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Routing

Open the Routing dialog to define the routes to be used by the camera for connecting to different networks. Connections via the Ethernet interface can be used as well as ISDN data connections.

In general, the camera can only send network data using a connection previously configured in the Ethernet Interface and ISDN Data Connections (Dial-In Connection or Dial-Out Connections tabs) dialogs.

Note: Make sure that you create a route for every ISDN dial-out connection; otherwise the camera does not dial out.

Introduction

A network is defined by the network address and the network mask. For example, by factory default the camera is configured to an IP address within the network 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 (network address/network mask).

Networks are connected through gateways. This may be an ISDN router or a special computer within the network.

In order for each computer within the network to know if and how it can connect to computers in other networks, you need to configure routes. A route consists of the following information:

If a network package is to be sent to a specific target IP address, the camera checks if a route exists for this address. If no specific route exists, or no routes have been defined, the so-called Default Route is used.

The Default Route

Select the connection to be used by default. In general, this is the connection to your Internet Service Provider or to the closest gateway.

If you select the Ethernet Interface connection, you need to enter the IP address of the Gateway. Valid gateway IP addresses need to be accessible within the camera's local network (as defined in the Ethernet Interface dialog).

Note: If you have activated the BOOTP/DHCP option in the Ethernet Interface dialog, the Default Route is always set to the Ethernet Interface with the Gateway IP Address being determined automatically.

If you select an ISDN Dial-Out Connection, the camera accepts the DNS server's IP address proposed by the service provider.

Network Routes

Enter the routes to other networks.

For additional information on the topic, see the Routing - Example help page.

Using the Camera as a Router

IP Forwarding

If the IP Forwarding parameter is activated, the camera acts as a router for other network devices. The camera then routes IP packets between its own network interfaces based on the routing table. This feature only provides the basic forwarding of IP packets without applying any NAT functionalities (Network Address Translation).

NAT for Outbound Traffic

The NAT for Outbound Traffic parameter activates NAT for all outbound packets on the external side of the camera's network interface (WAN - Wide Area Network). These are the network connections of the camera that are established using ISDN, modem PPP, GPRS/2G, UMTS/3G WiFi, etc.

Other network devices connected to the camera on the local network can use the forwarding camera as a default gateway in order to establish their own connections to external IP addresses. The external data traffic of the other network devices is visible on the WAN as if it originated from the camera. (The sender's IP of the packets is rewritten to the IP address of the forwarding camera.) This functionality thus prevents anyone from accessing devices on the local network via the external network interface of the camera.

Note: Since this function always requires IP Forwarding, the camera automatically activates this parameter as soon as you activate the Nat for Outbound Traffic.

NAT for Inbound Traffic

Activating the NAT for Inbound Traffic parameter prompts the camera to forward requests from outside of the local network (external network interface) to cameras within the local network. If you would like to access a camera within the local network, you need to activate this parameter. To access an internal camera, you thus need the external IP address of the forwarding camera or its host name (see dynamic DNS) and a port.

The forwarding camera automatically searches the local network using Zeroconf (Bonjour). Access from the outside is granted automatically for all cameras on the local network that have activated Zeroconf. Access from the outside is handled by NAT and port mapping (using a map of external port numbers to internal IP addresses). If the forwarding camera detects traffic on a specific port on its external (WAN) network interface, it forwards the request to the corresponding camera on the local network.

Note: NAT port mapping is only activated for MOBOTIX cameras. Other network devices are ignored even if they support Zeroconf.

The mapping of external ports to internal IP addresses follows this scheme:

Example:
External IP address of forwarding camera: 123.234.56.78
Internal IP address of a camera on the local network: 192.168.1.45
You can thus access the internal camera from anywhere in the world using this address:
http://123.234.56.78:8045/
or
https://123.234.56.78:9045/
(If HTTPS has been activated in the Web Server dialog of the internal camera.)

Caution: Make sure that you are only using HTTPS connections when accessing an internal camera. This prevents unwanted eavesdropping on the connection.

Note: Since this function always requires IP Forwarding, the camera automatically activates this parameter as soon as you activate the Nat for Outbound Traffic.

Additional Information

Note: Activate the Enable HTTPS parameter in the Web Server dialog of the internal camera to be able to use HTTPS encryption when accessing the camera.

Note: As soon as you are using one camera as router, you should also configure this camera as DHCP server and the remaining devices on the local network as DHCP clients (see the Ethernet Interface dialog and the BOOTP/DHCP parameter).
In order to get a list of the devices managed by the DHCP server (including their IP addresses, host names and MAC addresses), open the DHCP Leases dialog of the camera that serves as DHCP server.

Note: In order to use Zeroconf (Bonjour), open the Ethernet Interface dialog, activate the Zeroconf parameter and reboot the camera.

Note: You should also consider activating DynDNS on the forwarding camera, so that you can access this camera from the outside using a host name (e.g. myremotecam.dyndns.org) instead of an IP address that changes every time the camera establishes an Internet connection. For additional information on this topic, see the Dynamic DNS help page.


Storing the Configuration

Click on the Set button to activate your settings and to save them until the next reboot of the camera.

Click on the Factory button to load the factory defaults for this dialog (this button may not be present in all dialogs).

Click on the Restore button to undo your most recent changes that have not been stored in the camera permanently.

Click on the Close button to close the dialog. While closing the dialog, the system checks the entire configuration for changes. If changes are detected, you will be asked if you would like to store the entire configuration permanently.

 In order to enable these settings, you need to store the configuration and reboot the camera!

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