Now it’s time to connect the camera to the network and configure the camera.

Camera Documentation and Support

The Panasonic Global Support web site has the complete documentation and firmware for all Panasonic network cameras.

The Panasonic USA Support web site is also very helpful, but not quite as extensive as the Global Support site.

I recommend perusing both the Global and USA support web sites.

Panasonic’s Toll Free Phone Support at 1-800-211-7262 was a pleasure. My call was answered by a USA-based technical support rep. in only a few minutes who was very knowledgeable, knew the answer to my question and was patient with me on the phone. I was given a case number in case I needed to call back with a follow-up question.

Connect the Camera to the Network

A printed copy of the Camera Hardware Installation Guide is included with the camera. The Installation Guide is well written and includes detailed illustrations showing how to connect the camera to the network.

My network has several indoor (model #BB-HCM511A) and outdoor (model #BB-HCM531A) cameras with Power over Ethernet (PoE) connections. I chose the PoE capable cameras to simplify the wiring because Cat5e cable provides both power and data. The indoor cameras are connected PC speakers for 2-way audio as shown here. (Click on the image for a full size view.)

Panasonic IP Camera Network Diagram

Proceed to the next step after the cameras are plugged into the network.

Tip: Bench Configuration

It’s a network camera so it doesn’t matter where the camera is plugged into the network. Don’t bother with installing new Ethernet jacks or climbing ladders to mount the camera. Just put the camera on the table next to you and plug it into the PoE ethernet switch with a 6 foot Cat5e cable. This way you can push the camera buttons, check the status LED and make cable connections with ease.

After you’ve bench configured the camera, it will retain it’s operating configuration when you unplug it and move it to its permanent location.

Camera Network Discovery and Basic Configuration

Follow the instructions in the camera Setup Guide to find the camera on the network, configure a login password and enable Internet access. The Setup Guide is easy to follow and I won’t repeat those instructions here. The Setup.exe program will run automatically when the Panasonic Network Camera CD is inserted in the disk drive.

Panasonic Network Camera Setup Program

Camera Audio: Web Browser Compatibility and Active-X Audio Control

The Camera Audio Notes, FAQ and Troubleshooting page at Panasonic Support is an excellent reference for using the camera’s audio features.

The Panasonic network camera is fully compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer and mostly compatible with Mozilla FireFox. Everything displays fine in FireFox, but the Panasonic Active-X audio control is only compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer. According to the FireFox Knowledge Base, FireFox does not offically support Active-X.

FireFox: No Audio

Panasonic Network Camera - No Audio in FireFox

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Audio Controls

Panasonic Network Camera - Audio in Internet Explorer

When you first access the camera with Internet Explorer, it should automatically download the Panasonic Active-X audio control. If you don’t see the audio controls, you can download the Active-X control here and install it by running the install.bat file.

Advanced Camera Configuration

At this point your network camera should be viewable over the local LAN and Internet. Next I will cover advanced camera setup topics like setting the time server, recording images to the SD memory card, port forwarding and configuring a static IP address. These topics are and much more are covered in the Operating Instructions on the CD ROM.

Configure Dynamic DNS

Page 2 of the camera Setup Guide guides you through the free Viewnetcam.com Dynamic DNS configuration. I use Viewnetcam.com and it’s worked well for me. You cannot register for a Viewnetcam.com account directly, it can only be initiated by the Camera Setup menu; this ensures the service is used only by Panasonic IP Network Cameras.

If you haven’t already registered for a Viewnetcam.com account or want to use your own DDNS service, such as DynDNS.com or TZO.com, you can set it by clicking Setup → DynamicDNS.

Dynamic DNS Setup - Panasonic Network Camera

Checking the Viewnetcam.com radio button and clicking Next will take you through the setup wizard and forward you to the Viewnetcam.com web site to complete your account setup. When your Viewnetcam.com account registration is complete, your personal camera URL and Account Link is displayed in the camera menu.

Viewnetcam.com Dynamic DNS - Panasonic Network Camera

Configure a Custom Dynamic DNS Service

If you already have a DDNS account with DynDNS.org or another service provider, life can be simpler if you reuse that account. Note: The camera will reject web access attempts from a DDNS host name if it’s not configured in the camera as security measure with this error message:

Failed to access.

Try and access again with registered camera Host Name.

