Camsecure how to set up your webcam for FTP file transfer

You can use your Webcam or IP camera to send images to your website for storage or display and even email you an image when movement is
detected to alert you of whats going on when your not there.

What is FTP for Webcam Images?

FTP is an Internet (or more properly a TCP/IP) communications protocol for file transfer which can also allow you to upload static images to your
website via the Internet. FTP is composed of two parts; an FTP client and an FTP server. The FTP client is the software you execute on your local
machine to send or receive files e.g. your webcam program or it may be the FTP client inside your IP camera. The FTP server is software which
executes on a server machine on which the files are to be saved or retrieved. Most (if not all) machines which provide Web serving capability also
serve as FTP servers to allow you to upload your web pages. Web pages are usually composed of HTML source files and images (either JPEG or
GIF format).

What Information do I need to know to use FTP?

To be able to FTP (send) files to your FTP server and Web server, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) should provide you with four pieces of
information. These are:

The name of the FTP server - Each FTP server on the Internet executes on a separate machine. Machine's on the Internet have both DNS names
(eg. members.aol.com, ftp.flash.net ...) and TCP/IP addresses (eg. 152.163.199.41, 209.30.0.100, ...). To be able to FTP a file to an FTP server, you
must know the name or TCP/IP address of the machine hosting the FTP service.

The user id to login to the FTP server - FTP servers are protected to allow only authorized users the ability to save and retrieve files from the
server. To gain access to an FTP server, the administrator of the FTP server (usually the ISP) will provide a userid used to access the FTP server.

The password to login to the FTP server - To gain access to the FTP server, the password for the userid supplied by the FTP server administrator
must also be known.

The directory in which to save files - When connected to an FTP server, the server will allow upload of files only to particular directories located
on the server. The FTP server may place you in such a directory when you connect or you may have to change to a different directory. This will be
explained by the FTP administrator (usually the ISP).

How to FTP or Email Images from your Webcam or IP Camera

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Webcam Programs and FTP

Most Webcam programs have the ability to act as an FTP client. This allows them to create JPEG image files and FTP those files to the FTP
server automatically. Since the FTP server is usually the same machine as the Web server, FTPing an image file to the FTP server allows a new
image to be placed on the Web server and is then immediately viewable by browsers on the web. Since each user's configuration including FTP
server name, user id, password and directory in which to save the image files varies,the Webcam Software must be configured with these unique
details before use. The Webcam program will remember the details and need only be configured once.

The Webcam program will have an FTP configuration section where you will have to insert the above information along with a time interval so the
program knows how often to upload the image and usually a save count which denotes how many images to save....e.g. you may want to have the
latest image always update, but also keep the last 5 images on the server aswell. Active Webcam has a superb FTP and Email image transfer
facility and is very easy to set up by following the on screen instructions on the configuration pages of the software.

Getting your Images Emailed to you

Lets say you have your webcam or your IP camera all set up to detect motion and you want it to email
you when someone walks in front of the camera. All you have to do is go into the email configuration
section of the Webcam Software or IP Camera and enter a few details as if you were setting up a new
email address in your email program. You will need to enter the Email server name e.g. mysite.co.uk
then your user name to receive the email e.g. myname@mysite.co.uk then the email address of the
sender e.g. mycamera@mysite.co.uk then your password for the email account e.g. password. You
have to do this because you have to tell the camera or software which email address is sending the
image and which one is receiving it. Once this is done you can set up your motion detection and sit
back and wait. Each time the camera detects movement your images will be emailed to you along with
your message e.g. movement detected and the time and date of the event.

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IP Cameras and FTP

Although IP cameras are normally used for direct video streaming of live video, almost all IP Cameras and IP Video Webservers also have an FTP client built in aswell as
an Email facility too. To program your IP camera for FTP and or Email you simply go to the appropriate section in the cameras Administration or Configuration menu and
enter the information listed above. IP cameras and IP Videowebservers can simultaneously stream live video, email images and FTP images without even needing a PC as
the electronics for connecting them to the internet are all inside the camera or webserver.