Very handy tutorial. Wish i saw this soon when i got my ER-X. Everything went smooth until it came to putting my Nighthawk back on the network. I should have went in and enabled bridging and disabled DHCP before i installed my ER-X, i had to spend quite some time unconnecting the ER-X and then taking the Nighthawk and hook it back up isolated because it would no longer register for me to access the interface after everything was setup. first time owning a wired router, but it was a great learning experience
I have watched all your videos to-date and you are the man with the network know-how. That’s my compliment. Just looking for direction here with my home network. I have 2 fibre ISP (Sky & Virgin). I also have BT Wholehome Mesh and EdgeRouter X. My plan is to set the 2 ISP routers as Modem ONLY, no Wi-Fi at all. Setup my EdgeRouter for dual wan with load balance but no fail-over as the 2 ISPs are equally 500MB bandwidths. Ideally I just want the EdgeRouter to send traffic to any of the providers in a 50:50 load balance. My issue is with the WI-FI as I have lots of IOT and wireless browsing and many iPhones/iPad/iMac et al. Now which is better Smart QOS or the hardware offloading? BT Wholehome mesh would provide the WI-FI and be connected via a switches. Ultimately I am going to add Ubiquity AP-PRO and a new Wi-Fi 6 mesh to replace the BT mesh. Any advice would be useful here about making the Wi-Fi faster?
I'll answer the hardware offloading vs. smart queue question first. Since you have an ER-X, you are not going to be able to use QoS at your provided speeds (500Mb). When you enable smart-queue, the ER-X will disable hardware offloading and only provide around 300Mbps of total throughput due to the CPU limitations. I believe you would be better off sticking with straight hardware offloading for your connections. I run an ER-4 in my home network which has a single 500/500 connection and I have never had an issue or a reason to need QoS on this connection. I'm running roughly 25 IoT devices, 10 phone/laptop/tablet/etc, 15 servers, and whatever else needs to connect. I would only give QoS a try if you actually run into issues with bandwidth, but I would imagine wireless coverage and client density will be more of a problem than your connection becoming saturated.
Great explanation, just what I was looking for.. Would be great if you could explain using two wireless routers connecting to one Edgerouter in load balancing and failover config on WAN ports ETH0 and ETH1, as set up by the wizard? I would suspect it would not be much different? Would really aprpeciate if you could address this?
Hello, first of all, you are the first youtuber for me who has an idea what he is talking about, secondly I can follow you with some explanations but I come to the end that it is quite complicated. Anyway, why I'm writing to you is that I really need your help. I ordered the internet from my internet provider as fiber optic, had 60 Mb download and 10 Mb upload with a static ip address and a modem / router combination FritzBox provided by the internet provider in bridge mode, because I had my own router from Asus RT- AX88U and I want to connect my devices to asus. But in the meantime I thought about it again and have now decided on an Edge router X SFP, because it supports SQM and I just, I ONLY emphasize, want to connect my gaming PC and use the asus RT-AX88U as an AP for the wireless devices. The question is, what would be the best, call the internet provider and ask that I want to connect the fiber optic SFP AON to my Edge router X SFP or should I let it be there and use the Fritzbox as bridge mode? Hope you could somehow help me with a tip. Thank you in advance
This might be a dummy question, but wouldn't it make sense to put the edgerouter on the edge? as in between the ISP connection and home network router? That way one would take advantage of the firewall rules/security settings on the edge router. It just makes sense that as traffic flows out of the network it would hit the edge router last, right before the ISP. I am wondering for example for my home network - I have a Modem, a TP-LINK11000x wifi 6 router, and I am thinking to purchasing an edge router. Would I be able to go from Modem -> Edge Router -> TP-LINK 11000x , and just static route between them?
You are correct, however (most of the time) the ISP router functions as a modem as well. The main issue is that you can't replace the ISP's device since it is serving more than one function. If you have a standalone modem, you don't really have a need for the ISP's router and you are free to do as you wish. You are also correct that you could just have the TP-link router run as an access-point.
