Trying to connect to video recorder on shared adsl

[T0mMay]

First let me explain what is going on. At work we have a WAN which is accessible from the internet. Satelite locations connect to the WAN and the inet via adsl. There are two pc's at each of these locations and they share the adsl connection using a hub (the ISP says that the Cisco 675 can provide up to 4 dynamic ip #'s). Everything is cool or was up til' now.
The boss wants to be able to connect to a networkable digital video recorder at a satelite location. This device can be setup w/ static ip or DHCP. (It is not pc based so ya can't load any type of client on it)
Any suggestions on how to make this device visible from the WAN? If I replace the hub w/ a DSL router, assign a static ip to the device, and enable port forwarding on the router will that work? I have been told that NATing is going to be a problem.

 

[bcastner]

Wow.
This is not at its heart an ADSL issue. A DVR device is not inherently a network device.

But, see the details here for port forwarding and firewall issues:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/serve/firewall.aspx

I suspect NAT and port forwarding is the least of your worries. Whatever existing device you have as a DVR device, throw it out and purchase a Windows Media Edition enabled device to give yourself a fighting chance at streaming media.

 

[jeffbouldin]

I do this all the time. ADSL is the most problematic. The only way it has worked reliably with ADSL is with a static IP from your ISP. If you are sharing it with multiple computers you'll need a router. Behind the router you'll need to assign your DVR a static IP. The in the firewall you'll need to forward the ports that your DVR communicates through to its Static IP.

For example; the equipment I install uses ports 80, 2550, 2650, 3550, 4550, 5550, and 6550. My ISP has given my router an static IP of 64.1.1.1. in my firewall setup I have told it to route all requests on the above ports to 192.168.1.15. Then I set my DVR up with that static IP.
From my browser I type in 64.1.1.1 which is routed to my router, since the request is made on port 80 the router sends it to my DVR.

Hope this helps.

 

[cdogg]

Of course, there are also free tools around that will monitor and report any change to your IP address. You can have the report sent to an email address, for example. Or, you could set it up to work with a webspace provider so that your URL or link is updated automatically.

One example:

http://www.dslwebserver.com

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884