Putting together a home surveillance system, general home security

Networking Networking Hardware
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Admins, if this is in the wrong category, feel free to move it.

Ive started looking at some options for a home surveillance system. I have not had any break-ins, vandalism, or anything like that. Maybe that is the best time to start, before something happens?

With that said, my main reason for this project is that it interests me. It involves some tech that I have not played very much. Depending on how crazy this thing gets, I'll be messing with port forwarding, DDNS, FTP, and POE. Fun stuff. I'm still learning about some of these things and, as is my way, what better way to learn than by diving in head first?!

On to the specifics. I am looking at installing 4 POE cameras. I have not decided whether I will buy an NVR


or run this off of one of the computers I have.

To be honest, I am leaning toward the NVR for a few reasons.

  • First, the NVR already has POE integrated, this will save me from having to buy a POE switch, or a couple of injectors.
  • Second, the NVR that I linked includes a 2 TB HDD. That will save me having to buy that individually as well.
  • Third, and this will require some testing on my end, multiple cameras recording at the same time require quite a bit of CPU horsepower, from what I've read. Other than my wife's or my main rig, everything else is running i3's for low power operation. If I need an i7, that purchase alone will cost more than the NVR.

At this point, I have purchased one Reolink RLC-410 and a single port POE injector for testing. So far, I am pleased with the results; though, I have yet to try it outdoors.

If anyone has any experience with either the NVR I linked, or the camera I purchased, please let me know.

Your thoughts are welcome, as well as possible test scenarios for the equipment. Thanks!

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just gonna drop this here

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Thanks for the input. Sucks you got robbed. The bright side is you had your system in place before this happened. I'll have a look at the thread to see what the outcome was.

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I just bought 6 Ubiquiti Unifi cameras. I have had great luck with Unifi access points. I went with Unifi cameras because you can install their software on a computer at no cost and just buy the cameras. You can buy the one at a time and add if needed.

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Glad they are doing well for you.
Are these WiFi cameras? I really want to stick to Ethernet if possible.

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Ethernet. 24v poe

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Excellent. I'll have a look at them. Thanks for the tip.

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Is there anything on the network security front that I should be looking at?

I've seen some evidence on other forums that the camera I purchased may "phone home" occasionally. I'll put wireshark on it.

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If you want something effective: Get a dog. That's a security system that has some teeth.

Ubiquiti has a large community forum. They are used by large corporations as well. I would not think that they phone home maliciously.

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Nothing wrong with the equipment or how you are planning on implementing it, the only thing I'd add is to plan ahead, while 4 cameras are nice the ability to add more cameras/zones is appealing, once you have 4 up you will see that you have blind spots in your coverage or areas that you also want to cover....expand-ability is key in a CCTV security system.

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No more dogs for now.

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Thanks for the input. The NVR I'm considering can be used with up to 8 cameras. Reolink also has one that supports 16 cameras. I'll have to check on the price difference.

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Dog's can't effectively testify in court.

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Would be wise to incorporate a proper firewall before installing an internet accessible device.

Recording takes network bandwidth, not so much CPU power. Image processing (motion detection) on the other hand will load a CPU pretty quickly. HD cameras will saturate your network and if you use more than 4 you may consider a physically separate network from your LAN.

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I imagine you are talking about a hardware firewall. Any recommendations, that won't break the bank?

I am running two routers, on different subnets, now. I am planning on attaching the cameras to the router closest to the modem. This way, my LAN systems can talk to the cameras, but the cameras cannot talk to my pcs.

If you have any ideas here, I'm completely open to suggestions.

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The main goal of a home security system is deterrence and not conviction in my opinion. One typically improves his home security after a break in, which represent costs that are not covered in any insurance.

Technically it's a software firewall on a dedicated computer. pfsense will do that for you. There are a lot of cheapish, dual to quadruple nic SFF computers around. A barebone will do, pfsense is happy to run from a thumb drive and do not need much ram (4 Gig are probably plenty).
Something like this: Cheap appliance with Q1900 Intel Quadcore and 4 NICs

https://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/ has probably some examples for you.

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Thanks for the input. I have an old system that I used to have a pfsense setup running on. If I'm going to start new, i'd rather go with a low power solution, such as the one you suggested.

The main goal for my system is exactly what you mentioned, deterrence. My camera by the entry door will be obvious.

Would placing the cameras on a separate VLAN through pfsense separate the networks sufficiently?

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On a purely power consumption basis using your old pfsense box is cheapest. But if you want a smaller, quieter box that's just fine as well.

I don't know.As far as I have understood @SudoSaibot his concerns were mostly bandwith-wise.

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Okay, I believe you are correct. That is something I will have to consider.

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V-lans and subnets are just traffic segmentation. The switch or router is still moving the combined amount of data.

It's probably a non issue but something to consider in the topology of the network. For instance if you had a few cameras, desktop PC, and wifi AP on a gigabit switch, and a single link to your router. All the traffic is limited to that single gigabit link.

At home. All of my cameras and NVR reside on their own network, dedicated router and switches. The routers wan port is connected to my LAN and ports forwarded to the NVR.
The LAN uses the pfsense router with a NAT pointing to the internal router for internet accessibility to the NVR.

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