DHCP leases Foscam IP camera problem

[b4rney]

I'm testing out the foscam ip cameras from ebay and I've run into a problem. I have three cameras added children of motion wrapper. They have all appeared in the dhcp leases page with static addresses and work well.

I added the final outdoor camera, which works ok when tested on the external network. It appeared briefly in the dhcp leases as an active dhcp lease when plugged into the internal network. I used these details to add it under motion wrapper and it worked ..... for a while.

The camera has not appeared as a static dhcp entry and lmce loses contact with the camera after a few minutes. I have to disconnect/reconnect the network cable for it to reappear and the device isn't listed in the dhcp table at all.

Anyone experienced this?
Barney

[b4rney]

Last night I plugged the camera into my external router/switch and it got a DHCP address. I pointed the camera device at the external ip address and it has worked flawlessly since then.

Looks like I might have a problem with DHCP in lmce. Will report back if I figure it out.
Barney

[b4rney]

OK continuing this discussion it appears the foscams periodically cease to respond to arp requests which breaks the network communication.
http://blog.stead.id.au/2010/06/resolving-foscam-connection-dropouts.html

The suggested fix is to add a static arp record. Don't know if this will persist after a restart though. I hope to start testing this. Anyone else want to test?

I will also get onto foscam to see if they can do a firmware fix for this problem.
Barney

[purps]

Based on this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=742424, I did a...

Code:

sudo arp -i eth0 -s 192.168.80.XXX 12:34:56:78:90:AB

...followed by checking the outputs of...

Code:

arp -a

...and...

Code:

arp

This last command shows a CM flag for the camera, which is good apparently. Only time will tell if this has stuck properly! Will report back.

[purps]

Nope, didn't work, I will try resetting the core now.

[b4rney]

 

So annoying. Thought we might have nailed it!

I'll try the same method to see if I can get any further. Maybe we need to do something with dhcpd conf.

Must be to do with the specific dhcp server and arp requests. My camera has worked perfectly attached to the external router/switch for weeks now and never lost dhcp.

Thanks for trying.
Barney

[purps]

Well I have tried a hard reset of the core, and reissued the arp command, and the cameras still flake out after 10 minutes or so.

When you plug the cameras into the external router/switch, is the IP address assigned to them still in the 192.168.80.xxx format? Can you still see them in DHCP leases in web admin? Just trying to get my head around how all this works.

Cheers,
Matt.

[b4rney]

No. The external network will be your cable modems dhcp range ... usually 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x etc.

The core can access this network without issue so it is certainly your best option.

I will keep testing ... if only to confirm the results you've found.
Cheers
Barney

[b4rney]

purps,

Just a thought .....

My 192.168.80.x internal network is on eth1. The command you pasted references eth0. Did you change this when you ran the command?

Code:

sudo arp -i eth0 -s 192.168.80.XXX 12:34:56:78:90:AB

Barney

[purps]

No. The external network will be your cable modems dhcp range ... usually 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x etc.

The core can access this network without issue so it is certainly your best option.

I will keep testing ... if only to confirm the results you've found.
Cheers
Barney

Ah yes, that makes sense. I will dig my switch out later if it comes to it and see if that works.

Try this as well if you don't mind...

Code:

sudo arp -s 192.168.80.xxx 12:34:56:78:90:AB

...slight variation on the one I posted earlier. I have two Foscams, and so far the camera I applied this arp thing to hasn't died! *crosses fingers, toes, eyes...*

Just thinking out loud; would setting up a static IP from within the cameras admin page make any difference? I will certainly try it if this latest arp command is unsuccessful.

Cheers,
Matt.

[purps]

purps,

Just a thought .....

My 192.168.80.x internal network is on eth1. The command you pasted references eth0. Did you change this when you ran the command?

Code:

sudo arp -i eth0 -s 192.168.80.XXX 12:34:56:78:90:AB

Barney

I did yes, I forgot to change it to eth1 on the example command I posted, sorry for any confusion! You obviously spotted it though

[purps]

No. The external network will be your cable modems dhcp range ... usually 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x etc.

The core can access this network without issue so it is certainly your best option.

I will keep testing ... if only to confirm the results you've found.
Cheers
Barney

Ah yes, that makes sense. I will dig my switch out later if it comes to it and see if that works.

Try this as well if you don't mind...

Code:

sudo arp -s 192.168.80.xxx 12:34:56:78:90:AB

...slight variation on the one I posted earlier. I have two Foscams, and so far the camera I applied this arp thing to hasn't died! *crosses fingers, toes, eyes...*

Just thinking out loud; would setting up a static IP from within the cameras admin page make any difference? I will certainly try it if this latest arp command is unsuccessful.

Cheers,
Matt.

Nope   Couldn't set up a static IP through the camera page either, kept giving me nasty errors.

[pw44]

Hi,
my foscam camera is running for weeks without problem. I did use a static address (defined on the camera first) in the internal network.
I don't know why, but it was the only way to avoid the problems described.
The same (static address) i did for the other cameras (linksys and swann).

[purps]

Hi,
my foscam camera is running for weeks without problem. I did use a static address (defined on the camera first) in the internal network.
I don't know why, but it was the only way to avoid the problems described.
The same (static address) i did for the other cameras (linksys and swann).

That is very interesting. Would you mind if we went into the static IP settings in a bit more detail? Everything I have tried results in the error message "error: illegal params."

So in the Foscam admin page, I go into "Device Management"->"Basic Network Settings". Then uncheck "Obtain IP from DHCP Server" and enter the following parameters...

IP Addr - 192.168.80.xxx (the IP address that LMCE assigned to the camera)
Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0 (INTERNAL_NETMASK from web admin, Advanced->Network->Network settings)
Gateway - xx.xx.xxx.x (GATEWAY from web admin)
DNS Server - xxx.xxx.x.xxx (DNS1 from web admin)
Http Port - 80

Cheers,
Matt.

[b4rney]

That looks right to me.

Where do you get the error, is it in the foscam admin?
Barney