Newbie Hikvision Email Alert Setup Help

[Mark1067]

Hi Guys,

I am very new to IP Cams and there setup, I have managed to setup my Hikvision Speed Dome IP Camera by trial and error, please dont laugh its a very basic setup indeed, its used primarily to protect the entrance to my workshop which is at the end of my garden and by my good lady to view the wildlife activities in the garden.

I dont have a recorder in my network, the camera records footage to its memory card, I may add a recorder later, the camera is connected to my very basic network via a switch then a powerline adapter so I can connect to it in my house.

I only have a very basic understanding of networks, I have read the stickys and have had a good fiddle about with the settings but no matter what I try I cant get several of the useful functions to work, my guess is that I have some network settings wrong.

The one function above others that I would like help with is the email notification when an event triggers the action, I have tried to configure the email system but when I test the software it says the test failed or the test server could not be reached.

Is there any advice anyone could give me or point me in the direction of success, I suspect its my ignorance of terminolgy on the understanding of network technolgy.

This is a basic flow chart of my setup:

Hikvision DS-2DE42151W-DE IP PTZ Speed Dome TO Cat5 Cable TO Hikvision DS-3E0105P-E 4-Port 100 Mbps Unmanaged PoE Switch TO Cat5 Cable TO Netgear Powerline AV500 Ethernet Adapter TO House Ring Main TO Netgear Powerline Adapter TO Cat5 Cable TO Virgin Media Internet VMDG505 Super Hub 3.0 TO WWW

My Camera’s accessed via IP address using Explorer on my Asus Laptop using WiFi signal from my Super Hub.

Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance of any assistance.

Mark

 

[jmhmcse]

Hi Guys,

I am very new to IP Cams and there setup, I have managed to setup my Hikvision Speed Dome IP Camera by trial and error, please dont laugh its a very basic setup indeed, its used primarily to protect the entrance to my workshop which is at the end of my garden and by my good lady to view the wildlife activities in the garden.

I dont have a recorder in my network, the camera records footage to its memory card, I may add a recorder later, the camera is connected to my very basic network via a switch then a powerline adapter so I can connect to it in my house.

I only have a very basic understanding of networks, I have read the stickys and have had a good fiddle about with the settings but no matter what I try I cant get several of the useful functions to work, my guess is that I have some network settings wrong.

The one function above others that I would like help with is the email notification when an event triggers the action, I have tried to configure the email system but when I test the software it says the test failed or the test server could not be reached.

Is there any advice anyone could give me or point me in the direction of success, I suspect its my ignorance of terminolgy on the understanding of network technolgy.

This is a basic flow chart of my setup:

Hikvision DS-2DE42151W-DE IP PTZ Speed Dome TO Cat5 Cable TO Hikvision DS-3E0105P-E 4-Port 100 Mbps Unmanaged PoE Switch TO Cat5 Cable TO Netgear Powerline AV500 Ethernet Adapter TO House Ring Main TO Netgear Powerline Adapter TO Cat5 Cable TO Virgin Media Internet VMDG505 Super Hub 3.0 TO WWW

My Camera’s accessed via IP address using Explorer on my Asus Laptop using WiFi signal from my Super Hub.

Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance of any assistance.

Mark

It is not normally recommended or even suggested to allow camera access to internet directly, all of my cameras are blocked in the router to never allow any communications in or out. To enable email alerts directly from the camera, the camera will need access to the internet and have a default gateway defined and/or DNS server configured. If you have a static IP address then you may have already these configured... The camera will need to connect and resolve internet addresses; minimally the email service specified for outgoing email communications.

You'll need to verify that your mail provider allows POP3 settings; most do. You'll need to find those setting to copy/use in your camera.

Quick note, I don't have these settings enabled on my camera so these are only pointers as to how to set up email events on your camera... you may still need to "fiddle" to get things working.

You may want to create a mail account just for this purpose as not to use your 'daily driver' on the camera. The captures below are 1) POP3 settings for gmail and 2) where you need to configure the camera. The example configuration in the camera is using TLS security, therefore the TLS port.

Email configuration on the camera begins under Configuration, Advanced Settings, Email
Motion Detection is under Basic Events and Send Email is under Linkage Method also under Motion Detection

You should also verify the notification schedule is to your liking as well as how sensitive (small/large) motion should be to trigger an event.

