How to set up port forwarding? (Networking Noob)

[Spork829]

As the title says, I'm trying to set up port forwarding through my router so that I can host a server in Risk of Rain. I've done what I thought would work, which was create a new service in my router's web UI that was set to port forwarding and have it set to TCP/UDP. The internal IP address is my desktop, but what I don't really know what to do with the external and internal port ranges. I tried setting them both to 11100, because that was the default port that was listed for joining in the game, but it didn't work and I have no idea where to go from here. Some help and possibly a decent understanding of port forwarding would be appreciated. Thanks!

[imreloadin]

Basically port forwarding is what you configure on your router to allow computers that are outside your home network (other PC's on the internet) to communicate with computers on your home network.

 

I'd start by telling us what router you have so maybe someone who has the same one can chime in with advice on what you need to do.

[Spork829]

I already have that much of a basic understanding, more wondering what I'm doing wrong here. My router is a Netgear R6300v2

[john01dav]

First, make sure that the server is setup properly behind the router's NAT. You may have already done this, but, if you haven't do it before continuing.

• Make sure that your computer has an internal static ip setup (NOT external)
• Make sure that you can join the server using "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" along with the internal static ip
• Make sure that you can join the server using another computer on the same network with the internal static ip

Once that is done, there are several things that can go wrong with port forwarding, here is a probably incomplete list of what to try:

1. You are forwarding the wrong port. Make sure that you have a SINGLE port in each port forwarding rule and that it is the same for the internal and external port fields. If you need multiple ports, create multiple rules. Some routers support multiple ports per rule, but, that can get confusing very quickly and varies between each router. Hence, it is easier to just add one rule.
2. Make sure you are doing "Port forwarding" and not "Port triggering." Port triggering is something else and probably isn't what you want.
3. Make sure your ISP dosen't block incoming connections, either on your specific port or in general. You could try asking them, but, that could perhaps cause problems as many ISPs (at least in the US) want to charge extra for server hosting abilities.

[Spork829]

12 hours ago, john01dav said:

First, make sure that the server is setup properly behind the router's NAT. You may have already done this, but, if you haven't do it before continuing.

• Make sure that your computer has an internal static ip setup (NOT external)
• Make sure that you can join the server using "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" along with the internal static ip
• Make sure that you can join the server using another computer on the same network with the internal static ip

Once that is done, there are several things that can go wrong with port forwarding, here is a probably incomplete list of what to try:

1. You are forwarding the wrong port. Make sure that you have a SINGLE port in each port forwarding rule and that it is the same for the internal and external port fields. If you need multiple ports, create multiple rules. Some routers support multiple ports per rule, but, that can get confusing very quickly and varies between each router. Hence, it is easier to just add one rule.
2. Make sure you are doing "Port forwarding" and not "Port triggering." Port triggering is something else and probably isn't what you want.
3. Make sure your ISP dosen't block incoming connections, either on your specific port or in general. You could try asking them, but, that could perhaps cause problems as many ISPs (at least in the US) want to charge extra for server hosting abilities.

Thanks. How would I go about checking if my PC has a static local IP? Is it in Windows settings? And how would I setup a server behind the router's NAT? No idea what a NAT even is

[john01dav]

On 5/24/2016 at 5:06 PM, Spork829 said:

Thanks. How would I go about checking if my PC has a static local IP? Is it in Windows settings? And how would I setup a server behind the router's NAT? No idea what a NAT even is

You need to setup the static IP in the router's interface. To test if it worked, use the command "ipconfig" from the command line and record the results. Then, reboot your entire network (including all computers) and make sure to turn the computer back on in a different order than they were turned on the first time. Next, run the command again and you should see the same ipv4 address for that computer and a different ipv4 address for other computers.

To setup a server behind NAT, simply setup the server as you normally would -- but behind NAT.

 

Also, you should do some research on basic networking -- it is important that you understand each of the following things before hosting a server of any sort. You may already know some of them, but, I am including them here for completeness.

• Exactly what an IP address is
• Internal vs external addresses / address behind a NAT or globally routable address (make sure you understand all of these terms)
• NAT, or network address translation
• DCHP
• What exactly a router does and how that relates to NAT
• IPv4 vs IPv6, including how and why there is no NAT in ipv6 (optional, but will be helpful and isn't too complex)
• DNS (optional, but will be helpful and isn't too complex)