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Remote Access to Device Connected to Nest Router

Micheal
Community Member

I have a camera system that allows a mobile app to live view while at home and while away. The live view works fine while connected to the home's WiFi network with a device setup in the app including the IP for the camera system and the camera's username and password. This device setup was named as "home".

 

To allow the app to live view while away, port forwarding was configured for the same IP for the camera system in the router. A separate device setup in the app was established including the router's IP and the camera's username and password. This device setup was named "away". This "away" device setup will establish a connection and live view as long as my cell phone is connected to the home's WiFi network. The connection is lost if WiFi is turned off on the phone and internet connectivity is only via mobile data.

 

The mobile app worked fine with the old router. However, the old router was accessible via an internet browser along with the appropriate username and password. The Nest WiFi does not allow accessibility via an internet browser, only the Google Home app. I have tried the Google Home app login email and password, the cable modem's username and password without any success. It seems I need a username and password assigned to the router's internet input port along with its IP but not sure how to set that up or find in the Nest Router.

1 Recommended Answer

Micheal
Community Member

Problem solved. The camera system always had a static IP address with previous routers. This seemed like an ideal setup so the mobile app could be pointed to the fixed or static IP address of the camera system for access while connected to the old routers WiFi network. When installing the Nest router, the camera systems static IP was manually changed according to the routers LAN IP. For some reason though, DHCP had to be enabled on the camera system for it to show up in the Nest routers port forwarding rules device list. After adding the port forwarding rules, I turned off DHCP in the camera system and set its static IP address to match the IP linked to the port forwarding rules. At first glance, this seemed to work. Unfortunately, it appears this only allowed connectivity via the mobile app thru the routers IP while connected to the router's WiFi network. Internet access to the cameras without being connected to the routers WiFi network or while being out of the house would not work. After trying a thousand different things including talking to Google, the ISP, and the modem manufacturer, opted to see what would happen if DHCP was turned back on in the camera system network settings. This change appears to have been the fix. Apparently the Nest router needs DHCP turned on for a hard wired device connected to its LAN to allow port forwarding from the internet. Any concern about the camera systems IP changing with DHCP is mitigated because the Nest router has a DHCP IP Reservation tool which links a fixed IP address to the MAC address of a given device. In other words, even if DHCP is enabled on a device, it's IP address will not change because it's MAC address is strapped to the IP address per the DHCP IP Reservation rule.

In the past, two separate device settings had to be configured in the mobile app. One was named "home" which pointed to the camera systems IP and allowed access while connected to the home network. The other was named "away" which pointed to the routers IP and allowed access while not being connected to the home network. The data connection had to be either to another internet or mobile data network. With DHCP enabled in the camera system and the DHCP IP Reservation/port forwarding rules properly setup, only one device connection is needed. The same connections allows access to the cameras while home or away.

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4 REPLIES 4

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @Micheal 

Port mapping doesn't require any credentials – it will allow any incoming connection through to the target (the camera, in your case). That device should enforce its own authentication. Have you set up a port mapping in the Google Home app? Here's a support page with details: https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/6274503?hl=en 

Micheal
Community Member

The camera system manual indicates the Server Port and RTSP Port must be forwarded in the router.

Server Port: 8000

HTTP Port: 80

RTSP Port: 554

I have configured port forwarding rules in the Nest router linked to the LAN IP of the camera as follows:

8000-8000 Both TCP & UDP

554-554 Both TCP & UDP

 

Micheal
Community Member

Problem solved. The camera system always had a static IP address with previous routers. This seemed like an ideal setup so the mobile app could be pointed to the fixed or static IP address of the camera system for access while connected to the old routers WiFi network. When installing the Nest router, the camera systems static IP was manually changed according to the routers LAN IP. For some reason though, DHCP had to be enabled on the camera system for it to show up in the Nest routers port forwarding rules device list. After adding the port forwarding rules, I turned off DHCP in the camera system and set its static IP address to match the IP linked to the port forwarding rules. At first glance, this seemed to work. Unfortunately, it appears this only allowed connectivity via the mobile app thru the routers IP while connected to the router's WiFi network. Internet access to the cameras without being connected to the routers WiFi network or while being out of the house would not work. After trying a thousand different things including talking to Google, the ISP, and the modem manufacturer, opted to see what would happen if DHCP was turned back on in the camera system network settings. This change appears to have been the fix. Apparently the Nest router needs DHCP turned on for a hard wired device connected to its LAN to allow port forwarding from the internet. Any concern about the camera systems IP changing with DHCP is mitigated because the Nest router has a DHCP IP Reservation tool which links a fixed IP address to the MAC address of a given device. In other words, even if DHCP is enabled on a device, it's IP address will not change because it's MAC address is strapped to the IP address per the DHCP IP Reservation rule.

In the past, two separate device settings had to be configured in the mobile app. One was named "home" which pointed to the camera systems IP and allowed access while connected to the home network. The other was named "away" which pointed to the routers IP and allowed access while not being connected to the home network. The data connection had to be either to another internet or mobile data network. With DHCP enabled in the camera system and the DHCP IP Reservation/port forwarding rules properly setup, only one device connection is needed. The same connections allows access to the cameras while home or away.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, Micheal.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know that you got this worked out and what the solution was for you. I'm happy to see it working for you! Big thanks to MichaelP for the wonderful support. As we have our answer here, I'm going to go ahead and close up the thread, but if you need anything else going forward, please feel free to open a new thread.

Thanks.