Home Security NVR/VLAN setup
Home Security NVR/VLAN setup
I have been worried about something, so I need some home security cameras. After looking around, the plan is to use an NVR recorder with a few cheap WYZE cameras on the house. These cameras will connect wirelessly to the NVR device. The system needs to stay safe and local without going over the internet. My best idea seems to be putting everything on one small network where everyone talks directly to each other, but no one can reach outside.
My router doesn't have VLAN support right now, so I don't think that's possible with what I have. A decent router with this feature is too expensive for me since I am only looking for a cheap solution. This whole setup is new to me and my networking skills are pretty limited. I'm not sure if this plan is the best choice or if there are better ways around it.
I also saw that there are switches with VLAN support at a much lower price than routers, but I don't know if they would work well for me. Could I plug one of those into my router and connect the cameras wirelessly without any trouble? Any advice would be very helpful to me right now.
Wireless security cameras aren't great. If you want to keep your network safe, connect an NVR and cameras together using a second router instead of the main one. Make sure that setup is off the internet side only. If you're asking too many questions about VLANs, maybe you don't know what they are yet.
It won't work unless you connect with a wireless internet source too. I think we need more than one type of Wi-Fi because right now our router is the only way to get signal.
Just setting up a regular WiFi router with your home Wi-Fi network connected to the internet side (WAN) using some software that lets you block things works fine. You don't need special VLANs for this. Just make sure to stop all people on your local network from trying to connect back to the outside world.
But with these smart security cameras, you probably need internet access so they can work. I run the AI detection on my Wyze cameras and it sends me notifications when a car parks in my driveway or if someone or a package shows up at my front door. If you want to skip the AI feature and instead use NVR software for alerts via RTSP, let me know.
I would like to connect the devices through my main router instead of letting them talk directly to each other or get online. My plan is to use OpenVPN so that I can still see everything when I'm at home but not right there. My Asus RT-ACRH17 router already has OpenVPN support, but I don't know how to stop the cameras/NVR from connecting to the internet while keeping them working together. I have a spare router I could use, but it won't help since I need a separate device on my main router to watch the NVR away from home. If my current router can block those connections without breaking things, I haven't figured it out yet. Is there an easy way to stop one device from talking to others through my router? Please let me know if you have any tips. Thanks!
So the easiest way is just to not tell the cameras where your router or gateway is. That way, they won't know how to reach the internet. Since most cameras have a fixed IP address, what can you do is either leave the gateway IP blank if they let you, or put in some other address. For example, if your router is at 192.168.1.1, tell the camera that the gateway is 192.168.1.254. Many routers also have parental controls where you can block access. You just enter a list of IP addresses and use one rule to stop it. Most of these settings allow time-based blocking so you could block them all at once. These methods are way too simple though, because they might not stop someone who knows how to change the internet settings on their phone or tablet but is still okay with using a camera like this. Cameras and other smart devices have had a long history of bugs and even intentional backdoors that let people hack them from the internet. You often hear about people hacking into things like ring door cameras, which you might think are more secure than some random ones you buy online.