ACTi
Knowledge Base
Category: Troubleshooting Note Sub-category: Network
Model: All Firmware: All
Software: NVR Author: Jane.Chen Published: 2009/12/21 Reviewed: 2010/10/11
Network setup and troubleshooting
Contents
Introduction
Server-client concept
Network protocol, IP address, and port number Port forwarding
Additional HTTP ports of ACTi Video Servers Port forwarding troubleshooting
How to make an NVR Server on-line NVR troubleshooting of WAN setup NVR Connection Type setting
Introduction
It is very convenient to users that ACTi NVR Server and IP devices provide remote access from a web client either over LAN or WAN. In this document, we would like to discuss about how to setup and configure your IP devices, NVR Servers, as well as network equipments (switches or routers) and PCs (web clients) for video streaming and remote control.
Server-client concept
In the world of networking, the server-client architecture is one of the basic networking concepts that it requires a content provider and a receiver. A content provider may be an IP camera, video server, or NVR Server. Regarding these content providers, a client may be a streaming player software, video decoder, or browser.
Having this concept in mind, if we consider an IP device as a content provider, an NVR Server could be a “Client”, since it receives multimedia content from its “Server” (a camera) and then make use of these data, in terms of video streaming forwarding, video footage recording, or video playback uploading.
Network protocol, IP address, and port number
When a network node would like to communicate with another network node, what will they need? In networking terms, there are network protocols, IP addresses, and port numbers combining into URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). A legal URL is always unique, complying with the networking standards.
Is this idea of networking too abstract? Let’s think this way. Standard network protocols are like airway, railway, subway, and highway. To travel on these systems, carriers must follow the regulations as protocols. IP addresses are like international airports, train stations, and turnpike interchanges. Each international airport has a unique ID as well as train stations and turnpike interchanges within their own systems do. In this way, carriers can easily identify where they come from and where they are heading to. Port numbers are like airport terminals, train station exits, and interchange exits. So if you tell me that you are air traveling to NYC, I will probably pick you up at JFK, Terminal 3.
All ACTi devices support Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The default IP address and port are 192.168.0.100 and 80. So the default URL of each ACTi device is http://192.168.0.100:80.
Please keep in mind that default ports of each standard protocol are often omitted, therefore if users connect to http://192.168.0.100, the connection will be made to the destination’s port 80 automatically.
Port forwarding
Each Network Internet Card (NIC) has 65536 ports, range from 0 through 65535. Some of these ports have been assigned to standardized protocols, for example, HTTP (80), FTP (21), and RTSP (554). If one PC is running two HTTP services at the same time, one of the services must change its HTTP port to a non-standardized port number, for example, port 8080.
Otherwise, port conflicts would occur. For example, a PC may run an IIS Server for ACTi NVR Server on a Windows system while running an Apache web server for PHP database access. If IIS Server obtains and binds to port 80 earlier then Apache Server which doesn’t bind itself to another port for HTTP services (and probably doesn’t prompt error messages to warn users), then when a connection is made for Apache Server’s home directory via 80 port, Apache Server will not receive anything at all. This kind of problems happens quite frequently when users work on their routers to carry out port forwarding.
The concept of port forwarding (also called port mapping) is to open a port in a router or firewall residing in a private network in order to let a party from the outside world contact a
For example, opening ports for ACTi NVR services, in terms of control signals, video streaming, and standard HTTP connections; and opening ports for each ACTi devices, users may interact with their NVR Server and IP devices over the Internet as well as in the a private network.
The default ports (for basic functions) of control, streaming, and HTTP of ACTi products are 6001, 6002, and 80. As we mentioned in Server-client concept, each device or NVR Server is a “Server” while providing contents, therefore, “Server” should publish its ports for “Clients” to connect. That is the reason why users MUST configure each and every one of these “Servers”
and their ports in their routers. Here is a sample of routing table:
Routing Table
LAN Router User IE
192.168.0.1 Port forwarding my.cam.net your.pc.net
Cam A 192.168.0.101
HTTP 10080
10080
Connect to Cam A my.cam.net:10080
HTTPS 10443 10443
Control 16001 16001
Streaming 16002 16002 Multicast 15000 15000
RTSP 17070 17070
Cam B 192.168.0.102
HTTP 20080
20080
Connect to Cam B my.cam.net:20080
HTTPS 20443 20443
Control 26001 26001
Streaming 26002 26002 Multicast 25000 25000
RTSP 27070 27070
NVR Server A 192.168.0.254
HTTP 30080
30080
Connect to NVR Server A
my.cam.net:30080
Control 36001 36001
Streaming 36002 36002 Multicast 35000 35000
RTSP 37070 37070
Notice
1. If a router’s default HTTP port is 80, and users would like to use HTTP port 80 in NVR Server, assign router’s port to another number.
