If you wish to access your cameras from the Internet you need to setup the following three things…
- Setup the Cameras
- Setup a public static IP address or use setup a DDNS account
- Setup the Router where the cameras are located
Please be aware that exposing the cameras to the Internet could represent a potential cyber threat. To know how to protect your cameras and your network, please check out our hardening guide.
1. Setup The Cameras
First off make sure that the camera’s network settings allow it to access the Internet. In particular an IP address, a Subnet Mask, a Default Gateway and a DNS Server should be configured. If in your network is available a DHCP Server, you can set the camera in DHCP Client mode to retrieve automatically all the necessary information from the server.
Before enabling remote access to the camera it’s essential to change the default password and setup correctly the user rights to avoid unauthorized connections. From the camera’s Web interface go to Admin Menu > Access Control List and disable the Public Access for all the resources; by doing this the camera will require valid user credentials in order to give access to any resources.
Now it’s time to setup a local port within each of your MOBOTIX camera to enable Remote (Internet) Access.
Enter the IP Address of the camera into a web browser and enter the camera’s Admin username and password. Click Login and this will launch the camera’s web GUI.
Option 1: “HTTP” Setup
Within the camera’s web GUI click on the Admin Menu >> Web Server and set two web server ports: the first value MUST be 80, the second MUST be a unique port for each camera on the local network.
“HTTP” Setup Example: if you want to remotely access 3 cameras in your network, using the standard HTTP protocol, then the ports would be entered as “8001”, “8002”, “8003”, as displayed above. Save and then Reboot.
Option 2: “HTTPS” Setup
If you want the Remote Connection to be encrypted, tick “Enable HTTPS”. The default port number for HTTPS is “443” or you can change this to a different port number.
“HTTPS” Setup Example: if you want to remotely access 3 cameras in your network, using the secure HTTPS protocol, then the ports would be entered as “9001”, “9002”, “9003”, as displayed above. Save the settings and Reboot.
The “S” in HTTPS means the connection is more “Secure” than the HTTP protocol, preventing unauthorised users from accessing the connection. Enabling HTTPS is required if you
wish to enable SSL in MxApp.
Once you are done with
Again click on Admin Menu >> Ethernet Configuration and A. enter the Default Gateway of the router. B. Define a DNS server to resolve the Domain Names in IP addresses, (one option is 8.8.8.8 this is a Google DNS server).
2. Setup a DDNS account
If your ISP does not provide a Static IP Address, you will need to select a DDNS provider to create a DDNS account. This will provide a static public URL.
For this tutorial, we will use www.noip.com as our DDNS provider. Click on “Sign Up” to create a new account.
Fill in the registration form with the required information: choose a A. user name, a B. password and a C. Host Name. We chose mxinstaller.no-ip.org. The D. e-mail address will be used to receive the confirmation e-mail.
Scroll down the page and click on “Free Sign Up” to get a free account that has provision for up to 3 Host Names.
Check your mailbox and look for a confirmation e-mail from the provider. If you don’t see it check the Spam/Junk folder. Click on the activation link to activate the acount.
Part of the DDNS remains hidden as you enter it into the Remote URL field, so you may find it easier to simply copy and paste the DDNS from a text document.
3. Setup the Router
Finally we will need to setup port forwarding in the router, for each camera on that local net-
work, so that the router will allow MxApp to remotely access to the Local Network where the cameras are located
Before we configure the router, here is an overview example of the Port Forwarding setup and rules that we would need to setup for this example tutorial.
Here’s one example of a port forwarding configuration for IP cameras. While every brand of router has a different web interface, the setup process is very similar for all routers.
Here’s how to setup port forwarding in an Asus router. Enter the IP address of your router in a web browser. Go to WAN >> Virtual Server / Port Forwarding. Create a rule for each camera as shown in the picture above.
Open the DDNS tab and specify the information of your DDNS account: A. Provider B. Host Name C. User name D. Password. Press Apply to apply the changes.
To check the connection, first Disable the WiFi on your Apple® iOS device and select a network so that your connection to the cameras is from outside the Local Network
In the iOS device open the web browser and type in <“your_DDNS_url”>:<“local port”>
If you see the camera’s Live View you are good to go. If you can’t, check the Internet connection is working both on the iOS device and on the camera side - then go back and re-check the configuration of camera and router.
A fantastic online tool that shows you how to configure the port forwarding of dozens of different brands and models of routers is located at http://screenshots.portforward.com