Gary A Remote
Accessing Project
This is the story of how
we set-up remote accessing for Gary A.
His DVR is in the
basement. His router to the Internet is on the second floor of his
house. So there are two stories of a wood frame home between the DVR and
his router.
There was no way for him
to string wire from the DVR to the router. The house did not lend itself
to drilling holes in the floors etc.
So he purchased a NetGear
wireless access point
(Universal
WiFi Internet Adapter) from Future Shop. He wired the DVR
to the Netgear Adapter and it sat beside the DVR. Then he was able to
link the DVR wirelessly through the two stories of his home to his
router.
Most people will not have
this problem...most people will be able to hard wire the DVR to the
router easily . . but his steps to succeed will nevertheless be
informative and interesting.
Most people will want to
know what happens after the DVR is wired to the router so.
Click here to go directly to that stage ...
John,
I picked up a
Netgear Universal WiFi Internet Adapter
It connects any device with and ethernet port to your wireless home
network
So far I have set it to recognize the wireless router and now have
connected it to the DVR, but I do not no what to do next with the DVR
network setting,
The DVR has recognized the new device and recorded the IP address
How do I view the DVR on my desktop computer?
Gary,
How much did that unit cost? Looks like it may do the job...I googled
it...
Here is a link to a FAQ that may give you a starting point.
http://www.duncansonline.ca/FAQs/remoteaccess.htm
Keep patient.....there may be frustrating moments ahead for you, until
you start to feel comfortable with remote accessing.
The important thing, is to realize that once you are successful at this,
you will be the master of your own system, and will not be reliant on
anyone else to maintain it, and fix it when something goes wrong.
Please do not hesitate to email me any question(s).
If possible, try to send one question in any email....and I can answer
them one at a time.
John
Thanks John, I really
appreciate all your help.
It cost $69 at future shop
Busy today I will try to get to your starting point tomorrow,
Have a great weekend
Gary
John
I'm lost I do not even no were to start, after reading your remote
accessing FAQ
I'm a chef ,very unknowledgeable about computers
Gary
Hi Gary,
I will help.....please take one small step at a time.
Please ask me the first question that comes into mind.
John I would like to start
by just figuring out how to view my cameras on me desktop computer
Gary,
Excellent .. perfect
starting point
I am going outside for a two hour 10K run.........but, here is the first
question.....
I will be here for another 30 minutes before I start running.
Can you go into the menu of the DVR, and find out what IP address it is
sitting on...also subnet mask?
John
Ip address 192.168.0.8
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Gary,
Thanks....good!
Do you understand about the program Ping?
Ping is a computer network administration utility used to test the
reachability of a host (meaning your DVR) on an Internet Protocol (IP)
network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the
originating host to a destination computer. The name comes from active
sonar terminology.
Ping is a program already built-into your Windows.
We will use the program ping to determine the reachability of your DVR
from your desktop
What is your operating system, Windows XP, Vista? 7, ??
John
Windows Xp
Gary,
XP is GOOD! Makes things easier
Click on Start
Then click on RUN type in the word Command and press enter
then get to the DOS environment (Black Screen
The at the flashing cursor prompt
type the following
ping 192.168.0.8
it should send out 4 packets towards your DVR
tell me if you get 4 responses or replies, or does it time out with no
response
Take your time
I have about 15 minutes before I run - I will let you know if I leave -
and then we can pick up where we leave off when I come back
John
John
NO not really first time I have heard of PING
Gary,
You are not alone...most people have never heard of it....
proceed slowly, and do not get frustrated.......you will be successfulll...your
biggest hurdle is frustration and impatience
You biggest friend is patience and knowing when to walk away...
DuncansOnline ✆
Here is a YouTube video that explains Ping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxNyXa-Gvp8
In this case the guy is pinging his router
in your case you are pinging your DVR
In his case he has Windows 7
In your case you have Windows XP, and the Command to enter into your Run
Box to get to the DOS environment should be "Command" He is using CMD
which is short for Command
That may or may not work in XP
The video will show you how 4 packets are sent and come back to verify
something is alive and doing well on your network]
John
4 responses and 4 lost
Gary,
Excellent...that you were able to do this...you are making excellent
progress....and this is the way you will succeed.
However, the result is not what we want
We need to be able to ping the DVR and "get a response", before we can
get anything else will work.
