One of the cool things in the No-IP office is a reef tank. We wanted an easy way to check on it while no one was available in the office so, we decided to set up a webcam. It was cheap, easy and with Dynamic DNS service, we were able to view our aquatic friends online. You can accomplish this too even if you have one of those pesky dynamic IP addresses. Don’t have a fish tank to watch? The options are limitless! You can monitor your front door, security for your office, your refrigerator, or anything! Just make sure that you aren’t invading anyone’s privacy or breaking any of these laws.

To accomplish what we did with our reef tank, please follow these steps:

Step 1: Buy a webcam. You can find a cheap one online, we ordered ours from Amazon.

Step 2: Place your camera where you would like it. Our reef tank cam is attached with electrical tape to the side of the tank. We also have other office cams that are mounted to the ceiling.

Step 3: Have a dynamic IP address? In order to see your webcam easily over the Internet, you will need to create an account with us.

1. Create an account from the homepage.
2. After you fill out your credentials and receive your account verification email, login to your new No-IP account.
3. Create a username.
4. Click the My Services > DNS records menu options on the left hand side.
5. Click on Create Host. In the modification screen that pops up, leave the IP address that has automatically populated the same, and then click on the green Add Hostname button.
6. Are you behind a router or firewall? You will have to forward your ports. Note: Our documentation on port forwarding is limited due to the vast amounts of routers. Please check out your routers support page for more information if you are lost.
7. If a device at your network, such as a router or camera system, support No-IP.com for Dynamic DNS updates, you can configure your hostname in the DDNS page with your No-IP account credentials. If your devices do not support No-IP, you can download and install our Dynamic Update Client. Our DUC will automatically keep track of your dynamic IP changes as well. (Please note that you only need one of the three options provided.)
8. Now, you just need to check to see if everything is working correctly. You can go to www.portchecktool.com to confirm that your ports are forwarded correctly and that you can view your reef cam from the web.

Step 4: Once you have completed the above steps, it is time to login to your camera via the host you created to see what your fish are up to! You just need to make sure the webcam’s software is launched and ready to accept Internet connections.

Step 5: Voilà! A quick and easy way to set up a webcam on a dynamic IP address. Enjoy!

You can learn more about using No-IP and Cameras here.