Great video. I am setting up a WiFi system in an RV park and have a question about how to set up the office. Currently they have Comcast for buisness with IP phone, existing network and office computer plugged into the comcast router. I want to seperate the WiFi system using the Edgerouter-X from the office computer while still maintaining the IP phone system. Should I disable DHCP and NAT on the Comcast router, set it to DMZ or Bypass mode and set static IP's for the phone port and the office computer?
I have an Ubiquiti Dream router conected to my fiber ISP ONT and then I connected an EdgeRouter X to UDR and now I having double NAT on my Xbox (connected to the ERX). Any tips to solve the NAT issue?
I have a Bell 4000 router/modem and a 1Gbps plan. The 4000 modem has a 10G lan and four 1G lans as well as wifi 6. I previously used my edgerouter as my main router when I was with Rogers on a 250Mbps plan and used an Asus router as my AP for wifi. The question is: if I use the edgerouter as my primary for the Bell network is it more or less powerful then the 4000 router for handling the bandwidth for the whole home? ie. if I have all 5 LANs occupied and running systems constantly I don't want to switch to the edgerouter and get a Ubiquiti AP if the edgerouter hardware would be less stable then the Bell 4000 router, that is my concern I'm hoping you can clear up.
I can't say if the Edgerouter would be more or less "stable" than the 4000, but I can say the 4000 will most likely have a higher throughput than the Edgerouter. The Edgerouter is limited to around 950Mbps total throughput (total meaning up/down simultaneously). I'd reckon the Bell 4000 will do more than that... however I can't speak to the reliability.
I've been watching your videos and they've all been really helpful! My ISP gives me a block of 5 static public IPs, handed off by a Cisco Small Business Switch coming from port 1 only. I plug that directly into a Unifi USG, which then goes into my Unifi switch. As a result, I am really only able to use one of my static public IPs because of the limitations of the USG. How can I gain access to the rest of my IP block while still maintaining the whole Unifi ecosystem that looks pretty on the dashboard? Do you think introducing an edgerouter after the USG like you've described here solves my problem?
It's mainly because most combo units are cheaply made and the dedicated hardware is better-suited since it was designed around a single function. However, if you don't have any issues with your equipment or you don't need any more features that a dedicated AP would provide, then there isn't really a "need" to change what you already have.
ok i have a problem here...I have a NAS connected to EXR and the EXR connected to my ISP provider modem router.My NAS server running an OpenVPN server...but i belive im double NATTED....so what can do?Im trying with my smartphone and with 4G data to ceonnect over OpenVPN android client but connection is not establish.What i can do.?Thanks
Hello @Toasty Answers! Your video is indeed great and elaborative concerning the connections of the Edgerouter to an existing network! It contains all the information that I needed to safely setup my home network, except for one little detail! I would like to know what changes when instead of the DMZ option, you utilize the PPPoE Passthrough option of a modem-router combo unit, since DMZ is not an option for me. I saw multiple times this video of yours and I am not sure about the functionality of the network when you disable the DHCP server on the modem-router combo unit in order to utilize only the DHCP server of the Edgerouter, since I need to use the wifi of my modem-router combo unit. What I mean is that I don't know what happens if no DMZ is applied and at the same time the DHCP is disabled. Will the modem-router combo unit be able to locate the DHCP server of the network wich is the Edgerouter or not? Will the mobile phone connected to the modem-router combo be able to access the Edgerouter connected devices? Will the Edgerouter connected devices be able to access the internet? Thank you in advance for your time and effort into educating all of us, as well as answering our questions! Keep up the great work!
I've never had to configure PPPoE passthrough, so I'm not exactly sure what all this would affect. To answer your other question: If you disable DHCP on the modem/router combo, then your wireless devices will not be able to receive DHCP from the EdgeRouter. There is creative way around this by connecting an additional LAN port form the modem/router to a LAN port on the Edgerouter. This way you can still use the WiFi on the modem/router along with DHCP on the Edgerouter. You could leave DHCP enabled on both the modem/router combo and the Edgerouter. Without connecting a second cable, your wireless devices would grab DHCP from the modem/router and your wired would grab from the Edgerouter. These will still need to be separate networks and your Wireless and Wired devices would not be able to talk between each other.
