If you've found yourself in a situation where you can no longer remotely access your DVR as you once could, you've come to the right place. While you may have gone through the efforts of port forwarding, it’s not always permanent.

Static vs Dynamic IP Addresses

One of the most common, albeit unknown, reasons is that you may have a dynamic IP address instead of a static IP address. A dynamic IP address simply means that it’s continuously changing and if it’s changing all the time, the IP address you’re entering to access your DVR will have to change with it. The amount of time you have before it changes varies, but usually if you’re going to have a problem with it, it’ll happen within the first few weeks.

How to Obtain a Static IP Address

A static IP address just means that it’s not going to change unless influenced by you (more details to follow).  Usually, the simplest solution is to contact your internet service provider and ask them to assign you a static IP.  The cheapest (potentially free) option is to go through a company like NoIP.  Their plans start for free and they’ll manage your dynamic IP address for you.  With No-IP, you can actually assign yourself something very similar to a static IP and No-IP will do all the leg work that’s required to forward you along to the right place.  Either option will offer a good solution to the problem.

 Know how to deal with the issue

Changing internet service providers (ISP), changing routers, changing modems, router and/or modem resets, and power outages can all cause your IP address to change.  If you find yourself unable to connect remotely after one of these, it can be as simple as getting your new network IP address from a website such as WhatIsMyIP. If you’re still having problems, then your gateway IP address may have also changed.  By using Command Prompt (or Terminal on Mac) and the command “ipconfig” (ifconfig on Mac), you’ll be able to view your current gateway IP address.  This will need to match the Gateway IP in the network settings on your DVR.

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Be sure that your gateway and subnet mask that display here match those under the network settings in your DVR.  The first three sets of numbers in your DVR’s IP address need to match the first three of the gateway address.

If you’re still using the default IP address of 192.168.1.108 for you DVR, you may find that you need to change one or more of those numbers to match it to your new gateway address.  Unfortunately, if you have reached this point  and found that you needed to change these , you’ll also need to edit your existing port forwarding settings since you’ll no longer be forwarding ports for the correct IP address.

 

Don Stephens is a Technical Support Manager at CCTV Camera World, a leading Security Camera distributor located in Buffalo, NY. His area of expertise is in designing professional security camera systems for medium and large scale businesses, schools, and government projects.

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