Our home network setup is quite simple: We have a Verizon Fios optical network terminal (ONT) box in the basement that converts the optical signal coming into our house via fiber to data that is sent to the WAN port of the Quantum Gateway G1100 router they provide. On the back of the router, there are four LAN ports that send data to:

• a Ubiquiti router (pdf datasheet) in my wife’s office which provides data to her VoIP phone and desktop
• the attic where my machine is located
• our smart TV (yes, I know!)
• our eero mesh network.

I turned off the Wifi features on the Quantum Gateway router since the eero base station and two beacons provide WiFi access via two SSIDs (one for our personal devices and the other for guests and our IoT paraphernalia) throughout the house.

Awhile back, I installed Ubuntu on one of our old laptops to give to the kids but always had to manage it locally by logging in on the machine itself. Rather than having to administer it hands on, I tried to SSH into it via the local IP address you get by running:

$ ifconfig | grep --after-context=1 'BROADCAST,RUNNING'
enp0s25: flags=4163  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.38  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255

Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to make that work, even after installing openssh-server, making sure that port 22 was open on ufw and enabling password authentication.

After inquiring over on the eero community forums, a helpful member advised that I should switch the “DHCP & NAT” settings from “Automatic” to “Bridge” and remove any port forwarding settings I was using. Sure enough, that worked! I can now SSH into my kids’ laptop from my local machine and update it as needed!