@@ToastyAnswers Thank you very much kind sir! I have managed to "play" with both of your suggestions and indeed both work as you have mentioned. So I will have to accept those facts and complete my network setup accordingly! Concerning the PPPoE setup, it is quite simple. You just copy and paste the username and the password that the ISP provided you for each one of the internet connections and you just paste them accordingly to the respective fields during the wizard setup. Then everything about the load balancing works. Thank you once more for everything!
The theory makes complete sense but I I'm having problems applying it to my current modem and edgerouter. Would be great if you could show the actual configuration on both devices via web portal
Not really anything. The modem/router combo can connect to DSL, Cable, or Fiber. It doesn't really matter as it converts whichever signal it is designed for into ethernet. All concepts are the same.
Great video. However, I can't access the internet after putting my modem on DMZ and pointing it to the ETH0 address of my Edgerouter. The lan is on ETH1 and a different subnet. Do I need to configure something on the Edgerouter to make it understand that it is routing through the DMZ ?
You will need the default gateway of the Edgerouter set to the IP address of your modem. You will also need a static route set on your modem pointing to your Edgerouter for your local subnet.
wow your right why do that, just buy a bigger switch, But if you have a synology router and a edgerouterX why not use both , the synology router is a Beast, turn off DHCP on the X and let the S-router do all the work right? also put the S. MR2200ac in the garage
I really LOVE your away to explain in “simple terms” “simple concepts” of IP configuration for mid to advance IP users!
This is exactly what i was looking for!
Very handy tutorial. Wish i saw this soon when i got my ER-X.
Everything went smooth until it came to putting my Nighthawk back on the network.
I should have went in and enabled bridging and disabled DHCP before i installed my ER-X, i had to spend quite some time unconnecting the ER-X and then taking the Nighthawk and hook it back up isolated because it would no longer register for me to access the interface after everything was setup.
first time owning a wired router, but it was a great learning experience
Very intuitive approach, thx!
I have watched all your videos to-date and you are the man with the network know-how. That’s my compliment. Just looking for direction here with my home network. I have 2 fibre ISP (Sky & Virgin). I also have BT Wholehome Mesh and EdgeRouter X. My plan is to set the 2 ISP routers as Modem ONLY, no Wi-Fi at all. Setup my EdgeRouter for dual wan with load balance but no fail-over as the 2 ISPs are equally 500MB bandwidths. Ideally I just want the EdgeRouter to send traffic to any of the providers in a 50:50 load balance. My issue is with the WI-FI as I have lots of IOT and wireless browsing and many iPhones/iPad/iMac et al. Now which is better Smart QOS or the hardware offloading? BT Wholehome mesh would provide the WI-FI and be connected via a switches. Ultimately I am going to add Ubiquity AP-PRO and a new Wi-Fi 6 mesh to replace the BT mesh. Any advice would be useful here about making the Wi-Fi faster?
I'll answer the hardware offloading vs. smart queue question first. Since you have an ER-X, you are not going to be able to use QoS at your provided speeds (500Mb). When you enable smart-queue, the ER-X will disable hardware offloading and only provide around 300Mbps of total throughput due to the CPU limitations.
I believe you would be better off sticking with straight hardware offloading for your connections. I run an ER-4 in my home network which has a single 500/500 connection and I have never had an issue or a reason to need QoS on this connection. I'm running roughly 25 IoT devices, 10 phone/laptop/tablet/etc, 15 servers, and whatever else needs to connect.
I would only give QoS a try if you actually run into issues with bandwidth, but I would imagine wireless coverage and client density will be more of a problem than your connection becoming saturated.
Great presentation
Great explanation, just what I was looking for.. Would be great if you could explain using two wireless routers connecting to one Edgerouter in load balancing and failover config on WAN ports ETH0 and ETH1, as set up by the wizard?
