Access webcam server remotely? 3

[davcom1]

This may be more suited to the TCP/IP forum (if so, sorry!) but here goes...

Boss had a "great" idea to install webcams within our small company. The idea is for any member of staff at one location check the everything is OK at the other site. We currently have two remote locations requiring web cams.

Location 1: Win XP computer with DSL connection
Location 2: Win XP computers, P2P network. Internet connection DSL shared through my PC at this location. Webcam is connected to another computer in the network (downstairs).

Currently we do not have Static IPs.

I am using Webcam2000 which has a built-in webserver. I can get the computer's IP with "ipconfig" and then view the cam on our local network eg.

http://168.192.0.69:8080

using a little bit of JavaScript in a web page to make frequent image refreshes.

I cannot figure a way to get access from outside our network - via the Internet. FTPing images to our company webspace will be too slow.

My questions are:

1. Is there any way to access the Webcam2000's webserver from the 'net or does the computer with the webcam also have to be the Internet "server"?
2. Will static IP addresses help? - We would like the cams to run automatically straight from startup for security purposes without the need for the user to start this and run that.
3. Is there any better software out there which would do the job?

Any help/advice/guesses will be gratefully received!

Thank you,

David (davcom1)

 

[jpm121]

I hope you have some sort of router between your LANs and their internet connection.

If you you can set up port forwarding to send incoming requests on

http://1.2.3.4:8080

to the 192.168.0.69 LAN IP address (where 1.2.3.4 = whatever your public IP address is -- meaning, get this from your ISP).

To find the public IP you can also visit

http://www.findmyip.com

 

[rapples]

That's a good solution, we do that for remote control. The only problem is that the ip still changes.. so get some service like dynip to make it easier on yourself.

 

[msimone]

davcom1 -

My boss has similar ideas, I can share what I've learned and hope that helps you.

I've tried TrackerCam (

http://www.trackercam.com)

which lets you connect to the ip address and/or network name (iirc), put in your password and pan/tilt/zoom the camera, but is not free, so if you don't need p/t/z, save your money. The CamPanel software it uses on the viewer end kind of takes over any apps that use cameras like MSN Messenger's webcam feature, which is a little annoying, but not the end of the world. It will send the images live, rather than WebCam2000's static images, which may or not be a big deal.

I also played around with TightVNC (free GPL'd app at

http://www.tightvnc.org).

Since this lets you remotely control the pc with the cameras, you can connect by ip or netwrok name and you see the machines desktop. From there you can use the cameras, change all your system settings, etc. It's also good for screwing with users heads if you get bored, but no responsible admin would do such a thing

If you can get a cheap static IP from your ISP, it's probably worth it.

Good luck,

Mike Simone