Indigo Domotics

I can't remember if it was on this board, or somewhere else, but I remember reading that some IP cameras are notorious for calling home a lot.

I'm wondering if any users have experienced this, if they block this action, and if so how?

I assume that I can block the camera's address (maybe at the level of my router), but still have most of the control I need even when outside of my LAN since something like Security Spy or Blue Iris or even Indigo has full access to the camera on the LAN and then has it's own (non blocked) server, right?

I think I need to take some network engineering classes. It took me several hours, with two computers and a phone, to get 1 single camera activated because its default address wouldn't play nicely with my own network.

Thanks.

if you use security spy all data is stored on the (indigo) server
If you have indigo remote access indigo dials out
both use the indigo server IP number if you run both on the same box

So you can block all cameras and no service from indigo or security spy is blocked .
But you will likely loose the time stamp on the cameras as most cameras get this from and nap server on the internet
More elegant but a bit more complicated would be to allow only the ports for NTP for the camera ip numbers and block all other ports for the cameras
==> each tcpip "thing" has an ip number and a port . If any of these is blocked a connection does not work


Karl

Here is what I did.

1. Setup the DHCP server in the router to assign a fixed IP address to each camera.

2. Set each ip the cameras are using to only have access inside the home LAN

3. Setup IpCam Pro on a Mac that monitors each of the camera, motion detection etc.

4. Setup Cloud storage - I used a spare 1TB OneDrive

5. Point all the iCamPro recording to the cloud drive (this way even if the Mac gets stolen you still have video of the thief )

I used cheap Foscams, and used the Foscam HD plugin by Autolog to send a time update to each of the cameras every hour to keep them synced as they no longer have internet Nntp access

I use iCamPro app on iPad /iPhone to see cameras when away from home.

This keeps all the cameras from being hacked remotely, or at the very least significantly reduces the chances of it happening.

If you need help with your router more than happy to have a real-time chat going and I can walk you through it


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Busta999 wrote:

Setup IpCam Pro on a Mac

An internet search for ipCam Pro didn't turn up any version that could be installed on a Mac. Got a link?

Different Computers wrote:

Busta999 wrote:

Setup IpCam Pro on a Mac

An internet search for ipCam Pro didn't turn up any version that could be installed on a Mac. Got a link?

ICamPro sorry typo

http://skjm.com/icampro/

As a very cost effective solution works well, couple it with autologs Foscam HD indigo plugin and it gives a nice all round solution


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Oh and to be extra tin foil hat....

Cameras facing indoors are turned off by default at the power on zwave power switches

When Indigo detects that my and my wife’s iPhones are off the network (Unifi plugin) the house goes into Away mode and the cameras are turned on.

I have built a routine into indigo that knows what should be on in home or Away mode. If a camera goes offline when it should be on it turns off the power to it, counts to 30 then powers it back up. Then waits 3 mins. If camera is back up then all is good, if not recycles the power.

Ultimately it will alerts me after a few attempts that there is an issue with the camera.

I am currently running 8 camera while in Away mode.


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These are all very helpful suggestions. Thank you.

Busta999 wrote:

Here is what I did.

1. Setup the DHCP server in the router to assign a fixed IP address to each camera.

2. Set each ip the cameras are using to only have access inside the home LAN...

OK, so I was going to start with this step first, then figure out ow to deal with the NTP issue later.

Unfortunately, I can't find a way in an airport time capsule (using airport utility) to limit an IP address to have only LAN permissions.

Does anyone know if this is possible with airport routers?

Perhaps I need to invest in a hardware firewall.

lanbrown wrote:

Can you manually assign IP's to the cameras? If so, give them an IP address, provide the correct subnet mask but do not set a default gateway. If they require a gateway to be set, then assign an unused address as it. Without a default gateway (or a correct one) then they cannot communicate outside of their local network.

That is a good idea. I will give that a shot using the camera software.

Thanks

I'm hijacking this thread, but don't know where else to ask. Pretty sure in the past few days I read a post about someone here who builds rPi IP cams for his install, but I can't find it now. I'm curious if users have a recommended combo of hardware and software, as I'm about out of patience with what's available out there commercially.

Karl's PiBeacon Plugin supports an IR camera on rPi... you might post a question about other cams there...

The amg88 is not really a camera. Has 64 pixels. It is a very good it temp / motion sensor


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For those of us with UniFi USG, this link shows you how to set the firewall to prevent a device accessing the Internet: USG Pro Firewall Rule to block single IP from Internet