I have been going round in circles trying to set up external access to my web server - I have cracked it now, but still not happy... The situation is this: I have cameras at 2 different locations, and I need a permanently connected VPN connection to access the 2nd location.
This means that the PC I am using for the BlueIris server has 2 IP addresses - the local IP address, and the VPN IP Address. Lets say for example: (faked IP's)
After a lot of head scratching, I finally figured out that this is because I am using a basic PPTP tunnel (Windows 10, Control Panel, Network, VPN, Add a VPN Connection) - and this type of tunnel sends ALL outgoing communication to any external IP via the VPN IP address, regardless of where the connection originated from.
So even though there is a Blue Iris web server on 192.168.1.99, and even though there is a correctly set up port forwarding rule on that networks external IP (84.34.45.99), the incoming connection is attempted, but the web server will always reply to external web clients via 192.168.10.5 (the VPN IP)
So the workaround is - initiate all incoming connection to the web server via the remote sites external IP address (IP 45.56.46.66), and forward it to the local servers VPN-assigned IP address. It Works!
But now...
This means that the PC I am using for the BlueIris server has 2 IP addresses - the local IP address, and the VPN IP Address. Lets say for example: (faked IP's)
- Local IP = 192.168.1.99 - External IP 84.34.45.99
- VPN IP = 192.168.10.5 - External IP 45.56.46.66
After a lot of head scratching, I finally figured out that this is because I am using a basic PPTP tunnel (Windows 10, Control Panel, Network, VPN, Add a VPN Connection) - and this type of tunnel sends ALL outgoing communication to any external IP via the VPN IP address, regardless of where the connection originated from.
So even though there is a Blue Iris web server on 192.168.1.99, and even though there is a correctly set up port forwarding rule on that networks external IP (84.34.45.99), the incoming connection is attempted, but the web server will always reply to external web clients via 192.168.10.5 (the VPN IP)
So the workaround is - initiate all incoming connection to the web server via the remote sites external IP address (IP 45.56.46.66), and forward it to the local servers VPN-assigned IP address. It Works!
But now...
- all web server communication is wasting internal network bandwidth - bandwidth I wanted reserved for the camera streams.
- the "LAN IP" entry in my Blue Iris Android App is meaningless... I have two local LAN IP's, not one - depending my current location. if I am on the local network (the network with the server), the LAN IP needs to be 192.168.1.99, but if I am remote (the network with the cameras), the LAN IP needs to be 192.168.10.5
- I can't reserve a static IP for the VPN connection - there is a (small) risk that the VPN connection might get a different IP in future, then the port forward fails