How to Open a Port in Your Router for QNAP TS-201

You might need to forward some ports in your router when you use a QNAP TS-201 device. By forwarding ports you allow connection requests coming from the internet to be directed to a QNAP TS-201 device.

Routers are not designed to allow incoming network requests. A port forward can overcome this limitation.

You need to know the following things before you can forward a port:

• The internal IP address of your router.
• The internal IP address of your NAS.
• The TCP and UDP ports that need to be forwarded.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

When shopping for a VPN, make sure that they meet the following criteria:

• Your VPN provider should have a no-logs policy. This means that they do not keep any logs of any kind.
• Make sure that your VPN provider has lots of exit nodes all around the world.
• Check that your VPN will not affect your speed.
• Verify that your VPN provider uses WireGuard as the underlying protocol.
• Many people prefer a VPN provider that is not based in the United States.

This is the list of requirements that we used when we were shopping around for a VPN provider. There are lots of free, shady VPN providers out there that we looked at and dismissed.

Based in Panama, using diskless servers, and with over 6,100 servers in 61 countries, we can safely say that NordVPN satisfies all of these requirements.

Once you've set up your NordVPN account on multiple computers and enabled Meshnet, you can seamlessly access all of your devices as if they were on the same network. You don't even have to log in to your router. It's very simple.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

You can run our free Router Detector software to locate your router's IP address. Our Router Detector tool is free to use and is part of our Network Utilities software.

We have a guide you can follow Find Your Router IP Address if you don't want to run the software.

We have Network Utilities software that can forward ports for you. Our Network Utilities software allows you to add port forwards and also remove them when you no longer need them to maximize your network security.

Alternatively you can do it by hand. The process for forwarding a port is:

• You can start by logging in to your router.
• Locate your routers port forwarding section.
• Type the IP address of your NAS into the correct box in your router.
• It is now time to type the TCP and UDP ports that you are forwarding for a QNAP TS-201 device in the correct boxes in your router.

Some routers need to be rebooted in order for the changes to be saved.

You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for a QNAP TS-201 device:

List of Routers - Customized for QNAP TS-201

The ports that need to be forwarded for a QNAP TS-201 device are listed here:

QNAP TS-201 - PC

• TCP: 21-22, 25, 80, 443, 445, 873, 3306, 6881-6999, 8080, 9000, 13131, 55536-56559
• UDP: 6881-6999

Those are the steps to take in order to forward ports in your router for a QNAP TS-201 device.

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