I would suspect it would not be much different? Would really aprpeciate if you could address this?
Hello, first of all, you are the first youtuber for me who has an idea what he is talking about, secondly I can follow you with some explanations but I come to the end that it is quite complicated. Anyway, why I'm writing to you is that I really need your help.
I ordered the internet from my internet provider as fiber optic, had 60 Mb download and 10 Mb upload with a static ip address and a modem / router combination FritzBox provided by the internet provider in bridge mode, because I had my own router from Asus RT- AX88U and I want to connect my devices to asus. But in the meantime I thought about it again and have now decided on an Edge router X SFP, because it supports SQM and I just, I ONLY emphasize, want to connect my gaming PC and use the asus RT-AX88U as an AP for the wireless devices.
The question is, what would be the best, call the internet provider and ask that I want to connect the fiber optic SFP AON to my Edge router X SFP or should I let it be there and use the Fritzbox as bridge mode?
Hope you could somehow help me with a tip.
Thank you in advance
Useful as always thanks
Great Content, thank you
This might be a dummy question, but wouldn't it make sense to put the edgerouter on the edge? as in between the ISP connection and home network router? That way one would take advantage of the firewall rules/security settings on the edge router. It just makes sense that as traffic flows out of the network it would hit the edge router last, right before the ISP.
I am wondering for example for my home network - I have a Modem, a TP-LINK11000x wifi 6 router, and I am thinking to purchasing an edge router. Would I be able to go from Modem -> Edge Router -> TP-LINK 11000x , and just static route between them?
I just realized I could probably just have my TP-link router run as an access point.
You are correct, however (most of the time) the ISP router functions as a modem as well. The main issue is that you can't replace the ISP's device since it is serving more than one function. If you have a standalone modem, you don't really have a need for the ISP's router and you are free to do as you wish.
You are also correct that you could just have the TP-link router run as an access-point.
Thank you. Your setup videos on this are very instructional and education. Keep up the good work.
Great video. I am setting up a WiFi system in an RV park and have a question about how to set up the office. Currently they have Comcast for buisness with IP phone, existing network and office computer plugged into the comcast router. I want to seperate the WiFi system using the Edgerouter-X from the office computer while still maintaining the IP phone system. Should I disable DHCP and NAT on the Comcast router, set it to DMZ or Bypass mode and set static IP's for the phone port and the office computer?
Could you please clarify as to why did you remove the wild cast mask when you include the "host or any" words or ma I missing something....,
I have an Ubiquiti Dream router conected to my fiber ISP ONT and then I connected an EdgeRouter X to UDR and now I having double NAT on my Xbox (connected to the ERX). Any tips to solve the NAT issue?
I have a Bell 4000 router/modem and a 1Gbps plan. The 4000 modem has a 10G lan and four 1G lans as well as wifi 6. I previously used my edgerouter as my main router when I was with Rogers on a 250Mbps plan and used an Asus router as my AP for wifi.
The question is: if I use the edgerouter as my primary for the Bell network is it more or less powerful then the 4000 router for handling the bandwidth for the whole home? ie. if I have all 5 LANs occupied and running systems constantly
I don't want to switch to the edgerouter and get a Ubiquiti AP if the edgerouter hardware would be less stable then the Bell 4000 router, that is my concern I'm hoping you can clear up.
I can't say if the Edgerouter would be more or less "stable" than the 4000, but I can say the 4000 will most likely have a higher throughput than the Edgerouter.
The Edgerouter is limited to around 950Mbps total throughput (total meaning up/down simultaneously). I'd reckon the Bell 4000 will do more than that... however I can't speak to the reliability.
I've been watching your videos and they've all been really helpful! My ISP gives me a block of 5 static public IPs, handed off by a Cisco Small Business Switch coming from port 1 only. I plug that directly into a Unifi USG, which then goes into my Unifi switch. As a result, I am really only able to use one of my static public IPs because of the limitations of the USG. How can I gain access to the rest of my IP block while still maintaining the whole Unifi ecosystem that looks pretty on the dashboard? Do you think introducing an edgerouter after the USG like you've described here solves my problem?
