How to connect NAS to Surf Soho MK3 Router

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1

I have a Surf Soho MK3 Router configured with VLANs.

I would like to get a NAS and connect it to the router via the USB WAN port and make it available to my main workstation that’s connected to the router.

Then connect the router via ethernet to an audio streamer in another room to serve audio to a stereo system.

Having not done this, let me ask some quick questions:

  1. Can I do this, and do it fairly easily?

  2. Is there a better approach?

  3. What are the basic configuration steps to connect in this manner?

Thanks much,

Fred

2

The ‘USB WAN port’ is only for USB WAN as the name of the port indicates. It does not support printers, mass storage devices, cameras, etc.

The NAS will need to connect via a LAN port or WiFi.

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3

Thanks. I currently have one LAN port open. I suspect I can connect a switch to one of the LAN ports and then move all of the computer LAN connections from the peplink to the switch.

That would give me two available LAN ports on the peplink: one for the NAS and one to connect to the audio streamer.

Would that be a reasonable step to take?

Should I consider another peplink router with more ports? If so, which router?

Thanks,

Fred

4

When starting lacking of LAN ports, you can indeed add another router or a switch. A next step could be a Balance One with 8 LAN ports, but I would suggest to contact a local Peplink Reseller to discuss the best solution for your setup.

https://www.peplink.com/peplink-certified-partners/

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5

Thank you for your help!

6

Hello

I have a NAS connected to a Surf soho via Ethernet. Works pretty well.
I also use 2 switches from Netgear.

7

Thanks. Is it exposed to the internet? I would not want to do that. What general router configuration would I use to keep it private?

8

Hi,

you can create a VLAN for this “to be secured devices” and separate them from the internet.
You can allow only the Ports you need from you normal internal network to access the devices.

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9

Ok, thanks much!

10

A NAS connected to a Peplink router is, by default, NOT exposed to the Internet. No devices are. That said, there 2 ways for the NAS to be exposed - in and out.

IN: this is blocked by the router firewall, with any router. If the router has UPnP enabled then a NAS may poke a hole in the firewall on its own. Consumer routers have UPnP enabled by default. Peplink takes the more secure stance and has UPnP disabled by default. You can enable it on a Peplink router, I would not.

OUT: Some NAS boxes may be able to expose themselves by making an outbound connection to a service run by the NAS hardware manufacturer. This is something you would have to configure in the NAS operating system. That said, a Peplink router can block this too, if desired, by creating an outbound firewall rule.

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11

Thanks much. Let me digest this…