Hawking camera access from Internet

[rjhearn]

I am running an Actiontec router supplied by Bell Atlantic connected to their DSL services.
I got the HNC290G camera working right away on my local wireless network but could not access it from the Internet. I tried several different port forwarding combinations of port#/ Video port but could never connect to the camera. I finally turned on DMZ Hosting on the router and I was immediatly (after much frustration) able to access my Hawking camera from the internet. Maybe this will help someone else and now my question.

I have a user/password set up on the camera so when I connect it is still not just available to anyone but I am concerned with having DMZ hosting turned on. My desktop rund Norton Internet Security so I think that will protect me from anyone finding all my open ports. Am I correct? Also, can anyone tell me why the port forwarding was still being blocked by my router?

Lastly, to access the camera I had to enter the WAN IP address assigned by Bell Atlantic. I could see it because I was on another network (a friendly neighbor) and could still look at my Actiontec router to see what the current IP address was. How can I do that when I am away from home?

[DimaYasny]

I am running an Actiontec router supplied by Bell Atlantic connected to their DSL services.
I got the HNC290G camera working right away on my local wireless network but could not access it from the Internet. I tried several different port forwarding combinations of port#/ Video port but could never connect to the camera. I finally turned on DMZ Hosting on the router and I was immediatly (after much frustration) able to access my Hawking camera from the internet. Maybe this will help someone else and now my question.

DMZ is not the answer. Basically in SOHO (home) routers DMZ is a single IP taht all ports, except for the specially designated ones are forwarded to. In order to set up proper port forwarding, find out what ports your camera is using, and set the router up as shown in portforward.com

I have a user/password set up on the camera so when I connect it is still not just available to anyone but I am concerned with having DMZ hosting turned on. My desktop rund Norton Internet Security so I think that will protect me from anyone finding all my open ports. Am I correct? Also, can anyone tell me why the port forwarding was still being blocked by my router?

as I said, DMZ is simply making the camera seem (or any device in DMZ, on your class of router) seem like it is directly connected to the internet, fully open NAT. So there is no additional security risk for the systems behind the router.

Lastly, to access the camera I had to enter the WAN IP address assigned by Bell Atlantic. I could see it because I was on another network (a friendly neighbor) and could still look at my Actiontec router to see what the current IP address was. How can I do that when I am away from home?

if you have a static IP address, you can simply remember it. If it's dynamic, sign up for a service like dyndns.org or no-ip.com and access the camera by their given domain names.

[rjhearn]

DMZ is not the answer. Basically in SOHO (home) routers DMZ is a single IP taht all ports, except for the specially designated ones are forwarded to. In order to set up proper port forwarding, find out what ports your camera is using, and set the router up as shown in portforward.com

I can and have set my camera ports to ports 80, 8080 and 85 and done likewise in the router, e.g. start 80 end 80 TCP. I did this for three different ports. I am concerned that the router supplied by Bell Atlantic does not have the same firmware as the standard Actiontec and therefore may not be actually doing the forwarding or more likely blocking me somehow.

as I said, DMZ is simply making the camera seem (or any device in DMZ, on your class of router) seem like it is directly connected to the internet, fully open NAT. So there is no additional security risk for the systems behind the router.

if you have a static IP address, you can simply remember it. If it's dynamic, sign up for a service like dyndns.org or no-ip.com and access the camera by their given domain names.

I can and have set my camera ports to ports 80, 8080 and 85 and done likewise in the router, e.g. start 80 end 80 TCP. I did this for three different ports. I am concerned that the router supplied by Bell Atlantic does not have the same firmware as the standard Actiontec and therefore may not be actually doing the forwarding or more likely blocking me somehow.

[DimaYasny]

1. are you sure the ports are the right ports? if it was blocking you it wouldn't work min DMZ either
2. are you sure you are doing the port forwarding bit correctly? I've never even heard of actiontec, but those routers are all the same really
3. firmware can be easily overcome by getting the original one from the manufacturer