Using Dynamic DNS for CamTron s Video Server and IP Camera 1. Introduction CamTron s video server and IP camera supports Dynamic DNS(shortly DDNS) with which servers and IP cameras can be accessed using invariant domain name. This document describes how to configure video server(or IP camera) and DDNS server in order to use Dynamic DNS by CamTron (TrueDNS). CamTron s video server and IP camera also supports DynDNS. Basic information for configuring them for DynDNS is described also. 2. How to Use Dynamic DNS by CamTron The following step describes the way to use Dynamic DNS. Register video server or IP camera on DDNS server Configure DDNS related settings on Setup of video server or IP camera Check if the video server comes on DDNS server Access the system using domain name Registration of video server The first step to use Dynamic DNS is to visit http://ns1.truecam.net to register video server on it. It is the web interface for DDNS server by CamTron. - 1 -
Account creation If you don t have account on DDNS server, you can create one by clicking Create Account which opens the following page. Since E-mail is used for recovering lost ID or password, it is necessary to enter valid E-mail address. Registration of a video server Once you login, you will see all video servers registered by you if any. New server can be registered on a dialog invoked by clicking Add button. Two items need to be specified essentially. - Serial number: Serial number of the server to register. MAC address of a server corresponds to the serial number. It can be identified from the label attached at the bottom of the video server. It also can be found after Setup or True Manager - 2 -
program is connected to the server. - Domain name: Domain name to be used for accessing the video server. truecam.net is fixed, and only the first part needs to be entered. By clicking Check button after entering a name, it is possible to check if it is already being used. If cycam1 is chosen as the name, the video server can be accessed with domain name cycam1.truecam.net in the Internet. After adding a video server, it will be seen on the Server list as shown below. Because the video server has never updated its IP on DDNS server, most of entries remain blank. Configuration of Cywatch Cywatch needs to be configured properly to update its IP address to DDNS server. Network tab of the video server s Setup has entries for DDNS setup. In order to use TrueDNS, nothing else needs to be specified. By configuring this, the video server periodically updates its IP address and some additional information to DDNS server (ns1.truecam.net). - 3 -
Once a video server successfully updates its IP address to DDNS server, its IP address and information like Model, F/W version comes on corresponding entries of Server list page. Furthermore the time passed since the last IP update comes on Last update field. - 4 -
IP check and update scheme Video server doesn t send(updates) its IP address configured by user or assigned by DHCP server to DDNS server. Instead, it uses special scheme to check its IP address publicly accessible in the Internet. If a video server has private IP address and it is connected to the Internet via IP sharer, it recognizes the IP address of the IP sharer as its IP address. This scheme is useful for making the video server accessible with portforwarding feature of IP sharer. IP check interval Video server periodically checks if its IP address is changed. The interval is 10 minutes in normal case. Once IP check fails due to a reason like network problem, IP check interval is reduced to 1 minute until IP check succeeds again. IP update Video server updates its IP address only when IP address change is detected by IP check scheme. If IP address is not changed for long time, Last update field on DDNS server can have a large value. In order for DDNS server to recognize video servers which are inactive(probably down) for long time, video server does IP update forcibly every 15 days. If DDNS server doesn t get IP update for 15 days, it marks X on Last update field. 3. How to Use DynDNS Cywatch supports DynDNS. To use DynDNS, DDNS Server needs to be set to DynDNS in the Setup. ID, Password and Domain Name obtained by subscribing DynDNS need to be configured correctly. Please refer to www.dyndns.org for details on using DynDNS. - 5 -