ZyXEL → WAN port as a 5th ethernet port?

This is probably a dumb question, but if the WAN port on a router is not being used (i.e. the router is serving just as a WAP and switch for another firewall device, like a Zywall 2 plus) can this port but used as additional switch port (or uplink)?

Just curious. Thanks. -Pat

Which product?

dslpartner - I currently have a P-334W, although I was actually thinking in more general terms with this question. I assume then that some models can and some can't? Is this something that would normally be identified on the spec sheet?

In general I would say it wont work, since the WAN port usually is physically another device than the LAN.

But it can also be on the same chip and then its the chips configuration that decides wether it is part of the lan or not.

But most routers cant be configured to bridge between wan and lan, so any devices on the wan port will be on a different subnet from your lan.

In general, no you can't use the WAN port as the 5th Ethernet, citing the reason already stated by dslpartner. However, the ZyXEL P-330W has a bridge mode, and in that mode, the WAN port CAN be utilized as a 5th switch port.

Riuski - so is that true in general, that if a router supports a bridge mode than its WAN port can function as another switch port, or is that specific to the P-330W?

In general it seems like that would be a nice feature to offer (would add versatility) and probably wouldn't cost the much.

Thanks for the feedback. -Pat

The P334WH can act as a wifi WAN connection, but not sure if that helps in your quest.

To be honest, I have not seen another router that has a bridge mode, but that may be due to my being partial to ZyXEL devices. So my comment stands for the P330W only. Don't assume that when you see bridge mode available on another router, that you can use the WAN port as another available Ethernet port.

On a related note, if using a router for a wireless access point only, would the connection to it (from the primary router) be through it's WAN port or one of its LAN ports?

My interest in all of this is that I have small Linksys 4 port switch that is starting to fail, but rather than replace it with another I was considering using my P-334W as a switch and WAP and replacing it with maybe a Zywall 2 Plus (I'd really like to have the bluecoat CF, especially with 3 teenagers around, as well as better VPN support). However, I have 4 wired devices that need to connect (3 PCs and NAS) and so I wasn't sure this would work. Thanks again for any advice on this. -Pat

For router to act as AP only the best way is to connect through LAN port and leave the WAN unused. You have to disable DHCP server on the P334W and assign it IP from the LAN range defined on the ZyWall.

Here's a scenario you could do:

                                    |-wireless clients
--(WAN)Z2+(LAN)+-----(LAN)P334W(LAN)+--PC1
               |-NAS                |--PC2
               |-PC4                |--PC3
               |-PC5

Also Z2+ features 3 equivalent LAN zones labeled LAN, DMZ, WLAN. Each port of the 4 LAN ports can be assigned to one of the zones. Between zones you can create firewalling rules. Let's say you'd like to "secure" your PC from your teenagers then you'd configure one port as DMZ (or WLAN) and plug your PC there.

Thanks Brano for the info.

What you show is one option, although right now the PCs and NAS are not located near the internet connection (where the router is). I guess I could move the router, although I like having it hidden away (along with the modem). So I take it then that in general there's no way to use a WAN port as an uplink? Somewhere I thought I read you could (when using a router as an access point), but maybe that was for a specific router model. Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. -Pat

How about the NAS? Can't you move that closer to the router?

The other two options are:

1) Buy another $10 cheap switch and plug it to LAN port on P334W and that will give you additional ports. (You can really get 5 port switch for $10 on ebay or for some $20 at basically any store)

2) You could use WAN port on the AP. That is just going to complicate things for you which IMHO is not worth it. You'll be introducing another NAT in the environment and frankly go with option 1) or move NAS closer to the router.
Having two NATs in a cascade introduces problems for some un-friendly protocols i.e. FTP, SIP and for gaming which I can imagine is happening with 3 teenagers ;)

Scenario with another switch:

                                    |-wireless clients
--(WAN)Z2+(LAN)+-----(LAN)P334W(LAN)+--PC1
               |-NAS                |--PC2
               |-PC7                |--5portSwitch+--PC3
               |-PC8                              |--PC4
                                                  |--PC5
                                                  |--PC6

Yes, moving the NAS would work. Good idea. I definitely don't want to complicate things - they're complicated enough already! So this seems like a good solution. Now to start shopping around for a Z2plus!

Thanks. -Pat