Static IPs for Cameras
Updated over a week ago

Verkada cameras offer the option to configure static IP addresses. By assigning a static IP, you can ensure that your cameras maintain consistent network communication without relying on dynamic IP allocation protocols like DHCP.

It's important to note that Verkada cameras support private IP addresses as defined in RFC 1918. This means that only private IP ranges specified in the RFC, such as 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16, are compatible with the static IP configuration feature.

Process

  1. Navigate to the Settings page for the camera

  2. Under Device > Camera IP select Manual

  3. You will be prompted to enter the static IP addressing information

  4. Click Save to save the configuration. This change will be immediately applied to the camera interface.

Note: To configure a Static IP on a camera, the camera must initially connect to Command and update to the latest firmware using DHCP. Once the camera's update process is complete, it will have the ability to receive the new Static IP configuration.

Recovery Mechanisms

In case of any configuration mistakes or network changes, cameras have a recovery mechanism. The camera performs the following checks at regular intervals to ensure connectivity. In case any of these tests fail, the camera will fall back to DHCP operation.

  • Verifying on the subnet there is not a duplicate IP conflict: This is performed by sending ARP requests for the configured camera IP, if the camera receives an ARP reply it will consider it as a duplicate IP conflict.

  • Verifying there is a Default Gateway: This check is performed by sending ARP requests for the configured Gateway IP, if no reply is received by the camera the Gateway is considered unreachable.
    the device on the network with the configured IP of the Gateway:

  • DNS resolution is operational for Verkada domains: This check is performed by doing DNS lookups for Verkada domains. In case the camera doesn't receive a response from any of the domains, this test fails.

  • SSL/TLS sessions can be established with the required endpoints: This check is performed by sending HTTPS requests to the Verkada endpoints required for camera operation. In case the camera is not able to perform a TLS handshake with any of the endpoints or in case there is any error while performing this handshake, this will make the test fail.

The following list of endpoints is used for DNS tests, as these are critical for camera operation. For a full list of endpoints, you can reference this article.

api.control.verkada.com - TCP/443
relay.control.verkada.com - TCP/443
index.control.verkada.com - TCP/443
firmware.control.verkada.com - TCP/443
Update.control.verkada.com - TCP/443
kinesisvideo.us-west-2.amazonaws.com - UDP/443

For TLS tests only the first endpoint is used. In case the camera is not able to establish a TLS connection with the api.control.verkada.com endpoint, it will fall-back to DHCP operation.

If the camera encounters any issues during these checks, it will attempt to fall back to its default DHCP operation and perform the connectivity tests listed above. If the DHCP connection fails, the camera will retry using the static IP configuration once more. If the camera fails to connect again while using its static IP configuration, the camera will alternate between static IP and DHCP operations in exponential backoff increments, ranging from 20 seconds up to 1 hour.

Note: If the camera successfully connects to Verkada Command using DHCP, it will continue operating on DHCP until it is rebooted, either via Command or by power cycling the camera.

Bulk Configurations for Static IP

For large deployments requiring Static IP addressing, camera IP addresses can be configured in bulk by uploading a CSV. To perform this bulk operation, navigate to the Cameras section of Command and perform the following:

  1. On the side panel, click the Camera Settings icon

  2. Scroll down and click Bulk Static IP

  3. Click Download CSV Template to download a csv file with the necessary columns to configure static IP for cameras.

  4. Edit the CSV to add the camera serials and IP address configurations required and upload the file

  5. After uploading, you will be able to make additional edits on the preview table shown on Command before saving your changes.

Requirements

  • Only Site Admins will have the ability to enable this feature or modify static IP configuration.

Note: Currently Static IP configurations are not supported on cameras configured for LPR.

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