Camera with network failover capability

roli

n3wb
Aug 11, 2022
9
1
Swiss
Hi all, I have read a lot of user and installation manual of many common manufacturer and model but... Is there a camera model able to automatically switch from ethernet connection to wi-fi if link goes down?
 
Hi all, I have read a lot of user and installation manual of many common manufacturer and model but... Is there a camera model able to automatically switch from ethernet connection to wi-fi if link goes down?

To be clear I have yet to see a piece of hardware that was designed on purpose for that intended goal. Having said this there are some video security cameras that run both Ethernet & WIFI in parallel. Some see this as a bug while you would see it as a feature! :facepalm: :lmao:

Because since both are running (connected) at the same time if one goes out the other was already running! That isn't a fail over in the purest form vs redundancy. Fail over comes on line if and when something else fails, a redundancy is something that is already (On Line) and running in parallel. :thumb:
 
thanks for the answer :)
the question is not about wi-fi and cable connection at the same time, bug or not ...
The use case is related to a network cable connected via powerline and an electrical blackout
 
thanks for the answer :)
the question is not about wi-fi and cable connection at the same time, bug or not ...
The use case is related to a network cable connected via powerline and an electrical blackout

If there's no power the end device isn't going to work anyways. :facepalm: :lmao:
 
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I have not seen any cameras that supports Link Aggregation. Besides if your camera is powered by POE and if that port goes down then you more than likely have lost power to the camera to support WIFI. For resiliency you'd want a dual powered, dual NIC camera.
 
I have not seen any cameras that supports Link Aggregation. Besides if your camera is powered by POE and if that port goes down then you more than likely have lost power to the camera to support WIFI. For resiliency you'd want a dual powered, dual NIC camera.
Link agregation is a different feature and I don't talk of POE camera :)
 
One idea is ( if the camera can support it) is enable both the NIC and WiFi on sperate networks to stream the video. You'll have two of the same views, so if one goes down then you sill have one feed. That is if the hardline network is not POE and the camera is powered by other means.
 
One idea is ( if the camera can support it) is enable both the NIC and WiFi on sperate networks to stream the video. You'll have two of the same views, so if one goes down then you sill have one feed. That is if the hardline network is not POE and the camera is powered by other means.
Interesting idea, but If I have to stream all time via wi-fi and take the risk of network spoofing I prefer to connected the camera to an SBC (raspberry or cheapest) and implement the solution by myself.
What do you think?
 
Assuming that your power fail-over works well, how would the cam then know to switch? You'd also need some feedback mechanism between cam and UPS. And passing powerline through a UPS can be a problem.

In any case, I've not seen any that work that provide failover from ethernet to WiFi. Most better cams that might include advanced features like fail-over, don't have WiFi. Most cams with WiFi are lower-end and less feature-rich and don't have anything like network fail-over.
 
really simple to provide a battery backup to camera and an UPS for NVR, router, vpn :facepalm: :lmao:

I don't follow what you're saying vs what you asked for. You asked if there were video security cameras that had the ability to in your words Switch from Ethernet to WiFi. Later you add in this camera is being connected via power line Ethernet.

The reasons people ever use Power Line Ethernet / POE Ethernet is because its easier and cheaper. It in no way is more reliable or resilient because anything you need adds to the so called saving of using power line ethernet! :facepalm: Have you tried connecting these modules to a UPS to see if the connectivity is still there??
 
Assuming that your power fail-over works well, how would the cam then know to switch? You'd also need some feedback mechanism between cam and UPS. And passing powerline through a UPS can be a problem.

In any case, I've not seen any that work that provide failover from ethernet to WiFi. Most better cams that might include advanced features like fail-over, don't have WiFi. Most cams with WiFi are lower-end and less feature-rich and don't have anything like network fail-over.

how would the cam then know to switch?
Detect a link down it is a common feature in network card and the operation for switch are a configuration task.
You'd also need some feedback mechanism between cam and UPS
What do you mean?
And passing powerline through a UPS can be a problem.
The feature I am looking for is to avoid a powerline backed up by UPS. It is well known it does not work
I've not seen any that work that provide failover from ethernet to WiFi
I am afraid your are right ...
 
