Linksys E1550 manual

User Guide Linksys E1550 Wireles s -N R outer with SpeedBoost[...]

i Cont ents Linksys E1550 i Pr oduc t ov erview P ackage contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 F eatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Back view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Bottom view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

ii Cont ents Linksys E1550 How to con trol access t o your wireless network . . . . . . . . . . 30 How to impro ve security using the built-in firewall 31 How to configur e storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 How to crea te shared folders 32 How to manage gr oup and user access to shared f olders 33 How to crea te a group 3[...]

1 Pr oduct over view Linksys E1550 1 P ackage conten ts In addition to your router , your router package includes: • Network (Ethernet) cable • AC pow er adapter • Setup CD containing router setup software and documentation F eatures Wireless -N technology Built with leading 802.11n wireless technology, your router offers maximum speed and ra[...]

2 Pr oduct over view Linksys E1550 Back view Ethernet ports USB port Wi-F i Prot ected Setup button Internet port Po wer port Po wer indicator • USB port — T o easily share disk st orage with other users on your network or on the Internet, connect a USB dr ive to this port. F or more information, see “Using an External Drive” on page 32. ?[...]

3 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 3 How t o creat e a home network What is a netw ork? A network is any group of devices that can communicate with each other . A home network can also include Internet access, which requires a router like this one. A t ypical home net work may include multiple computers, a printer , a modem, and a router . A large [...]

4 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How to start Cisco Connect When you run the setup CD, Cisco Connect (your router’ s setup sof tware) is automatically installed onto your computer . Y ou can then use Cisco Connect to easily manage your router . T o install Cisco Connect on another computer after your r outer has been set up , see “How t o ins[...]

5 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How to install Cisc o Connect on another computer Although Cisco Connect is installed onto your computer when you run the setup CD , you may want to manage your router from a differen t computer on your network. CAUTION After your rout er has been set up, do not run the setup CD to install Cisco Connect to another[...]

6 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How t o connect devices to y our network How to c onnect a computer to your netw ork Y ou can connect a computer to your network using an Easy Setup Key (the easiest way) or manually . How to c onnect a computer using an Easy Setup Key T o use an Easy Setup Key , you first need to create one using any available US[...]

7 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 T o use your Easy Setup Key t o connect a computer to your netw ork: 1. Run Cisco Connect, then click Add device under Computers and devices. The Computers and other devic es screen opens. 2. Click Computer . 3. Select Y es, I have an Easy S etup Key , then click Next . The Connecting another computer screen opens[...]

8 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How to c onnect a printer When y ou install a print er that requires a cable , f ollow the printer’ s instructions for setting it up , then follow your computer’ s operating system instructions to share the printer with y our network . When you set up a wireless printer , however , it needs to communicate with[...]

9 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 3. Write down the Network name (SSID), Securit y Key , and Securit y Type information, or click Prin t these settings if you have a print er attached. 4. F ollow your device’ s instruc tions for entering the wireless net work information into the devic e. 5. After the device connects to your network, return to t[...]

10 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 2. Enter a password (from 4 to 32 characters), then enter a secret question and answer . • The password must contain from 4 to 32 valid characters, which are A-Z, a-z, and 0-9. • The answer to the secret question should be something not easily guessed by others. If you forget your password, you can reset it b[...]

11 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How to select the computers t o hav e parental contr ols It ’ s not necessar y to set parental controls over each computer on your home network. Y ou can set the controls on only those computers that children can access. T o selec t computers tha t will have par ental contr ols: 1. In the Parental contr ols mai[...]

12 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How t o set up guest access t o your network Y ou can use your router’ s guest access feature to provide your guests with access to the Internet, while restricting their access to other resourc es on your local net work. The guest network is shown as an open, unsecure wireless network that your guests can easil[...]

13 Setting Up: Basics Linksys E1550 How t o change your r outer ’ s name and passwor d Y ou can change the name and password of your router , but if you do so, all wireless devices connec ted to your router will lose their Internet connection until you rec onnect them using the new router name and password . CAUTION If you change your rout er ’[...]

14 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 14 How t o open the brow ser-based utilit y T o access some advanced settings, y ou need to open the brow ser-based utility . T o open the browser-based utility: 1. Run Cisco Connect, click Change under Router settings , click Advanced settings , then click OK . – or – Open a web br owser on a computer conn[...]

15 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 4. Open a web browser on the computer and open the address 192.168.1.1 . A login window appears. 5. Enter the default passw ord ( admin ). ( Y ou can leave the user name blank.) The brow ser-based utility opens to the main menu. 6. After you finish changing settings, click Save Settings at the bottom of the scr[...]

16 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 3. Review the DHCP S erver Setting fields (in the middle of the screen). Y ou can: • Enable or disable the DHCP server . • Change the starting address for the DHCP ser ver . • Change the number of users (253 maximum). 4. If you change any of the settings, click S av e Settings at the bottom of the page. T[...]

17 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 T o set up DDNS: Setup > DDNS 1. Sign up for DDNS service at either ww w .dyndns.org or ww w .tzo.c om . 2. Log into the bro wser-based utility (see “How to open the brow ser-based utility ” on page 14). 3. Click the Setup tab, then click the DDNS page . 4. In the DDNS Ser vice drop- down list, click you[...]

