What is port forwarding, and how does it work to enable remote access to security cameras and other devices on the internet? These are the questions we will answer on this video. What is port forwarding? Port forwarding is the act of configuring a router to make a computer or network device that is connected to it accessible to other computers and network devices outside the local network. In other words, when enable port forwarding for a device, you are turning on remote internet access for it. Here is an example of how it works. Let’s say you have an IP camera connected to a router, and there is also a computer connected to the same router. The router assigns the camera and a computer an internal IP address so that you can communicate with each other on the local area network.

Local IP addresses will almost always start with 192. or 10. The router is connected to a cable modem to provide internet access to the computers on the network. Modems are also assigned an IP address, but they are different than the local IP address assigned by the router. The internet service provider assigns a modem a public IP address. The public IP address is what enables communication between a local network and devices on the internet. By default, most routers have a firewall enabled so that no outside internet traffic can enter the local network. This is why port forwarding is needed if you want to enable remote access to devices such as IP cameras.

When you set up port forwarding, a hole is essentially poked through the firewall, which allows internet traffic inside the network, but only on a specific port that you forwarded. In this example, our IP camera is running on port 7,000. If we set up port forwarding on the router, and point port 7,000 to the IP camera, outside traffic will now be allowed inside the network on that particular port. The router will forward the communication to the IP camera when it comes in over the internet. Port forwarding works exactly the same way for network DVRs and any other type of networkable device.

Here’s how this port forwarding will be set up using the Cisco Linksys router. I’m logged in to the web interface of the router now, and I go into the security settings. In the security settings, there’s a section called Apps and Gaming. Then there’s a subsection called Single Port Forwarding. This entry right here is for the IP camera that I use in the example. You can see that we forwarded port 7,000 to the internal IP address of the IP camera.

I hope this video was helpful in explaining the concepts used in port forwarding. For additional information and links to resources and tools that can help you set up and troubleshoot port forwarding rules on your own, please visit www.cctvcamerapros.com/portforwarding. Thank you for watching.