Recognize and understand what it means to allow your camera direct access to the internet. Please consider a BI server as this would provide the functionality you desire without compromising your home LAN.

If you wish to continue, hopefully this will be enough to jump start your configuration.

 

[Mark1067]

It is not normally recommended or even suggested to allow camera access to internet directly, all of my cameras are blocked in the router to never allow any communications in or out. To enable email alerts directly from the camera, the camera will need access to the internet and have a default gateway defined and/or DNS server configured. If you have a static IP address then you may have already these configured... The camera will need to connect and resolve internet addresses; minimally the email service specified for outgoing email communications.

You'll need to verify that your mail provider allows POP3 settings; most do. You'll need to find those setting to copy/use in your camera.

Quick note, I don't have these settings enabled on my camera so these are only pointers as to how to set up email events on your camera... you may still need to "fiddle" to get things working.

You may want to create a mail account just for this purpose as not to use your 'daily driver' on the camera. The captures below are 1) POP3 settings for gmail and 2) where you need to configure the camera. The example configuration in the camera is using TLS security, therefore the TLS port.

Email configuration on the camera begins under Configuration, Advanced Settings, Email
Motion Detection is under Basic Events and Send Email is under Linkage Method also under Motion Detection

You should also verify the notification schedule is to your liking as well as how sensitive (small/large) motion should be to trigger an event.

Recognize and understand what it means to allow your camera direct access to the internet. Please consider a BI server as this would provide the functionality you desire without compromising your home LAN.

If you wish to continue, hopefully this will be enough to jump start your configuration.

Hi, Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, unfortunatley due to my inexperience your reply has created so many questions, what threat am I exposing myself to by connecting my camera to the internet? My computer and camera do have a static IP but I dont understand port access ect, I have literally just coupled the kit up as per the basic instructions. When you say "The camera will need to connect and resolve internet addresses" I assume these are setting in addition to adding my email POP details? What is a "BI server" and how does this protect me from any outside threat?

 

[jmhmcse]

I'm glad you are stepping back from performing any of the steps mentioned above.

Having static IP addresses on your devices within your home LAN does not provide any protection from "bad characters" on the WWW. Hackers are looking for any easy method to gain access to your LAN in hopes of having =fun= at your expense. FUN could be simply making things not work for you, taking over your camera and watching over your shoulder, infecting your laptop with malware/ransomware, or obtaining your personal information for financial gain.

Configuring your camera to send email alerts would be opening up the possibility of your LAN to being compromised. Having followed basic instructions, there may items you configured that really are not needed. Check the following so see if these changes might provide additional security to your home LAN.

have you, can you, disabled UPnP within the router?​

have you disabled UPnP within the camera?​

have you left DNS server settings empty in the camera?​

have you left Default Gateway empty in the camera?​

have you changed camera's password with a complex password; Upper, Lower, Special character, number, with a length of 12 or longer?​

If you are not familiar nor understand what these terms are; GOOGLE them. You don't need to be a network engineer, but you should have a good basic knowledge of these (and other) terms.

The VM Super Hub is a basic cable modem/router with DHCP and Firewall built in. Every time a Wi-Fi or LAN connected device (laptop, camera, other) in your home network connects to the WWW you are at risk. This is why the router has a firewall, your laptop may have its own firewall and perhaps virus/malware protection installed. Devices that are full fledged operating systems, that we as the end user do not or cannot directly control, introduces the possibility of "infection" within the home network. Allowing these other devices access to the internal network comes at some risk and access to the WWW a lot of risk. At times the reward outweighs the risk, but we need to understand what's happening as well as controlling what's happening as much as possible.

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Configuration of the camera to send email requires the camera to actually log on to an email server, just as if it were a person on a laptop. This requires the email username and password. Since there is no client software or browser to interface between the operating system and user, the email server's WWW name or IP along with the email server's service port number are required to be configured manually.

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BI (Blue Iris) is the Video Security and Webcam software that is discussed on this forum; BI server is a system which BI is installed. Cameras are left to be cameras (collection devices) which forward their video stream to a BI (user-controlled) system. An installation of Windows and known software, would better control/manage what WWW connections are allowed and being made.

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If you want to know/understand more, then please take the time to do so before making any changes within or to your network. If this is something that is not interesting to you, then I would suggest you find a local/reputable network person to work with you to make enhancements/changes on your network.