Help connecting to a printer located in the WAN Interface. Asus RT-AC1200

[Jorge Sanint]

Hi ! I needed to separate my network from everyone else in an office location for compliance purposes. My Wan Port on my Asus router is connected to the internal network of this office. My WAN therefore is not connected to the internet directly. The office allows me to use a Ricoh/Lanier MP C6004ex Printer. This means the printer is on the Wan interface of my router. I have been trying to enable communication from a computer in the internal side of my router to the printer on the external interface. I have not been able to figure this out. Could someone give me ideas on how to achieve this ? Thank you.

 

[ColinTaylor]

This should not be a problem.

How are you trying to "connect" to the printer?
Can your PC ping the printer's IP address?
Is your Asus router in the default "router mode" configuration or have you made any changes to the default setup?

 

[Jorge Sanint]

This should not be a problem.

How are you trying to "connect" to the printer?
Can your PC ping the printer's IP address?
Is your Asus router in the default "router mode" configuration or have you made any changes to the default setup?

Hi, thank you for your reply, yes I can ping the printer, it's in Router mode.
I created several port forwarding rules for the following ports based on various internet searches.
Ports 161, 515, 631, 721, 2501, 3812, 5001, 6310, 9100, 9101, 9102, 9600, 53000, 53001
They forward to my worsktation IP address 192.168.50.174.
The Asus Wan interface IP is 192.168.132.64
Printer IP is 192.168.132.20

 

[ColinTaylor]

Remove the port forwarding rules, they are not appropriate for this network setup.

How exactly are you trying to setup the printer connection? Can you post a screen shot?

 

[Jorge Sanint]

I have tried using the three protocols highlighted and I also have added various ports at the end of the IP address. I always get the same errors, unable to connect to printer, and If i proceed anyway and test, I get a connection error when printing a test page. I have tried several modifications to the address.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Have you confirmed which printing protocols are available on that printer with its owners? Access to the printer or specific protocols can be restricted on the printer, particularly IPP which might require authentication.

Try using the IP socket (JetDirect) protocol by preference as that is the simplest and most compatible.

If you still can't get it to work then maybe you could ask the office if you could temporarily plug your PC into their network just long enough to setup the printer and then move it back onto your office.

 

[Jorge Sanint]

As far as I was told, LPD is available, I tried the Jetdirect connection but it didn't work. I will try plugin it temporarily into their network for setup purposes . Thank you again

 

[ColinTaylor]

As far as I was told, LPD is available, I tried the Jetdirect connection but it didn't work. I will try plugin it temporarily into their network for setup purposes . Thank you again

If you use LPR then you usually need to know the LPR queue name.

 

[Jorge Sanint]

If you use LPR then you usually need to know the LPR queue name.

Thank you. I will investigate that info.

 

[Jorge Sanint]

Thank you. I will investigate that info.

Thank you so much for your help Colin. I figured out the issue. It wasn't any issue with the router, there was an IP address conflict between the printer and another device on the network. After the IP conflict was resolved, I followed your advice regarding setting up the printer by connecting the Mac in the same subnet temporarily. Once the printer was printing properly, I moved wires and put it behind our router and had no problem printing to the printer afterwards.

Thank you again.