Port Forwarding

Port forwarding is another thing you need to do in order to optimize your download speed.

It is the process that your router or firewall uses to sort the right kind of network data to the right port. Computers and routers use ports as a way to organize network data. Different types of data, such as web sites, file downloads, and online games, are each assigned a port number. By using port forwarding, the router or firewall sends the correct data to the correct place.

A firewall protects the computer by blocking unauthorized information. If a firewall blocked all the incoming and outgoing data, the computer would be unable to access the Internet. When you want some data to go through your firewall, and you want it sent to a specific location, you can set up port forwarding. Port forwarding gives the firewall instructions about which types of data are allowed and how they should be directed.

Information on the Internet is associated with a port. Web pages, for example, are typically assigned port 80. File transfer protocol (FTP), often used for downloading and uploading files, typically uses port 21. Online games may use a number of different port numbers, but often choose numbers in the thousands.

If you have multiple computers on your network, chances are that they do not all need all the data that comes into the network. Port forwarding allows you to send the relevant data to the computer that will use it. If you have a web-server hosting your website, and a second computer hosting an online game, port forwarding will make sure that each computer receives the data it needs, without being bogged down with data intended for the other computer.

In this situation, you would use port forwarding to instruct your router as to which computer is the destination for which data. The port forwarding instructions would send all incoming requests for web pages to the web server. This data would come in to the router at port 80, and the port forwarding instructions route that data to the web server.

The online game server might be set to use port 5500. Any data that comes to the network at port 5500 should be from people trying to play the online game using your computer as a host. The port forwarding information in the router will direct all data coming in using port 5500 to go to the online game hosting computer.

Using port forwarding also serves as another way to protect your computers. People outside your network will only have access to the router or firewall. The router or firewall with port forwarding controls which types of data reach your computers. Any data that does not come to the router with the correct port will not be passed through to the computers inside the network.

Not only does port forwarding keep incoming data flowing to the right computer, but it also helps to protect your network by limiting and controlling outside access. If your network includes a web server, FTP server, or game server, or runs other services that require outside access, port forwarding will help keep your network safe and running smoothly.



How Port Forwarding Works

Port forwarding basically allows an outside computer to connect to a computer in a private local area network. Some commonly done port forwarding includes forwarding port 21 for FTP access, and forwarding port 80 for web servers. To achieve such results, operating systems like the Mac and OS XP and the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) will use the pre-installed in the kernel, ipfirewall (ipfw), to conduct port forwarding. Linux on the other hand would add iptables to do port forwarding.

Negative Side of Port Fowarding

There are a few disadvantages or precautions to take with port forwarding. Only one port can be used at a time by one machine. Port forwarding also allows any machine in the world to connect to the forwarded port at will, and thus making the network slightly insecure. The port forwarding technology itself is built in a way so that the destination machine will see the incoming packets as coming from the router rather than the original machine sending out the packets.



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