Why is it not optimal to use the wifi of the modem/router combo...does it introduce latency compared to using a different wifi access point?
It's mainly because most combo units are cheaply made and the dedicated hardware is better-suited since it was designed around a single function. However, if you don't have any issues with your equipment or you don't need any more features that a dedicated AP would provide, then there isn't really a "need" to change what you already have.
ok i have a problem here...I have a NAS connected to EXR and the EXR connected to my ISP provider modem router.My NAS server running an OpenVPN server...but i belive im double NATTED....so what can do?Im trying with my smartphone and with 4G data to ceonnect over OpenVPN android client but connection is not establish.What i can do.?Thanks
Hello @Toasty Answers!
Your video is indeed great and elaborative concerning the connections of the Edgerouter to an existing network!
It contains all the information that I needed to safely setup my home network, except for one little detail!
I would like to know what changes when instead of the DMZ option, you utilize the PPPoE Passthrough option of a modem-router combo unit, since DMZ is not an option for me.
I saw multiple times this video of yours and I am not sure about the functionality of the network when you disable the DHCP server on the modem-router combo unit in order to utilize only the DHCP server of the Edgerouter, since I need to use the wifi of my modem-router combo unit. What I mean is that I don't know what happens if no DMZ is applied and at the same time the DHCP is disabled. Will the modem-router combo unit be able to locate the DHCP server of the network wich is the Edgerouter or not? Will the mobile phone connected to the modem-router combo be able to access the Edgerouter connected devices? Will the Edgerouter connected devices be able to access the internet?
Thank you in advance for your time and effort into educating all of us, as well as answering our questions!
Keep up the great work!
I've never had to configure PPPoE passthrough, so I'm not exactly sure what all this would affect.
To answer your other question: If you disable DHCP on the modem/router combo, then your wireless devices will not be able to receive DHCP from the EdgeRouter. There is creative way around this by connecting an additional LAN port form the modem/router to a LAN port on the Edgerouter. This way you can still use the WiFi on the modem/router along with DHCP on the Edgerouter.
You could leave DHCP enabled on both the modem/router combo and the Edgerouter. Without connecting a second cable, your wireless devices would grab DHCP from the modem/router and your wired would grab from the Edgerouter. These will still need to be separate networks and your Wireless and Wired devices would not be able to talk between each other.
@@ToastyAnswers Thank you very much kind sir! I have managed to "play" with both of your suggestions and indeed both work as you have mentioned. So I will have to accept those facts and complete my network setup accordingly!
Concerning the PPPoE setup, it is quite simple. You just copy and paste the username and the password that the ISP provided you for each one of the internet connections and you just paste them accordingly to the respective fields during the wizard setup. Then everything about the load balancing works.
Thank you once more for everything!
The theory makes complete sense but I I'm having problems applying it to my current modem and edgerouter. Would be great if you could show the actual configuration on both devices via web portal
Thanks...
What if your modem/router combo is connected to the internet via ethernet rather than coax, what changes then?
Not really anything. The modem/router combo can connect to DSL, Cable, or Fiber. It doesn't really matter as it converts whichever signal it is designed for into ethernet. All concepts are the same.
Great video. However, I can't access the internet after putting my modem on DMZ and pointing it to the ETH0 address of my Edgerouter. The lan is on ETH1 and a different subnet. Do I need to configure something on the Edgerouter to make it understand that it is routing through the DMZ ?
You will need the default gateway of the Edgerouter set to the IP address of your modem. You will also need a static route set on your modem pointing to your Edgerouter for your local subnet.
wow your right why do that, just buy a bigger switch, But if you have a synology router and a edgerouterX why not use both , the synology router is a Beast, turn off DHCP on the X and let the S-router do all the work right? also put the S. MR2200ac in the garage
1st !!