When you use a Defender SN500-4CH DVR you may need to forward ports in your router. Forwarding ports is used to allow incoming connection requests from the internet to a Defender SN500-4CH DVR.
By default routers do not allow incoming network requests. By forwarding ports you can work around this limitation.
Before You Forward a Port
You need to know the following things before you can forward a port:
- The IP address of your router.
- Your DVR's internal IP address.
- A list of TCP and UDP ports that need to be forwarded.
Use a VPN Instead
Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.
We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.
When shopping for a VPN, make sure that they meet the following criteria:
- Your VPN provider should have a no-logs policy. This means that they do not keep any logs of any kind.
- Make sure that your VPN provider has lots of exit nodes all around the world.
- Check that your VPN will not affect your speed.
- Verify that your VPN provider uses WireGuard as the underlying protocol.
- Many people prefer a VPN provider that is not based in the United States.
This is the list of requirements that we used when we were shopping around for a VPN provider. There are lots of free, shady VPN providers out there that we looked at and dismissed.
Based in Panama, using diskless servers, and with over 6,100 servers in 61 countries, we can safely say that NordVPN satisfies all of these requirements.
Once you've set up your NordVPN account on multiple computers and enabled Meshnet, you can seamlessly access all of your devices as if they were on the same network. You don't even have to log in to your router. It's very simple.
Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.
How to Locate Your Router's IP Address
You can run our free Router Detector software to locate your router's IP address. It's a part of the Network Utilities suite of tools and it's completely free to use.
If you do not want to run the software, you can follow our Find Your Router IP Address guide.
Forwarding a Port for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR
A smart way to forward your ports is to use Network Utilities. Since Network Utilities allows you to both forward and un-forward ports easily you can keep your network security maximized, and then forward ports only when you need them.
You can also choose to set up port forwards manually. The process for forwarding a port is:
- You can start by logging in to your router.
- Locate the section in your router that deals with port forwarding.
- Put your DVR's IP address in the proper box in your router.
- Put the TCP and UDP ports for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR in the corresponding boxes in your router.
You probably will need to reboot your router for the changes to take effect.
You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR:
List of Routers - Customized for Defender SN500-4CH
Forwarding Ports for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR
Here is a list of the ports that need to be forwarded for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR:
Defender SN500-4CH - PC
- TCP: 80
- UDP:
Those are the steps to take in order to forward ports in your router for a Defender SN500-4CH DVR.
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