Can I ping a computer (actually a Swann DVR) behind a router?

tracerit

Senior member
Nov 20, 2007
457
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I have a few DVRs at a remote location that I can not connect to. I can ping the WAN IP and I do get a response, but is it possible to ping each DVR individually? I tried the WAN IP and attaching the port numbers after but says ping request coudl not find host.



This is more a second question but I have another set of cameras at another location. I can connect to them remotely to view, but when I try to ping the IP like I did with the location above, it would time out, which is weird considering how I can connect to them.
 

serpretetsky

Senior member
Jan 7, 2012
642
26
101
can you ping devices behind a router? yes. Anytime you ping a website your packets travels through many routers.

can you ping devices behind a router performing NAT (most residential routers)? Not in any useful way, no. The router would have to have a mapping already established to one of the particular devices for that ping, and I'm not sure how you could achieve that.

Also, ping packets are ICMP. They don't have ports, so trying to ping on a certain port doesn't make sense.

Also, it's important to know that ping is not enabled on all devices. Many devices have an option (or maybe are even hardwired) to not respond to pings. So just because ping doesn't work isn't a guarantee that the device is not on the network.

If the cameras initiate connetions with TCP and you're comfortable using telnet you might be able to telnet into each individual camera and see if you get some sort of response, although im not sure what sort of response you would get.