Port Forwarding

[rgraf]

Hello,
I am a noob at this router thing and wonder if anyone can help me out. A little configuration information to begin with. The router that I am using to connect my PC to the internet is a cisco 1604 isdn router. My pc has a static internal private IP address. The router has a dynamic IP address on the Outside interface assigned by the ISP. The internal interface on the router is statically assigned. The router is running NAT. Ok now for the problem. I use my PC to play games on the internet and my games won't work without forwarding some of the ports. The following is a list of the ports that I need to forward that was provided to me by MSN gaming zone.

------------------------------------------------------------
80 (To access MSN Games website and Puzzle, Word, Trivia and other free Web games.)

443 (To use .NET Passport sign-in option.)

6667 (To use chat. Necessary for all multiplayer games.)

28000-29100 (To access Card, Board, “CD-ROM” Required, and other multiplayer games.)

The ports that need to be opened for DirectX games are:
6073
47624
2300-2400
-----------------------------------------------------------
Can anyone out there tell me what I need to do in order to forward these ports to my PC. I could dig on Cisco's web site for days and not find the answer.

I Appreciate any help,
Rob

 

[sensey]

who installed this router?, you?, or the service provide?. If so tel them to unblock this port for you.

 

[bierhunter]

If you're running NAT, then most of these you don't need to forward. You only need to forward ports if you are hosting something internally.

80 (To access MSN Games website and Puzzle, Word, Trivia and other free Web games.)

--- Only need to forward port 80 if you are hosting a web server inside. If you are only connecting to an external website, you should already be ok.

443 (To use .NET Passport sign-in option.)

--- Same as above. You don't need to forward this port for .NET Passport to work. You are connecting to "their" server. Therefore, NAT takes care of it for you.

6667 (To use chat. Necessary for all multiplayer games.)

--- Well, not to flame, but you don't need this for "all" multiplayer games. You may need this for the particular games you play. I play many multiplayer games and have never forwarded this port. But I use teamspeak.

28000-29100 (To access Card, Board, “CD-ROM” Required, and other multiplayer games.)

--- This one, I'm sorry; but I don't understand what you mean by "access card, CDROM, etc" I've never seen that in a multiplayer game. Again...the "ONLY" time you should have to open a port is if someone is "initiating a connection to you" as in you are hosting a game.

The ports that need to be opened for DirectX games are:
6073
47624
2300-2400

--- You shouldn't need those opened either unless you are hosting a game server that requires those ports. I play a ton of multiplayer DirectX games, and I have never opened any ports for DirectX.

I'm curious as to where you heard/read that you need those ports forwarded. I've been playing online for years and never have to open a port unless I am hosting the game.

In any case. To forward the port, here is a command to try:

ip nat inside source static tcp <your internal IP address here> <port> interface <your external interface here> <port>

Example. To forward port 80 to my internal web server, I would use this...

ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.1.2 80 interface Ethernet1 80

Again, I'm really curious as to why you think you need to open so many ports to allow them to come in. I'm only saying this, because I don't want you to compromise your security. You should only have to open a port if someone needs to connect to you. If you are connecting to them, then NAT will handle it for you.

I have been playing online with a NAT router for several years. The only ports I have forwarded are for my internal servers (web-80, DNS-53, Email-25 and 110, and a couple of specialty servers). I have never had to forward a port for a game unless I was hosting it, and that port was game specific.

Hope this helped.

BierHunter
CNE, MCSE, CCNP

 

[rgraf]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply. The zone (zone.msn.com) is the one that said that those ports had to be opened. The text between the lines in my original post is a copy and paste from their web site,ie:Verbatim,on the ports necessary to play. The game that I usually play on the zone will not work with my PC behind this router, I have tried it, that is why I have asked for help to get it to work.

I installed the router myself and got it up and running using Cisco's configmaker program to do it for me. All I had to do was supply the necessay information that it required and it built the configuration file for me. I am not well versed in the command line syntax to do it the manual way. I don't really want to study the book for a week to figure it out so I thought it would be easier just to ask.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[bierhunter]

I'm just surprised, because I've played on the zone and have never had to forward any ports at all. I'm using a basic NAT setup. Nothing special. But, if it works for you....then it works.

BierHunter
CNE, MCSE, CCNP