Network and power
Every Prism device — door readers, the camera box, kiosks and screens — connects out to Prism over encrypted HTTPS. Nothing ever needs to connect in from the internet: no port forwarding, no VPN, no static IPs, no dynamic-DNS. If someone tells you to open a port on your router for Prism, they are wrong — and opening ports is exactly how gyms get their cameras on the public internet by accident. This chapter covers the few network rules that matter and what each device does after a power cut.
What you'll do
Check your network meets the (short) list of requirements, learn how devices stay healthy and updated on their own, and run the power-cut checklist once so an outage never becomes a callout.
You'll need: access to your router or firewall settings, and a staff account with the device-management permission.
Steps
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Give every device a working internet route. Devices only need outbound HTTPS — if your firewall filters outgoing traffic, allow it. Never forward a port to any Prism device.
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Keep staff devices and hardware on the same network. Face terminals are controlled over the local network, so the admin app must be able to reach them; a guest Wi-Fi that isolates clients will break terminal control and local live view.
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Don't bother reserving IP addresses. Terminals are re-found by serial number if their IP changes, and the camera box re-finds its camera the same way. Static IPs are fine but never required.
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Check device health from your phone. Door readers report in every minute — a reader shows online in the app within a minute of getting power and Wi-Fi. The camera box card shows its online state, versions, free disk and retention; tap Ping on the box menu for an instant round-trip test.
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Apply updates from the app when offered. The box menu has Update agent and Update recorder; readers update themselves the same way. Every update is integrity-checked before it is applied and rolls back automatically if the new version doesn't come up healthy — an update can never leave a door or recorder dead.
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Run the power-cut checklist below once, before you need it.
After a power cut
- Door readers — recover on their own. Everything they need is stored on the device; they rejoin Wi-Fi and show online within about a minute. Nothing to do.
- Face terminals — recover on their own, and they enforce access rules in their own firmware, so members get in even while the network is still coming up. If the terminal's IP changed, the app re-finds it automatically.
- Camera box — recovers on its own only if the three-part setup from the install chapter was done: BIOS power-on-after-loss, automatic login, and the autostart task. Verify with a 20-second power pull. A small UPS protects the recordings themselves and is strongly recommended.
- Router and switches — put them on the UPS too if you can; every device recovers faster when the network is already up.
What you should see
Every device shows online in its own screen — readers on the Access readers tab, terminals in Hardware Devices, the box in Security Cameras — and after a test power pull everything returns by itself within a few minutes.
If something goes wrong
- A device works on-site but shows offline in the app — it has no route to the internet. Check the gym's WAN connection and any outbound firewall rules; the device itself is fine.
- The admin app can't control a terminal that is clearly powered — you're probably on a different network (mobile data, guest Wi-Fi). Join the gym's staff Wi-Fi and retry.
- Someone asks you to port-forward "so support can reach the box" — decline. Prism never needs inbound access; diagnostics and updates all travel over the box's own outbound connection.
- Repeated outages keep corrupting recordings — that's the missing UPS, not a software setting. Fit one; the box's auto-recovery alone can't protect files being written when power dies.
Still stuck? Email hello@prismgym.com — include your gym name, the device, and a photo of what you see.