Tag: Network

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Remote exacqVision Connection Diagrams

The method used for connecting to an exacqVision system from outside the LAN it resides on will depend on your network configuration and use case. Examples are provided below based on each method.

Remote Connections

Remote Connections are supported by exacqVision Server/Client 24.09 and above to facilitate connections from the exacqVision Mobile app. When considering the network configurations Remote Connections eliminate the need to open ports or enable port forwarding rules on your router by using Exacq’s Remote Connectivity service. Users of the mobile app enter an access code generated by the system admin and the Remote Connectivity agent handles the connecting of the mobile app user and the Server.

NOTE: Remote Connectivity does not accept connections for the Desktop Client software or the earlier Exacq Mobile 3 app. Only exacqVision Mobile 24.09 and higher are supported.

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Traditional

In a traditional setup, the site’s router is configured to port forward incoming external connections on each port. The ports configured for forwarding incoming traffic vary depending on whether users will connect via exacqVision Desktop Client software, the web browser client, or a mobile app.

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Web Relay Service

Sites using exacqVision Web Service 19.06 and higher may wish to take advantage of the web service Relay, which provides a web-based proxy to connect to, avoiding the need to configure the router for port forwarding. When enabled, the exacqVision Web Service Status page will display the Relay Service IP. Remote users will then be able to connect their Exacq Mobile 3 app or web browser client directly to this proxy IP address.

NOTE: The Relay Service does not accept connections for the Desktop Client software, only web browser and Exacq Mobile 3 connections.

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Related Articles

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PortCheck Utility

When troubleshooting TCP/IP connectivity issues, it is often helpful to confirm that the network path is open over a specified port and that there is no interference from a firewall or antivirus. This also rules out software level problems that may be causing a failure to connect.

While there exists many utilities to accomplish this task (telnet, putty, nmap, etc…), often these utilities aren’t previously isntalled and can’t be accessed when troubleshooting.

This utility will attempt to make a TCP connection to a specified IP Address or hostname over a specified port and return either success or failure.

PortCheck – Windows

PortCheck.bat

If you are unable to transfer the file, the contents can be copy and pasted into a file manually and run from command line.

::PortCheck.bat

::This utility will check the network path to the specified IP address/Hostname.

::It will accept the first argument as the IP Address/Hostname, and the second argument as the port.

::Author - Isaac Penrod



@echo off



set $IP=%1

set $PORT=%2



IF "%~1" == "" set /p $IP="Enter the IP Address or Hostname: "

IF "%~2" == "" set /p $PORT="What TCP Port: "

set $COMMAND="^(New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient^).ConnectAsync^('%$IP%', '%$PORT%'^).Wait^(800^)"

echo.

echo Checking connectivity to %$IP%:%$PORT%

echo If the network path is open and something is listening
at that location, the result will be "True"

echo.

powershell -command " %$COMMAND% "

echo.

pause

PortCheck – Linux

portcheck.sh

If you are unable to transfer the file, the contents can be copy and pasted into a file manually and run from terminal.

You will also need to make the file executable with – chmod +x portcheck.sh

#!/bin/bash

#This utility will check the network path to the specified IP address/Hostname.

#It will accept the first argument as the IP Address/Hostname, and the second argument as the port.

#Author Isaac Penrod



IP=$1

PORT=$2



if test -z "$IP"

  then

    read -p "Enter the IP Address or Hostname: " IP

  fi



if test -z "$PORT"

  then

    read -p "What TCP Port: " PORT

  fi



echo

echo Checking connectivity to $IP:$PORT

echo If the network path is open and something is listening at that location, the result will be "success"

echo

timeout 2 bash -c 'if > /dev/tcp/'$IP'/'$PORT'; then echo success; fi'

if [ $? != "0" ]; then

  echo failure

  fi

echo

Arguments

This utility will also accept command line arguments.
$1 – IP Address/Hostname
$2 – Port

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Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories

How multiple adapters on the same network are expected to behave

Summary

If you configure a Windows-based computer that has more than one network adapter on the same physical network and protocol subnet, you may experience unexpected results. This article describes the expected behavior of this kind of nonstandard configuration. 

More Information

Consider the following scenario:

  • You have a working computer that has Windows installed.
  • Two network adapters are connected to the same physical network or hub.
  • TCP/IP is installed as the network protocol.
  • The adapter addresses on the same subnet are 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2.
  • A client on the network uses the address 192.168.0.119.

