Need help on choosing a camera with remote admin capability.

[sirtet]

What do i mean by "remote admin"?
I will have a number of cams in different networks, and i can't open ports or configure anything on these networks.
Still, i think i have to be able to administer the cams from a central place once they are deployed.
So i wonder if there are cams which have features for such a setup.
I think it could be something like
"cam registers with my account in a vendor-cloud or better something that i can self-host".
or
"cam dials into a vpn from which it will be accessible".

The jobs of these cams will be to send a pic. every 1h or so to an ftp server (or i get the pic. from the cam with some script).

Is this remote-admin thing a requirement that other people have too, and therefore solutions exist?
Which?
Or am i somehow thinking backwards? Could be, i am new to IP cams...

 

[Old Timer]

I would think a setup with open VPN would work fine for you.
There are ASUS routers that will run the openVPN server, so you can connect in to them from remote.

VPN Primer for Noobs

The internet is a force of nature; no video surveillance system made was designed to be exposed to those forces.. NEVER FORWARD PORTS to your NVR or Cameras, doing such things not only exposes you to severe security problems, but everyone else on the internet too.. Hackers dont want your video...

ipcamtalk.com

If you are familiar with IT, you can run a PFsense box at each end and use a VPN between the 2 boxed to have a connection all of the time.
Or you could run one box, and use the open VPN on your PC to connect in to the PFsense box and configure your cameras.

 

[sirtet]

Thanks.
Yes, i understand how this would work.
But i am hoping for a solution that does not require hardware beyond the cam itself.
Right now i have one location where i have a a network cable with poe dangling out of a wall where the cam has to be installed.
No access to more space for a router or any other box.

 

[TRLcam]

I had the same requirement. I run many cameras that do nothing but send an image to a FTP server at differing intervals. Most of the time the cameras are connected to a network that I don't have access to the router to do a port forward. What I do is use a Raspberry pi and VNC. This lets me get into the Pi and then into the IP camera or cameras on the network. I know it's not exactly what you are looking for but it does work.

 

[Old Timer]

Thanks.
Yes, i understand how this would work.
But i am hoping for a solution that does not require hardware beyond the cam itself.
Right now i have one location where i have a a network cable with poe dangling out of a wall where the cam has to be installed.
No access to more space for a router or any other box.

Where do you get your internet from? You have a router there, just replace it with a router that will run an openvpn server.

 

[sirtet]

Well, i just get permission to use some existing lan or wan.
I CAN NOT touch the network config or add any other device to it besides the cam.
I have access to the wifi or ONE Poe port. So a router or whatever box would need to be integrated with the cam.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

yeah, good luck. cameras that (sorta) work like you want are known as 'IoT' (Internet of Things), and rely on phoning home to a chinese managed cloud server. Thats stuff like Nest and Arlo and so forth.

 

[TRLcam]

Well, i just get permission to use some existing lan or wan.
I CAN NOT touch the network config or add any other device to it besides the cam.
I have access to the wifi or ONE Poe port. So a router or whatever box would need to be integrated with the cam.

If you are looking for a camera with this function built in, Left Coast Geek above answered that question.

For WiFi only access, set up a raspberry pi as a WiFi to Ethernet bridge. Plug the camera into the Pi Ethernet port and power both with 12 VDC. Run VNC on the Pi for access to the camera. This could be contained in a small box next to the camera.

For using one POE port you could use a POE switch with one POE port in and two POE ports out. There are some very small units on the market. One connected to the camera and the other connected to the Pi with a POE hat. Run VNC on the Pi for access into the camera. This could be contained in a small box next to the camera.

I know it's not exactly what you are looking for but it would work.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

VNC will require a port forwarded at the sites firewall router, or a VPN to access.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

btw, you don't even need VNC to manage a pi, ssh will do nicely. and ssh can be used to tunnel web access to the camera itself. BUT, it still needs a tcp-ip port accessible from outside.

 

[TRLcam]

I don't access to the routers that I use VNC with. Static IP and port forward not required.

 

[SouthernYankee]

if the door is locked you are not allowed in.

What you are asking for is a major security risk.