So the program Ping has already helped us, and we now know where we have
to concentrate our efforts.
I suggest you totally stop.......
Send me the link to the actual DEVICE you bought so I can study it......
I may need to speak to you on the phone.
What is the name of the store you bought it at?
Does the manual offer any phone support for installation? Is there a
link to the manual, so I can download it?
Now I will wait for a quick response from you before I take off.
You did well.
John
John after watching the
video I did it again, it did the 4 with 0 lost
Gary,
OK...it means the DVR is not a recognized device on your local area
network
John
I thought 4 sent and 0 lost was good
Gary
No, just the opposite
Ping is named after the submarine function of pinging....If the ping
packet sent does not come back then there is nothing there
If it does come back, then there is something there.. - like in the
submarine ping
So pinging the DVR IP address, which we confirmed by you going in and
finding it on in the menu, and not getting a reply, means as far as your
local area network of at least two devices, (your DVR and your desktop),
that the DVR does not exist on that network and is unreachable
I am out the door.
Now, please walk away, and do not think about this........this sort of
problem is normal ..
John
...later that day...
Gary,
I am studying this Netgear Adapter.
I have a couple of questions.
1. Please tell me how you connected the NetGear device to the DVR? Is it
by standard network cable?
Did it come with a Network cable...like the Yellow one shown in "Connect
to your Game Consul YouTube video on this link?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as3F9JOmbgs&feature=player_embedded
Did you go through the procedure to pair the Netgear device with you
router as shown in that video?
Were you successful at this procedure?
2. What is the mfg's name and model # of your router? Do you own this
router, or was it supplied to you by your Internet Service provider?
John
John
Yes, I used an ethernet
cable connection to the DVR.
The Netgear Adapter came with the cable
I was successfull in obtaining a connection with the procedure provided
by Netgear, it shows a solid green light on the device
The router I own is a Netgear MBR 1210.
Gary,
HOw can I make sure I have
the right IP address on the DVR?
Using the menu that you access on the DVR, with the front controls, go
into the System area.....it is in there...
HI John
I'm in network settings - general
DHCP Do I check that or leave it blank?
If I check it Enable then go to Network status it gives me the Ip
address and the Subnet mask
If I do not check the network status is blank
But when I check the DHCP on the Network general screen the Ip and
Subnet mask are grayed out.
Is this correct or should the Ip address on Screen general and Screen
Network status be the same
Have I confused you yet??
Gary,
Click enable
make a note of the IP number it gives you...then ping it...
John
John
That IP is the one that is in the DVR manual. When I ping it, I get..
Packets sent =4 Received =0, lost =4
Gary,
I think we will need some help from NetGear.
The fact that both your router and wireless adapter are from them is
helpful.
I will phone them tomorrow and find out what I can....then I will get
back to you.
How long have you owned the router...
Can you email me the serial number off both devices?
John
Wireless router S.N 2HGH&K456C7
Universal Dual band Wireless Internet adapter S.N 2S4ABCDED00139
Gary
OK...excellent...I am going to call them tomorrow
Thanks John
I got through to a Netgear trained network engineer.
There is no need for you to register your adapter...read on and you will
see I have already done that!
The toll free support line is
1-888-638-4327
I spoke with "JL" employee #45XXX
JL lives in the Philippines
You already have an account with Netgear for your router
Your customer number is 17###01
You email address is also on that
account...gA@axx.com
Your router MBR1210 is already registered under that account
I registered your Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter under
your account. I gave them the serial number of it
So now both devices are registered under your account
The Case # of my call with them today is 189076536
When you linked your adapter to your desktop computer, you should have
seen 3 green solid lights
Link Rate
WBS
Power
I believe you did, as you did report to me that you got green lights...I
am assuming you got 3 of them and they were solid...please confirm...
When you went to the basement.....did you continue to get 3 green solid
lights?
Did any of them turn amber or disappear
Did any of them start to flash?
We need to determine that your adapter is still within range of your
router and has a solid link to it.
JL told me the adapter to router range is 20-30 feet direct unobstructed
line of sight, so we we may have an issue right there...
If we do, there are extenders that we can go to to boost the signal and
get the connection.
I will watch for your answers.