In this scenario, you may expect the two adapters on the same physical network and protocol subnet to perform load balancing. However, by definition, only one adapter may communicate on the network at a time in the Ethernet network topology. Therefore, both adapters cannot be transmitting at the same time and must wait if another device on the network is transmitting. Additionally, broadcast messages must be handled by each adapter because both are listening on the same network. This configuration requires significant overhead, excluding any protocol-related issues. This configuration does not offer a good method for providing a redundant network adapter for the same network. 

Note Windows Server 2012 includes a new feature call SMB Multichannel. SMB Multichannel is part of the SMB 3.0 protocol and lets servers use multiple network connections at the same time. For more information about SMB Multichannel, visit The basics of SMB Multichannel, a feature of Windows Server 2012 and SMB 3.0.

Note Windows Server 2012 servers cannot use multiple network connections at the same time if the network is configured by using CSMA/CD.

Assume that the server has to send a packet by using the TCP/IP protocol to a client whose address is 192.168.0.119. This address is located on the local subnet. Therefore, a gateway does not have to be used to reach the client. The protocol stack uses the first route that it finds in the local routing table. Typically, this is the first adapter that was installed. In this case, that adapter is 192.168.0.1. If the transmission fails, later retries may use the same adapter according to the entry that is found in the routing table. 

If the network cable for the 192.168.0.1 adapter fails, this does not necessarily cause the route to be removed from the routing table. Therefore, the second adapter still may not be used. 

Another thing to consider is that some network applications bind to specific adapters in the system. If a network application were to bind to the second adapter specifically, application-related traffic that was received from clients on the first adapter might be ignored by the application. This might be caused by NetBIOS name registration on the network. Additionally, if the adapter to which the application is bound fails, the application may fail if it does not use the other adapter.  

Usually, unless applications specifically demand it, this kind of configuration is not helpful. Some manufacturers make fault-tolerant network adapters to guard against a single point of failure. These adapters enable two adapters to be included on the same server but enable only one adapter to be used at a time. If the primary adapter fails, the driver deactivates the first card and enables the second by using the same address configuration. The result is a fairly seamless transition to the alternative adapter. This is the preferred method to guard against a single network adapter as a single point of failure.

Microsoft article link

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-multiple-adapters-on-the-same-network-are-expected-to-behave-e21cb201-2ae1-462a-1f47-1f2307a4d47a

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Frequent Restarts on Linux Systems Archiving over Slow Network

Linux-based exacqVision servers could reboot frequently in certain conditions:

  1. Linux operating system
  2. Active hardware monitoring
  3. Archiving over a slow network (WAN or other network with limited resources)

This issue was fixed in version 6.3.33.65575, and it is available in public release 6.4.

To work around this issue in affected versions, complete the following steps to configure an archiving SMB share:

  1. In exacqVision Client, delete the currently enabled archive task. DO NOT disable the archive target.
  2. Open the /etc/fstab file on the server for editing.
  3. Locate the line with mount paths for the archive target.
  4. Add a flag to the comma-separated section of the line specifying other flags (normally, this should immediately follow rw). The flag added depends on the Linux kernel version used:

    Linux kernel 3.0-3.1 (archiving performance will be impacted)

    //10.16.2.4/disk1 /mnt/10.16.2.4.disk1 cifs _netdev,username=admin,password=admin256,rw,forcedirectio 0 0

    Linux kernel 3.2-3.7 (archiving performance will NOT be impacted if oplocks are supported on the archive target)

    //10.16.2.4/disk1 /mnt/10.16.2.4.disk1 cifs _netdev,username=admin,password=admin256,rw,strictcache 0 0

    Linux kernel 3.8 and later

    //10.16.2.4/disk1 /mnt/10.16.2.4.disk1 cifs _netdev,username=admin,password=admin256,rw,cache=strict 0 0
  5. Save the changes to the /etc/fstab file.
  6. Via shell terminal, execute umount [share path]. For example:

    sudo umount /mnt/10.16.2.4.disk1
  7. Via shell terminal, execute sudo mount -a.
  8. Verify that step 5 was implemented correctly by executing cat /proc/mounts in the shell terminal and locating the line corresponding to the share (such as “directio” if you used the forcedirectio option for kernel 3.0-3.1).
  9. In exacqVision Client, re-create the archive task.
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SCN-00000014 – ExacqVision Servers with Ubuntu 18.04 and Higher Network Troubleshooting

SCN #SCN-00000014
Title of SCNExacqVision Servers with Ubuntu 18.04 and Higher Network Troubleshooting
TRAC #
Effective VersionApril, 2019
Products AffectedServer
Reason for Change (Summary)Hardware manufacturing is now shipping all Linux systems (except the M-Series) with Ubuntu 18.04.

