Linksys WRT1900AC Router Manual PDF (Setup & Configuration Guide)

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WRT 1900AC

Setting Up: Advanced

Note:

If you select Wireless-N Only, you may need to temporarily change your network

settings to Mixed to provide access to guests without Wireless-N networking.

Split your traffic

The best way to improve your multimedia wireless performance is to split your

wireless traffic between your router’s bands (ranges of radio frequencies). Your

router supports the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band, and handles the two bands

as two separate wireless networks to manage the traffic.

The most common way to split wireless traffic is to use the 2.4 GHz band for basic

Internet tasks such as web browsing, email, and downloads, and use the 5 GHz

band for streaming multimedia.

Although the 2.4 GHz band may be more crowded with wireless traffic from your

neighbors, it’s fine for basic Internet traffic that is not time-sensitive such as

e-mail. Even though you are connected to your own wireless network, you are still

sharing air time with nearby networks. The 5 GHz band is much less crowded than

the 2.4 GHz band, so it’s ideal for streaming multimedia. The 5 GHz band has more

available channels, so it is more likely that you will have your own, interference-

free channel for your wireless network.

By default, your dual-band router uses the same network name on both the

2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band. The easiest way to segment your traffic is

to rename one of your wireless networks. With a separate, descriptive name, it

will be easy to connect to the right network.

Reconfigure your wireless network:

•

page ¶.)

•

Under

Router Settings

, click

Wireless

. The

Wireless

page opens to the

Wireless

tab.

Click

Edit

next to the network band you want to modify. Change any of the

settings.

•

Enabled

— Deselect to disable the network band.

•

Network name (SSID)

— You can provide a unique SSID for each band of your

network. The name must not exceed 32 characters.

•

Password

— You can provide a unique password for each band of your network.

•

Network mode

— Your choice depends upon the clients that will connect to your

network. If all of your devices are Wireless-N capable, you can select

Wireless-N

Only for either or both bands.

On the 2.4 GHz band, you can select from the following:

•

Mixed

•

Wireless-B/G/N Only

•

Wireless-B/G Only

•

Wireless-N Only

•

Wireless-G Only

•

Wireless-B Only

Page 27 / 108

WRT 1900AC

Setting Up: Advanced

On the 5 GHz band, you can select from the following:

•

Mixed

(default), which accepts connections from 802.11a or 802.11n clients

•

Wireless-N Only

(802.11n only)

•

Wireless-A/N Only

•

Wiresless-A Only

Security mode

— You can set up different security options for the 2.4 GHz and 5

GHz networks. If the security mode you select requires a passphrase, a

Password

field appears, and you must enter a password. You can select:

•

None (no security)

•

WEP

•

WPA Personal

•

WPA Enterprise

•

WPA2 Personal

•

WPA2 Enterprise

•

WPA2/WPA Mixed Personal

•

WPA2/WPA Mixed Enterprise

Tip:

Wireless-N networks should use the WPA2-Personal security mode for best

performance.

Channel width

— We recommend that you keep the default (Auto) setting for each

band. In Auto mode, the router and the network clients automatically switch to the

40 MHz

mode if the following happens:

Your wireless clients support the 40 MHz mode (sometimes called

Bonded

mode)

in which two 20 MHz channels are bonded together for better performance.

There is no adjacent interference.

With more available channels and less chance of interference on the 5 GHz band,

you have the option to force the 40 MHz mode.

On the 2.4 GHz band, you can select from the following:

•

Auto

(20 MHz or 40 Mhz)

•

20 MHz Only

On the 5 GHz band, you can select:

•

Auto

(automatically selects from the options below)

•

20 MHz Only

•

40 MHz Only

Channel

—Choose the operating channel for each band. Your router will automati-

cally select the channel with the least amount of interference if you leave the default

Auto

setting. We recommend keeping the default settings for both bands.

To save your changes, click

HOW TO CONTROL ACCESS TO YOUR NETWORK

By default, setup enables industry-standard WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) security

using WPA2/WPA mixed mode. If you set up your wireless network manually and

have not enabled wireless security, your wireless network will be an open network

that almost anyone nearby with a Wi-Fi-enabled device could access.

If you choose not to use the built-in security features of your router, you can still

control access to your wireless network using MAC filtering. Every network device

has a unique, ´2-digit MAC (Media Access Control) address. Using MAC filtering,

you can allow only known MAC addresses, and therefore known devices, onto your

network. You can also exclude specific MAC addresses, denying them access to

your network.

Tip:

MAC filtering is not strong security. The best way to secure your network is to

use the router’s WPA2 security setting.

Example:

Because each MAC filtering configuration is unique, this simplified

example shows how to set up MAC filtering to allow only one device access to the

network.

Tip:

It is easier to select

Allow

to permit only known devices than to try to

Deny

(exclude) unknown devices.

Page 28 / 108

WRT 1900AC

Setting Up: Advanced

To set up MAC filtering to allow one device access to your network:

•

page ¶.)

•

Under

Router Settings

, click

Wireless

. The Wireless page will open.

•

Click the

MAC Filtering

tab.

•

Select Enabled next to MAC Filters, and select Allow access for ONLY the listed

MAC addresses.

