In order to take our testing methodology up to the next level, our storage and networking test platform has seen a radical upgrade take place. To push our networking and storage testing that bit further we have removed the Ivy Bridge platform and in its place a Supermicro server grade motherboard accompanied by an Intel Xeon CPU has been installed. This upgrade will allow use to test storage and networking products to a higher level in either a Windows 7 or Windows Server 2012 environment where applicable.
Test system:
We would like to thankCorsair, Kingston, Lian Li and Netgear for supplying us with our test system components. Many different software applications are also used to gain the broadest spectrum of results, which allows for the fairest testing possible.
Software used:
Like the physical feature set that every router has to offer these days, the administration panels and web interfaces are also key to delivering a powerful router that stands to be a class leading product.
On the GUI home page we can see a simple overview of what is connected to the router, either through a physical interface or via a wireless connection. A quick access menu runs down the left hand side of the window with a clear layout and easy to understand options.
Guest networks, albeit not a vital feature are starting to become more popular; where users are giving their friends, family and customers the option to connect to the internet via a wireless connection, but without the worry of them browsing the local network.
Traffic monitoring is also another important feature for many users who have internet packages that set download caps each month. Being able to monitor real-time data flow through each connection type is an easy way to track down where high volumes of data are either flowing to or from.
Getting the kids to stay off the internet after school when they should be doing their home work is never an easy task, but simply stopping internet traffic from getting to a selected device is a sure way of making sure the homework is done and they are in bed on time.
As I highlighted when I recently looked at Linksys’ EA6900 router, USB ports are a common feature on today’s networking products and the tasks that they can undertake are also growing. Storage and printers are the most common options to have, but in the case of this router, 3G and 4G dongles can also be used as an alternative to a conventional home or office broadband connection.
Alongside a host of local networking features, mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones are a common sight in the home and with that comes the demand to control our networks from these devices through specialised applications or have the ability to access storage devices that are connected to the router.
Over in the advanced settings menus, the wireless configuration options are fairly standard, with an advanced set of controls on offer through a ‘professional’ tab for those of use who want to fine tune their wireless performance.
LAN control runs along a similar path as the wireless with a typical set of controls to play with.
On the WAN front, things not only get a bit more advanced, they also get more interesting. Alongside the typical DMZ, DDNS, NAT Translation and port forwarding menus, there is also the option to configure dual WAN connections. As far as consumer grade hardware goes, I do believe that this is a first – certainly in recent times. The eagle-eyed reader will note though that there is only a single WAN port on the back of the router, however Asus have added the option to assign the secondary WAN connection to one of the four LAN ports or through the USB interface when using a 3G or 4G dongle or through the USB internet sharing on an Android based smartphone.
When enabled the dual WAN setup offers up two modes. The first of these is fail over, which will switch the networks internet connection over to the secondary internet connection automatically should the first one fail. An example of this would be having a 3G dongle on standby an should your land-line based connection go down for whatever reason, the router will switch to the mobile internet backup, keeping you seamlessly online.
The other option is to load balance the two connections but before I go any further into this, I will make it clear that if you have two SEPARATE internet connections, the speed which you will have to work with will only be as fast as the fastest single connection to the router. For example, if you have TWO 40Mbps fibre connections, you WILL NOT experience the speed of a single 80Mbps connection. Load balancing will share out the traffic between the two connections so that if you are downloading a film and attempting to stream a Netflix film at the same time, one connection will handle the download whilst the other will be in charge of the Netflix stream.
Once again for anyone that is misguided by the principle of Dual-WAN connections, two SEPARATE 40Mbps connections will NOT give you the same performance as a SINGLE 80Mbps connection.
Moving on from the Internet options, IPv6, which is the update to the IPv4 protocol, is slowly starting to become more integral to both consumer and enterprise level networks. In order to keep their routers ready for the IPv6 take over in the next few years, Asus have a small set of options on hand, with further options likely to come in future firmware updates.
Around the world many people, including myself are choosing to work from home, whilst staying connected to a central office. In order to work seamlessly between the two, a VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows users to connect to the remote network through an encrypted tunnel over the internet. The RT-AC68U offers the flexibility to act as both a VPN server and client, linking two locations together with ease.
On top of the parental controls, a firewall and content filtering system between the web browser and the internet ensures that you are safe from unwanted attacks as well as stopping the kids from accessing harmful sites and content.
Out of the box, this router is the central point for your entire network. It controls the internet connection, your USB storage and its sharing across the network, the operation of the wireless network, assignment of DCHP addresses and much more. Simply put, without it running in its default mode, your personal network would not exist.
There are though a couple of different operating modes that the RT-AC68U can run. The first of these is as a repeater, simply extending the range of your current wireless network, whilst in access point mode, all of the core router features, bar the wireless are disabled. When acting as a media bridge, you can connect a number of wired devices to the router and have it setup to wirelessly connect to another unit running in router mode.
Logs are another common feature that we find on virtually every wireless router that is on the market today. On top of having a standard system log, the RT-AC68U offers up a more detailed account of a number of system areas for diagnostics and system troubleshooting.
The last sub-menu available in the advanced controls offers a set of diagnostic tools to aid in trouble shooting local network and internet connection problems in conjunction with the system logs as seen above.
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