Change

Network troubleshooting in exacqVision Ubuntu systems has traditionally been accomplished using the ifupdown package of tools and commands.  ‘ifupdown’ is now deprecated as of Ubuntu 18.04 and we have switched to ‘systemd-networkd’.  This means that several of the “standard” operations to troubleshoot and resolve network level issues using the Terminal will no longer work.

For instance, sometimes it is necessary to set an interface back to DHCP without the exacqVision software running.  This process involved stopping the server service, using ‘ifdown’ to bring the interface offline, manually editing /etc/network/interfaces, using ‘ifup’ to bring the interface back up, and re-starting the Server service. 

While ‘networkd’ has significantly improved functionality, most of the old deprecated commands do have a similar counterpart in 18.04.  The table below outlines the old “Deprecated” command compared to its “New” counterpart.

ACTIONDEPRECATEDNEW
Display status of current network configuration.ifconfigip addr
Display status of specified interface.ifconfig Data_Portip addr show Data_Port
Bring a specified interface down.ifdown Mgmt_Portip link set Mgmt_Port down
Bring a specified interface up.ifup eth1ip link set eth1 up
Restart all networking./etc/init.d/networking restartsystemctl restart systemd-networkd.service

Other information

Rather than finding the networking information in /etc/network/interfaces, you will now find multiple configuration files in /etc/systemd/network/ directory with names matching the interfaces, such as “Data_Port.network”

Here is an example network file with a Static configuration for the file /etc/systemd/network/Mgmt_Port.network:

[Match]
Name=Mgmt_Port

[Network]
ConfigureWithoutCarrier=true
Address=192.168.58.3/24
DNS=8.8.8.8
[DHCP] ClientIdentifier=mac

NOTE: The subnet mask is no longer set by hand using the “255.255.255.0” format.  You will need to know the “slash” format for the subnet needed. See the Additional Documentation links for an online IP-Subnet-Calculator.


Here is an example file configured for DHCP:

[Match]
Name=Data_Port

[Network]
DHCP=yes
[DHCP] ClientIdentifier=mac


To manually reset a NIC back to DHCP without using the exacqVision software, use the following steps:


  1.  Stop the exacqVision Server service with:
     sudo service edvrserver stop

  2.  Bring the specified interface down with:

     sudo ip link set Mgmt_Port down

  3.  Open the specified interface config file in a text editor with:

     sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/Mgmt_Port

  4.  Delete the lines between [Match] and [DHCP]

  5.  Add a new line in their place that reads:

     DHCP=yes

  6.  Close nano with ‘Ctl-X’ and type Y to save the file.

  7.  Bring the interface back up with:

     sudo ip link set Mgmt_Port up


  8.  Start the exacqVision Server service with:
     sudo service edvrserver start

Additional Documentation

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd-networkd

https://linux.die.net/man/8/ip

https://trac.exacq.com/DVR/ticket/16749

https://www.calculator.net/ip-subnet-calculator.html

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Exacq Software/Service Connections Diagram

This diagram illustrates how the various Exacq applications work together and the ports used to communicate.

Internal (LAN)

Remote (WAN)

In cases where external users plan to connect for remote monitoring, you will may need to configure port forwarding on your router to allow traffic on those ports to pass through. exacqVision provides several ways to connect to your system from outside of your site’s LAN.

  • The Desktop Client software requires port forwarding.
  • Users of the exacqVision Mobile app may configure port forwarding or use the Remote Connectivity feature, configured within the Desktop Client.
  • Users connecting with the Web Browser Client or the Exacq Mobile 3 app may configure port forwarding, or use the Relay Service, configured within the exacqVision Web Service.

Remote Management

In the case of the Integrator Service Portal (ISP), this may connect to the server using an inbound connection to port 22609, or the server may be configured for an outbound connection to reach out to the ISP.

Additional Links

See also: exacqVision Default Ports

See also: Example Network Diagram for Multi-NIC Systems

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