Port Forwarding: The Solid Guide You’ve Been Looking for

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It can be a tricky thing, this port forwarding! No worries, though, with this guide you’ll manage to set it up on your camera before your coffee cools down.

Let’s start with a bit of theory to get you warmed up.

It’s your router that matters

Every device, which is a part of your local network, has its own local IP address. To make things interesting (meaning more confusing), this address only works within your local network. Should you want to access your camera remotely, you’ll need a different one. Configuring your router is step number one. Your router has a unique IP address, assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

All incoming communication ends in the router, and if you want to access any device from your local network remotely, you will need to tell the router which device should the request go to.

You guessed correctly: this process is called port forwarding. The following guide will help you get it up and running.

The guide itself

We covered the theoretical basics of port forwarding, now let’s move on and put it into practice. The first thing you need to know is that apart from the IP address, there is an additional form of identification called the port number. It looks like this: 192.168.1.1:554.

This port number lets you access different services (for example a web server, mail server, FTP server, servers for online games, chat clients, etc.) and even more devices (for example different computers within your local network) with the same service using just one public IP address. With an IP camera, you are most likely to encounter HTTP port (80) for configuration access and MJPEG streaming, and RTSP port (554) for RTSP streaming. If your camera supports RTSP (you can find it in its specification sheet), lucky you – it’s the only port you will need to use.

Setting up port forwarding step by step

  • Look up your router brand and model. Each brand and type has a slightly different user interface.
  • Here’s where you find guides for the majority of routers. Just select the brand, the model and correct service type (RTSP for h.264 cameras or HTTP for MJPEG cameras). Feeling lost? You’ll find dozens of video tutorials on YouTube when you search for “port forwarding BRAND MODEL”
  • Generally speaking, the first thing you need to find is your router’s IP address. This is usually to be found on 192.168.1.1; 192.168.0.1; 192.168.0.254; 192.168.11.1, 10.0.0.1. Just simply enter this address into your web browser while you’re connected to your local network, a login screen should pop up. Can’t find it? Please check your network settings. The router address should be defined as “gateway address”.
  • After you’ve logged in to the configuration interface, look up a tab named “Port forwarding”, “Virtual server”, “NAT” or “Firewall”. In this tab you’ll need to specify the following:- public port: 554 (or 554-554 when a range is required)
    – internal port: 554 (or 554-554 when a range is required)
    protocol: TCP and UDP (or ANY, BOTH)
    – IP address: the private IP address of your camera (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x)

    Please note that for MJPEG cameras you’ll need to use port 80 instead of 554. Should you be using multiple cameras in one location, each camera will need to have its own unique port. Feel free to contact our support team if this is the case, we’ll do our best to help you out.

  • When you’re done with these configurations, it’s time to verify that everything’s fine and whether the port is open. You can do it in this open port check tool
  • If you’ve managed to open the port (and we certainly believe you have), your camera should now be detected automatically.

Experiencing any kind of problems during the port forwarding configuration process? Feel free to reach out, we’re always here for you!