a. When you use IE to connect to my.cam.net:80, it is redirected to NVR Server PC.
b. When you connect to my.cam.net:8080, it is redirected to your router.
2. For each node, they must have a unique set of ports.
a. In the router, you need to configure all sets of ports for port forwarding.
b. In NVR, ”Media Source Information” of each channel should be in accordance with the device you set via Web Configurator. To synchronize NVR with devices, please always click on "Get Device Setting" or refresh NVR programs.
3. Ports highlighted in yellow MUST be mapped in your router.
4. No blocking on all these ports at both “Server” and “Client” site,
Here is a quick check list for troubleshooting in users’ router:
Port Forwarding Check list
Ports MUST be set in… Check
Cam
Web Configure-> Setting-> Host setting-> HTTP Port Web Configure-> Setting-> Video Setting-> Video Control Port Web Configure-> Setting-> Video Setting-> Video Streaming port
NVR
ActiveSetup-> Camera Setup-> HTTP port ActiveSetup-> Camera Setup-> NVR Control Port ActiveSetup-> Camera Setup-> NVR Streaming Port
Router
For cam HTTP
For cam control
For cam streaming
For NVR HTTP
For NVR control For NVR streaming
Additional HTTP ports of ACTi Video Servers
Like other IP cameras, Video Servers have user interface--Web Configurator-- and it provides a login page and system setup for web client access via default HTTP port 80. However, for multiple-channel Video Servers, users may switch channels in Web Configurator for live view and channel setting; and under each channel, the user interface has its own HTTP port for channel-based browsing. Users who intend to feed Video Server live streams over WAN MUST configure channel-based HTTP ports as well. Please be acknowledged that channel HTTP ports are NOT configurable, and the port number ranges from 800.
Take ACD-2200 for example, the default system HTTP port (Web Configurator which users may log in) is 80, and channel ports are 800/ch-1, 801/ch-2, 803/ch-3, and 804/ch-4.
ACD2200
system HTTP port 80
channel port channel 01 channel 02 channel 03 channel 04
channel HTTP port 800 801 802 803
control port 6010 6011 6012 6013
streaming port 6050 6051 6052 6053
Users may check channel HTTP ports from Channel-> System Info-> Server Report as in the following figure.
Port forwarding troubleshooting
Case 1: I can log in Web Configurator over WAN, but I cannot view video.
1. Suppose Cam1-- 192.168.1.100 has http port: 10080, Video Control port: 16001, Video Stream port: 16002. And connection type is TCP.
2. In your router, you’ve done port forwarding for 10080, which is working, since you can connect to Web Configurator.
3. In your router, you’ll need to do port forwarding for 16001, which may be mapped to router’s port say 16001.
4. In your router, you’ll need to do 16002 port forwarding as well, say mapped to router’s port 16002.
5. Please repeat step 2 thru 4, to map cam ports to router ports in the same way. Please notice that, for each pair of port forwarding, they must be unique (both on router and IP devices). See the table below:
So since cam 1 uses 16001 and 16002, then cam 2 must set the Control and Stream port to some values other then 16001 and 16002.
Routing Table
LAN Router User IE
192.168.0.1 Port forwarding my.cam.net your.pc.net
Cam 1 192.168.0.100
HTTP 10080
10080
Connect to Cam 1 my.cam.net:100
HTTPS 443 443
Control 16001 16001
Streaming 16002 16002
Multicast 15000 15000
RTSP 17070 17070
Cam 2 192.168.0.101
HTTP 20080
20080
Connect to Cam 2 my.cam.net:101
HTTPS 20443 20443
Control 26001 26001
Streaming 26002 26002
Multicast 25000 25000
RTSP 27070 27070
NVR Server A 192.168.0.254
HTTP 30080
30080
Connect to NVR Server A
my.cam.net:30080
Control 36001 36001
Streaming 36002 36002
Multicast 35000 35000
RTSP 37070 37070
6. Suggestion of verification of whether your setup works, please run command prompt, and use command: netstat –n 10
The command is showing connections from your PC. In the first figure, I started to run the command, and was trying to connect to an IP device:
http://59.124.232.170:1011
In the second fig, I succeeded in establishing connection with cam’s control and stream port (2011 and 3011).
