Server Portforwarding

[Mr.Swiss0364]

Hello, So i am very very new to the word of server computers and I used to rent a VPS from various company's so i decided to get my own server PC as it was cheaper.  So i purchased the Dell Poweredge R420 It is old however it dose everything i need, and it is running VMWARE ESXI 6.5, I have created a virtual machine and I can connect to it on my own network with windows remote desktop, However i want to be able to let my fiend connect and use it, I have watched over 5 tutorials  and they all say basically the same thing, port forward port 3389, And i have done that, in the images it shows the device name however it is the IP. and he is not able to connect? If you can help it would be amazing. If i am missing info just ask and i can get it.

 

If you need it
I'm in the UK and have Broadband with EE so that's why my route firewall looks like that

[Needfuldoer]

DO NOT PORT FORWARD RDP TO THE PUBLIC INTERNET.

 

Set up a VPN like WireGuard instead, or use a remote access solution like TeamViewer.

[Mr.Swiss0364]

Just now, Needfuldoer said:

DO NOT PORT FORWARD RDP TO THE PUBLIC INTERNET.

 

Set up a VPN like WireGuard instead.

How would i go about that, and how did vps company's allow me to connect when i was not on the same network.  

[Eigenvektor]

36 minutes ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

how did vps company's allow me to connect when i was not on the same network.  

Are you sure they used RDP for that, or did you enable RDP on the server after installation?

 

The provider I use has a web interface that let's you see the server during setup, anything beyond that is up to you.

 

You shouldn't open RDP to the Internet, because it isn't secure enough. Doesn't mean you can't, just that you definitely shouldn't.

 

If you search for how to set up VPN or how to set up Wireguard, you should be able to find guides.

 

Since you said you wanted to run your own server to save money, did you include electricity in your cost calculation?

[Mr.Swiss0364]

26 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Are you sure they used RDP for that, or did you enable RDP on the server after installation?

 

The provider I use has a web interface that let's you see the server during setup, anything beyond that is up to you.

 

You shouldn't open RDP to the Internet, because it isn't secure enough. Doesn't mean you can't, just that you definitely shouldn't.

 

If you search for how to set up VPN or how to set up Wireguard, you should be able to find guides.

 

Since you said you wanted to run your own server to save money, did you include electricity in your cost calculation?

Yes i did include electricity, For example Hostworld, i used to use them and i rented a windows VPS from them and i connected via Remote Desktop connection and it has a web interface that i could restarts the VPS monitor usages etc.

[Alex Atkin UK]

21 minutes ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

Yes i did include electricity, For example Hostworld, i used to use them and i rented a windows VPS from them and i connected via Remote Desktop connection and it has a web interface that i could restarts the VPS monitor usages etc.

You also have to consider security.

 

If you host a server at home, if that gets compromised then it exposes your entire home network to the attacker.

 

If a VPS gets compromised, its only the VPS that is compromised and the provider likely has much more capability to protect their network from things like DDoS attacks whereas your home connection will get overloaded from such an attack.

 

Of course if you don't need the server exposed to the open Internet, then a VPN is a good option to connect back into your home network.  But then you might not even need a server as you could VPN into your normal desktop, depends what you are using this server for.  Also consider how much upstream bandwidth your broadband has vs what the VPS had.

[Mr.Swiss0364]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

You also have to consider security.

 

If you host a server at home, if that gets compromised then it exposes your entire home network to the attacker.

 

If a VPS gets compromised, its only the VPS that is compromised and the provider likely has much more capability to protect their network from things like DDoS attacks whereas your home connection will get overloaded from such an attack.

 

Of course if you don't need the server exposed to the open Internet, then a VPN is a good option to connect back into your home network.  But then you might not even need a server as you could VPN into your normal desktop, depends what you are using this server for.  Also consider how much upstream bandwidth your broadband has vs what the VPS had.

I only need to be able to have my friend connect via remote desktop, and i also need it so i can run game servers on (Not huge public servers) just a small community server for around 10 people i know, so how can i get it so they can i do that? Do i need to port forward and accept the risks? As i said its not for loads of people. 
 

[Lurick]

44 minutes ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

I only need to be able to have my friend connect via remote desktop, and i also need it so i can run game servers on (Not huge public servers) just a small community server for around 10 people i know, so how can i get it so they can i do that? Do i need to port forward and accept the risks? As i said its not for loads of people. 
 

Port forward 3389 and your RDP machine will be compromised in a matter of hours if not minutes just from bots scanning ports on the web and trying known exploits and brute force attacks.

[Mr.Swiss0364]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Port forward 3389 and your RDP machine will be compromised in a matter of hours if not minutes just from bots scanning ports on the web and trying known exploits and brute force attacks.

Oh thats crazy, so do i use like team viewer or something? 

[Eigenvektor]

1 hour ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

Oh thats crazy, so do i use like team viewer or something? 

For a game server you typically open/forward the necessary ports and accept the risk.

 

For remote control you generally use a VPN, then run whatever protocol you want through that secure tunnel. You could use TeamViewer with a fixed password, but I wouldn't exactly call that secure.

[Mr.Swiss0364]

1 hour ago, Eigenvektor said:

For a game server you typically open/forward the necessary ports and accept the risk.

 

For remote control you generally use a VPN, then run whatever protocol you want through that secure tunnel. You could use TeamViewer with a fixed password, but I wouldn't exactly call that secure.

Oh in that case that makes things easy, I will just use TeamViewer and then open the ports needed for my server

[Mr.Swiss0364]

7 hours ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

Oh in that case that makes things easy, I will just use TeamViewer and then open the ports needed for my server

Well it still dose not work, I forwarded all the ports needed for my server and my friend is still unable to connect.. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

11 hours ago, Mr.Swiss0364 said:

Well it still dose not work, I forwarded all the ports needed for my server and my friend is still unable to connect.. 

Is this EE home broadband (with a wire or fibre), not EE mobile broadband?

[Mr.Swiss0364]

On 1/18/2024 at 12:23 PM, Alex Atkin UK said:

Is this EE home broadband (with a wire or fibre), not EE mobile broadband?

It has been solved now. thanks all for the help