18 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 5. Click Save Settings . How t o connect to your c orporat e office using a VPN What is a VPN, and do I need to change my router settings? A VPN ( Virtual Privat e Network) is a network that uses a public network, such as the Internet, to provide secure communications bet ween a remote computer and another netw[...]

19 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 How t o optimize y our router f or gaming and voic e How does my router prioritize traffic to the Internet? Y our router has QoS (Quality of Service) settings that can prioritize traffic from your network out to the Internet. P er formance for demanding, real-time applications, such as online gaming, V oIP call[...]

20 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 • MAC Address and V oice Device —Let you prioritize net work traffic based on the devic e that is acc essing the network. F or example, if you want your gaming console to have higher priority than your computer for accessing the I nternet, you can assign a higher priorit y to your game console using its MA [...]

21 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 T o access y our router remotely: 1. Open a web browser and enter the Internet address of your router , then press Enter . • If you selected HT TP for your A ccess via setting , enter http:// then the IP address. – OR – • If you selected HT TPS for your A ccess via setting abov e, enter https:// then th[...]

22 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 5. T o prevent local network users from disabling your Internet connec tion through UPnP , select Disabled (default) nex t to Allow Users to Disable Internet Acc ess . Other wise, select Enabled . How t o use a router as an ac cess poin t How can I use my old router as an access point? I f you have a large area[...]

23 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 e. Change the wireless channel to a non-conflic ting channel. Some manufacturers have an “ Auto ” function for channel selection that automatically selects a wireless channel that does not inter fere with other nearby wireless networks. If your old router suppor ts an Auto function, select tha t. Other wise[...]

24 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 TIP Although you can determine your c omputer ’ s IP address in many ways , this method is very fast. d. T ake note of the IP address. In this example, the IP address is 192.168.100.192. T o determine the address range by using a Mac computer: a. Connect your computer int o your upstream network’ s router .[...]

25 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 T o use their DNS: Setup > Basic Setup 1. Log into the bro wser-based utility (see “How to open the brow ser-based utility ” on page 14). 2. Click the Setup tab, then click the Basic Setup page. 3. Complete the Static DNS fields with the information provided by your content filt ering provider . 4. Click[...]

26 Setting Up: Advanced Linksys E1550 7. Click Save Settings to apply y our changes. If you prefer to specify the 12-digit MAC address of the device you want to place in the DMZ instead of setting up a DHCP address reser vation, you can replac e Step 6 with the following steps: a. Click Enabled . b . In the S ource IP Address section, select Any IP[...]

27 Improving Security Linksys E1550 27 How do I know if m y network is secur e? If you configured your router using Cisco Connect, your network is secur e. During setup, Cisco Connect creates a name for your network, enables industr y- standard WP A/WP A2 wir eless security, and assigns a highly secure password for your wireless network and the adm[...]

28 Improving Security Linksys E1550 T o manually set your router’ s wireless security settings: Wireless > Wir eless Securit y 1. Log into the bro wser-based utility (see “How to open the brow ser-based utility ” on page 14). 2. Click the W ireless tab , then click the Wir eless Security page. 3. Select your preferred securit y t ype from [...]

29 Improving Security Linksys E1550 How to c onnect a device using its Wi-F i Protected Setup PIN Use this method if your device has a W i-Fi P rotected Setup PIN (P ersonal Identification Number). T o connect a device using the device ’ s W i-Fi Protected Setup PIN: Wireless > Basic Wir eless Settings 1. Log into the bro wser-based utility (s[...]

30 Improving Security Linksys E1550 How t o contr ol acc ess to y our wireless network Wh y would I need to control access to my wireless network? If you used Cisco Connect to configure your router , your wireless net work is alr eady secure. By default, Cisco Connect enables industry-standard WP A ( Wi-Fi P rotected Access) security using WP A2/WP[...]

31 Improving Security Linksys E1550 7. Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page . 8. Click Wireless Client List again to check the updated device list. Only the device you selected remains on the network. How to impr ov e security using the built-in firewall Wh y would I need to change my security settings? B y default, the firewall settings i[...]

32 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 32 How t o configure st orage Wh y would I need to configure storage? By default, when you connect a storage device t o y our rout er , the en tire c ontents of the device are a vailable f or read and write access to anyone on y our local network (no login credentials are required). However , you can also cr[...]

33 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 c. Click S av e Settings a t the bottom of the screen, then repeat the above steps t o add more folders that y ou want to share . How to manage g roup and user acc ess to shared folders T o manage access to shared folders, you need to disable Anonymous Disk Access , then create groups and user accounts on yo[...]

34 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 3. Under Group Management , click Crea te New Group . 4. Complete the Gr oup Name and Description fields. 5. F rom the Access drop-down list, select r ead-only to grant read-only rights to the group , or select read-and-write to grant read and write rights to the group . 6. Click Create . The group is no w c[...]

