Home Security System
This is my personal Home Security Camera setup.
Costs
| Item | Average cost |
|---|---|
| Synology NAS | € 175 - € 2000 |
| NAS Camera License | € 50 per camera, after 2 cameras. |
| (PoE) Switch | € 40 - € 250 per unit |
| (PoE) Camera | € 50 - € 5000 per unit |
| HDD/SSD Storage | € 30 - € 350 per TB |
| UTP RJ45 Cables | € 0,25 - € 1,25 per Meter |
NAS
A NAS is basically a devices that enables disks to be accessible via the network.
Synology is a popular NAS manufacturer, and their OS comes with "Surveillance Station", that enables you to also use your NAS as a security camera system.
This is a quite advanced security camera management system that you can use for free for up to 2 camera's. If you want more camera's, there's a one-time fee of about € 50 per 1 camera license.
You can also use this NAS to setup a VPN server, which is needed to be able to securely access this system remotely when we're outside of our home network.
[pic of Surveillance Station-app]
Storage
For the camera footage storage I've gone for 2x 4 TB 3,5" SATA HDD's (for NAS usage). Only 50% (4 TB out of 8 TB) will be usable (for more info - read Backups).
When choosing an HDD or SSD for your NAS, it is recommended to use "NAS" specified versions of those disks. The cheaper versions will also work, but will have a higher failure rate for 24/7 usage.
Backups
There are a lot of different ways to do backuping, I've gone for a RAID-1 configuration on my NAS.
In a RAID-1 configuration a storage disk is mirrored to another one, so that in the event of a disk failure you can continue operation, plus everything that was saved is still there.
The downside to this configuration is that you will need to buy twice the amount of disks you want, and use more bays in your NAS.
In the event of a fire or sabotage for example, I have no backup. But you can keep your NAS synchronized to another NAS in another location if you want to buy and setup this level of backup.
You can also use cloud backup services that are being offered, or you can manually plug in an external disk and backup the NAS yourself every once in a while.
If you're willing to risk sudden capture stop and total data loss (which doesn't happen often, but can still happen), then you can skip this part.
Router
Your NAS its IP always needs to stay the same.
Go to your modem/router/firewall/server "DHCP" settings, and reserve the IP of the NAS.
You also need to configure your router to enable your VPN server to be accessed from outside your network.
Go to your routers "Port Forwarding" settings, and open port UDP 1194 (OpenVPN) to the IP of your NAS.
VPN
Official manual: https://kb.synology.com/en-af/DSM/help/VPNCenter/vpn_setup
Remote Management
Phone: Install "OpenVPN"-app iOS/Android and "DS-Cam"-app iOS/Android.