To configure a custom, or user-specified Dynamic DNS service, click Setup → DynamicDNS Setup → User-specified DynamicDNS and enter your DDNS account information.

Custom Dynamic DNS Setup - Panasonic Network Camera

If you need to create a Dynamic DNS account, see the DDNS instructions in this tutorial.

Configure a Static IP Address and Port Forwarding

If you’re having problems with the automatic network configuration and/or Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), configuring a static IP address usually solves the problem.

Picking a Static IP Address

To configure a static IP address, first take a look at your router to select an unused IP address and port number. I have a Linksys WRT-54G WiFi router.

Login to the Linksys administrator web page. The default Admin page URL is http://192.168.1.1, however I’ve change my router IP address to 192.168.2.1.

Go to the Setup → Basic Setup web page to check your DHCP address range. Click on the image for a full size view.

Linksys WRT-54G - Network Setup

The DHCP dynamic IP address pool here is the range 192.168.2.100 to 192.168.2.149.

Aside: The ending DHCP IP address is calculated by 149 = 100 (starting IP) + 50 (max # of users) – 1.

The static IP must be chosen outside of the DHCP range. I choose to assign the camera  192.168.2.253 as it’s well above the last .149 DHCP address.

Note: You cannot use the first (x.x.x.0) and last (x.x.x.255) IP addresses in an IP address range because these are the default host and broadcast addresses, respectively, for the subnet.

Go to the Applications & Gaming → Port Forward Range page. Enter the following values:

1. Name for the Application so you’ll know what this is for; e.g. NetCam1
2. Start and End Ports: 5000 and 5000
3. Protocol: Both
4. IP Address: 253 for the 192.168.2.253 static IP address we chose for the camera.

The static IP addresses and port numbers for the other cameras are shown here, too.

Linksys Setup - Port Forwarding to Camera Static IP Address

Write down the static IP address (192.168.2.253) and port number (5000) for the camera – or print the web page.

Click Save Settings and exit the web browser.

Configure the Camera Static IP Address

Next, open the network camera web page. Click Setup → Network (IPv4) → Static menus as shown here:

Panasonic Network Camera - Setup Static IP Address

The Static IP Address Configuration web page is displayed. Enter the static IP address and Port Number that were configured in the Linksys router.

Panasonic Network Camera - Static IP Address and Port Number

The Default Gateway and Primary DNS Server should already be set to the IP address of the Linksys router. I set the Secondary DNS Server IP address to Level 3 Communications at 4.2.2.1.

Click Save.

Confirm the camera’s static IP address by clicking on Maintenance → Status and confirming the Port No. and IP Address as shown.

Panasonic Network Camera - Status Page

Scroll down on the Status page to see the Camera IP Address and Viewnetcam.com Dynamic DNS URLs.

Panasonic Network Camera Status - LAN and Internet Access URLs

Test the Local Network Access URL and Viewnetcam.com URL to make sure both are working. The static IP address configuration is now complete. Be sure to bookmark each and write down the URLs, Static IP Address and Port Number.

This series is continued in Part 4.

Hope this helps,

Bob Jackson

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6: Update ISY-99i Configuration on the Network Diagram

Update the ISY-99i entries on network diagram with your values for the following parameters:

ISY-99i

Static IP Address: 192.168.2.200
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1 (IP address of the Linksys router)
DNS Server: 192.168.2.1 (IP address of the Linksys router)
HTTPS Port: 5275

Local LAN Access URL:

http://192.168.2.200

Secure Internet Access URL:

https://myisyhostname.homedns.org:5275

Your network diagram should now be complete and look like this (the colors correspond to matching values for both devices):

ISY-99i Static IP Address Network Diagram

7: Change the ISY-99i IP Address and Port Number:

Login to the ISY-99i Admin Console and click Help → About. Write down the My URL IP address, e.g. 192.168.2.102.

ISY-99i - Help About with DHCP IP address

7a: Configure the ISY-99i Static IP Address

For Windows XP or Vista, click Start → Run and type telnet. The telnet DOS window is displayed. Open a session to the IP address given in the My URL, e.g. 192.168.2.102. The static IP is configured using the CT command. The following is the telnet session log. Your inputs are highlighted in red per the network diagram. Note that all ISY command are UPPER CASE.

Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Client

Escape Character is 'CTRL+]'

Microsoft Telnet> open 192.168.2.102
Connecting To 192.168.2.102...

