IP Cam to NAS recording solution?
John
without any computer system being switched on? In addition to it
capturing images to remote server on the web? Is it possible to do
this and if so what would you specify as the network path?
Terry Carmen
You'll need a camera that understands a communications protocol that is
also understood by your NAS.
Since resources on IP cameras are typically allocated towards image
processing, you're not likely to find any really intelligent or secure
file transfer protocols available, however most IP cameras will at least
support FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
You need to run an FTP server on your NAS. If you have a Windows-based NAS
this is probably already installed. If it isn't installed, it's
installable via the "Add/Remove Programs" control panel.
The IP camera will have a control panel where you can configure the IP
address or name for the NAS machine. If it's local, this would typically
be an IP address like 192.168.xxx.xxx where xxx is a number between 0 and
255
Just configure the FTP client in the camera with the IP address for the
NAS, setup the NAS allow writing via FTP, configure an FTP user id and
password for the camera, on the NAS and you should be all set.
Note that FTP is completely insecure (the userid and password are sent in
plain text), so this isn't something you want to run across the internet.
If you need to run it across the net, I'd suggest a pair of VPN routers
between the camera's network and the NAS's network.
Terry
Matt Ion
The easiest way to do it is to use a NAS that supports direct camera
recording, and cameras that it specifically supports. We use QNAP NAS
arrays regularly, they support several IP cams in addition to other
standard NAS functions. QNAP also makes dedicated NAS units.
Network path is not required - you simply tell the NAS the address of
the supported camera(s) and it operates as an NVR.
For remote recording, you could use a NAS the same way, connecting to
the camera via VPN.