How to Forward Ports in Your Router for QNAP TS-209 Pro

When you use a QNAP TS-209 Pro device you may need to forward ports in your router. The purpose of forwarding ports is to make a direct connection from the internet to a QNAP TS-209 Pro device.

Routers generally do not allow incoming connection requests from the internet. A port forward can overcome this limitation.

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

• The IP address of your router.
• Your NAS's IP address.
• Each of the TCP and UDP ports that you need to forward.

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.

We have free Router Detector software to help you find your router's IP address. It's a part of the Network Utilities suite of tools and it's completely free to use.

You can also follow our Find Your Router IP Address article.

A smart way to forward your ports is to use Network Utilities. Since Network Utilities allows you to both forward and un-forward ports easily you can keep your network security maximized, and then forward ports only when you need them.

Another option is to go through the process of forwarding ports one step at a time. The process for forwarding a port is:

• Log in to your router.
• Locate the section in your router that deals with port forwarding.
• Type your NAS's IP address into the correct box in your router.
• Enter the TCP and UDP ports that you need to forward for a QNAP TS-209 Pro device in the corresponding boxes in your router.

You probably will need to reboot your router for the changes to take effect.

You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for a QNAP TS-209 Pro device:

List of Routers - Customized for QNAP TS-209 Pro

Setting Up a Port Forward for a QNAP TS-209 Pro device

The ports that need to be forwarded for a QNAP TS-209 Pro device are listed here:

QNAP TS-209 Pro - PC

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

That is the process required to forward ports in your router for a QNAP TS-209 Pro device.

Don't forget to sign up for NordVPN's promo deal before it's gone.