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Help with setup and connecting new NVR and Cameras.

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FLGator

Getting the hang of it
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Here is my plea for help.

I just bought a NVR and 4 cameras from Andy on here. I want to be able to (once all cameras are connected) view these cameras from home and from outside, basically from anywhere in the world. I want to set this up securely, I have seen a website that shows all or many cameras on the internet, I do not want that site to be listing mine :).

I have a Netgear 750 router with 3 satellites (no I do not recommend these, my older Netgear router I think was better) I do not have a static IP from my provider but my internal LAN I have set up on a 10. network and my devices have a static IP that I provide manually through the router.

Would I need a VPN client on my Android phones and or travel laptop to first connect to my network, then open an app like DMSS, IMOU Life, IP Cam Viewer or Camera View, on my phone to then see the video? The NVR is the 5216-16p-El and the cameras are T5442T-ZE and a PFW5849-A180-E2 180-degree.

I just want a secure network and somewhat easy for the wife to use. If you recall, we are coming from Ring and Arlos LOL....... but to be honest, they have worked for what we initially wanted but after time, the video is so spotty now, I think it's the wireless and that is the main reason going with Wired now.

I have searched the forums but I cannot find the exact thread\s that will help me and I have searched You Tube as well and it seems like everyone wants to do port forwarding and that is not something I want to do for security reasons I have heard.

I also do NOT want to go the BI route just yet as I am not up to speed on that and need to do more research.

Many thanks to this group, you have provided so much useful information in the past and WITHOUT belittling anyone, that is a HUGE plus!!! I love this group.
 
awonson

awonson

Pulling my weight
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@FLGator, you are right in wanting to use a VPN. Make sure you read the links provided by @looney2ns above.

I don’t know anything about your router but here are things you can do:
  1. Turn off uPnP in the router and cameras and NVR.
  2. Turn off P2P in NVR and Cameras.
  3. don’t port forward ports to your NVR and cameras.
  4. Block internet access to your cameras and NVR. Use firewall groups or create a VLAN if your router allows it.
  5. You will have to allow some outbound ports in your firewall from your NVR and cameras if you want notifications to DMSS (eg ports 8888, 2195) and ports for email notification if you want to go that way (ports 587, 465 or 25) - I did this as I don’t have a VLAN.
  6. you will need a DDNS (eg DYN DNS) as you don’t have a static WAN address and want to set up a VPN Server at home using a Raspberry Pi as outlined below. This is what I have done.
  7. check your router if it has an OpenVPN or WireGuard server, if so, set it up and place the client files on each device that will connect to your network remotely.
  8. another option, if your router does not have VPN server built in, purchase a Raspberry Pi and install WireGuard or OpenVPN on it using this link: PIVPN: Simplest way to setup a VPN See point 6 above. The process listed on the pivpn.io website creates the client files that you place on each mobile device. The process will ask you for the port for the VPN server.
  9. if you don’t want to purchase a raspberry Pi and don’t want a DDNS and you have a computer that is always on, you can install ZeroTier or TailScale on the computer and connect to your system remotely.
  10. Once you have your remote options setup, add your NVR and cameras to DMSS using their LAN IP Address NOT P2P.
  11. Test on your phone using DMSS that you can connect to your NVR and cameras when you are at home on your LAN.
  12. Turn off WIFI on your phone and make sure you are now on cellular and turn on the VPN client (OpenVPN or WireGuard) on your phone and open DMSS and now see if you can view your cameras.
if you don’t want to create firewall rules, opening outbound ports, VLANS, then install ZeroTier or TailScale on a computer that is always on. Some users install ZeroTier on their BI machines and thus view their cameras. I have an always-on NUC in my Comms cabinet that provides that service for me.

I have setup my VPN system using two Raspberry Pi 4B running OpenVPN and WireGuard, (along with PiHole to block ads on my LAN), firewall groups, and firewall rules to block all traffic and only allow outbound traffic through ports (mentioned above) and I receive all DMSS notifications and emails with snapshots. The VPN works from anywhere in the world, though I have found a couple of corporate networks that block VPN traffic, in which case I connect via ZeroTier.

I am sure I have left something out so somebody will fill in the blanks. Most of the above will be in the links @looney2ns provided. Setting up the network and VPN is not difficult - be methodical in your approach and take it one step at a time. The above is based on what I have done.
 
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