Please Log in

Username:admin
Password:********
Hi!
Welcome to ISY Shell
CT - Configure TCP/IP
CWP - Configure Webserver Ports
CWT - Configure Webserver Timeouts
CL - Configure max log size
CR - Configure Max Retries
LS - List files/directories
SU - Show external url
SM - Show memory utilization
ST - Show system time
DT - Disable telnet
DI - Disable internet access
XS - Exit the shell
RS - Reboot the system
RL - Reset login to admin/admin
FR - Factory reset
MN - Menu
VE - Display Version
DBG - Debug [0|1|2]
CME - Configure Maximum Emails per minute
SMR - Max Retry Before Client Is Considered Offline

http://192.168.2.102>CT

IP Address [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.200
New IP Address : [192.168.2.200] OK? (Y/N)Y
NetMask    [0.0.0.0]: 255.255.255.0
New NetMask    : [255.255.255.0] OK? (Y/N)Y
Gateway    [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.1
New Gateway    : [192.168.2.1] OK? (Y/N)Y
DNS Server [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.1
New DNS Server : [192.168.2.1] OK? (Y/N)Y
Save Changes (Y/N)Y
                   Rebooting ... please wait!

Goodbye!

Connection to host lost.

Press any key to continue...

Keep the telnet session open for the next step.

7b: Configure the ISY-99i Web Server Port

Note that the ISY-99i LAN IP address is the static IP address you configured in the previous step, e.g. 192.168.2.200 in this example. Use the CWP command and your network diagram to configure the web server ports.

Telnet session log – your inputs are in red:

Microsoft Telnet> open 192.168.2.200
Connecting To 192.168.2.200

...

Please Log in

Username:admin
Password:********
Hi!
Welcome to ISY Shell
CT - Configure TCP/IP
CWP - Configure Webserver Ports
CWT - Configure Webserver Timeouts
CL - Configure max log size
CR - Configure Max Retries
LS - List files/directories
SU - Show external url
SM - Show memory utilization
ST - Show system time
DT - Disable telnet
DI - Disable internet access
XS - Exit the shell
RS - Reboot the system
RL - Reset login to admin/admin
FR - Factory reset
MN - Menu
VE - Display Version
DBG - Debug [0|1|2]
CME - Configure Maximum Emails per minute
SMR - Max Retry Before Client Is Considered Offline

http://192.168.2.200>CWP

Current HTTP Port [80] (range 1-65536): <press enter - no change>
Invalid port specified
Current HTTPS Port [443] (range 1-65536):5275
Trying to remove existing port forwarding rules from your
Internet Gateway/Router

Port forwarding rules were successfully removed

New HTTP Port [80]
New HTTPS Port [5275]
Trying to re-enable Internet Access for Port [5275] on your
Internet Gateway/Router
Looking For an Internet Gateway

Rebooting ... please wait!

Internet access re-enabled for Port [5275]
Goodbye!

Connection to host lost.

Press any key to continue...

Microsoft Telnet>quit

8: Confirm the ISY-99i Static IP and Port Number

Check Help → About dialog in the Admin Console:

ISY Static IP - Help About with Static IP

My URL now reflects the static IP address and the Internet Access URL shows your ISP dynamic IP address with the new port number.

9: Verify LAN and Internet Access

Test Internet HTTPS access using the DDNS service and port forwarding, e.g. https://myisyhostname.homedns.org:5275.

Click “Add Exception”, “Get Certificate” and “Confirm Security Exception” to view the My Lighting web page. The next time you’ll have SSL certificate saved and will go directly to the My Lighting login page.

ISY Add Security Exception

Next, open a web browser and enter the My URL (i.e. the local LAN IP address), e.g. http://192.168.2.200 to verify you can get the to My Lighting web page.

That’s it! You now have Internet access to the ISY-99i using a static IP address and port forwarding. This method has proven very reliable for me.

I recommend you save a copy of the network diagram with your configuration parameters in a safe place in case you make network changes.

Take care,

Bob Jackson

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Problem with UPnP and Internet Access

The Linksys WRT-54G WiFi router supports Universal Plug-n-Play (UPnP), a feature that automatically detects and configures Internet access for the ISY-99i. However, I kept losing Internet access to the ISY-99i whenever my Internet Service Provider changed my DSL dynamic IP address – which happened every couple of days – even though I was using a DDNS service. I suspected a problem with UPnP and the recommendation from Universal Devices is to use a static IP address with port forwarding to bypass UPnP. Assigning a static IP address to the ISY-99i with port forwarding solved my Internet access reliability problem.