John
John
Answers in red below
When you linked you adapter to your desktop computer, you
should have seen 3 green solid lights
Link Rate
WBS
Power
Yes with the WPS installation,
but there is only one light on the adapter
believe you did, as you did report to me
that you got green lights...I am assuming you got 3 of
them and they were solid...please confirm...
When you went to the basement.....did you
continue to get 3 green solid lights?When
I connected in the basement and pushed the WPS it blinked
green then amber for about aminute, then went solid green.
Did any of them turn amber or disappear
Yes
John when I run the ping command what should be
coming back on the black screen?
Do we have to set up a home network to view this?
When I run the ping command what should
be coming back on the black screen?
Gary
It should say 4
packets received....and give the return time in microseconds
We should not need to
set uo a home network to ping the DVR. That would be needed to set
up two personal computers on the network to talk to each other.
John we have success I think?
After last night session I decided to try to re
install the adaptor
I ping the Ip address that is on the DVR came back
Sent =4 received =4 lost =0 average =2ms
Gary,
Wonderful
Terrific!
Now....go to your XP desktop
close all programs....
open Internet explorer
then enter in the address bar
http://192.168.???.??? (whatever
that DVR IP address is)
and tell me what happens
go slow
John
All I get is a web page of sites
What did you type in to the bar......exactly!!!
I tried it again better luck, to many tool bars open
Is my username and password the same as the DVR or
do I have to set this up?
Gary,
ok.....you are almost there
Go even slower now..........
Yes...that is the DVR asking you to login
Please email me the address you used.....I want to see it.
Then try the login in
It should download an active x control....
John
It says that to protect your security . Internet
explores has stopped the site form installing an Active X control on
your computer
I cannot enter a name or password
Gary
OK......Now stop
You have made EXCELLENT progress.
Actually...super, unbelievable
progress.....
You are ahead of where I expected
you to be by now, by a long shot!
The next step is tricky.
Want to take a break now?
We can try the next step in about an
hour, if you want...I want you to be
fresh as a daisy for it..
Gary,
OK...let's stop...will start tomorrow
Just to get you thinking ahead.
We have to go into you XP - Internet Explorer basic settings - to give
permissions for you to download and install Active X controls.
Tomorrow, I will try to get a head start on it...and send you a set of
screen shots of what you need to do.
It is easy and straight forward, as long as your mind is clear and you
are rested.
After you set up the permissions, you will be at the finish, and should
see your cameras.............
Good night!
IMPORTANT LINK - How to
Enable ActiveX Controls to be Installed!!!
Hi Gary,
Here is the link to the page I set up for you.
http://www.duncansonline.ca/FAQs/activex.htm
John
I came home at 4pm and read some articles on how to
do it.
Hi Gary,
Super congratulations......that is fantastic that you managed that on
your own.
Now you can see your cameras anytime you want from your desktop......
But the best part of what you have done, is that now you will be able to
keep the accessing managed...because you did it yourself, you will not
need to rely on anyone to keep it going, if something goes awry.
You have been successful in accessing your DVR from a computer on your
local area network. By local area network, we mean that the DVR and the
computer you are using to access it are on the same side of your router.
Now, comes stage two.
That is to be able to access it from the Internet.
The IP you have sent me is only accessible by devices on your local area
network.
I can not access it from here.
That 192 number is an internal number. It is actually a sub number,
known only to the router and the DVR. As far as the Internet is
concerned, no-one can access it at all.
There is also no concern about the password, as no-one would ver be able
to access the DVR from my side of the router.
There are steps to part two...and if you proceed as well, and as
carefully as you did in stage 1, it will be fairly easy.
We need to do port forwarding.
You will need to actually access the router itself, and go in and
program it.
Personally, I think you should phone Netgear when you get home tomorrow,
give them the case number, and ask them to help you to do the accessing
and set up the Port Forwarding in the router.
I will write out a step by step procedure for you, so you will have it
when you come home tomorrow.
I could not get Netgear support, they said the
support ran out on the router 3 weeks ago.
So I have tried to figure it out myself, I do not
no if I did it right.
When you enter the port number, is that the port
number of the DVR?
If I did it right I do not no how to check it to see
if I have completed it properly.
May be I will here from you tomorrow, have a good
night!
Hi Gary,
Isn't that frustrating.......
They probably want you to pay for a support session....and I bet that
paying for that session costs about the same as going out and buying a
competitor's wireless router that comes with support.
