Device Discovery Guide

Find and add IP cameras on your network

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Overview

Kalytera includes a powerful device discovery system that automatically finds IP cameras and other network devices. The discovery tool supports multiple detection methods and can identify cameras from 180+ manufacturers using a built-in MAC address database.

To start discovering devices, navigate to Setup > Devices and click the Scan Network button in the page header.

Discovery Methods

Kalytera supports four discovery methods:

Ping Discovery

Sends ICMP ping requests to a range of IP addresses to discover any reachable network device. This is the simplest and most universal method.

Available on: All editions (including Community)

ONVIF WS-Discovery

Uses WS-Discovery multicast (239.255.255.250:3702) to automatically detect ONVIF-compliant cameras on the local network without specifying an IP range.

Available on: All editions

Hikvision SADP

Proprietary Hikvision Search Active Device Protocol for discovering Hikvision cameras and NVRs on the network.

Available on: All editions

Dahua DHIP

Proprietary Dahua protocol for discovering Dahua cameras and NVRs on the network.

Available on: All editions

Running a Network Scan

  1. Navigate to Setup > Devices and click the Scan Network button in the page header.
  2. Enter the IP range to scan, for example:
    • 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.254 — scans all addresses in the subnet
    • 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.50 — scans a smaller range
  3. Select discovery methods — choose which protocols to use. For the broadest results, enable Ping along with ONVIF WS-Discovery.
  4. Click Scan to start the discovery process. A progress bar shows the scan status.
  5. Review results — discovered devices appear in a table showing IP address, manufacturer, device model, MAC address, and discovery method. Kalytera uses its 180+ vendor MAC address database to automatically identify camera brands.
Tip: Ping scans can process up to 50 concurrent connections for fast scanning. A typical /24 subnet (254 addresses) takes only a few seconds.

Adding a Discovered Device

  1. In the discovery results, click on a device to view its details.
  2. Click Add Device to begin adding it to your system.
  3. Enter the camera's credentials:
    • Username — the camera's login username (commonly admin)
    • Password — the camera's login password
  4. Kalytera will automatically detect the camera's capabilities, including:
    • Available video streams (main stream and sub-stream)
    • Supported protocols (ONVIF, RTSP)
    • Camera model, firmware version, and serial number
    • PTZ capabilities (if available)
  5. Click Save to add the device.

The camera will appear in your device list under Setup > Devices and can immediately be used for live viewing and recording.

Manual Device Add

If a camera isn't found by automatic discovery (e.g., it's on a different subnet or ICMP is disabled), you can add it manually:

  1. Navigate to Setup > Devices.
  2. Click Add Device.
  3. Enter the camera's IP address, port, and credentials.
  4. Select the protocol type (Hikvision, Dahua, ONVIF, or Generic RTSP).
  5. For generic RTSP cameras, provide the full RTSP stream URL, for example: 
    rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/stream1
  6. Click Save to add the device.

Device Management

After adding devices, manage them from Setup > Devices:

  • Edit — Update device credentials, name, or connection settings
  • Delete — Remove a device from the system
  • Status — View the device's online/offline status and connection health
  • Recording Configuration — Set up per-device recording type and stream selection

Troubleshooting

  • Ensure the camera is powered on and connected to the network.
  • Verify the camera's IP address is within the scan range.
  • Try pinging the camera directly from the server: ping 192.168.1.x
  • Check that firewalls aren't blocking ICMP or ONVIF multicast traffic.
  • If the camera is on a different subnet, use the manual add method instead.

  • Double-check the username and password. Default credentials vary by manufacturer (often admin/admin or admin/12345).
  • Verify the camera's web interface is accessible by navigating to http://<camera-ip> in a browser.
  • Some cameras lock out after multiple failed login attempts — wait a few minutes and try again.

  • Ensure ONVIF is enabled on the camera (check the camera's web interface settings).
  • Verify multicast traffic is allowed on your network switch.
  • Some managed switches block multicast by default — enable IGMP snooping or allow multicast on port 3702.
  • Try ping-based discovery as a fallback.