Yet another plead for help Aver email alert configuration

[haltabb 0]

I have an eight camera Aver Nano DVR and cannot get the email alerts to work. I have 3 smtp accounts that I have tried but all with no luck – gmail, cox and network solutions. Aver support suggested gmail but that has not worked.

 

I am using the following set up:

SMTP: smtp.gmail.com

PORT: 587 (tried 25 and 465 as well)

AUTHENTICATION: Yes

ID: myemailaddress@gmail.com

PASSWORD: my gmail password

From, To, Subject and Message fields are all populated

 

I can access the DVR through the internet.

Cox is my IPS.

I double checked my password on gmail.

My gmail account is working on a computer.

I set additional action to launch E-Map and that is working, so I know the alarms are going off correctly.

 

I have been fighting this for a couple of weeks so any help would be appreciated.

[groovyman 0]

Many ISPs will block port 25, as I'm sure you already know.

 

With Gmail, I believe Port 465 is used with with SSL and port 587 with TLS. I'm not sure if those attributes are available in the Nano - I'll take a look later.

 

The thing I like to suggest, and that you've already tried, is to use an email address and SMTP server of the ISP. However, it appears that Cox also uses port 465 with SSL enabled or port 587 with TLS enabled, same as Gmail. What a pain in the butt, huh?

 

Does Network Solutions also require SSL or TLS enabled? I personally use Hostgator as my webhost and can use port 26 w/ SMTP. I've had no problems with that.

 

Edit: It appears that network Solutions uses SMTP port 2525 or 587 without SSL or TLS, but server requires authentication. I don't know if Cox blocks 2525 or not.

[tomcctv 187]

hi which ports have you forwarded in your router ???

 

 

also where you have used > SMTP: smtp.gmail.com use this instead. 66.249.93.111

[groovyman 0]

Tom, do you need to forward ports to use email alerts on Aver DVRs?

 

Also, the google smtp servers have many different IP addresses. I just pinged smtp.gmail.com and got 74.125.134.109, the second time 173.194.77.108 and the third 74.125.45.108.

 

haltabb, just need to ask - what do you have for DNS in the DVR? Maybe the server domain isn't being resolved to an IP address? Just a thought.

[haltabb 0]

WOW - appreciate the thoughtful help.

 

I tried 66.249.93.111 instead of smtp.gmail.com - no luck.

The ports I opened on my router are:

53

80

1053

5550

5555

9999

5055

Seem like a lot but I kept researching and opening until I got the internet access to work.

My DNS is 192.168.1.1

 

Does that help with your thoughts about my issue?

 

Thanks again

[haltabb 0]

If cox doesn't block 2525 do you think I could use my network solutions smtp. I may try that but will have to wait until tomorrow.

[skywise 0]

If you have access to a terminal window (cmd line on windows) you can test if port 25 is working out of your home.

 

calvini:~ skywise$ telnet smtp.gmail.com 25

Trying 209.85.225.109...

Connected to gmail-smtp-msa.l.google.com.

Escape character is '^]'.

220 mx.google.com ESMTP de2sm7298391igc.4

ehlo me

250-mx.google.com at your service, [208.81.2.13]

250-SIZE 35882577

250-8BITMIME

250-STARTTLS

250 ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES

quit

221 2.0.0 closing connection de2sm7298391igc.4

Connection closed by foreign host.

 

You could in theory send an entire email via the command line but this bit is enough to confirm network connectivity.

[groovyman 0]

If cox doesn't block 2525 do you think I could use my network solutions smtp. I may try that but will have to wait until tomorrow.

Yes, I'd try it.

[haltabb 0]

As I understand the issues better with your help, am I correct in the fact that the problem requires 3 solutions.

 

First, I must find the outgoing port that is not blocked by Cox my ISP.

Secondly, I must use the correct smtp outgoing sever that works with that unblocked Cox port. (Network Solutions, gmail or Cox).