So please remember that for one IP device, you will need to map at least 3 ports: http, control, and stream.
How to make an NVR Server on-line
Suppose users have done port forwarding successfully as in the previous chapters on IP devices, then to make an NVR Server accessible on the Internet is the same thing. Let’s continue with the routing table:
Routing Table
LAN Router User IE
192.168.0.1 Port forwarding my.cam.net your.pc.net
NVR Server A 192.168.0.254
HTTP 30080
30080
Connect to NVR Server A
my.cam.net:30080
Control 36001 36001
Streaming 36002 36002
Multicast 35000 35000
RTSP 37070 37070
1. Please go to the IIS setup window, and set HTTP port to 30080.
2. Restart the Web Site service of NVR.
3. Please go to ActiveSetup-> Setup System-> System
NVR Streaming Port: 36002
NVR Control Port: 36001
IIS HTTP port: 30080
4. Please go to Camera page to set Camera IP or NVR IP for WAN access.
If users would like to get video stream directly from an IP device, then please set Camera IP to a public IP.
If users would like to get video stream from NVR, then please set NVR IP to a public IP.
NVR troubleshooting of WAN setup
Given a channel which can display live view.
The original setting of the channel with “Connection Type” set to “Get Video from Device”.
So the result of “Get Device Setting” would fail.
We trace connections and would see the connection was not established due to a private IP address can never be reached outside its LAN.
The original setting of the channel with “Connection Type” set to “Get Video from NVR”.
The result would be failed as well.
However, if you use an public IP, “Get Device Setting” will bring out the IP device’ setting and live view. Then the connection between an NVR Server and a remote web client is successfully established.
NVR Connection Type setting
In NVR v2.2 SP3, the Connection Type has three types: “Get Video from Device”, “Get Video from NVR”, and “Get Video from Current NVR”. Users may refer to the NVR user manual described as the following:
The main idea of Connection Type is to provide three different ways to stream video. The first type is to get a stream directly from an IP device. The consideration of this type is multiple streams streamed out from a single IP device will cause the device over loading. The second type is to get a stream from a remote NVR Server. The remote server may be over LAN or WAN. The third type is to get stream from the local NVR Server in which default localhost and related info will be in use without further configuration.
Please keep in mind that Connection Type is only to stream video, there is no any other info from a remote site will be retrieved. The differences between “Get Video from NVR” and “Get Video from Current NVR” are:
1. Get Video from NVR: Users need to fill in a remote NVR Server IP info.
2. Get Video from Current NVR: default (localhost) IP info is in use.
If a user would like to make an NVR Server on-line, please make sure localhost will not be in use, meaning the user must set the NVR Server to public IP.
Users may be confused with NVR Server and Workstation. For an NVR Server, it hosts the streaming service, so it is the Server that gives out (duplicates) streams to web clients. When a
HTTP port (80), and the default Control and Stream port is 6001 and 6002.
Example
Environment setup:
1. My PC was 10.1.1.37 hosting a NVR Server.
2. Another PC was 10.1.1.32 hosting a NVR Server as well.
3. I connected to 10.1.1.32 via IE, and selected “Get Video from NVR”
A. Control port was 6001, and Stream port was 6002.
B. I used Wireshark to trace packets from 10.1.1.32 and port 6001 + 6002.
C. The result was no packet directed to PC 10.1.1.32.
4. I traced packets from 10.1.1.37 (my PC) and port 6001 + 6002.
A. There were traffics on port 6001 and 6002.
B. I captured packets on these two ports.
5. I connected to 10.1.1.32 via IE, and selected “Get Video from Current NVR”
A. I traced on IP 10.1.1.124 (the camera) and there was no packet.
B. I traced on IP 10.1.1.32, and there were packets over port 6001 and 6002.
