Netgear Router and Port Forwarding

[tenfive2]

Does anyone else use a Netgear Router?

I've got the RT314.

Question: What and how does the "port forwarding work?" Do I forward ports 7023 and 7024 to my computer? There's even a option for static route. The Netgear site kind of answers questions with questions.

Thanks in advance.

[Schrullenhaft]

Yes, forward the ports to your computer. As others have said just 7023 is necessary, but I heard some people open up 7024 also.

What this does is allow TCP/IP traffic that is looking for a "program" at a certain port number to pass through. Having this port open does compromise your PC somewhat (for those determined to actually hack a home PC) since you are making a hole in your protection, but it is necessary in order for CM to work in a TCP/IP session.

I'm not sure what your NetGear's setup screens look like. I believe you can probably specify the specific IP address to be associated with the port forwarding. This is what I assume is meant by 'static route'. If there is more than one computer hooked up to your router, then you would want to specify the IP to make the other computers a tad-bit more secure from any sniffing on the open ports (they'll just see the computer with the IP associated with the open port) and possibly speed up the data from the router to your computer by a few microseconds. So even if there is only one computer hooked up to your router there might be a minor benefit in creating a static route to it for the opened ports (though I don't know if you would really be able to tell the difference in speed or not).

[tenfive2]

Just a minor question then... Is port forwarding the same as opening a port?

By the way, sch. thanks for the info!

[BeWary]

I think it depends on the terminology your router uses. I have a D-Link firewall/router and for me it's called a Virtual Server. I tell it to route incoming packets on port 7023 to the internal IP address of my machine. That should be all that's needed, though if you have strict policies enforced for outgoing port traffic as well, then you'll need to also open 7023 as an outgoing port (unless CM uses a different port for outgoing traffic. Maybe that's where 7024 comes in). For me, that's done on a different screen.

Good luck.

BeWary

[tenfive2]

Does anyone else use a netgear router?

[Gyrene]

TenFive2, I have the same router, this is what you have to do:

1. On your web browser head to http://198.168.0.1 and login : admin, 1234

2. Click on the SUA/NAT option

3. On the first port box (Not the default one) type in "7023" and on the "Server IP Address" box next to it type the IP # of the computer you play CM with (The number assigned to it by the router, i.e. 192.168.0.x, where x is 2 or higher)

4. Repeat it for the second port box, but this time add port # "7024" & add the same IP as before.

Note-- Your Router firmware might have a slightly different port forwarding screen with "Start Port" & "End Port" options for each IP line, in that case just add "7023" to the start & "7024" to the end for each IP you want to play CM in.

5. Now when you want to play someone you'll need to give them your IP# (Your actual ISP given IP, not the router given one) followed by the port number after the ":" sign i.e. "4.35.220.67:7023"

You might not need to add the port number to the IP, but it won't hurt if you do.

Gyrene

[Gyrene]

By the way, you can get your actual IP number from the "maintenance" section of your Router's set up window.

Gyrene

[tenfive2]

Thanks!

[NightGaunt]

btw: everyone with a netgear router should check for firmware updates, the newest version allows for port ranging, ie letting you open ports 2400-2500 or whatever, very usefull for other games/voice software