Currently I'm exploring some possibilities to make things setup alot smoother, though I'm not entirely sure if this is possible it will be complicated and maybe too complicated.
What I want is having usb over ethernet, from my Mochabin modem all the way to my switch (this is a distance of 20 meter where one cable handles all), where I then untag a port which goes to my desktop/workplace (also one 10 meter cable) and then connect the utp cable to a rj45 to usb female adapter and possible even connect a printer to it to turn it into a print server aswell.
Now I did found something usefull a opkg called usbip this allows to tunnel usb traffic through ethernet, that sound promising.
But I have no clue what I have to attach on the end, some said I have to use a really specific usb over ip adapter, would a normal rj45 to usb be insufficient?
And is vlaning even possible with such tunnel?
I have no experience with this, but it sounds interesting to try atleast.
Your device needs to have a usb port on it. A usb-rj45 adapter will not work - those are network adapters that connect to a host device’s usb port. for example, a laptop that does not have a Ethernet port can use one of these to allow wired Ethernet connections. They don’t work the other way.
What specific device are you using with openwrt? (Brand + model)
Currently I'm using the Mochabin which segregate all my vlan networks to a tp-link sg1016DE switch.
And from there basicly the center point it goes to my desktop area.
Since the desktop area is also used for maintenance on the Mochabin, I really would like some sort of usb extension from the Mochabin to that area through a ethernet cable, also for a printer aswell.
I was thinking more of extending/virtualising the mochabin usb ports through the network, between the Mochabin and switch is one cable and I cannot add more there unfortunately.
But when I think about this, I think that becomes really difficult especially because I want to encapsulate it via a vlan trunk, then I need maybe some sort of proxy to split it to vlan bridge traffic and I need usb over ip adapters.
netshares however make it alot easier, then I only need to figure out how to make it so I can make the printer connected like it is connected to Mochabins usb port for a print server.
The printer in question is a HP Officejet 6950 which only can connect to wifi or usb cable I really want to have it from wifi but with the network ability.
But as I thought more about it, do you normally need to have the usb stick inserted as a hardware dongle with the encryption keys? You won’t be able to use usb-ip for this nor would a NAS configuration work because the os needs to boot before it can use either of these methods. You would need this much earlier in the boot cycle, making this a non-starter. As an aside, if it would work, it would also somewhat negates the purpose of using encryption keys insofar as anyone could turn on the computer and it would automatically unlock since the encryption keys would be transparently on the network. At that point, you might as well leave it plugged directly into the computer.
For the printer , it has WiFi - just connect it to your WiFi network and it will be networked. Done. No need for special print server methods with openwrt.