35 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 6. F rom the Group Member drop -down list, selec t the group to assign the user to , then click Create . The new user is displayed in the user list. 7. T o change the user name, description, or group membership, or to temporarily disable the account, click E dit . 8. T o delete the user , click Delete . How [...]

36 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 How t o configure y our router ’ s storage for r emote ac cess Wh y would I need to access my router’ s storage remotely? I f your router ’ s storage is set up for remote access , you can access your files anywhere you have an Internet connection. T o do this, you must enable the router ’ s built-in [...]

37 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 How to shar e folders and set ac cess rights Y ou can select which folders to share. Y ou can also select which users can access the folders. For more information on managing access rights, see “How to configure st orage” on page 32. T o configure FTP and con trol folder acc ess: Storage > FTP Server [...]

38 Using an External Drive Linksys E1550 How t o access files r emotely T o access files r emotely , y ou must first attach a USB drive to your router and set up that storage for remote acc ess. F or instructions, see “How to configure y our router’ s storage for remote access” on page 36. Y ou can then access files from anywhere on the Inter[...]

39 P or t F or warding and P or t T riggering Linksys E1550 39 How t o set up por t for warding Why would I use por t forwarding? P or t forwarding is a feature that forwards inbound traffic from the Internet on a specific port or por ts to a specific devic e or port on your local network . Y ou can set up por t forwarding for: • A single port (s[...]

40 P or t F or warding and P or t T riggering Linksys E1550 How to set up port for war ding for multiple por ts Wh y would I set up port forwarding for multiple por ts? Port for warding is a featur e that forwards inbound traffic from the Internet on a specific port to a single device on your local network . Unlike a web camera that typically only [...]

41 P or t F or warding and P or t T riggering Linksys E1550 T o set up por t range forwarding: Applications & Gaming > Port Range F or war ding 1. Log into the bro wser-based utility (see “How to open the brow ser-based utility ” on page 14). 2. Set up a DHCP reservation for the IP address of the computer on which you installed the softw[...]

42 P or t F or warding and P or t T riggering Linksys E1550 How t o configure y our Xbox f or online gaming Wh y would I set up my Xbox for online gaming? Online gaming adds another dimension to using your Xbox. As with other online gaming applications and gaming consoles, you need to forward multiple por ts to use your Xbox for online gaming. The [...]

43 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 43 How t o back up and restor e your r outer configur ation Wh y do I need to back up my router configura tion? As with any valuable data, you should back up your router configuration. Y our router might contain many customized settings . Those settings would be lost if you r eset y our router to its fac [...]

44 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 T o reset your rout er to factor y defaults with the reset button: 1. With your router connected to power and turned on, press and hold the Reset button on the bottom of your r outer for 5-10 seconds . T o reset y our rout er to factory defaults using the brow ser-based utility: Administration > F ac t[...]

45 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 4. Click the Downloads tab, then select the hardware version for y our router fr om the Selec t Hardware V ersion drop -down list. 5. Compare the latest available firmware version on the website with your current version. If there is a newer version, click Release Notes to see if the newer version contain[...]

46 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 T o check your router sta tus using the brow ser-based utility: Status > Router Status > L ocal Network Status > Wireless Network Status > Ports 1. Log into the bro wser-based utility (see “How to open the brow ser-based utility ” on page 14). 2. Click the Status tab, then click the Router[...]

47 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 How to disable the E thernet por t status lights Wh y would I want to disable the Ethernet por t status lights? Depending on the placement of the router in a home, some users might find the lights distracting. Y ou can easily disable the lights using Cisco Connect, but you can also disable them using the [...]

48 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 How to t est your Internet c onnection What utilities are included in my router to test my Internet connection? Y our router includes two diagnostic tests, Ping and Tr aceroute , that let you check net work connections, including network devices and your I nternet connection. T o diagnose your Internet c [...]

49 Maintaining and Monitoring Linksys E1550 A window opens with the test results . How to c onfigure and use logs What kind of logging capabilities does my router hav e? Y our router can track all traffic for your Internet connec tion. Y our router supports four types of logs: T o enable and view router logs: Administration > L og 1. Log into th[...]

50 Specifications Linksys E1550 50 Linksys E1550 Model Name Linksys E1550 Description Wireless-N Router with SpeedBoost Model Number E1550 Standards 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.3u Ports Power, Internet, Ethernet (1-4), USB Buttons Reset, Wi-Fi Protected Setup LEDs Power/Wi-Fi Protected Setup, Internet, Ethernet (1-4) Cabling Type CAT 5e Transmit[...]

51 Brow ser-based Utility Menu Struc ture Linksys E1550 51 Linksys E1550 Setup Basic Setup Language Internet Setup Internet Connection T ype Optional Settings Network Setup Router Address DHCP Server Setting Time Settings Time Zone Reboot DDNS DDNS DDNS Service MA C Address Clone MAC A ddress Clone Advanced Routing NA T Dynamic Routing (RIP) Static[...]

3425-00977 Cisco, the Cisc o logo, and Linksys ar e trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affilia tes in the United States and other countries . A listing of Cisco ’ s trademarks can be found at www.cisco .com/go/trademarks. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. © 2011 Cisc[...]