Setup and WebUI - Continued

On the bridge page you can setup a WDS (wireless distribution system) network. This allows you to connect multiple wireless access points without the need to cable your house or office.

The LAN tab is very simple with not much to cover. You can configure the static IP, DHCP server and setup some static routes if needed (great for site to site VPN connections).

The WAN pages help control the access to your internal network from the outside world. Here is where you would setup your ISP information along with port triggers (allow specific application packets to open ports dynamically), setup port mapping for internal services, advanced QoS features and much more.

The DMZ tab is something that most home users will never bother with. This allows you to place a system in front of your firewall and allow unrestricted access to that server. This can be dangerous, so we would caution you in using it.

DDNS (Dynamic DNS) is a great feature for people that want to have services (FTP, Personal Web pages, etc) on the internet, but cannot afford to pay for their own static IP address. As you can see, you can set the RT-N56U to use quite a few services to make sure that if your IP updates, your site will still be available.

Between the WAN tab and the Firewall tab there is a USB application tab. This is just an extension of the AiDisk feature with more granular controls.

The Firewall section is all about protection. You can enable some handy little items here to help keep your home network running (of course, most are not needed by the average home network).

The Administration area is just that. You can control the modes of the RT-N56U. It can operate as an Edge appliance with protection for your home network in the form of a firewall and also NAT (Network Address Translation). You can also set it up as a bridge (which ASUS calls Router mode) to place this inline behind another router or device that connects you to the internet. There is no NAT, so all services are available to both sides of the network.

The final mode is the Access Point. This puts the RT-N56U in place as a simple wireless device with no firewall, NAT or other services. It will serve up both 5GHz and 2.4GHz wireless to your home and that is it.

In the system section you can set the time zone and also change the Admin Password.