So, i’ve been running my Labs on the peplink device and so far quite happy with it.
I just want to clarify one thing though. One of our distributors mentioned that peplink should have at least ONE public IP assigned as its interface. Is this true?
We have clients that have internet connections with no public IP address only private IP addressing (basically commercial/home-based internet connections OR setups where peplink is behind a NAT or multiple NAT devices). Basically just for internet use.
PS: My simulation/lab runs the device behind NAT, basically all WAN connections are private IPs though, that’s why I want to counter/question our distributors information. Personally, i dont think this is true(considering my lab is working fine). Regardless, I would like to clarify it from you guys. “Does Peplink require at least one public IP assigned to it?”
A typical use is with a routable public IP address WAN-side (well, actually, could be several such connections.) But the address the router “sees” on a WAN port may be a private address – as you have well illustrated.
Quick example: If it’s a cellular connection the carrier’s NAT may hand you a private address. But that does not mean it’s a “dead end” and you are deprived of communications with the “outside world.” Another carrier may give you a public address. They both work. And, there are some situations where it is desirable to cascade routers. The second router may be handed a private address by the first. This is not necessarily a problem (although it can be.)
So, does it work for you? Great! Ultimately that’s all that’s important.
We often recommend to people that they have 1 public IP to get a SpeedFusion connection working, but as @Rick-DC has pointed out, we don’t mean that it is required for that public IP to be directly assigned to a WAN interface, only that there is inbound connectivity mapped to that WAN interface, like a 1:1 NAT from your ISP.
Similar to what you are seeing, many of the popular cloud platforms give you a public IP to use with each VM, but they usually hand you a private IP that is then 1:1 NAT’d to the public IP.
