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Lakegeezer · 05-06-2007, 06:21 AM

Here is a description of how to set up a Web cam. I started this post thinking it was pretty easy, but the longer the post got, the more I realized that there are some tricy parts. I'm happy to try to answer questions on this forum or answer personal messages if you have a specific questions or technical problems. Its a hobby to me - some day it may be my job.

If you get one of the networked cameras, it plugs into your Internet via an Ethernet cable. If you are on cable or DSL, you need to have a router that lets you share your connection to the Internet. Most home networks are set up this way.

I bought my StarDot Technology Netcam on Ebay for about $300, and purchased an outdoor enclosure for about $60. The camera comes with a configuration utility that is installed on your PC (not a MAC) to set it up initially. After that, you can change configurations with a Web browser. There are two ways to get your pictures, upload to a Web site or connect to the camera directly. The camera can periodically upload a picture to a file server on the Internet. Most ISPs give you a free Web page space of 2-4 megabytes, and you can use that. From there, you use your Web browser to go to the ISP and see the latest picture (or latest 10 pictures if you set it up that way). All the lakes region Web cams you see work this way. Configuration is pretty simple. You set up your Webcam to upload at the frequency and during the hours you wish - and give it the account and remote directory information of your ISP's Web site. The internet application it uses to transfer the files is called FTP - file transfer protocol.

The direct connection to the camera is handy, because you can get more frequent updates and configure the camera while you are away from it - but this approach requires a few more tricks. Your router acts as a firewall - preventing anyone on the Internet from getting into your local area network (LAN). Becaues your camera is behind your firewall, you can't access it from the Internet without configuring your router to "poke a hole in the firewall" - using its "port forwarding" feature. Here, you configure the router to translate an inbound connection to a specific network address on your LAN. For example, the default port number of a Web page (including your camera's) is 80. If your camera is running on address 192.168.2.50, you would redirect inbound port 80 to address 192.168.2.50 port 80. All routers support this feature.

There are a few obsticles that the ISPs may throw at you which require work-arounds to get a direct connection. Most ISPs have a policy that you can not have a Web server on your home connection, and to enforce it they block inbound port 80 connections. The way around this is to find an inbound port that they do not block, for example 443, and redirect that inbound port to your camera. For example, in the last example, you would redirect inbound port 443 to address 192.168.2.50 port 80. The camera port remains the same - but the port redirection is different. When you use your Web browser to connect to your camera, the address would be http://youraddress.yourisp.com:443 - the syntax for a non-default port number is to put a colon : after the name and type the port number.

Tricky part two - your ISP does not give you a regular name for your Internet site, but instead - only gives you a number. You can find your IP address by looking at the status page of your router, or use this web site http://www.ipaddressworld.com/ - your address will be in the format of nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn (for example, 56.124.32.39). If you set everything above up correctly, you would "hit" your camera from the Internet by entering http://56.124.32.39:443 - your address and the port number that forwards through your router's firewall to your camera. You aren't stuck using numbers though.

You can purchase your own domain name - about $30/year - or for less, you can share a domain and pick your own "host name". The company I recommend for either solution is Manchester, NH based Dynamic Network Services http://WWW.DYNDNS.COM Their "dynamic DNS" services lets you pick from a list of domain, like selfip.com, and pick a name, such as mycam. You configure your ip address to point to your name. In our example, you would configure mycam.selfip.com to point to 56.124.32.39. Then, hitting your Web cam would be http://mycam.selfip.com:443 (or just http://mycam.selfip.com if your ISP doesn't block port 80).

Tricky part three - with most ISP's, your address doesn't remain the same. It is called "dynamic addressing". Your address may change daily or remain the same for months - but when it changes, you have to change your inbound Web link to match it. Some routers (Netgear and SMC for example) support dynamic routing. When your ISP changes your new address, it detects that and logs into DYNDNS to automatically change the configuration there.

