Camera Initialisation help needed as unreachable

[CCTVCam]

Hi,

Need some help from experienced members here.

I cannot contact my cameras except through the Config App, they come back as unreachable if I plug the cameras directly into the LAN port on my PC.

The config app does give access to change IP which is great, although I'm not sure what to enter for the Gateway (standard 255.255.255.0 ?) or for the subnet mask (no clue?), plus I wanted to go in and configure all the settings so I need manual access anyway beyond what the config app offers.

When I produced the tongue in cheek video for Andy last year with the other camera, I had everything connected differently as it was temporary - that camera had the camera > unmanaged POE switch > a port on the router > my main pc.

Under my new setup, the network map is as follows:

Bridged Modem > Router > Network Card 1 BI PC (via network cable & sockets) > Network Card 2 BI PC > Unmanaged POE Switch > Cameras

Even if I unplug the cameras from NIC Card 2 and plug them into NIC1 instead of the internet to give the most direct connection to the pc, they come back unreachable as if the pc can't resolve the IP address.

I even tried pulling the network cable from my main pc and plugging the LAN from the unmanaged switch into that but again unreachable.

I'm a little confused when the config tool sees them though.

The only difference to this and the test video I did last year is the poe switch is networked to the BI PC instead of the router to the main pc. Is it a lack of the resolving the address and if so, how do you do this when you're keeping the BI PC between the router and switch.

I'v tried accessing the 4kt's using 192.168.1.108 in both firefox and Edge.

 

[TonyR]

Did you follow this guide? ==>> Dual NIC setup on your Blue Iris Machine

The NIC (NIC #1) for the BI should have a unique, static LAN IP in the same subnet as the cams, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, no gateway IP.

The cams will each have a unique, static IP in the same subnet as the BI PC's NIC #1, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a gateway IP in the same subnet as the BI PC's NIC #1.......see below AND the above linked instructions regarding that.

 

[The Automation Guy]

When you connect a computer directly to the camera, there is no DHCP server. This is something your router normally handles and it assigns IP addresses on your network. It is very likely that your laptop is set up to automatically receive a IP address via DHCP. Without a DHCP server, the laptop will default to a 169.254.X.X IP address which is not compatible with the camera's 192.168.1.108 address (assuming it is at factory defaults). You'll need to go into your laptop's ethernet plug adapter settings and manually set an IP address in the 192.1.68.1.X range (anything but the 192.168.1.8 address that the camera is using). Then when you connect to the camera directly, both devices will have manually set an IP address in the same subnet and you should be able to communicate with the camera.

Don't forget to go back into your laptop's ethernet adapter settings after you are done and switch it back to DHCP.

Also, the "gateway" address is normally set to your router's IP address. If there is no router and you are just trying to connect to the camera directly, then put in any address (in the same IP range). The subnet mask is the 255.255.255.0 number (that you may be trying to set as your gateway based on your OP). The subnet tells the system how large your network is. A 255.255.255.0 subnet is very common because it sets the network size at 254 addresses - being the last set of digits in the network address. So using a 255.255.255.0 subnet with a 192.16.8.1.X network sets the network ip address size to 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. If you set the subnet range to 255.255.0.0, the network size would be 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.254.254 or 65,534 addresses.

 

[CCTVCam]

Did you follow this guide? ==>> Dual NIC setup on your Blue Iris Machine

The NIC (NIC #1) for the BI should have a unique, static LAN IP in the same subnet as the cams, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, no gateway IP.

The cams will each have a unique, static IP in the same subnet as the BI PC's NIC #1, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a gateway IP in the same subnet as the BI PC's NIC #1.......see below AND the above linked instructions regarding that.

View attachment 159007

Yes. It may be the problem see below comment.

 

[Flintstone61]

if go to the CMD prompt and type in ipconfig /all
it will tell you current state of affairs with your masks and gateways and IP's.
this might be a clue as to what hardware is addressed wrong or where to start looking.

