This article continues an overview of the functionality provided by the Tomato Open Source router firmware. The previous article can be found at: Tomato Firmware on the Asus RT-N16 Router – Part 5, Port Forwarding & QoS Configuration Options.
The previous article dealt with the different Port Forwarding & QoS Configuration options available, whereas this article will detail the Access Restrictions and USB-NAS configuration options available.
The goal is to understand the different options provided by the Tomato Open Source router firmware and compare it with the firmware provided by Asus when you purchase the RT-N16 device. Also, another popular Open Source router firmware distribution from the DD-WRT group has been reviewed.
Access Restriction
Any number of different access restriction rules can be added. Just click the “Add” button to add a new one and then you will be presented with a screen that has a number of different options you can use to restrict access to and from the Internet.
Options include time of day, specific computers and/or devices; block all Internet access or just certain ports, applications or protocols. Domain names can be blocked also, but it you’re trying to protect your kids from harmful sites you need to remember this is a manual process – each domain or domain name pattern has to be entered in the rule.
If you’re looking for more proactive domain blocking then you may be better served by purchasing software or an online service which offers this kind of protection and keeps up to date on which sites to block.
USB and NAS
The Asus RT-N16 has quantity 2 – USB2.0 ports. The Tomato firmware itself does not support USB ports which is why I installed the TomatoUSB version instead. It does have support for devices attached to the USB ports built it. These devices could either be a printer, FTP Server, File Share or a Media Server device.
A good tutorial on how to configure your printer, connected to Tomato USB router, in Windows can be found at: Configure Printer in Windows.
For more information, visit the following tutorial: How to set up you NAS and Optware for Total Noobs.
USB and NAS – USB Support
If you need USB support from your router then the first step is to enable it. By default it is disabled. You also have the options of enabling USB 2.0 and/or USB 1.1 support. USB 3.0 support is not available at this time.
USB and NAS – FTP Server
The Tomato firmware offers built in support for hosting your own FTP Server.
USB and NAS – File Sharing
The Tomato firmware is based on the Linux operating system, so compatibility with the Windows operating systems is not automatic. To make file sharing even possible the Tomato firmware makes use of another open source product from Samba. “Samba is the standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix.”
USB and NAS – Media Server
Media sharing is the final option for USB and NAS support.
Next Step
Tomato Firmware on the Asus RT-N16 Router – Part 7, Administration Configuration Options.
Return to the Firmware Overview: Asus RT-N16 Router Firmware Overview
