Backhauling Camera Traffic via VPN - one BI instance or two

[marty9876]

Hi All,

About ~ 2x years ago I setup a BI instance w/ 5 camera and things have been on cruse control ever sense. Can't really give BI a greater compliment than not thinking about it for 2x years. Fast forward to 2022, we bought a cabin and now I can to light it up with some cameras!

My core question is - is there any value in creating a VPN tunnel between my cabin and home networks and hauling all the cabin IP camera traffic back to my home network/BI instance?

Unfortunately I have all the technical knowledge to do this (I'm in IT but who wants to do that junk off the clock! ) I'm just not sure it's over complicating things and prone to challenges. Both networks have the bandwidth to support the camera bandwidth needs, in theory I have the BI instance/NAS storage (I have enough at the house) already so cost wise all I need is to up my firewall game which is on the to do list anyways. Accessing things via the mobile BI app and having everything in one place seems like a plus also.

KISS- keep it simple stoopid and just make the cabin it's on BI instance or let's do this thing and spend 20 hours messing around!

Appreciate any input - Marty

 

[TonyR]

I vote having a BI server at the cabin. You benefit from having things recorded there at the cabin and not depend on both local and remote Internet services being up.

Set up notifications to let you know what you want/need to know, also maybe a server ping from your place to to the cabin to know when it's offline, etc.

Definitely have a UPS at the cabin and be notified when there a power outage of a specific length.

Maybe even a setup so you can re-boot the modem, server, etc. remotely in an extreme case.

 

[Mike A.]

I could argue it either way. I'll take the other side just because. ; )

You'll have time and some issues/complications either way. The VPN will be one less thing to mess with without the server and whatever else to support it, less money, cleaner on your end with everything in a single interface. You'll need the VPN on that end anyway to come into it. Not that much more trouble to set up as P2P and have cams and whatever else there on you local net all the time and vice versa when you're there. Or can at least start that way and see how it goes. Can always add a server later. Add SD cards to the cams for some local storage if you need that.

If bandwidth/data cost were a concern I guess the second BI instance could be better since you're not streaming back full time.

 

[JustAnotherCameraGuy]

I'm with @TonyR, in most situations it's preferable to process data closest to the source. Sending it remotely through an encrypted tunnel will introduce overhead, add latency, etc. You could also get into a situation where timestamps are not correct or packets just get dropped. Process and store it locally (LAN) then send notifications or whatever else you want afterwards.

Use a monitoring tool such as Up Time Kuma for your situational awareness.

 

[looney2ns]

Yep, I vote for the cabins own BI server too.
You could also use ZeroTeir as an option for remote connectivity.
And BI can remotely connect to the server so you maintain it directly.
I use ZeroTeir to connect to my daughters BI server, via both BI it's self, UI3, or Windows Remote desktop. Works well.

 

[marty9876]

Thanks all for the feedback - I’m about 99% sure I’ll just do a second BI instance at the cabin. Between the complexities and firewall pricing/availability (UniFi) these days just not dealing with most of that is worthwhile.
Grabbed a retired developer notebook from work today (beefy jobbers) so the compute aspect of this is no cost!