Topic: Hikvision FTP vs Ambient Weather

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

Hi everyone. Although I am a computer networking guy that has experience with security cameras I am new to the PWS & weather cam world. I recently installed a WS-5000 for a local boat club that also wants weather cams so I just bought a couple Hikvision DS-2CD2025FWD-I cameras to send periodic static images to our website. Since the website is not currently set up to display the weather cams I am trying to add one of them to our Ambientweather.net account as a test.

After getting the user name and password from their website I can log into it using Filezilla but when I hit the Test button in the camera config screen I get "No permission to write on FTP server" which tells me that it is logging on and testing the ability to upload an image (i.e. create a file) and permission is denied.

Although this is the sort of problem I would be able to solve on our own website, has anyone run into this with Ambient Weather? The error would not seem to be camera specific. I have not yet been able to find a support email address except for Ambientweather.com, which appears to be mainly for support of their hardware. Do they also handle weather cameras, which they do not sell?

I also created a WU account for the same PWS but have not tried WU yet due to some stories I've read on this site about getting it to work, but I'll go ahead and try that in the meantime.

TIA

[butor20077]

How did you get a username/password for ambientweather ?
When I add a device, it asks for the MAC adress of the webcam, but I never get the option for FTP.

[Bushman]

https://help.ambientweather.net/help/weathercams/

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

How did you get a username/password for ambientweather ?
When I add a device, it asks for the MAC adress of the webcam, but I never get the option for FTP.

You will get that if you click on the + sign, which is what you do if you want to add another PWS. If you have already done that, there should be a blue colored link below your PWS in the device list that says something like 'add a weather cam' so click on that.

 

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

https://help.ambientweather.net/help/weathercams/

Thanks but I'm already past that point. That link is a little dated as it references the weather cams that Ambient used to sell. Does not mention Hikvision in any case.

I tried Filezilla with Ambient and although the logon is successful their server closes the connection as soon as the STOR command to write the file is issued. It does not return a 'permission denied' error so I am not sure what is going on.

In contrast, I added the second cam to WU with no issues, now working on figuring out how to get Hikvision to send the periodic static images.

There doesn't seem to be a way of doing this from the camera web configuration so I am using their iVMS-4200 management software. The manual does not give a recipe for weather cam usage but it looks like I need to create a schedule and figure out to get the event trigger to work. These cameras are running V5.4.5 build 170124 of the firmware.

Ultimately I only need to send them to our private website so I am using my home FTP server for testing.

However, if sending these images requires running the iVMS-4200 as a companion I will have to return these cameras and go with a different brand.

Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

[Bushman]

https://help.ambientweather.net/help/weathercams/

...
Ultimately I only need to send them to our private website so I am using my home FTP server for testing.

However, if sending these images requires running the iVMS-4200 as a companion I will have to return these cameras and go with a different brand.

Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

I use Dlink and Foscam cameras to send images to my personal FTP site - right from the camera.  No extra software needed.  Example:  https://support.dlink.ca/emulators/dcs932L/100/upload.htm  I've long since given up on WU webcams.

[davidmc36]

.......
Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

I will throw in another vote for Foscam. Mine works just fine. Easy to configure with Web Interface. Fully configurable as to file name and image quality.

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

https://help.ambientweather.net/help/weathercams/

...
Ultimately I only need to send them to our private website so I am using my home FTP server for testing.

However, if sending these images requires running the iVMS-4200 as a companion I will have to return these cameras and go with a different brand.

Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

I use Dlink and Foscam cameras to send images to my personal FTP site - right from the camera.  No extra software needed.  Example:  https://support.dlink.ca/emulators/dcs932L/100/upload.htm  I've long since given up on WU webcams.

Thanks for the tip but I don't think that one will stand up to -20 F and 80 mph winds.

I wish the Hikvision had that ability. I can configure it to take a snapshot every 60 seconds and I can configure FTP to work, but there is no way to link the taking of the snapshot to the FTP function, at least within the camera config.

It does have Event scheduling that can be linked to FTP upload of snapshots but the only events that works with are security related events such as intrusion, etc. No option for a schedule that takes a snapshot on a timed basis.

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

.......
Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

I will throw in another vote for Foscam. Mine works just fine. Easy to configure with Web Interface. Fully configurable as to file name and image quality.

What model are you using?

[davidmc36]

.......
Any recommendations of a different brand/model?

I will throw in another vote for Foscam. Mine works just fine. Easy to configure with Web Interface. Fully configurable as to file name and image quality.

What model are you using?

FI9900P

It also has a static URL where you can access the image too. I forget just now but I think I have at least one service picking it up from the URL.

See the links in my sig for some samples. A bit of snow covering image today. Will get out there shortly to sweep off the roof a bit lol.

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

@davidmc36

That would work except the lowest end of the operating range is -20 C / -4 F. In recent years the low temp here has been -10 F, although back in the day it would get down to -20 F and sometimes -30 F. If the camera were to just stop working until it warmed up that would be no big deal but if it trashes it, that would be a PITA.

What is the coldest your camera has been exposed to?

