Strange Problem - Can Ping Cameras, but Can't View or Access Web Interface

[CBI-Patrick]

I currently work with an MSP and sometime ago, we had a vendor setup an IP camera network for a large client of ours with about 150 cameras spread out across 3 NVRs all connected to POE switches. Everything had been working fine, until recently one of the NVRs crashed and we replaced it with a spare that was previously at another facility.

However, when this NVR was at that previous location, weird things happened where many cameras became unresponsive. What I mean is that they would still be pingable, but I could not access their web interface or view them in the camera viewing software. Resetting to factory defaults on both the problem cameras and NVR did not work, different ports, new cables, firmware upgrades, etc. also did not work. The problem would be intermittent. It may be viewable for a few hours, a day or so, etc. then become unresponsive again. When the cameras would be plugged into another network for testing or provisioning purposes, they worked fine. We have spent hours on the phone with support, and have gotten nowhere. We ended up just getting cameras from a 3rd party and that fixed that problem, but it was more of a band-aid rather than an actual fix.

Anyways, when the NVR crashed and it was replaced, the same problem started to occur. The only cameras that seemed to have the issue are the ICIP-D1300-IR cameras, sold by ICRealtime. They are actually Dahua cameras I found out. There are over 30 cameras that can be pinged, so there is connectivity, but the web interface it not accessible nor are they viewable in the camera viewing software and NVR itself. We are completely stumped on this issue and any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[alastairstevenson]

There are over 30 cameras that can be pinged, so there is connectivity, but the web interface it not accessible nor are they viewable in the camera viewing software and NVR itself.

I don't know if it would tell you anything useful - but it might be interesting to do a port scan on those IP addresses that respond to a ping.
A common tool is 'nmap' which is available for many platforms : Nmap: the Network Mapper - Free Security Scanner
At a command line a simple scan against a camera would be something like :

nmap <camera_IP_address>

a large client of ours with about 150 cameras spread out across 3 NVRs all connected to POE switches

Does the network environment have any management and control facilities such as VLANs, layer-3 routing with access control/firewall rules or anything that would make it other than a simple, open network?

 

[looney2ns]

Are the cams and NVR secured from contacting the internet? No forwarded ports.
If not, you could be getting bombarded with hacking attempts.
The cams could already be infected. Powering everything down at once then restarting can usually clear the infections.

See this: Dahua latest stable firmware + Best Practice Reminder

 

[CBI-Patrick]

I don't know if it would tell you anything useful - but it might be interesting to do a port scan on those IP addresses that respond to a ping.
A common tool is 'nmap' which is available for many platforms : Nmap: the Network Mapper - Free Security Scanner
At a command line a simple scan against a camera would be something like :

nmap <camera_IP_address>


Does the network environment have any management and control facilities such as VLANs, layer-3 routing with access control/firewall rules or anything that would make it other than a simple, open network?

Thanks for the response. I will have our senior engineer look at using NMap, if he already hasn't. There are no firewall rules that I know of. They are on their own network separated from the main network in the facility.

 

[CBI-Patrick]

Are the cams and NVR secured from contacting the internet? No forwarded ports.
If not, you could be getting bombarded with hacking attempts.
The cams could already be infected. Powering everything down at once then restarting can usually clear the infections.

See this: Dahua latest stable firmware + Best Practice Reminder

Thanks for responding. I thought about that as well. I'm pretty sure they are secure, but I could be wrong. I'll find that out.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I'm pretty sure they are secure, but I could be wrong.

It was more to do with the possibility that if they were on the main network (which you've indicated they are not) there would be some logical segmentation with some specific access control lists that might be preventing normal access if something has changed.

 

[Aleksandar Spasovski]

Hi all

I don't know if a solution was found for the IP cameras problem above, but I am also experiencing a similar problem.... Namely, I have a CCTV system with 50 IP cameras, of which, 46 are Hikvision (bullet/dome), 2 are 3rd party connected thru ONVIF, and the rest 2 which are the problematic ones, Hikvision IP PTZ (DS-2DE7230W-AE). All of the cameras are connected to a Hikvision NVR (DS-9664NI-I8)
As CBI-Patrick mentioned above, here also, both IP PTZ cameras are pingable, but can't be accessed to their web interface thru any browser, neither thru the iVMS-4200 software application. Also, into the camera settings of the NVR there is "The network is unreachable" status for each of them. When I do a restart of the cameras (unplug the power supply, wait 15-20 seconds and plug it again), the camera becomes accessible for few hours, maybe one day, but afterwards, same thing, pingable IP's with no response from the cameras.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Regards


Update... Using nmap I did a scan on the ports of the pingable, but not accessible IP addresses, and I got only the following:
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp filtered ssh

 

[incentive]

Hi all

I don't know if a solution was found for the IP cameras problem above, but I am also experiencing a similar problem.... Namely, I have a CCTV system with 50 IP cameras, of which, 46 are Hikvision (bullet/dome), 2 are 3rd party connected thru ONVIF, and the rest 2 which are the problematic ones, Hikvision IP PTZ (DS-2DE7230W-AE). All of the cameras are connected to a Hikvision NVR (DS-9664NI-I8)
As CBI-Patrick mentioned above, here also, both IP PTZ cameras are pingable, but can't be accessed to their web interface thru any browser, neither thru the iVMS-4200 software application. Also, into the camera settings of the NVR there is "The network is unreachable" status for each of them. When I do a restart of the cameras (unplug the power supply, wait 15-20 seconds and plug it again), the camera becomes accessible for few hours, maybe one day, but afterwards, same thing, pingable IP's with no response from the cameras.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Regards


Update... Using nmap I did a scan on the ports of the pingable, but not accessible IP addresses, and I got only the following:
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp filtered ssh

How many users have you got connected to the cameras? some can only take 6 and then the max reaches and the cameras stop responding only to pings