Third the settings available must coincide with the setting available on the Aver DVR software.

Is that correct?

 

Skywise,

I ran your test and here are the results for each smtp:

 

smtp.haltabb.com (my network solutions registered domain and email)

25 does not works

587 works

2525 works

 

smtp.gmail.com

25 does not work

587 works

2525 does not work

 

smtp.cox.net

25 works

587 works

2525 does not work

 

Does this mean my port options are 25 with cox; 587 with any smtp; or 2525 with haltabb.com?

 

The strange thing is I have outgoing severs working on ipads and computers over this network without any issues. Why I can’t simply set the Aver DVR to the same is beyond me.

 

Thanks again guys

[skywise 0]

Things like iPads are clever beasts and they know all the active ports for a given provider so as part of setup will try all known working ports based on the email address given as your first input, all in the background.

[groovyman 0]

I would use the haltabb.com email address and server. The other services & ports might need SSL or TSS which isn't available in the Aver Nano email settings.

SMTP Server: smtp.haltabb.com

Port: 2525

Enable Authentication and use your haltabb.com email address as the ID and, of course, enter the email password.

From: same email address as the ID.

To: whatever email address that should receive the alerts

The other fields (CC, Subject, Message) are up to you.

[haltabb 0]

Great thanks groovyman

 

I will give that a try and let you know

[HiroPro 0]

Just my 2 cents...

 

Why would he need to open ports for OUT BOUND TRAFFIC (SMTP) !

 

duh!

 

I'd get a decent router like the Asus RT-N16 and load Tomato USB on it BTW.

 

Use the ISPs SMTP server and you'll have no problems!

[haltabb 0]

Thanks groovyman tried your suggestions but no luck.

 

I went back and checked my ipad that is using haltabb smtp for outgoing. The settings there are:

Use SSL

Authentication: MD5 Challenge-Response

Port 587

 

Also went back and checked telnet on smtp.haltabb.com 2525

and ehlo me and got a response.

 

I could change routers per HiroPro; but could I be digging myself into a deeper hole? By the way I am using Neatgear VNR 3500.

 

Thanks again everyone

 

Keep your thoughts coming.

[skywise 0]

No, the router doesn't matter, almost all routers allow any outgoing.

Certain router software (Astaro) is overly paranoid and you have to poke holes in the firewall in both directions, but I don't know of any consumer router that does this by default.

 

The simplest solution is to use the cox SMTP server and whatever cox email ID you have as your From address. You can still use any To address you wish.

I'm not in the US or near anything Cox-ish to know what auth you might need or not, maybe a snoop on the cox web page would yield a howto for email setup, that'll let you know what they allow.

[FuzEboX 0]

Micro-Lesson here:

 

You shouldn't have to forward any ports in this case because all of the traffic originates from your network. Just like you don't need to forward a port to visit a web site. Every time you request communication with a device on the Internet (whether email server or web server) data comes back to the originating device (your computer or your DVR) because there are headers in the network packets indicating where in your network it came from, thus no need for open ports (while the session is open).

 

Now think about that same traffic from the standpoint of the web/email server. It DOES have ports forwarded, or open, because it is listening for devices to communicate with.

 

/micro-lesson

 

In your case Hal, I recommend using Gmail exclusively for your testing because it can be a "control". Gmail works for me with firmware version H8.03.02.00.12 with the following settings:

 

smtp.gmail.com 587

Authentication: Yes

ID: email@gmail.com / password

 

Make sure From, To, Subject and Message fields are populated.

[tomcctv 187]

Does that help with your thoughts about my issue?

 

 

 

hi. new software sent via PM.

[haltabb 0]

Finally got it!

 

Aver had me update my firmware. They now have a test button that checks the email connection. I could not get the gmail to work on port 25 but used my Network Solutions account on 2525. They fixed the email issues with their new firmware.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[groovyman 0]

Great. Thanks for posting that you got it working and what the resolution was.