Cannot remote access my D-Link DCS-5222LB IP camera.

[Trevor]

I know this kind of question gets asked a lot and I've tried to Google for an answer but so far have not been able to find one that helps in this case. I'm afraid I'm a newbie with networking stuff. That said, I managed to set the camera up ok the first time just following the instructions in the manual. The camera connects wirelessly to my Wi-Fi router. The Wi-Fi router is hard-wired to my optical router.

Up to this week, I've been able to access the camera anytime remotely (using a Windows 10/11 tablet) either via its domain name "cameraname.ddns.net" which is hosted by No-IP.Com and also via its static IP address but suddenly, the camera is no longer accessible remotely. I can still view the camera using my Android phone via the D-Link app, "MyDlink" so I know it's connecting to my Wi-Fi router and then to the D-Link hosting service.

I can access the camera from my LAN using a browser and the static IP address so am able to check the config of the camera as well as the router. When I set it up the first time, I took screenshots of all the config settings for both router and camera and also saved the config settings files for both devices. I've compared all the settings with the screenshots and nothing has changed. I also tried re-loading the saved config files and re-booting both devices but this did not help. So I'm puzzled as to what has changed to cause this.

If I ping "cameraname.ddns.net" I get a reply from the currently assigned IP address.
I get no reply if I ping the static IP of the camera.

I'm clueless about what else to try or where to look for the problem and would greatly appreciate some help from the gurus here.

Thanks in advance

Trevor

 

[Trevor]

Apologies. I think I posted this in the wrong forum.

 

[TonyR]

Sounds like that the port in the router that is supposed to forward a request from the incoming WAN port is not being forwarded to the cam's IP. I am not promoting port forwarding here ( RISKY! ), just trying to ascertain your issue.

That's why you can access it from your LAN, no port forwarding needed; when accessing remotely the request is to a hostname which looks up the public WAN IP and sends the request there, the port is attached to the URL so when the router sees the incoming request and that port it forwards it to your cam's private IP.

So you said when you ping the hostname you get a reply from your current WAN IP, the same WAN IP you get when you go to whatismyip.com ?

And when you go to canyouseeme.org and put in that port that's supposed to be forwarded, what is the result?

FWIW, the D-Link app works because it's likely P2P and you scanned a QR code or put in the cam's UID number.

 

[Trevor]

Thanks for the reply, Tony.

Sounds like that the port in the router that is supposed to forward a request from the incoming WAN port is not being forwarded to the cam's IP. I am not promoting port forwarding here ( RISKY! ), just trying to ascertain your issue.
I've heard that port forwarding is risky but don't know enough to understand why (hacking?). Most of the instructions manuals tell you to set up port forwarding, I thought.

That's why you can access it from your LAN, no port forwarding needed; yes, that makes sense. when accessing remotely the request is to a hostname which looks up the public WAN IP and sends the request there, the port is attached to the URL so when the router sees the incoming request and that port it forwards it to your cam's private IP.

So you said when you ping the hostname you get a reply from your current WAN IP, the same WAN IP you get when you go to whatismyip.com ?
No. When I ping the hostname, the IP that returns is the one I see on No-IP's "dashboard" under my account which they refer to as the "Target IP".

I get a different IP when I use Whatismyip.com ie "My Public IPv4 is: xxx.xxx.xxx.x"

And when you go to canyouseeme.org and put in that port that's supposed to be forwarded, what is the result?
I get the same IP as the one shown by WhatismyIP.com ie "Error: I could not see your service on xxx.xxx.xxx.x on port (8000). Reason: No route to host"

Could this have something to do with ISPs blocking ports? I think I read something to the effect that some of them did this with port 80(?) which is why I set this one to 8000. I'm just guessing.

FWIW, the D-Link app works because it's likely P2P and you scanned a QR code or put in the cam's UID number.

That makes sense.

As I'm sure you can tell, my grip on this is weak to say the least. I didn't mention in my OP that this issue has been popping up at least once a year (I've been using D-Link cameras for more many years because their local tech support is very good). Usually, everything works fine for 10/11 months or so - then it doesn't. After comparing the camera/router settings with my screenshots to confirm that nothing has changed, I usually contact No-IP for support but so far, there's been no clear explaination as to what it is that changes that makes this keep happening. Then, after a while (with no intervention from me), the issue seems to disappear. I've raised at least 4 tickets with them over the years on the same issue (the most recent one last week) but they've given up replying. This is only a free name hosting service after all.

I'm afraid my approach doesn't go much further than, "if something works ok the first time, write down all the settings and forget it" so I have to assume something external to me keeps changing every so often and I keep hoping I'll find out what it is even if I can't do anything about it at my end.

Thanks again for the patient and detailed reply.

 

[Trevor]

Tony, sorry correction. I just checked the screenshot of my camera Network Setup page.

Under Lan Settings, I have "Enable UPnP port forwarding" checkbox unchecked ie disabled.

Under HTTP, I have "HTTP port" set to 8000.

I'm not sure if this helps.

 

[TonyR]

I would consider resetting the camera and set it up again from the start as follows:

How do I reset my camera back to the factory default settings?​

​

How do I access my mydlink™ camera remotely?​

 

[Trevor]

Thanks, Tony but I already tried that. And as I said, it works perfectly with the Mydlink app and aslways has. I'll keep looking.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks, Tony but I already tried that. And as I said, it works perfectly with the Mydlink app and aslways has. I'll keep looking.

In that case you may consider performing a hard reset of the router then re-configuring it using the screenshots or the saved binary configuration file that you have.
It's rare but I've seen a couple of routers that worked for a long time suddenly block ports until reset and reconfigured.