Stymied trying to install IPC-HDW5231R-ZE

M

mac03579

n3wb
Oct 17, 2019
9
6
New England
Hi. I'm new here as a poster, but I've been lurking and reading and searching these forums for months.

I purchased two IPC-HDW5231R-ZE cameras from Andy. I also purchased from Andy the 8-port PoE switch suggested by him.

I've connected the camera -->switch --> router. Lights blinking away. I'm on a Mac so I downloaded the ConfigTool 4.01.0. The config tool claims to see the camera, but when I try to connect to it, it shows a lovely image of a sinking ship and says the connection failed. I looked for a reset button on the camera, but didn't see one (I didn't take it the whole way apart, just out of its mounting).

I'm trying to make use of my Synology Surveillance Station for now, because I have just the two cameras, if I get more, I'll consider venturing into other software territories.

I just don't know what to do and am most grateful for any input you might have. If there's information I can provide to help come to an answer, I'm happy to share it. Just need to know what. Thanks in advance.
 
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Do you have both cameras plugged into the switch? If so unplug one of them for now. Dahua cameras all have the same IP address 192.168.1.208. You need to change the IP address of the camera to an unused value on your subnet. Do not use 192.168.1.208.
What is the internal IP address of your router ?
What is the IP address of your MAC.

I know nothing about the ConfigTool 4.01.0 on a MAC
 
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I am also setting up one of these today that I just got from Andy and 192.168.1.108 is the IP I am able to access the camera with.

I'm a complete newb and just learning all this stuff. So eventually if you have 2 cameras after setting one up using the initial IP you need to change that IP so you can get your second camera up and running?

I had some other questions that I asked about here: Need Advise with IPC-HDW5231R-ZE setup
 
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Oceanslider said:
Do you use Blue Iris to change the IP? Or should I download and use something like ConfigTool.exe from Dahua?
And once you change the IP are you sort of writing it into the chip of the camera?
Click to expand...

Use your browser and type in the ip address of the camera. Login to the web interface and then go to the appropriate setting. Yes, it is like writing it to the chip of the camera. If you forget the ip or enter it incorrectly, you will need to reset the camera.
 
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Hammerhead786 said:
Connect your Mac directly to the POE switch and change your network adapter's IP address to 192.168.1.2 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. Open your browser and type in the ip address 192.168.1.108 and see if you get the web admin interface.
Click to expand...

This worked. I got the web interface and was able to initialize both cameras. I've disconnected the PoE switch from the Apple directly and it's back in the router. The camera ConfigTool software recognized the cameras and now I have Surveillance Station recognizing both cameras. w00t!

Now I just have to finish the cables, run them, and mount the cameras.

Many thanks for the help!
 
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mac03579 said:
This worked. I got the web interface and was able to initialize both cameras. I've disconnected the PoE switch from the Apple directly and it's back in the router. The camera ConfigTool software recognized the cameras and now I have Surveillance Station recognizing both cameras. w00t!

Now I just have to finish the cables, run them, and mount the cameras.

Many thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Don't forget to block all traffic from the cameras to the internet. For external access setup an inbound VPN e.g. OpenVPN server, if you haven't already done so.
 
Hammerhead786 said:
Don't forget to block all traffic from the cameras to the internet. For external access setup an inbound VPN e.g. OpenVPN server, if you haven't already done so.
Click to expand...

I know I need to do this; just trying to sort out the how of it. Spending far more time on youtube than I'd like. Ha.

My complication is that I use a VPN (ExpressVPN) on ALL traffic to/from my house. I'm finding that setting up an inbound VPN on top of this is difficult. (Or perhaps it's simple and I'm just not understanding.) If you have thoughts, I'd gratefully welcome them.
 
I did a quick read on expressVPN I do not see support for inbound traffic.

---------------------------
My normal VPN comment

There are two types of VPN, do not get them confused.
The type depends on where the traffic conversation originates
1) origination: local home network, destination the internet.
The type of VPN hides your activity from the internet, it is outbound, it normally costs a monthly fee to use. Direction is from your home PC to the internet, going to your bank, google, porn sites,,,, this not what you want
2) Origination: the internet world wide web, destination: your home network
This VPN type is used to provide a secure connection onto your local network, in bound to you local home network, from your office computer, your cell phone in your car, tablet at the coffee shop.. This is what you want, it does not have a monthly fee and is normally completely free. OpenVPN is this type of VPN.

If you home internet provider is a cellular network, then DDNS (dynamic Domain Name System) may not work, the DDNS is needed for most Inbound VPN services (OpenVpn), so OpenVPN may not work for you.
 
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Hammerhead786 said:
Use your browser and type in the ip address of the camera. Login to the web interface and then go to the appropriate setting. Yes, it is like writing it to the chip of the camera. If you forget the ip or enter it incorrectly, you will need to reset the camera.
Click to expand...
Sorry, posts around here go in many directions. But Hammerhead, I get your saying that there is no need to use CinfigTool.exe, that you use the embedded program within the Camera to change the cameras IP?

Also for OP, read my linked thread above, in post #4 above, for as to how I setup my camera and how I got the Varifocal to work in BI.
Edit: disregard I overlooked you were not using BI, only your NAS software.
 
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Oceanslider said:
Sorry, posts around here go in many directions. But Hammerhead, I get your saying that there is no need to use CinfigTool.exe, that you use the embedded program within the Camera to change the cameras IP?