ISY-99i Static IP Address Network Diagram

Network Diagram

The ISY-99i support forum at Universal Devices, Inc. and the Support Wiki are really excellent resources, however I found myself studying different references to figure out what I needed to do. There are many “moving parts” and I found it necessary to create a network diagram (see above) that listed various parameters to sort it all out. Here’s the PowerPoint source file so you can sing along and update it with your particular values: Static IP Address Configuration Network Diagram (PowerPoint).

1: Create a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) Account

DDNS is way to access your home network using an easy to remember hostname like “myhomenetwork.homedns.org” that always resolves to the correct dynamic IP address for your DSL or cable modem broadband service. A software agent in the Linksys WRT-54G router “pings” the DDNS service provider every few minutes, so the service provider can track your current dynamic IP address.

The Linksys WRT-54G supports DDNS by www.DynDNS.org and www.TZO.com. Surf over to the site of your choice and create a free DDNS account. Next, create a new DDNS hostname for your home network:

DynDNS.com - Create a New Host Name

Record the following parameters on the network diagram:

• Your DDNS account user name and password.
• Your DDNS hostname, e.g. “myisyhostname.homedns.org”

2: Pick a Static IP Address

The static IP address you choose for the ISY-99i is simply an IP address outside of the DHCP pool of IP addresses managed by the Linksys router.

Login to the Linksys administrator web page. The default URL is http://192.168.1.1, however I’ve change my router IP address to 192.168.2.1. Go to the Setup → Basic Setup web page.

Click on the image for a full size view.

Linksys WRT-54G Network Setup

Update the network diagram with your values for the following entries:

Router IP Address: 192.168.2.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP Starting IP: 192.168.2.100
# of DHCP Users: 50
DHCP Ending IP: 192.168.2.149

The DHCP Ending IP address is calculated by 149 = 100 + 50 – 1. The DHCP dynamic IP address pool here is the range 192.168.2.100 to 192.168.2.149. A good choice for a static IP address is anything above this range. I choose 192.168.2.200 as it’s well above the last .149 DHCP address. Note: You cannot use the first (x.x.x.0) and last (x.x.x.255) IP addresses in the range because these are the default host and broadcast addresses, respectively, for this subnet.

3: Optionally Configure Static DNS

I prefer to use the OpenDNS services instead of my Internet Service Providers (ISP) DNS servers because it’s more user friendly and gets me to the right place more often if I misspell a URL in the web browser.

Static DNS 1:	208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS)
Static DNS 2:	208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS)
Static DNS 3:	4.2.2.1 (Level 3)

Level 3 Networks is a backup DNS server in case OpenDNS were unavailable.

4: Configure DDNS on the Router

Go to the Setup → DDNS web page on the Linksys router:

Linksys DDNS Setup

Enter your values for the DDNS Service provider, User Name, Password and Host Name. Click Save Settings. The Linksys Router will login to your DDNS account and verify the service is working correctly.

You don’t really care about the Internet IP Address in the DDNS Setup display because this is your DSL or cable modem dynamic IP address that can change at any time.

5: Configure Port Forwarding on the Linksys Router

Port forwarding is a way to map incoming requests from the Internet to a specific IP address on the home network. In this example, the Linksys router will forward packets for port 5275 to the ISY-99i static IP address of 192.168.2.200. Using a different port than the default HTTPS port of 443 is a bit more secure, too.

If you’re wondering which port # to use, here’s the comprehensive list of IANA ports. Just search for “unassigned” and pick an unused port, preferably a higher port number in the four digit range.

Go to the Applications & Gaming → Port Range Forward web page:

Linksys Port Forwarding Setup

I’ve got a couple of ports forwarded for various devices in my network. Enter the following values and record these on your network diagram:

• Application – enter a meaningful name, like “ISY”.
• Start and End Port # – I chose 5275.
• Protocol – TCP
• IP Address – the static IP you picked for the ISY.
• Enable – checked.

Click Save Settings.

Record you Port Forwarding values on the network diagram.

This tutorial is continued in Part 2.

Hope this helps,

Bob Jackson

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