Bonus round: Its difficult giving others a Web address that has a unique port on it - like the 443. The DYNDNS company also offers a port redirection service called "web hop" - so you can convert one Web name into another - For example, http://mycam.webhop.net could be converted to http://mycam.selfip.com:443

05-06-2007, 06:21 AM	#7
Lakegeezer Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Moultonboro, NH Posts: 1,678 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 354 Thanked 639 Times in 290 Posts	A little tricky - but not that bad Here is a description of how to set up a Web cam. I started this post thinking it was pretty easy, but the longer the post got, the more I realized that there are some tricy parts. I'm happy to try to answer questions on this forum or answer personal messages if you have a specific questions or technical problems. Its a hobby to me - some day it may be my job. If you get one of the networked cameras, it plugs into your Internet via an Ethernet cable. If you are on cable or DSL, you need to have a router that lets you share your connection to the Internet. Most home networks are set up this way. I bought my StarDot Technology Netcam on Ebay for about $300, and purchased an outdoor enclosure for about $60. The camera comes with a configuration utility that is installed on your PC (not a MAC) to set it up initially. After that, you can change configurations with a Web browser. There are two ways to get your pictures, upload to a Web site or connect to the camera directly. The camera can periodically upload a picture to a file server on the Internet. Most ISPs give you a free Web page space of 2-4 megabytes, and you can use that. From there, you use your Web browser to go to the ISP and see the latest picture (or latest 10 pictures if you set it up that way). All the lakes region Web cams you see work this way. Configuration is pretty simple. You set up your Webcam to upload at the frequency and during the hours you wish - and give it the account and remote directory information of your ISP's Web site. The internet application it uses to transfer the files is called FTP - file transfer protocol. The direct connection to the camera is handy, because you can get more frequent updates and configure the camera while you are away from it - but this approach requires a few more tricks. Your router acts as a firewall - preventing anyone on the Internet from getting into your local area network (LAN). Becaues your camera is behind your firewall, you can't access it from the Internet without configuring your router to "poke a hole in the firewall" - using its "port forwarding" feature. Here, you configure the router to translate an inbound connection to a specific network address on your LAN. For example, the default port number of a Web page (including your camera's) is 80. If your camera is running on address 192.168.2.50, you would redirect inbound port 80 to address 192.168.2.50 port 80. All routers support this feature. There are a few obsticles that the ISPs may throw at you which require work-arounds to get a direct connection. Most ISPs have a policy that you can not have a Web server on your home connection, and to enforce it they block inbound port 80 connections. The way around this is to find an inbound port that they do not block, for example 443, and redirect that inbound port to your camera. For example, in the last example, you would redirect inbound port 443 to address 192.168.2.50 port 80. The camera port remains the same - but the port redirection is different. When you use your Web browser to connect to your camera, the address would be http://youraddress.yourisp.com:443 - the syntax for a non-default port number is to put a colon : after the name and type the port number. Tricky part two - your ISP does not give you a regular name for your Internet site, but instead - only gives you a number. You can find your IP address by looking at the status page of your router, or use this web site http://www.ipaddressworld.com/ - your address will be in the format of nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn (for example, 56.124.32.39). If you set everything above up correctly, you would "hit" your camera from the Internet by entering http://56.124.32.39:443 - your address and the port number that forwards through your router's firewall to your camera. You aren't stuck using numbers though. You can purchase your own domain name - about $30/year - or for less, you can share a domain and pick your own "host name". The company I recommend for either solution is Manchester, NH based Dynamic Network Services http://WWW.DYNDNS.COM Their "dynamic DNS" services lets you pick from a list of domain, like selfip.com, and pick a name, such as mycam. You configure your ip address to point to your name. In our example, you would configure mycam.selfip.com to point to 56.124.32.39. Then, hitting your Web cam would be http://mycam.selfip.com:443 (or just http://mycam.selfip.com if your ISP doesn't block port 80). Tricky part three - with most ISP's, your address doesn't remain the same. It is called "dynamic addressing". Your address may change daily or remain the same for months - but when it changes, you have to change your inbound Web link to match it. Some routers (Netgear and SMC for example) support dynamic routing. When your ISP changes your new address, it detects that and logs into DYNDNS to automatically change the configuration there. Bonus round: Its difficult giving others a Web address that has a unique port on it - like the 443. The DYNDNS company also offers a port redirection service called "web hop" - so you can convert one Web name into another - For example, http://mycam.webhop.net could be converted to http://mycam.selfip.com:443 __________________ -lg