We will get through this without them
Sorry I was swamped yesterday...but I will be available, for the most
part, all weekend.
Please send responses
back as red text within my text!!!
1. The first thing we need to do is to be able to ping the router's
external IP address. To do that we need to know what that external IP
address is.
The router has actually two IP addresses......
1. The IP address it sits on that is available to all devices behind it,
the ones on your local area network
2. The IP address assigned to it by your Internet provider.
To determine the external IP address, at your desktop bring up your
browser and type into the address bar
www.whatismyip.org
Your should get a number XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
That will be your routers current external IP number
I say current, because that can change....but we will deal with that
later..it is a separate issue we will need to address eventually,
because when it changes, you will no longer be able to access your
cameras from out on the internet, without knowing what it has changed
to...
Then, as soon as we get that number, we should BOTH ping it
Start/run/command
ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
We need to get 4 replies...if not, we need to find out why...there could
be a router firewall at work.
Let me know if you are successful
Also, let me know what that external IP address is, and I will try
pinging it from here........
At the same time, do you know how to program the router?
Have you already been into it?
How did you get into it?
Finally, The ports we need to forward are the ports that the DVR is
working on...........check the DVR manual to find out what ports you
need to forward.
Let me know what you think they are!
Hi Gary,
Isn't that frustrating.......
They probably want you to pay for a support session....and I bet
that paying for that session costs about the same as going out
and buying a competitor's wireless router that comes with
support.
We will get through this without them
Sorry I was swamped yesterday...but I will be available, for the
most part, all weekend.
Please send
responses back as red text within my text!!!
1. The first thing we need to do is to be able to ping the
router's external IP address. To do that we need to know what
that external IP address is.
The router has actually two IP addresses......
1. The IP address it sits on that is available to all devices
behind it, the ones on your local area network
2. The IP address assigned to it by your Internet provider.
To determine the external IP address, at your desktop bring up
your browser and type into the address bar
www.whatismyip.org
Your should get a number XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
184.151.127.215
That will be your routers current external IP number
I say current, because that can change....but we will deal with
that later..it is a separate issue we will need to address
eventually, because when it changes, you will no longer be able
to access your cameras from out on the internet, without knowing
what it has changed to...
Then, as soon as we get that number, we should BOTH ping it
Start/run/command
ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
184.151.127.215
We need to get 4 replies...if not, we need to
find out why...there could be a router firewall at work.
Does not recognize, command
operable program
Let me know if you are successful
Also, let me know what that external IP address is, and I
will try pinging it from here........
At the same time, do you know how to program the router?
I think so
Have you already been into it?
Yes
Http://192.168.0.1
I have gone into port
forwarding at set up
Server name Start port End Port
server IP address
Admin
8000 8000 192.168.0.7
I don't no if this is
correct ?
Finally, The ports we need to forward
are the ports that the DVR is working on...........check
the DVR manual to find out what ports you need to
forward.
Let me know what you think they are!
Server Port Default 8000
Default HTTP port 80
I just tried to ping
184.151.127.215 and I did not get any replies......this means there may
be a Firewall in place and put their by your router. Or it is the wrong
IP...
But first!!
Who is your internet
service provider? Is that a satellite service? Do you know how to get
tech support from them? Do they have a phone number you can call?
The question would be.
Why can you not ping your
router. Apart from any firewall your router may have put up, do they
know of any reason that would stop you from pinging your router? Do they
have any blocking on your IP number of any sort?
You should get a number XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX 184.151.127.215
That will be your routers current
external IP number
I say current, because that can
change....but we will deal with that
later..it is a separate issue we will
need to address eventually, because when
it changes, you will no longer be able
to access your cameras from out on the
internet, without knowing what it has
changed to...
Then, as soon as we get that number, we
should BOTH ping it
Start/run/command
ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
184.151.127.215
We need to get 4
replies...if not, we need to find out
why...there could be a router firewall
at work.
Does not
recognize, command operable program
This is extraordinarily strange...you
are sure you carefully typed
ping 184.151.127.215
are you sure that is the number reported
to you by
whatismyip.org
Let me know if
you are
successful
Also, let me
know what that
external IP
address is, and
I will try
pinging it from
here........
At the same
time, do you
know how to
program the
router?
I
think so
Have you already
been into it?
