IoT Setup

[Phyber]

I have an RBR50 system that works without issues. I would like to separate my LAN from the outside connected devices (Ring doorbell, tv's, receiver, etc). Are there instructions for the Compleat Idiot on how to do this? I'm a chemist (retired) not an IT person so instructions need to be simple and clear. I'm well outside of any Netgear Support. Thanks.

[plemans]

I guess I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do?

You want the lan devices on a different network than the wireless devices? 

Or what exactly (and why) are you attempting?

[michaelkenward]

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@Phyber wrote:

I would like to separate my LAN from the outside connected devices (Ring doorbell, tv's, receiver, etc).

Why? Explaining what you really want to achieve might get better answers.

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@Phyber wrote:

I have an RBR50 system that works without issues.

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You have posted your message in the section of this community given over to General WiFi Routers (Non-Nighthawk). (This is easily done, given Netgear's complicated community structure.)

Many questions apply to different types of device, so there may be useful responses here. However, Orbi systems are  not like standard routers, you might get more help, and find earlier questions and answers specific to your device, in the appropriate section for your hardware. That's probably here:

Orbi - NETGEAR Communities

In the meantime you could visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

You may have done this already. I can't tell from your message.

I mention it because Netgear stopped supplying printed manuals and CD versions some years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.

[Phyber]

Wouldn't it provide better security for my home network if the devices that are always connected to the interent (Ring Doorbell, Amazon Echo, etc), and accessible from the outside were on a separate network from my other "home" devices like phones, laptops, etc.?

I know Netgear hasn't had printed manuals for a long time. I guess I was hoping that there was an article or blog somewhere that explained in detail how one can do that if they are not skilled at setting up home networks other than plug and play.

[michaelkenward]

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@Phyber wrote:

Wouldn't it provide better security for my home network if the devices that are always connected to the interent (Ring Doorbell, Amazon Echo, etc), and accessible from the outside were on a separate network from my other "home" devices like phones, laptops, etc.?

OK. So you are looking for security. My (probably inadequate) understanding is that this sort of thing isn't going to achieve much. If it were important, then the makers of those widgets would tell users what to do.

In any case, how is a "guest" network any safer?

If you really want to do things like that, then giving the guest network its own SSID and connecting IoT stuff to that might work.

[DarkNet]

By design, the Orbi guest wifi network is isolated from the regular wifi network.  Instead of setting up VLANs on managed switches to isolate IoT devices in my home network, I put my wifi thermostats, irrigation controller, and a few other select IoT devices on the guest network.  This allows them access to the internet but nothing internal to the home network like NAS drives, or anything that could compromise my security.  Cant even ping them (IoT devices) anymore from my LAN so I know its working correctly.  You never know if a cheap wifi device may become compromised and if so could attempt to gain control of the rest of your network.  Unlikely but doesn’t hurt to be more safe if you can.

[Phyber]

I didn't realize the Guest Network was that isolated. That seems to be the easier way to achieve what I want to do, or think I need to do for an added layer of security.

I've never used the Guest Network before so I'm not sure how to set that up. Do I just assign the MAC Address of the device to the Guest Network and the Orbi will take care of the rest (like connecting at whatever the device uses (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and can I still remotely turn/off the thermostat and receive messages from my Ring doorbell (and access the doorbell for audio/video)?

[CrimpOn]

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@Phyber wrote:

I've never used the Guest Network before so I'm not sure how to set that up. Do I just assign the MAC Address of the device to the Guest Network and the Orbi will take care of the rest (like connecting at whatever the device uses (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and can I still remotely turn/off the thermostat and receive messages from my Ring doorbell (and access the doorbell for audio/video)?

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The Orbi Guest WiFi network has a different 'name' (SSID) and password than the primary network. When the device is being set up, have the smartphone connected to the Guest network and follow the same procedure as when connecting the device to the primary Orbi WiFi network.  There is no method on the Orbi itself to assign devices to one network or the other.

[Phyber]

Hmm, so enable Guest Network (via the Router Managment page and I assume use the default SSID), create a pw,  and then just point the device(s) in question to that SSID? They are already setup on the primary so disabling them from the primary and then adding them to the Guest will take some figurin'. I've always been a plug & play kinda guy because network routing is not my thing. That's one of the reason I like the Orbi is that it was pretty much automatic with very little thought on my part.

[CrimpOn]

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@Phyber wrote:

Hmm, so enable Guest Network (via the Router Managment page and I assume use the default SSID), create a pw,  and then just point the device(s) in question to that SSID? They are already setup on the primary so disabling them from the primary and then adding them to the Guest will take some figurin'. I've always been a plug & play kinda guy because network routing is not my thing. That's one of the reason I like the Orbi is that it was pretty much automatic with very little thought on my part.

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I use the same SSID every time I replace a WiFi system. That way, all my WiFi devices connect to the new one automatically. (And, if I decide to "go back", they will connect to the old one automatically).  The default Orbi Guest WiFi SSID will be something like ORBI61-Guest.  I would make it more 'cool', such as MyIoT, but that's just me.)

Yes, this can be a huge pain, which is why all my IoT devices are on my primary WiFi, and my Guest WiFi is for..... Guests.

[Phyber]

Yeah, I keep my primary SSID the same as well, for that very reason. We don't really have "Guests" so I just give our family and friends the pw for the primary system. It is much easier and I trust them. I was just thinking with all of the apparently increased cycbercrime activity that it would start to spill over more into home systems so I thought it might be better to protect the devices that are always on and accessible. I do use elaborate pw's (1Password generated pw's) so that right there is a good deterrent I suppose.