A firewall is a part of a computer system that prevents the computer from unauthorized access while allowing authorized communications. Firewalls can be implemented in either software or hardware, or in a combination of both and are frequently used in preventing unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks. They check and inspect messages coming into or leaving the network and block those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
For accessing the devices that exist outside the firewall, a special type of exception is required to be added directly to the firewall. This is usually done after the installation process but can be done after the fact. This process creates a special tunnel which allows a flow of information between the internal network and the device.
Instructions to hook up a Security camera through a Firewall
All it requires is following few instructions that are listed as below.
Step 1: The first step involves opening up the router control panel from your computer. This can be done by opening the web browser on the desktop (that is typically the Internet Explorer or the Mozilla Firefox) and entering the IP Address as 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.100.1 or 192.168.1.100. It depends on the router set up and you can consult your router manual for the purpose.
Step 2: Now you need to select the Security Settings option of the router where you can configure the user accounts, traffic rates as well as approved devices.
Step 3: To open up a new dialog window, click on ‘Add device’ or ‘Add Exception’; however, it will usually be ‘Add Exception’ depending on your brand of router. You would also get a list of all the devices currently connected to the network, including your camera that does not yet have full access.
Step 4: You now need to click on the particular IP address or device representing your camera. In case of higher quality cameras, their entire names would be displayed in this dialog box. The names of the cameras can also be changed to what they are being used to represent, like Main Entrance Camera #1.
Step 5: In the final step, simply click the ‘Accept’ button for permanently adding the firewall exception to the router and firewall.
An important consideration here is to find the camera IP address that can be found by checking the documentation which came with the camera. It will normally be auto assigned an address by the network router. For reassigning the address, you can unplug the camera. After waiting for a few minutes, you can plug it back again and it would be assigned the lowest number address available on the network.
It should be also noted that a cable connection run directly from the camera to the internal network may be seen as an efficient method to bypass the firewall; however, it should be avoided and be applied only as a last resort. This is because the same access point can be unplugged and then accessed by a portable computer by a hacker who can directly access all your secure information.