Yes
Http://192.168.0.1
I have gone into port forwarding at set up
Server name Start port End Port server IP address
Admin 8000 8000 192.168.0.7
I don't no if this is correct ?
Finally, The ports we need to forward are the ports that the DVR is working on...........check the DVR manual to find out what ports you need to forward.
Let me know what you think they are!
Server Port Default 8000
Default HTTP port 80
I believe you are 100% correct!
I have to go thru Netgear for all support, and they
well not tell me anything until I give them $70.00 for 7 months of
support.
I gave them the song and dance I could go and buy a
new one and I would get free support for 3 months, she said go ahead
your are further ahead by paying the $70
We may have to do this tomorrow, as my wife as a
list of events for me.
That is nuts....
We will do this without them
We will keep working on it until we are successful.
Yes this is nuts, now cannot even access the dvr
from the other computers again, tried to view dvr cannot do it.
It was perfect yesterday, is it possible that I have
a roaming IP address for that to?
I have tried to access on this side of the router
again, I was successful the IP address is changing it went from
192.168.0.8 to 192.168.0.3 then I could view the DVR on all computer
agian.
John I have to respect your for putting your time
into this, because before your time was so valuable, but I think it
still is, as we now see how important support is.
So now we have another issue, the roaming IP
address?
I read about this in the external IP but did not
recognize it in the internal IP address>.
Gary,
Once again, I must congratulate you......and at the same time let me
point out to you something very important that you have accomplished.
Because you have taken the time to set up your remote accessing on a
step-by-step basis, in a slow and methodical fashion, you have just
benefited from this, in-as-much you were able to recover from a change
or setback on your own.
You are becoming "master" of your own remote access project, and by the
time we are finished, you should not ever have to reply on someone else
to get you out of a problem.
What has happened to you, can happen anytime to anyone. You witnessed
the consequence of dealing with "static" versus "dynamic" IP addressing.
Static means unchanging.
Dynamic means, subject to change at anytime.
And yes, this can happen between the Internet Service Provider and your
router, and it can also happen between your router and your DVR.
For example, if you reboot your router, when it comes back it could
easily -
1. grab a different IP address from your Internet Service Provider,
and/or
2. want to assign a different address to your DVR.
Your router has the capability of being programmed to always give the
same IP address, meaning to statically (unchanging) assign an IP to your
DVR, and by doing that you would avoid problem #2 above.
You need to look in the router set-up, by logging into the router, and
making sure you set it to statically assign the IP you want the DVR to
have, so it never changes.
It may take some study of the router manual to learn how to do this, and
that can be confusing for sure. Without the help of the Netgear people,
you are left to your own to learn this. The manuals are not written for
the every day user. YouTube videos can certainly help. After that, it
may boil down to some trial and error.
This is one area, the router programing, that I am limited in how much
help I can give you.
I do have the ability to log-into your router programming from my
location, and I can do that as a fall back measure......but every router
is different, so I would be learning this just the same as you are
doing, and may not be able to save you time here..........One thing I do
know, is that we will succeed in the end.
The solution to problem #1, how to over come dynamic IP addressing from
your Internet Service provider, will come later, and is called "setting
up a dynamic domain" This will be the last thing we do to finish our
remote accessing project....so more about that later on.
Now we need to get back to achieving remote accessing from a computer on
a different side of your router, so you can see you cameras from work,
or so that I can see your cameras from here.
Here is a cut and paste what I wrote before, and of what we need to
focus on now.
I just tried to ping
184.151.127.215 and I did not get any replies......this means there
may be a Firewall in place and put their by your router. Or it is
the wrong IP...
But first!!
Who is your Internet
service provider?
Is that a satellite service?
Do you know how to get tech support from them?
Do they have a phone number you can call?
The question would
be.
Why can you not ping
your router. Apart from any firewall your router may have put up, do
they know of any reason that would stop you from pinging your
router? Do they have any blocking on your IP number of any sort?
But, Gary, even before you call them......run
whatismyip.org once
again from your browser, to make sure your external IP given to you by
your Internet Service Provider has not changed, and try to ping it
yourself.
Once you can ping it yourself, let me know, and I will try to ping it.
Once I can ping it, we will have a chance to be successful at remote
accessing from an external source, and we can focus how successful you
have been in setting up the the port forwarding so I can see your
cameras.