•

Click

Add MAC Address

. Enter the MAC address into the

MAC Filter List

and

click

Save

HOW TO IMPROVE SECURITY USING THE BUILT³IN FIREWALL

By default, the firewall settings in your router work well in most home environ-

ments. You don't need to make changes. The SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) fire-

wall is enabled by default, and anonymous Internet requests and IDENT requests

are filtered by default. All web filters are disabled, because enabling them may

cause problems for sites that depend on ActiveX controls, Java, or cookies.

If you decide to change your firewall settings, log in to Linksys Smart Wi-Fi.

(See “How to connect to Linksys Smart Wi-Fi” on page 7.) Under Router Set-

tings, click Security. The Security page will open to the Firewall tab.

You can now change the following settings:

Tip:

For more descriptions of each setting, click

Help

at the top of the screen.

Firewall:

•

SPI firewall protection

— This helps protect your local network from Internet

threats. This option is enabled by default. On some router models, this setting is

separated into IPv6 and IPv4 options so that each can be handled separately.

Caution:

To help protect your network, you should keep this option enabled.

Page 29 / 108

WRT 1900AC

Setting Up: Advanced

VPN Passthrough:

•

IPSec Passthrough

—

IPSec

(Internet Protocol Security) is a suite of protocols

used to implement secure exchange of packets at the IP layer. The VPN clients

on the local network can establish an IPSec VPN tunnel through the router. This

option is enabled by default.

•

PPTP Passthrough

—

PPTP

(Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) allows the PPP

(Point-to-Point Protocol) to be tunneled through an IP network. The VPN clients

on the local network can establish a PPTP VPN tunnel through the router. This

option is enabled by default.

•

L2TP Passthrough

—

L2TP

(Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) enables point-to-point

sessions using the Internet on the Layer 2 level. The VPN clients on the local

network can establish an L2TP VPN tunnel through the router. This option is

enabled by default.

Internet filters:

Filter anonymous Internet requests

— This filter blocks Internet requests from

unknown sources such as ping requests. This option is enabled by default.

•

Filter multicast

— Multicasting allows a single transmission to simultaneously

reach specific recipients within your local network. Select this option to block

multicasting. This option is disabled by default.

•

Filter Internet NAT redirection

— This filter prevents a local computer from

using a URL or Internet IP address to access the local server. Select this option

to enable the filter. This option is disabled by default. On some router models, this

setting applies to IPv4 Internet only.

•

Filter ident (Port 133)

— This filter prevents port 133 from being scanned by

devices from the Internet. This option is enabled by default.

Click

Save

CHANGING IPVµ FIREWALL SETTINGS

On some router models, the IPv6 firewall lets you customize IPv6 port services

for applications. When users send these types of requests to your network via the

Internet, the router will allow those requests to the appropriate computers.

Note:

To use your router’s IPv6 Internet connection settings, IPv6 service from your

ISP (Internet service provider) is required. For more information on this service,

ask your ISP.

To set IPv6 firewall settings, do the following:

•

page ¶.

•

Under

Router Settings

, click

Security

. The

Security

page opens to the

Firewall

tab.

Click

Add IPv6 Firewall Setting

. You can now change the following fields:

•

Description

— Enter a description of the application.

•

Protocol

— Select

TCP, UDP

, or

Both

(default).

•

IPv6 Address

— Enter the IPv6 address of the computer that should receive the

traffic.

•

Allow

— Select the range of port(s) used by incoming traffic.

Click

Save

. The list will update to show the new settings:

•

To change a saved setting, click

Edit

next to the setting.

•

To delete a saved setting, click

Remove

next to the setting.

Page 30 / 108

WRT 1900AC

Setting Up: Advanced

HOW TO SET UP THE DHCP SERVER ON YOUR ROUTER

Your router can be used as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server

to automatically assign an IP address to each computer or device on your network.

The DHCP server is enabled by default. If you already have a DHCP server on your

network, or if you do not want to use your router as a DHCP server, you should

disable this setting.

To configure your router’s DHCP server settings do the following:

page ¶.)

Under

Router Settings

, click

Connectivity

Click the

Local Network

tab.

To disable the DHCP server, deselect the Enabled checkbox.

Leave the Enabled checkbox selected to edit the following settings:

•

Start IP address

•

Maximum number of users

•

IP address range (not editable)

•

Client lease time

•

Static DNS values

•

WINS

Click

HOW TO SET UP DHCP RESERVATION

DHCP reservation allows you to assign a unique, fixed IP address to a specific

device on your network. Assigning a fixed IP address is a good way to manage

devices such as print servers, web cameras, network printers, and game con-

soles. A fixed IP address is also recommended if you want to use port forwarding

for devices that need to receive inbound traffic from the Internet (“How to set up

port forwarding” on page 39).

To configure DHCP reservation do the following:

page ¶.)

Under

Router Settings

, click

Connectivity

Click the

Local Network

tab, and click

DHCP Reservations

. The

DHCP Reservations

list opens, which lists attached network devices and current DHCP reservations.

Click the Select checkbox next to the device you want to reserve, and click

Add DHCP Reservation.

Click

Edit

to change the reservation details, or click

Delete

to delete the

reservation.

Tip:

For field descriptions, click

Help

at the top of the screen.

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