I did this exactly, but it's a 2nd home on a cable internet connection 1000 miles away, and I didn't want to use port-forwarding (tons of nightmare threads on that already).
Also checkout:
VPN Primer for Noobs that whole thread is great info.
I had an Asus Consumer Router at the old house [REMOTE] (your vacation home), it supported OpenVPN. At the primary residence [PRIME] I setup a pfSense mini computer to be router/firewall but another consumer router that supports OpenVPN might work (although a pfSense appliance would be only $150 and a full blown consumer router might run a little bit more). For me the PRIME router opens a persistent OpenVPN connection to the REMOTE. When the power or internet goes down at the REMOTE I lose camera feed, which could be addressed mostly by a UPS (usually power outages are 1min-4hrs and internet are 4-6 hours when they happen). Maybe there is a way to wire this all up, get it working, then pack one device in your luggage to deliver to the vacation house but not how I did it?
The
Blue Iris server is at the PRIME location and records over the VPN connection 24/7, and I can monitor it Blue Iris on a 21" monitor at my work desk.
The tricky part to navigate is the Open VPN setup (at least for me it was my first time setting up VPN). And the second tricky part was configuring the two routers since I could never be at both at the same time (they are 15 hours apart).
Having been through this I would do the following:
- Before the next time you go to vacation house - setup your home with OpenVPN support on your phone and laptop. This will allow you to "call home" so you can work on both endpoints from either one. Also while you are in there change your home network away from 192.168.1.x which both my consumer routers had for default.
- If you have a dynamic IP on one or both ends, you will have to setup a DDNS service on the router(s) so they can find each other (each will report their IP changes to the DDNS service) then the DDNS provides the correct IP every time you use the name.
- test your home OVPN before you leave - best to know that's working before the trip.
- Read up on a bunch of OpenVPN tutorials and make sure the consumer router(s) you have/buy can both do OpenVPN.
- Whichever router is the server (the other will be the client), the server can generate an ovpn file which you'll have to transport/email to the other endpoint. I set the remote house as an OVPN server to accept incoming connections from the primary house. I ended up using a TUN-style connection and AES-256-CBC encryption because it was supported by both endpoints.
- The routing (to me was confusing) but when you get to troubleshooting identify routing issues by pinging using the router built-in tools, first to the opposite endpoints public IP (the one on the internet), then to the VPN endpoint IP (I used 255.255.255.252 netmask, this gives only two endpoint addresses) then finally to the router internal network IP, and ultimately from the occupied house to the camera ip and back.
Using this approach, I could expand to several cameras at remote location before I approach the 6MB/s upload and 1000 GB/month limit of my cable provider. Since downstream is usually bigger pipe, at the PRIME location you will be downloading all day and using some bandwidth -- I have a 1Gbps symmetrical fiber connection at the PRIME location, so it didn't really matter so much.
Some really smart people around here might have better options (or simpler), but I can tell you this one will definitely work, if you have the time/effort to give the OpenVPN setup. I've been recording like this for about a year because I was always stressed that I couldn't know if anything was happening 1000 miles away, unless I made a plane/car trip back and visited. Next time I travel back I plan to add 3 wide-angle 2MP Dahua starlight on the outside, so can hopefully 1. see if the sidewalks need shoveled or the grass needs cut or 2. spot any would-be criminals before they break into the house so I can call the cops.
Other lessons learned:
- Insurance company will charge you a higher rate for unoccupied property even with 24-hour surveillance.
- a $3 digital thermometer setup just at the edge of the camera frame can make sure the house is staying above freezing, I travel back and forth so I didn't winterize it, maybe you do so it isn't a concern, or maybe your vacation house is somewhere nice and warm.
ort)? I have high speed internet at both addresses. I have port forwarded the 2 individual ports on the 2 distant cameras and can verify they are open using "canyouseeme".