Was curious to see how it worked with an Hikvision cam (DS-2CD2512F-IWS, kinda sucks, don't buy one) that I have with both POE and WiFi. Starting from setup, the cam defaults to POE. If you define a wireless connection, it then will use that for the network connection instead of POE (still uses POE for power). If I break the WiFi side in some way (block it, give it bad credentials, etc.) it then will switch to POE at the same IP with different MAC. But there is no real fail-over. It's just how the network preference works to roll with the WiFi if setup. There's no way to do the reverse. i.e., run it POE and have it fail to wireless if you lose the ethernet connection. I think the little Hikvision/Annke cube cams work in the same way
 
Was curious to see how it worked with an Hikvision cam (DS-2CD2512F-IWS, kinda sucks, don't buy one) that I have with both POE and WiFi. Starting from setup, the cam defaults to POE. If you define a wireless connection, it then will use that for the network connection instead of POE (still uses POE for power). If I break the WiFi side in some way (block it, give it bad credentials, etc.) it then will switch to POE at the same IP with different MAC. But there is no real fail-over. It's just how the network preference works to roll with the WiFi if setup. There's no way to do the reverse. i.e., run it POE and have it fail to wireless if you lose the ethernet connection. I think the little Hikvision/Annke cube cams work in the same way
There's no way to do the reverse
I am just looking for the reverse :lol:
 
Detect a link down it is a common feature in network card and the operation for switch are a configuration task.

What do you mean?

Yes, for network gear with fail-over built in and computers where you can install UPS monitoring software or an agent. Not for cams. To do what you were describing above using a UPS, in addition to network monitoring you'd also need power monitoring built into the firmware to know when to switch over; otherwise, as long as your power backup works well and there's power to it from whatever source, the cam will be happily humming along. It would have no way to know that it should switch.

The feature I am looking for is to avoid a powerline backed up by UPS. It is well known it does not work

I'm not following then. Above you implied powerline for the ethernet side.

Seems like I do remember having a cam that ran both at the same time on two different IPs/MACs but I can't recall what that was. Given how long ago that would have been it probably was junk.
 
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The feature I am looking for is to avoid a powerline backed up by UPS. It is well known it does not work

I'm not following then. Above you implied powerline for the ethernet side.
[/QUOTE]

Clear as mud @Mike A. - No?? :facepalm: :lmao:
 
Yes, for network gear with fail-over built in and computers where you can install UPS monitoring software or an agent. Not for cams. To do what you were describing above using a UPS, in addition to network monitoring you'd also need power monitoring built into the firmware to know when to switch over; otherwise, as long as your power backup works well and there's power to it from whatever source, the cam will be happily humming along. It would have no way to know that it should switch.
I'm not following then. Above you implied powerline for the ethernet side.

Seems like I do remember having a cam that ran both at the same time on two different IPs/MACs but I can't recall what that was. Given how long ago that would have been it probably was junk.
It would have no way to know that it should switch.
When the power line switch for AC fault the ethernet link goes down and it is enough for the camera to understand to switch to Wi-Fi connection

I am attaching two simple schema, in the second one the two powerline adapter are off for electricity fault and wifi link is established

I hope to be more clear.

@Mike A. thanks for your patience :)
1_ac_up.png

2_ac_down.png
 
When the power line switch for AC fault the ethernet link goes down and it is enough for the camera to understand to switch to Wi-Fi connection

But it shouldn't go down if on UPS at both ends right? It's using the wire not the power on the house wire for the connection. At least until your USP runs out and then WiFi is done too. Never mind. Forgot trying to avoid the UPS for that side.

In any case the diagram helps. Rather than at the camera I think the better place to do the fail-over would be somewhere else. Maybe at a second small router attached to it that has the ability to do the fail-over. Then you can put whatever cam or whatever else you want there and it will always be on the same internal LAN connection to it just with a different path in/out.

Or better just forget the powerline entirely and go with an AP in client mode or point-to-point and run that full time. That's probably cheapest/cleanest/easiest. Plenty of throughput for a few cams. I guess if you wanted the redundancy for some reason, you probably could figure out how to connect the powerline to a small switch that has a path back to the same network over it. Again then no failover required at the cam itself. Don't know how important this is or how much you want to put into it.
 
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