Quick Guide

- 27 -
4.3 Overview of Manual IP address setup (without UPnP)
In the previous section we showed how to tell if your camera was able to automatically configure itself using your
router’s UPnP feature. If UPnP worked, please skip ahead to 4.4.1 DDNS SETUP Step 1---Choosing a Name for your
Camera on the Internet
In this section we provide an overview of the manual IP address setup procedure. You would only need to do this if UPnP
is not available on your network, for example if you have an older router.
Most routers come pre-configured to protect your own network devices from external access. This means that in order
to view your camera remotely over the internet your router needs to be configured to open ports and allow access. If
this sounds difficult, you may want to consider upgrading your router to a newer NetGear, LinkSys, or DLink model as
they are very inexpensive now (we’ve seen sales prices under $40). Either way our tech support can help you.
The terminology for opening up ports can be different based on the manufacturer of the router. Typically this setting is
called “Web access”, “DMZ”, “Virtual Server”, “Virtual Service”, “User Defined Service”, “Port Forwarding” or “ Port
Mapping” . There are 2 main steps involved in port forwarding:
1. Reserving a DHCP address or assigning a permanent (static) IP address for your camera on your local network.
2.
Configuring your router to allow access from the internet to the camera’s IP address on your local network.
Strictly speaking, step 1 above is optional, but some routers (especially LinkSys and Belkin models) tend to reassign all
the IP addresses on your home network after a power failure or based on the order in which you use them. Therefore
your setup is only reliable if you reserve a DHCP address or assign a permanent IP address to your camera and then do
the actual port forwarding.
Some residential internet service providers want to charge more for business service and therefore deliberately block all
internet access that looks like it might involve a web server at the standard port 80. That’s why we always recommend
using port 8150, which in our experience is never blocked.