If you are using a router to connect your local network to the internet, you must turn on its port forwarding feature in order to make devices on your network accessible from over the internet. This feature may also be called "port mapping" or "virtual server".

Open your router's settings by typing its IP address into a web browser, or by launching the AirPort Admin Utility if you are using Apple's AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express. Find the settings page related to port forwarding.

For a step-by-step guide to setting up port forwarding on a particular router, visit portforward.com.

Your router's settings may not look like this, but the options available should be similar.

Private port

Enter the port that the device you are forwarding to responds to. By default, SecuritySpy uses port 8000, and most network cameras use port 80.

Public port

This is the port or range of ports that will be accessible from the internet. If you are setting up remote access to a copy of SecuritySpy this should be the same as the private port (8000), unless you are confident about using a different setting.

If you want to make multiple cameras or SecuritySpy servers available from the internet you must choose a different public port for each one. This will allow you to access each device independently, even though they may use the same private port.

Web browsers operate on port 80 by default, so enter port 80 as the public port if you want the device to be accessible from a web browser without having to specify a port number.

Port type

This should always be set to TCP.

Private address

Sometimes called the host IP address, as in the illustration above. Enter the local IP address of the device you are forwarding to. Make sure the device is set to use a manual IP address, and is not using DHCP.