In order to view your cameras while you’re out shopping, at work, on vacation, or anywhere but home you’ll need to forward the ports on your router's firewall to stop the packets being sent from being filtered by your router. What does this mean?

Our DVRs and NVRs are always open to communications and are natively configured to serve video over the web. In order to be able to use this feature, you’ll have to configure the router you’re using to stop blocking the data and let it through. This is a simple task for an experienced Network Technician, but can be difficult the first time you attempt it. If you follow this guide, you'll be up and running in no time. 
If you've already read Port Forwarding for your Security DVR and NVR then you already have the local ip address information needed from your DVR or NVR. Let's get started.

Configuring the Router

Step 1: Access Your Router

AirPort routers have their own program for configuring the device. Install and open the program that came with your Airport router to access your router. You should find a Airport Utility icon  airport-utility-icon on your desktop or in your programs folder. The guide below is for configuring using the Airport Utility on Windows.
1Checking for firmware updates is normal.

Step2: Navigate to Port Forwarding

2Now that the software is open, click on “Manual Setup” at the bottom of the window.
4Here you will be prompted to enter the password for the device. Enter your password and click "Continue."
5Now that you’ve been granted access, click on the gear in the top right listed as “Advanced.”

 

7

From here click on the tab labeled “Port Mapping.” This is where the rules will be placed to forward ports to your Security DVR or NVR.

Step 3: Create the Rules

Let’s get right into it. Without these rules we’re about to enter, your router will block communication to and from your security system with the outside world.
8Click on the “+” symbol under the box in the right pane.
9Here you will enter the ports and direct IP address of the DVR or NVR. Don’t enter 10.0.1.34 unless that is the IP address of your DVR. You can find that under Network in the settings page of your DVR. Here are what the network settings are on our recorders:

Default IP address: 192.168.1.108
Default Data Port: 37777 TCP (one entry for this port)
Default HTTP Port: 80 TCP (a separate entry for this port will be created)

Click on “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
10

Here you will enter a descriptive name for the rule. We use the format “DVR[Port#]” to name our entries. When you’ve finished click “Done.”
8You will be brought back to the menu, only this time you will be able to see your port open and checked. Click the “+” symbol again and follow the same format for entering in port 37777. Only instead of putting in 80 on all of those fields you will enter 37777.

Once this is completed for both ports the rules are in place. You should see them in the box next to “Allow:”. Highlight the port rule and click “Edit” to check to make sure they look right. You can compare it to the picture above with port 80. Remember the private IP address is the local IP address of your DVR or NVR. Let's move on to the next step after you click UPDATE.

Check Your Work

Always double check your work. I'll repeat this is important. Always double check your work.

  • Go to https://www.grc.com/shieldsup
  • Click on the button labeled "Proceed"
  • Enter the port numbers separated by a comma in the text field

grc-port

  • Click on "User Specified Custom Port Probe"


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They should display as "OPEN!". If it doesn't display this way for these two ports, go back and take a look at the rules. If you still can't figure it out, contact your ISP for support.

In order to view your cameras remotely, you'll need to have a constant pointer from the outside world back to your home network. Unless you pay for a static IP address you'll need a way to point to the network when your IP changes after its lease is up. What we use is DDNS. For instructions on configuring DDNS on your own follow this link: Configuring DDNS for Remote DVR Viewing
If you have finished port forwarding and DDNS and need help accessing your DVR/NVR click HERE for a helpful guide.

Matt Rossi is a Technical Support Manager at CCTV Camera World, a leading CCTV Camera distributor located in Buffalo, NY. He is a technical support expert for everything video surveillance related.

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