Also for OP, read my linked thread above, in post #4 above, for as to how I setup my camera and how I got the Varifocal to work in BI.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have only ever used the web browser. It's just a lot less faffing about.
 
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mac03579 said:
I know I need to do this; just trying to sort out the how of it. Spending far more time on youtube than I'd like. Ha.

My complication is that I use a VPN (ExpressVPN) on ALL traffic to/from my house. I'm finding that setting up an inbound VPN on top of this is difficult. (Or perhaps it's simple and I'm just not understanding.) If you have thoughts, I'd gratefully welcome them.
Click to expand...

What router are you using? Are you running native or third party firmware? Let us the know model number and we can point you in the right direction. As regards VPN, there are number of routers that natively support OpenVPN server and it is simply a case of configuring it.

When you use a paid VPN service, it only encrypts the traffic leaving/entering your network via the VPN tunnel that it creates. It does not encrypt the traffic entering your network, hence as SouthernYankee said, you still need to set up an inbound VPN.
 
SouthernYankee said:
I did a quick read on expressVPN I do not see support for inbound traffic.

---------------------------
My normal VPN comment

There are two types of VPN, do not get them confused.
The type depends on where the traffic conversation originates
1) origination: local home network, destination the internet.
The type of VPN hides your activity from the internet, it is outbound, it normally costs a monthly fee to use. Direction is from your home PC to the internet, going to your bank, google, porn sites,,,, this not what you want
2) Origination: the internet world wide web, destination: your home network
This VPN type is used to provide a secure connection onto your local network, in bound to you local home network, from your office computer, your cell phone in your car, tablet at the coffee shop.. This is what you want, it does not have a monthly fee and is normally completely free. OpenVPN is this type of VPN.

If you home internet provider is a cellular network, then DDNS (dynamic Domain Name System) may not work, the DDNS is needed for most Inbound VPN services (OpenVpn), so OpenVPN may not work for you.
Click to expand...

Yes, I do know the difference (but it is always good to check so I appreciate it). I tried setting up OpenVPN for the inbound traffic and failed (likely user error). My home internet provider is a cable service (I only get internet from them). So not a cellular network. I'll be honest and say that I'm out of my comfort zone with this part of the process, and honestly it baffles me a bit.

Hammerhead786 said:
What router are you using? Are you running native or third party firmware? Let us the know model number and we can point you in the right direction. As regards VPN, there are number of routers that natively support OpenVPN server and it is simply a case of configuring it.

When you use a paid VPN service, it only encrypts the traffic leaving/entering your network via the VPN tunnel that it creates. It does not encrypt the traffic entering your network, hence as SouthernYankee said, you still need to set up an inbound VPN.
Click to expand...

My router is an Asus RT-AC86U. I'm running the native Asus firmware, though I'm aware it can run Merlin. As I said immediately above, this part of the process is outside my comfort zone so I'm treading carefully. All assistance is most welcome.
 
mac03579 said:
Yes, I do know the difference (but it is always good to check so I appreciate it). I tried setting up OpenVPN for the inbound traffic and failed (likely user error). My home internet provider is a cable service (I only get internet from them). So not a cellular network. I'll be honest and say that I'm out of my comfort zone with this part of the process, and honestly it baffles me a bit.



My router is an Asus RT-AC86U. I'm running the native Asus firmware, though I'm aware it can run Merlin. As I said immediately above, this part of the process is outside my comfort zone so I'm treading carefully. All assistance is most welcome.
Click to expand...

It's really simple to set it up on the Asus routers. Make sure you set up DDNS if you have a dynamic ip. I no longer have either Asus or Merlin Firmware on my RT-AC66U, but I remember it was fairly straight forward. Look at this link: [VPN] How to set up the ASUSWRT for VPN Server – OpenVPN | Official Support | ASUS Global. I also changed the protocol to TCP and port 443 so I could access my home network from virtually anywhere.
 
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Hammerhead786 said:
It's really simple to set it up on the Asus routers. Make sure you set up DDNS if you have a dynamic ip. I no longer have either Asus or Merlin Firmware on my RT-AC66U, but I remember it was fairly straight forward. Look at this link: [VPN] How to set up the ASUSWRT for VPN Server – OpenVPN | Official Support | ASUS Global. I also changed the protocol to TCP and port 443 so I could access my home network from virtually anywhere.
Click to expand...

I went to the DDNS page to set that up. I got the following warning:

Screen Shot 2019-12-23 at 6.36.29 AM.png

After some poking about, I think this might be down to the following ... my incoming internet comes through an Arris Surfboard SB6141 modem and then goes to the Asus. Does it make sense that the modem is assigning an IP to the Asus? Or am I completely misunderstanding?

Thanks for all your help!
 
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with cable modems as I've never had cable, but it appears that that is the issue. Usually you would put your current modem into bridge mode, thereby allowing you own router to handle all functions. Since this is a modem, it is already in bridge mode. Hopefully someone here can help you with this issue or give your ISP a call to see how you can get around the double NAT issue.
 
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MAC

Who is your internet provider ?
This is a standard problem. I believe you have two routes inline, the second route is the ASUS.
Looking at the ASUS router the main page, what is the first three digits of the displayed IP address.

I have a similar setup I have a comcast arris router that need to be set into passthru / bypass mode.

do you own the modem or does your internet provider ?
 
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