24 port switch. One of those 24 ports goes to my Lorex NVR. At the remote site, it will be similar but probably just a 4 or 8 port switch. Similar speed.

I need a mini mini course on how to setup vpn. Not sure where to start.

 

[crw030]

Search (using Google and site:ipcamtalk.com keyword: OpenVPN) there are guides on these very forums.

I have a very similar setup, remote site with cameras, VPN at my home site (1000 miles away), and I have my home router auto-connect to remote router using OpenVPN connection that is just “up” all the time to bridge the two networks. Works fine for past 2+ years with 10/3 fiber connection (remote, but also worked with Comcast 25/5 cable connection at remote site), and local home site is 1Gbps fiber.

The only problem I had to navigate is you need an OpenVPN server at remote site (was easy, just used an ASUS router), but for home site you need a router capable of being an OpenVPN client. Those you will find are slightly more rare *correction: might be available with some newer first-party and third party firmware options*.

 

[nambi]

As others have said you will need a VPN to do this, A Virtual Private Network will allow a remote site to be on your same network, how this is usually done is to have a router with VPN capabilities. you can buy a cheap old router and install DDWRT or Tomato firmware to replace the OEM firmware which could enable this feature, make sure you do your homework on which one will work before you do this, on the other end you could either use your windows PC to log in with a VPN client like OPEN VPN or also buy another router with VPN capabilities to connect the 2 sites together. with a VPN you need a constant / static IP if you dont' have one you can use a DNS service, I use free duckdns and if your ip changes your router will notice this contact duckdns to update your host name,

you will use a hostname instead of an IP to connect the two sites.

ASUA routers are usually good with lots of features, I have an old cheap rtm16 with tomato and it works perfect and stable.

 

[TonyR]

I need a mini mini course on how to setup vpn. Not sure where to start.

Try "OpenVPN on an Asus Router".

 

[looney2ns]

Asus routers can be setup as either the client or the server.
So, an Asus at each end does the trick.
No other futzing around needed.
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

 

[crw030]

Asus routers can be setup as either the client or the server.
So, an Asus at each end does the trick.
No other futzing around needed.
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

Mine didn't have it but it was pretty old, good to see they have both now.

 

[nambi]

type in your model into ddwrt webstie or tomatoe and likely there will be a FW update for th router that will enable these features.

 

[crw030]

I had read the performance of those third-party firmware were not very good compared to ASUS native firmware, are you guys seeing they are perfectly adequate and run well?

I bought an Asus RT-AC66U AC1750 Tomato FlashRouter ($249.34) and it ceased to function within 8 months and they wouldn't warranty it. While this is possibly just bad luck, it kind of turned me off to trying it again. My original RT-N66U is still running on ASUS factory firmware and I think I bought it in 2012/2013.

 

[mat200]

I had read the performance of those third-party firmware were not very good compared to ASUS native firmware, are you guys seeing they are perfectly adequate and run well?

I bought an Asus RT-AC66U AC1750 Tomato FlashRouter ($249.34) and it ceased to function within 8 months and they wouldn't warranty it. While this is possibly just bad luck, it kind of turned me off to trying it again. My original RT-N66U is still running on ASUS factory firmware and I think I bought it in 2012/2013.

Hi crw030

Some of that "3rd party" firmware is based on the same open source roots at the firmware the router OEM is using.

I have some experience w/some of the 3rd party firmware to be very reliable .. a lot depends on the popularity of the hardware with the developers of the firmware. Typically more popular firmware is better supported.

 

[nambi]

I had read the performance of those third-party firmware were not very good compared to ASUS native firmware, are you guys seeing they are perfectly adequate and run well?

I bought an Asus RT-AC66U AC1750 Tomato FlashRouter ($249.34) and it ceased to function within 8 months and they wouldn't warranty it. While this is possibly just bad luck, it kind of turned me off to trying it again. My original RT-N66U is still running on ASUS factory firmware and I think I bought it in 2012/2013.

DID you Over Clock the CPU in the router? running ddwrt and tomato on an old rtn-16 and years of flawless routing.

 

[crw030]

DID you Over Clock the CPU in the router? running ddwrt and tomato on an old rtn-16 and years of flawless routing.

No overclock on the router, and I didn't try it again after the failed one, which may have been the electronics lottery at play. The bitter pill was the lack of warranty for me.

Built a pfSense router because my internet situation changed within about a year, and I needed gigabit routing anyway. Since that type of configuration is utterly unnecessary for most people here it's good that they can get ASUS router running on both ends for a solid VPN connection. I personally have had great experience with ASUS router products, except my rotten luck on the one with Tomato, and recommend them a lot here.

 

[nambi]

i use pfsemse at the office with good hardware it's solid and packed with features.

 

[Greg Castiglione]

Unfortunately, I'm more confused than ever. I have very fast cable modem (1GBPS) that outputs one port to my 24 port unmanaged switch at my home where my NVR is. Now do I need to get a new router? How exactly do I hook it up? Apparently I need to purchase two VPN capable routers? One for home site and one for remote site?? Is this correct? --Greg--

 

[Greg Castiglione]

Can someone send me a link to purchase a pair of these ASUS routers? Amazon?? or EBAY?? --Greg--

 

[nambi]

Used ASUS RT-N16 300 Mbps 4-Port Gigabit Wireless N Router 610839095742 | eBay

depends where you live. these work fine for me.

heck what you want to do will even work on an wrt54-g2 v1 router, with tomato or ddwrt just verify the version 1st some of these wrt54g routers can't have firmware upgrades


what you needs is a VPN router, now some cheap routers such as the wrt54g2 router can be bought for 10$ and with a bit of time to upgrade the software you can turn it into a VPN router.

 

[Will.I.Am]

You don't need a vpn to connect to remote cameras.
Personally I do think it's probably the best option, but if you know a little bit about networking you can connect the nvr to the public ip address of the remote site on a random port, port forward that connection to the internal ip address of the camera on the remote site, and connect that way.

You ARE exposing the camera to the outside world then, but having it on a non standard port is one layer of protection, and make sure it's secured with a very good password.

Tbh you'd need a good understanding of networking to do this anyway to make sure you've locked down all the other ports like ssh & telnet too to secure the camera.

The most secure (though still not 100% guaranteed) way would be a vpn though.
If you need a router, MikroTik routers can connect to a vpn and that link doesn't have to be from nvr site > remote site - you could just as easily have a vpn server sitting beside the nvr (on a raspberry pi, for instance) and have the remote router automatically connect to it at all times, but you still need to make sure you know how to lock down all unnecessary ports at both sites if you want to minimise the risk of people viewing your cameras.

Setting up a vpn server sounds complicated, but it's a relatively simple task on a pi with pivpn (which is a wrapper for openvpn)