OK, some people seem to struggle with this and I don't know why. It's pretty simple so I am going to do a tutorial on Port forwarding (sometimes termed port mapping).
What is it?
Simply, when you're connected to the internet, for the most part you connect through something, such as a router, hub, modem etc. This can be considered your default gateway device, because it's a gateway from your computer to the internet.
I am using my tool Visual Network to demonstrate in pictures:
[img]http://s13.postimg.org/9oinn6f2f/internet_connect.jpg[/img]
Now, lets say you set up a server on your computer, and it listens (waits for connections) on port 1111.
ONLY the computers on your LAN (local area network) can see that and connect to it, but anything beyond that WAN (Wide Area Network) or internet cannot. A picture demonstration:
[img]http://s2.postimg.org/hba9qkzll/cant_connect_across_wan.jpg[/img]
What you would want is, someone across the internet to be able to connect to your servers WAN IP on port 1111. But they cannot see it, why?
Because your default gateway device (ie; router) is not FORWARDING that traffic to you and thus it's simply dropping the packet.
What needs to happen in this example, is for the router to port forward on port 1111, and then external people on the WAN (across the internet) can connect to you. You see, it's simple!
How to do it?
Well, the first thing you want to do is find out what your default gateways device IP is (start>run>cmd and type ipconfig and press enter) it should look like this:
[img]http://s29.postimg.org/hjz2em853/gateway.jpg[/img]
Then what you want to do, is go to your browser and type that default gateway device IP address in, ie http://192.168.0.1 and it should give you a login for your router, something like this:
[img]http://s30.postimg.org/qbbnd5ra9/router_login.jpg[/img]
Once you login to your device, there will be settings where you can forward ports, simply choose your port you want to forward (in this case 1111) and you're done, then people across the WAN/Internet should then be able to connect to your server!
P.S
A good way to test if a port is correctly being forwarded is here:
http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/
If for instance, I was all correctly setup and my server was listening on port 1111 and my router was forwarding it, it should see that port as open/active, and you're all done!
What is it?
Simply, when you're connected to the internet, for the most part you connect through something, such as a router, hub, modem etc. This can be considered your default gateway device, because it's a gateway from your computer to the internet.
I am using my tool Visual Network to demonstrate in pictures:
[img]http://s13.postimg.org/9oinn6f2f/internet_connect.jpg[/img]
Now, lets say you set up a server on your computer, and it listens (waits for connections) on port 1111.
ONLY the computers on your LAN (local area network) can see that and connect to it, but anything beyond that WAN (Wide Area Network) or internet cannot. A picture demonstration:
[img]http://s2.postimg.org/hba9qkzll/cant_connect_across_wan.jpg[/img]
What you would want is, someone across the internet to be able to connect to your servers WAN IP on port 1111. But they cannot see it, why?
Because your default gateway device (ie; router) is not FORWARDING that traffic to you and thus it's simply dropping the packet.
What needs to happen in this example, is for the router to port forward on port 1111, and then external people on the WAN (across the internet) can connect to you. You see, it's simple!
How to do it?
Well, the first thing you want to do is find out what your default gateways device IP is (start>run>cmd and type ipconfig and press enter) it should look like this:
[img]http://s29.postimg.org/hjz2em853/gateway.jpg[/img]
Then what you want to do, is go to your browser and type that default gateway device IP address in, ie http://192.168.0.1 and it should give you a login for your router, something like this:
[img]http://s30.postimg.org/qbbnd5ra9/router_login.jpg[/img]
Once you login to your device, there will be settings where you can forward ports, simply choose your port you want to forward (in this case 1111) and you're done, then people across the WAN/Internet should then be able to connect to your server!
P.S
A good way to test if a port is correctly being forwarded is here:
http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/
If for instance, I was all correctly setup and my server was listening on port 1111 and my router was forwarding it, it should see that port as open/active, and you're all done!
