VLAN on Smart Hub 2 Using a Switch

[LegendarySpork9]

Hello,

Hope everyone is well.

I am looking at setting up a mini pc to act as a server at home. As part of its functions, it needs to be able to accept incoming traffic from outside computers but this obviously opens the home network up to potential attacks. I have spoken to my works Sys Admin and he suggested a VLAN but the Smart Hub 2 doesn't support it.

I am toying with the idea of buying a switch for £25 that does support it. My question is, if I ethanet the router to the switch and then the switch to the mini pc, can I filter traffic correctly? Does the smart hub tag traffic correctly?

For those that say, buy a router that supports VLAN, a) I don't have that kind of money to throw around and b) its not something the networks owners are open to. So this is really my only option.

Thanks in advance.

[licquorice · Accepted solution]

You don't need to open up your whole network, simply give the server a static IP address outside of the DHCP range of the hub and forward the relevant port(s) to it. The server will be password protected.

Bear in mind your public IP address will be dynamic so you will need to use a DDNS service on the hub.

[LegendarySpork9]

how does one do this? Assuming I know the ports needed, I can do that bit.

But how do I know what the range of the DHCP is and how do I know whether the IP will be available? How do I setup a DDNS service on the hub?

[licquorice]

Set the server to 192.168.1.10

Port forwarding and DDNS settings are in the advanced settings of the hub. You will need to set up an account with the service you decide to use. I can't remember off hand, but I think there are about 4 to choose from

[LegendarySpork9]

Thanks for all that, I'll have a look.

What exactly is the range of the DHCP though? just out of interest.

[licquorice]

You can see in the advanced settings but it is 192.168.1.64 - 192.168.1.253

[countrypaul]

The default iirc is 192.168.1.64-250 (but maybe 253 as I might have altered mine), the ones below 64 can be used for static addresses.

[LegendarySpork9]

Thanks, I did manage to find this.

I tried changing the IP of my PC to test it and even when allowing changes, I couldn't change the IP. I clicked the IP box and nothing happens.

[licquorice]

You need to set the adapter settings for IPv4 to manual rather than get via DHCP.

Set address as 192.168.1.10, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.254

[Crimliar]

When you alter the IP address of your computer, you'll need to "refresh" the connection to ensure the change takes!  One way of doing this from the command prompt is:

C:\Users\yourname>ipconfig /release
then
C:\Users\yourname>ipconfig /renew