[davidmc36]

The lowest data I see recorded since set up is -20.9C.

Thats well below Operaintg spec (-10) and I never saw any hiccups. (Manual says -10 operate/-20 storeage)

[Bushman]

...

Thanks for the tip but I don't think that one will stand up to -20 F and 80 mph winds.

...

My Dlinks work in -30C.  Ditto for the Foscam.  Wind is irrelevant.

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

The lowest data I see recorded since set up is -20.9C.

Thats well below Operaintg spec (-10) and I never saw any hiccups. (Manual says -10 operate/-20 storeage)

Ok, sounds good as long as it doesn't get real cold again. Since they would be mounted to the outside of a metal building I would go with something like this...

https://www.foscammall.com/collections/outdoor-camera/products/qj4

... which uses a wired connection and PoE. I downloaded the manual and it has the same snapshot config screens as yours.

The potential downsides are reliability and tech support, according to Amazon purchasers (13% = 1 star), many of those from 2020, but 56% gave it 5 stars and 21% got 4 stars.

Have you had any experience with issues or their tech support?

[davidmc36]

There have never been any issues with Cam. I have never had occasion to need any support from manufacturer.

[davidmc36]

.......

https://www.foscammall.com/collections/outdoor-camera/products/qj4

.......

I should have almost run a cable out to where Cam is. The wireless one was quite a bit more but I had easily accessible wall power there.

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

There have never been any issues with Cam. I have never had occasion to need any support from manufacturer.

Ok, I think I'll try a couple after I get an RMA for the Hikvision.

Thanks for your help!

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

Out of curiosity I did a little more digging into Foscam on Google. Searching for "Foscam issues" I ran across this...

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/foscam-camera-flaws,news-25254.html ... and this...

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/this-is-why-people-fear-the-internet-of-things/#more-33881

... both of which are a few years old, so maybe they have fixed the security issues, and maybe not, based on their response in the Tom's Guide story.

The first article covers issues that would make it easy to hack into the camera if it were connected directly to the Internet instead of being behind a wireless router or firewall. In general, it is a very bad idea to connect any IoT (Internet of Things) device directly to the Internet. Examples of IoT would be video doorbells, security cameras, Alexa, baby monitors, Nest or Ring devices to name a few.

The second article covers a function added to the cameras that cause them to "phone home" which can be exploited to take control of large numbers of them, even if they are behind a router or firewall.

The overall issue is that security has been an afterthought with these devices, especially if the software was designed by Chinese companies. No device connected to the Internet should have a secret login account or one that cannot be disabled or have the password changed (i.e. hard coded credentials).

These sorts of issues in such devices that were directly connected to the Internet were exploited a couple years ago (Miriai botnet) for non-nefarious purposes but nonetheless took down large portions of the Internet on the eastern side of the US in a stunning example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

All of that said, I am still going to try a couple of their cameras but they will be behind a wireless router, which prevents anyone from logging into them with the secret account, if it still exists, from the Internet. This will not prevent the camera from phoning home but I will be doing a network traffic capture to see if it is, and if it is I will block that traffic in the router to only allow FTP.

If anyone is interested in knowing more about IoT security, let me know and I will more fully address it in a separate post.

[davidmc36]

I did some reading of your links and and linked down to something called Nmap.

I would be interested in joining a thread to talk about what you know and what I might find with Nmap.

And Wireshark. Sometimes one runs it a while to check traffic. I have a couple TB drives doing nothing that could hold a lot of logs.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tap-your-network-and-see-everything-that-happens-1649292940

[WindBlowsLikeHeck]

I did some reading of your links and and linked down to something called Nmap.

I would be interested in joining a thread to talk about what you know and what I might find with Nmap.

And Wireshark. Sometimes one runs it a while to check traffic. I have a couple TB drives doing nothing that could hold a lot of logs.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tap-your-network-and-see-everything-that-happens-1649292940

First off, an update...

I am running Security Onion on a computer that does a continual pcap packet capture from a SPAN/mirror port on my Cisco switch, so I have a continual record of everything that goes between the Internet and my home network. This made it easy to open up one of the pcaps in Wireshark (included in SO) and see if the cameras are trying to phone home to China. The good news is that they aren't; they are only sending out UDP broadcast packets on port 10000 as part of a protocol the cameras use to support multistreaming.

In plain English, Foscam appears to have addressed the previously noted security issues that I referenced.

If you are going to play with Nmap, do not use Intense mode with aggressive timing or you may brick printers or other devices on your network. I recommend using the Zenmap version for its easier to use graphical interface.

If you use Wireshark on a PC that is connected via WiFi you will be able to see wireless traffic on that SSID but you won't see traffic on a guest or other SSID. You also won't see any traffic from any wired devices, except for broadcasts. Capturing everything requires a network switch that can mirror the port between the switch and LAN side of your router and SOHO switches do not, so you would have to spend $$ to get that.

Another useful free network discovery/monitoring tool is The Dude 3.6 which you can still download and install on any Windows computer. Make sure to install the server component. The later versions of The Dude require running their RouterOS software as the server and is more complicated to set up.