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In this small guide, we are going to take you through the steps of finding the IP addresses of your router and your Mac, as well as a few other little bits of useful knowledge about IP addresses.
Step 1: Click the search bar at the top right of your screen and search for System Preferences (you should see a logo similar to the one shown below)
Step 2: Open System Preference and a window with many different menu options, you will want to double-click the Network menu
Step 3: When the Network window opens click the Ethernet option from the menu on the left and the Mac's IP address and the Router IP address will be displayed
So what are these addresses for?
IP Address - this is the IP address of the Mac you are currently working on
Router - this is the IP address of your router (sometimes referred to as the Gateway address)
Why are these IP addresses important for setting up IP cameras and/or NVRs?
As you will see in the example images above we have an IP address that is 192.168.1.68 and the router(gateway) address is 192.168.1.254, these 2 numbers tell you that the range of your LAN (Local Area Network) and of your router is 192.168.1.xxx and so any IP camera or NVR you add to your network will need an IP address that begins with these 3 numbers.
The final number of your camera/NVR's IP address is not set in stone like the other 3 and so you can set it to any number, from 1 to 254, now as most homes and workplaces have a lot of internet-connected devices you may want to double-check that the IP address you want to use is not already being used by another device on your network as IP addresses can't be used by more one device at a time. So to check an IP address you will want to go back to the search bar at the top of your screen and search for Network Utility (an application like the image below should appear).
When you open the Network Utility app you will see a window with multiple tabs, the tab you will want click is the Ping tab. On this tab (as you will see below) you can enter any IP address from your network and click the Ping button, at which point the program will test the address and tell you if it is in use or not (see examples of both below)
Successful Ping (Device using that IP address)
Unsuccessful Ping (IP address is free-to-use)
(NB: we advise only using the 10 pings option and not the unlimited pings option)
If the IP address is free-to-use then you can follow the steps that your camera/NVRs manufacturer asks you to do and assign the device the IP address that is available.
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