 

[CCTVCam]

When you connect a computer directly to the camera, there is no DHCP server. This is something your router normally handles and it assigns IP addresses on your network. It is very likely that your laptop is set up to automatically receive a IP address via DHCP. Without a DHCP server, the laptop will default to a 169.254.X.X IP address which is not compatible with the camera's 192.168.1.108 address (assuming it is at factory defaults). You'll need to go into your laptop's ethernet plug adapter settings and manually set an IP address in the 192.1.68.1.X range (anything but the 192.168.1.8 address that the camera is using). Then when you connect to the camera directly, both devices will have manually set an IP address in the same subnet and you should be able to communicate with the camera.

Don't forget to go back into your laptop's ethernet adapter settings after you are done and switch it back to DHCP.

Also, the "gateway" address is normally set to your router's IP address. If there is no router and you are just trying to connect to the camera directly, then put in any address (in the same IP range). The subnet mask is the 255.255.255.0 number (that you may be trying to set as your gateway based on your OP). The subnet tells the system how large your network is. A 255.255.255.0 subnet is very common because it sets the network size at 254 addresses - being the last set of digits in the network address. So using a 255.255.255.0 subnet with a 192.16.8.1.X network sets the network ip address size to 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. If you set the subnet range to 255.255.0.0, the network size would be 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.254.254 or 65,534 addresses.

Thanks this may be the problem.

The BI PC is set up with DCHP to the router side but a static IP similar to 192.168.52.10 for example, with the cameras intended to be for example 192.168.52.30.,31 etc

I wondering therefore if the reason I can't see them is the 2nd NIC card is set to a 192.168.52.xx range and the cameras are still at default of 192.168.1.xx range?

If so, I presume the easiest way forward would be to set NIC 1 away from DCHP to a fixed 192.168.1.100 and plug the cameras into that LAN port instead of the router network and then set the cameras to the new IP's, then return them into NIC2's LAN with NIC 1's lan reverting to the router connection and DCHP. Is that correct?

Alternatively as I already have the config tool installed, would it work to set the cameras IP's in that. The only question I have there is what to populate the gateway and sub net mask fields with.

If the NIC card 2 is eg:

192.168.52.10
255.255.255.0
192.168.30.254

Would I just copy this into each camera changing only the .30 in the IP to .31,.32,.33 etc or would it need changes to the gateway as well?

The config tool won't allow you to proceed with a blank gateway.

 

[Flintstone61]

or a less extensive reply comes back with just ipconfig maybe less to sort out.

 

[Flintstone61]

52 and 1 wont talk to each other on the NIC.
so those i think need to be equal.

 

[CCTVCam]

52 and 1 wont talk to each other on the NIC.
so those i think need to be equal.

So that looks like the problem then. I preconfigured the 2nd NIC card before I got the cameras.

Can you please advise on the 2 methods I described and how to work eah one, eg the question on IP config about the gateway settings? Thanks.

 

[Flintstone61]

I don't think im qualified to sort it all out, but start with NIC 2's IP address in the same range as the camera's 192.168.1.x with a netmask of 255.255.255.0
I'm thinkin i'd try giving NIC2 the gateway address of the router to help your DHCP issue, but I'm not certain, as that might hurt your cam isolation security situation.
and im not sure if the routers gateway address of 192.168.52.1 will be reachable to help with DHCP....but if the cams are static it maaybe a moot point.
I'm not sure what to insert for DNS servers for NIC2.
somebody knows....

 

[CCTVCam]

I think the gatewya has to be different to prvent NIC 2 getting access to NIC 1 nd the router so I'm presuming the camera gateway should be the same as NIC2. Maybe someone will chip in as you said.

A bit of experimentaion in the meantime...

 

[Flintstone61]

look at the help on dual nic link above from @TonyR
it shows the gateway info

 

[CCTVCam]

Yeah I've got access now thanks.

I simply had to add the 2nd IP address and remove the non reachable gateway which I understand I add back later. Hopefully that's correct. Networking is not my strong point!

 

[Flintstone61]

Me either. and I took a class LOL