Professionals: How do you power cycle unresponsive IP camera

Hello all!

I don't know if this is the correct subforum for this question. If not, maybe a mod can move it over. I just wanted to take a quick survey and find out how CCTV/IT professionals deal with unresponsive IP cameras. Assuming that the cameras are powered via PoE switch or some sort of PSU that's plugged into a networked remote power manager (RPM), how do you go about dealing with this issue? I know sometimes cameras just glitch or are no longer responsive over the network and require a power cycle. Of course, mitigating the causes of these glitches is most important. But, assuming all things equal and a camera just needs to be power cycled to fix the dropped connection, what do you usually do?

Thanks for your time!

It's not always a simple answer.

Does the camera ping? What manufacturer?

For example many time Axis cameras will ping but will not open in a browser. (Http crashed)

Then you can do this:

It's not always a simple answer.

 

Does the camera ping? What manufacturer?

 

For example many time Axis cameras will ping but will not open in a browser. (Http crashed)

 

Then you can do this:

For sure, it's rarely that simple. I was just trying to get an idea about what other people typically do to tackle these problems in order to prevent truck rolls and keep the systems running and customers happy.

We usually end up using managed switches and some VNC to remotely access the network so that specific cameras can be power cycled but that means putting more expensive switches in place and requires access to the PC based NVR or a customer's computer on the network. I haven't found an embedded NVR with built-in PoE that allows individual PoE ports to be power cycled (if anyone knows of one, I'd love to hear). This can be cost prohibitive for some customers that can't afford a PC based NVR or the managed switches.

I haven't found an embedded NVR with built-in PoE that allows individual PoE ports to be power cycled (if anyone knows of one, I'd love to hear).

Have at look at http://www.razberi.net/

Documentation is key.

Spread sheets or data bases with IP, camera model, make, patch panel port, switch and switch port.

Documentation is key.

Spread sheets or data bases with IP, camera model, make, patch panel port, switch and switch port.

Yes, sir! Without proper documentation we would be screwed.

I haven't found an embedded NVR with built-in PoE that allows individual PoE ports to be power cycled (if anyone knows of one, I'd love to hear).

 

Have at look at http://www.razberi.net/

 

Thanks for the link! I've only given this a cursory glance but the switches/embedded NVRs look promising. I remember seeing something about the Razberi being sold under other names, too. Anyone know what those are and how they differ from a software perspective (i.e. are they still running Milestone Acrus)?

I haven't found an embedded NVR with built-in PoE that allows individual PoE ports to be power cycled (if anyone knows of one, I'd love to hear).

 

Have at look at http://www.razberi.net/

 

 

Thanks for the link! I've only given this a cursory glance but the switches/embedded NVRs look promising. I remember seeing something about the Razberi being sold under other names, too. Anyone know what those are and how they differ from a software perspective (i.e. are they still running Milestone Acrus)?

You can get them with Windows and Arcus.

http://www.razberi.net/products/arcus-serverswitch-appliance/

Hello all!

I don't know if this is the correct subforum for this question. If not, maybe a mod can move it over. I just wanted to take a quick survey and find out how CCTV/IT professionals deal with unresponsive IP cameras. Assuming that the cameras are powered via PoE switch or some sort of PSU that's plugged into a networked remote power manager (RPM), how do you go about dealing with this issue? I know sometimes cameras just glitch or are no longer responsive over the network and require a power cycle.

1st thing first: one simple problem - how to determine if a camera is unresponsive and at what level.

2nd: there are ways to reboot a software-unresponsive camera without the need for a "hardware control" (in most cases)

3rd: what if... the Networked Power Manager also gets stuck? It's the same as with any other Internet/Network-enabled device.

By design of the device, that shouldn't happen. By design of the network/solution (as you already mention), that shouldn't happen too. But what if? Well...

There are several ways to do it. Even though I do think the most elegant way is to use a "watchdog" (we're working with/developing this type of solution), there are also enough ways to software-un-stuck the devices; for example, we can reboot almost any DAHUA/HIK-based device with just the common DATA port exposed - as needed in any remote surveillance solution that doesn't go through P2P mayhem. I'm sure it also works for other brands too, with a lil' bit of tweaking.

I recommend the Dataprobe iBoot-PoE. Good for individual cameras that are causing problems, as it is a single circuit extender/injector. Has auto reboot from ping, or traffic monitor. Cloud based management makes it easy to access all the units from a single sign-on dataprobe.com/iboot-poe