How to Create a Port Forward in Your Router for Synology DS212j

When you use a Synology DS212j device you may need to forward ports in your router. A port forward allows incoming connection requests from the internet to go straight to a Synology DS212j device.

Routers do not generally allow incoming connection requests from the internet. By forwarding ports you can work around this limitation.

Make sure that you know these things before forwarding a port:

• Your router's internal IP address.
• Your NAS's IP address.
• 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.

The easiest way to locate your router's IP address is to run our free Router Detector utility. The software is part of our Network Utilities suite of tools and it is completely free to use.

If you do not want to run the software, you can follow our Find Your Router IP Address guide.

We have Network Utilities software that can forward ports for you. 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.

Port forwarding can also be set up step-by-step by hand. The way to forward 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.
• Put the TCP and UDP ports for a Synology DS212j device in the corresponding boxes in your router.

Frequently you have 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 Synology DS212j device:

List of Routers - Customized for Synology DS212j

The incoming ports that need to be forwarded for a Synology DS212j device are:

Synology DS212j - PC

• TCP: 20-22, 25, 80, 110-111, 137-139, 143, 443, 445, 548, 873, 892, 993, 995, 2049, 3260, 4672, 5000-5001, 5005-5006, 5432, 6881-6999, 7000-7001, 9997-9999, 55536-55663, 55736-55863
• UDP: 25, 110-111, 137-139, 143, 445, 892, 993, 995, 2049, 4662, 4672, 5432, 6881-6999, 9997-9999

Those are the steps to take in order to forward ports in your router for a Synology DS212j device.

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