Guide:Port Fowarding
From Wiki
Introduction
If you're setting up a server and your computer doesnt connect directly to the internet (with a modem), you probably go through a router/gateway/firewall thing. Some people use separate computers to do this and some people just got out and buy all in one (router, modem and switch) because they dont know what they're doing. This tutorial is aimed at the latter group.
A quick background on servers: Servers are programs that listen for connections on "ports". A port is just a number which tcpip uses to split the network into usage groups. FTP servers typically use port 21. Web servers typically use port 80 but there is no Law that states a particular service must run on a particular port.
Setup
When you setup a server behind a router, you need to tell the router the following things a) Which PC is running the service (by its IP or MAC address) b) Which port the PC is using to host the service c) Which port people on the internet will be connecting to to use the service.
With this information, when somebody connects to your legal IP (the one your ISP gives you) on a certain port, the router knows to forward the packets from itself to your computer and also send the replies from your computer back to the originator. Quite clever but how do you set this all up?
Well I'm glad you asked - otherwise you reading any of this would be a little pointless. Well because nobody can make a standard and stay with it in the computer world, there is no 1 set way to configure all this but there is a website which has almost every router model and make on it.
http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm
Well that covers how to set things up but what do you actually want to punch in? Well as I said before the 3 things you need are: a) The internal IP of the server. b) The internal port for the server c) The port that it is to forward from (on the legal/public ip)
Q&A
Q. I cant connect to my_public_IP:port A. This is because most port forwarding services only forward external connections. You will have to connect to localhost or the local ip. Get a friend (or a proxy if you have no friends) to test the connection to see if your forwarding is working.
Q. I dont understand this. I was forwarded here in another post or on IRC and I dont see how this is relevant to me. A. This is here because you look like you're trying to setup a server (way to sound like Office Assistant). If you're behind a router on your network (and/or the food-chain) you need to forward the ports in order to for connections to be made to your server.
Q. My server isnt on that list. What should I do? Whine about it on IRC? A. You could do that. I'd actually suggest you read through the tutorials on close makes and models and you'll find out that its pretty self explainatory. Most router web amins have online help available.
Q. I've got a different question about port forwarding, who can I ask for help? A. You can ask me on IRC (that's irc://irc.rizon.net/#wareznet.chat) or you can reply to the thread and Podgey22 will try and get back to you as soon as possible. PLEASE do not PM Podgey22 on the site (or on IRC) with questions unless its an ongoing issue I already know about. I'm too stretched amongst the people I help at the moment to give 1-on-1 for another right now.
Q. Can you help me setup my server? A. No. Not here any rate. Please no replies to the thread about server-specific things.
