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Forum Discussion
Solved
Nighthawk R7000 as a switch
I have an R7000 and use a USB 3 hard drive connected to access media on devices in my home. I want to switch over to the orbi mesh system (for many reasons not important here) but would like to utili...
eman6880 wrote:
.....would like to utilize the R7000 as a switch to keep devices in my office hardwired and hopefully keep the hard drive.
Talk of a "switch" may be a red herring. That usually means simply adding more network ports to plug in wired LAN devices. If that is what you mean, if you set it up right, you can use the Orbi and the R7000 as LAN ports for your network.
The easiest way to do this is to use the Orbi in AP mode and stick with the R7000 as the router. Then you can use the spare ports on the router for LAN devices. You can also use the LAN ports on the Orbi for other stuff.
Given that the Orbi is a router, a surprising number of people do just that. Like you, they want to carry on using USB devices.
I have an R7800 router in front of an Orbi network in AP mode.I also have a genuine 16-port switch hanging off the R7800.
I also have Arlo cameras running off the LAN port on the Orbi router.
If you have some other interpretation of switch, just say so. It should be possible to do what you want.
eman6880 wrote:
.....would like to utilize the R7000 as a switch to keep devices in my office hardwired and hopefully keep the hard drive.
Talk of a "switch" may be a red herring. That usually means simply adding more network ports to plug in wired LAN devices. If that is what you mean, if you set it up right, you can use the Orbi and the R7000 as LAN ports for your network.
The easiest way to do this is to use the Orbi in AP mode and stick with the R7000 as the router. Then you can use the spare ports on the router for LAN devices. You can also use the LAN ports on the Orbi for other stuff.
Given that the Orbi is a router, a surprising number of people do just that. Like you, they want to carry on using USB devices.
I have an R7800 router in front of an Orbi network in AP mode.I also have a genuine 16-port switch hanging off the R7800.
I also have Arlo cameras running off the LAN port on the Orbi router.
If you have some other interpretation of switch, just say so. It should be possible to do what you want.
I went ahead and used the Orbi as the router and disabled DHCP on the R7000 and connected it via LAN in my office and all is well. USB functionality and additional wired LAN ports working as expected.
> [...] disabled DHCP on the R7000 and connected it via LAN [...]
Visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your model number, and look
for Documentation. Get the User Manual. Look for "Use the Router as a
Wireless Access Point".