Linksys router and TZO

	Using TZO with your Linksys Cable / DSL Router Model BEFSR41
	Many users with Cable and xDSL broadband connections are using hardware routers such as the Linksys Cable/DSL Routers to connection their local area network to the Internet. This tutorial explains how to configure your Linksys router with TZO, and setting the router to run a mail and web server on your local area network.

	A hardware router offers a simple, easy to use and reliable way to share your broadband Internet connection with the rest of your network. These hardware routers are easier to set up than a PC acting as a NAT/Gateway, and they are often more reliable, since a PC has many points of failure, such as a hard disk, network card, power supply, RAM, etc, where the Linksys hardware router has a single point of failure.

	TZO Dynamic DNS works great behind the Linksys Router, or any other hardware or software router. The router WAN (Wide Area Network - or Internet) IP address is typically the only USEABLE address on the router, and this is the IP address that gets published in the TZO Dynamic DNS system. Since this WAN IP is the incoming IP Address of the router, the router's PORTS need to be configured if you want to run a server. The router acts a a sort of firewall or NAT (Network Address Translator) and offers basic port filtering for security purposes. This port filtering also prevents you from running a web server, email server, or any other server like Internet Games, Netmeeting, etc.

	This tutorial assumes you are running TZO software on one of the PC's either BEHIND the Linksys router, basically any PC on the local area network that is connected to the router will work. The PC can log into TZO using the TZO Software for Windows, Linux or the TZO Control Panel. Some routers such as the Linksys WRT54G wireless 802.11g router has TZO integrated into the router, so no software is needed. See the TZO support page for more info on other Linksys tutorials.

	Once the TZO software downloaded and it is running, it should show the IP address of the WAN port of the router. (See the status tab screen of the router - not shown below)

	In the following tutorial, we give a basic overview of the Linksys Cable/DSL router setup, and then we assume that you have TZO Dynamic DNS and that it is running, and you have a web server and or email server set up for your domain. You can see other tutorials on the TZO Support page on running your own web server and email server, as well as other types of servers.



	The Main Setup Screen of the Linksys Cable/DSL BEFSR41 Router shows the Hostname, Firmware version and more

	When you set the Linksys router up, you need to configure the WAN and LAN settings under the SETUP Screen as shown below. This SETUP Screen shows the ROUTER NAME, DOMAIN NAME, and shows the FIRMWARE VERSION. Please note that you should see the Linksys Website or FTP Site to get the LATEST FIRMWARE, or see SmallNetbuilder.com for a great review and detailed information on the Linksys Router.

	This SETUP Screen shown above shows the ROUTER NAME, DOMAIN NAME, and shows the FIRMWARE VERSION. Please note that you should see the Linksys Website or FTP Site to get the LATEST FIRMWARE, or see SmallNetBuilder for a great review and detailed information on most the Linksys Routers.

	Below is the DHCP settings. You can set the starting IP for LAN clients using DHCP on your network, the lease time, enable or disable DHCP, and set the range of IP's to be used by the DHCP server.



	The DHCP Screen of the Linksys Cable/DSL Router, allows you to set the number of DHCP users, lease time and more.

	Once we get the router up and running, DHCP configured the way we want it, we can start preparing the router to run a web server,ftp server and other servers. For information on running other types of servers, you need the Incoming PORT(s) of the desired service, and once you have the port(s), you can set the port as shown in the example below for Passive FTP (Port 20-21) and Web (port 80) as well as SMTP (25). Once you decide what PC is going to run the web, ftp, email server, you need to forward the proper port to the proper Internal IP address of the server. For example:

	- We have 1 PC on the internal network, the server is set at 192.168.1.100.

	- We also have another PC, that has a Web, FTP and mail Server that has the LAN IP Address of 192.168.1.100, so in the example below, we set SERVICE PORT 80 to IP ADDRESS 192.168.1.100 - We have a FTP and SMTP Mail Server as well, so these ports (20-21 and 25) are also set to 192.168.1.100.

	If you have trouble with the FORWARDING tab shown below, you can set ONE PC to be a DMZ Host (See the DMZ Host Tab under Advanced), which means that the router will totally expose ALL PORTS to this PC, offering NO Filtering at all. This would be a last resort for testing purposes, and is not recommended to leave a host exposed via DMZ. You should also use static LAN IP's, instead of DHCP. See note at the bottom of this tutorial.



	The FORWARDING Screen of the Linksys BEFSR41 Cable/DSL Router, under the ADVANCED section.

	After you configure the ports to the proper IP Address, then click the apply button. The sets the router to forward the proper ports to your servers. To add other applications, you need to know the Service Port(s) and then you need to set the server up on your LAN and set the proper IP address. If you want to use Microsoft NetMeeting on the IP Address of 192.168.1.100, you would forward the ports 1503 and 1720 to 192.168.1.100

	Once you set the ports up, run your server(s) and have your friend try out your domain name in your browser! It's that easy.

	*Please Note: To use servers on your LAN behind the Linksys router, and host your own WWW and FTP servers on the Internet, you should use static IP's on your LAN. This means that you should set the server to an IP outside of the DHCP range. Since the screenshot below shows the starting DHCP range at 192.168.1.100, and 50 users, that means that we can set a static IP on our server to 192.168.1.10 and not have a problem or IP conflict. Some routers work fine with DHCP and port forwarding, and some do not. It all depends on the router and the firmware version. If you have problems with port forwarding and DHCP, set the server to a static LAN IP and that should fix the problem.

	If you have trouble with ports, and want more information, you can see http://www.PortDetective.com and you should also check out Shield's Up, a personal security Website at http://www.grc.com

	These websites can help determine what ports you have open on the router, and Port Detective can even help you find out if your ISP blocks these ports as well. For more information on the Linksys cable and DSL router, please see the Linksys website at http://www.Linksys.com