Trying to get 2nd NIC to work...

[Thixotropic]

We've been trying to get BI to use a 2nd NIC in order to keep my cameras from calling out. We've done everything we can think of without success. For example...

Our setup is a dedicated BI box on the network along with a NAS.
All the wired cameras and the NAS connect to a 16-port switch. The switch is connected directly to the router.
BI shuffles the videos up to the NAS every so often, and it's all working perfectly.

• First we installed the 2nd NIC and restarted the PC. Windows sees the new NIC in the Network & Sharing Center.

• Using the 2nd NIC's Properties tab, we created a new network sitting on 100.100.100.1.

--------- The Subnet mask is set to 255.255.255.0
--------- The default gateway is blank/empty.
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new-NIC-settings.png (61.83 KiB) Viewed 16705 times

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• After saving the settings, the router sees it on the network sitting on 100.100.100.1. So far, so good.

• Next, we logged into one of the cameras and set its internal IP setting to 100.100.100.2, a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and no gateway. It immediately goes offline as we expected. (See below)
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  sv3c-new-settings.png (49.42 KiB) Viewed 16703 times

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  • Then we unplugged the Ethernet cable to the switch and plugged it into the new NIC. The connect LED lights up normally so it's making a connection.
  • We then went into BI and changed the camera's video URL to 100.100.100.2 and crossed our fingers....
  Unfortunately, nothing. Zero, zip, nada. BI can't find the camera at all.
  
  At this point we don't know what we're doing wrong....suggestions would be welcome at this point, lol.

[terk]

If you router is on another subnet like 192.168.1.1 it shouldn't see anything going on on the 100.100.100.x subnet (also 100.100.100.x isn't an internal address so you should use something like 192.168.100.x instead for that internal network for the cameras. Also you have a switch between your BI server's second NIC and cameras right? It could be the same switch as you are using for the first NIC if that switch is not V-LANd although for security it would be best to have a dedicated switch to the camera subnet.

[Thixotropic]

1) Are you saying to assign the 2nd NIC an address of 192.168.100.x?

2) The switch is dedicated to the cameras; they all connect to it and it's normally connected to the router.

3) My understanding is that the switch is supposed to be connected to the 2nd NIC so that it and all the cameras are isolated in their own private network. Have I misunderstood that, or...?

If you router is on another subnet like 192.168.1.1 it shouldn't see anything going on on the 100.100.100.x subnet (also 100.100.100.x isn't an internal address so you should use something like 192.168.100.x instead for that internal network for the cameras. Also you have a switch between your BI server's second NIC and cameras right? It could be the same switch as you are using for the first NIC if that switch is not V-LANd although for security it would be best to have a dedicated switch to the camera subnet.

[Matts1984]

1) Are you saying to assign the 2nd NIC an address of 192.168.100.x?

2) The switch is dedicated to the cameras; they all connect to it and it's normally connected to the router.

3) My understanding is that the switch is supposed to be connected to the 2nd NIC so that it and all the cameras are isolated in their own private network. Have I misunderstood that, or...?

If you router is on another subnet like 192.168.1.1 it shouldn't see anything going on on the 100.100.100.x subnet (also 100.100.100.x isn't an internal address so you should use something like 192.168.100.x instead for that internal network for the cameras. Also you have a switch between your BI server's second NIC and cameras right? It could be the same switch as you are using for the first NIC if that switch is not V-LANd although for security it would be best to have a dedicated switch to the camera subnet.

So the first item that terk was referencing is the use of "100.x.x.x". Technically speaking that is public address space thats allocated to something/someone/somewhere. You aren't breaking any laws or anything using it, but if you have a subnet using it, in theory there could be some internet websites that your BI server would no longer be able to reach. Officially you should use anything in the RFC1918 address allocation - which to save you time is 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, or 172.16.x.x - 172.31.x.x. Terks suggestion of making 192.168.100.x as your backend camera subnet is solid.

We're also trying to understand your setup with this switch. Ideally you want a dedicated switch that connects your 2nd NIC to your cameras and does NOT connect to your router. Your router is the gateway to the internet and it should be completely isolated. While technically possible to have two subnets on the same switch, or having more advanced managed switches that support vlans, we are speaking in simplistic terms. If you already have something more advanced, let us know. From there it *sounds* like you're doing it right. BI server gets 192.168.100.1/255.255.255.0 and camera gets 192.168.100.2/255.255.255.0 - both with empty/blank default gateways (this blank gateway is most important on your BI server though).

The only other thing I can think of is that sometimes it's tricky to re-IP a device that you're remotely connecting to because as soon as you hit submit, your connection is broken. Is your camera POE? If you unplugged the cable too soon, maybe it didn't finish committing your change and the power loss reverted something?

Give it another shot with the updated IP space, it's best to start this out right, and let us know. The more detail you can give in every step the more likely we can find where the issue is.

[firebyrd1971]

I use two NICs on my system however, I use two different routers. One for internet to my PC and the other one just for my cameras.

[Thixotropic]

Well crap.

We futzed around with this on and off about 20 different ways and can't get squat to work. We've tried a ton of stuff to no avail.

We assigned the 2nd NIC an address on the LAN of 192.168.1.100
We switched the cam internally to use 192.168.1.105
We then connected the switch to the 2nd NIC and set BI to look for that cam on 192.168.1.105

Aaaaaand nothing, lol.

[TimG]

Hi, sorry I missed this thread. This second NIC method worked first time for me, and you have mostly done the same as I did.

The good news is, that means you are very close!

Now, can you confirm that the two NIC's are not on the same range of IP's ? I deliberately used 10.0.0.1 for the second NIC so that it was visibly no where near the primary NIC which is on 192.168.2.x.

My second NIC has:
IP address: 10.0.0.1
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: Blank.
Use the following DNS server addresses: Blank.

I only have a simple POE ethernet switch plugged in to the second NIC. Nothing fancy, and no router. The cameras simply plug in to the ethernet switch.

The first camera is set to 10.0.0.2 and all I had to do was alter the IP address (and nothing else) in the BI5 settings. It just works

[TimG]

OK, how about the camera ?

My Dahua is:
IP address: 10.0.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 10.0.0.1
DNS: Blank.

Did you set the gateway to match the new NIC ?

[TimG]

Hey, could this be a firewall issue ? Can you temporarily turn it off and restart the camera ?

[TimG]

Also, assuming both NICs are on the BI5 pc, you should be able to view the camera web interface using a browser on the BI5 pc.
In my example, 10.0.0.2 will give me my Dahua camera.
If that doesn't work, there is something very basic wrong with your settings.
This will only work from the pc with two NICs of course !