Port Forwarding help

[Nickademus]

Alright, I did my rounds with this. I'm a bit tech savvy but I have an aversion to networking. I don't know what to do next to get players to connect to my FG.

OS: Win 7
Router: Fioptics UltraLine Series3
AV: MacAfee

I created a Firewall rule in MacAfee for port 1802, but https://www.canyouseeme.org/ still can't see the port.
Now what...

[Moon Wizard]

This is a good place to start. You basically move up the chain and test the connection at each level to see where you are being blocked.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/faq.php?faq=networking#faq_networking_1

Cheers,
JPG

[Nickademus]

That's what I was using. I went as far as my knowledge and understanding of networking would allow.

I can connect to 'localhost', but not to anything else. My firewall has access to port 1802 and FG has full rights. Windows Firewall is absorbed into MacAfee's firewall. My router isn't in the list at www.portforward.com and www.canyouseeme.org can't see port 1802.

I've run through all that info. I don't know what next to do.

[Moon Wizard]

Have you tried connecting from another machine on your local home network to the IP address of the machine hosting the game?

This will tell us if it's a firewall issue or a router issue.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

Yes, I could connect with another computer. Alias didn't work, but the raw IP did.

[Moon Wizard]

In that case, it seems like a router issue. Can you post a screen shot of he router screen showing your port forwarding rules? Also, double check hat your internal IP of the hosting machine matches the port forwarding rule.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

This is where I cease understanding what you are talking about. I don't even know how to get to my router screen, nor do I know how to check on an internal IP. Must be some basic step that I'm missing. I can see my ethernet port in the Device Manager, but there is no router (since it's not a device).

[Blacky]

If you're on Windows, in Command line input:


ipconfig

It will ouput several things, including your internal IPv4.

Should be something like 192.168.0.1 or similar.

As for your router, it should be simple, and explained in its manual. It could be a simple web url for example.

[Moon Wizard]

My apologies if I go into more detail than you need, I want to make sure that you have all the information you need.

A router is a network appliance that is your interface between your ISP connection and your internal network. It also serves as a network hub for your internal network (LAN) allowing all your computers to talk to each other and assigning them IP addresses specific to your local network. Your ISP provides your router with a single external facing (WAN) IP address that is your public address on the Internet.

When a request comes to your public Internet address for a certain port, your router does not by default support any external port services. Also, the router does not know which machine it should send the incoming request to. So, port forwarding is a feature supported by routers that allows a user to specify which machine on their internal network to send specific incoming port requests to. Only one machine can be specified for each port number configured in this way.

For example, on most networks, if you go to "https://192.168.0.1/" or "https://192.168.1.1/" in your web browser, you will be accessing your router. The specific IP address for your network will be in the ipconfig output as the Default Gateway.

The router will require you to provide a login. If your router was provided by your ISP, you will need to contact them to get your login information. If you installed your own router, check the manual for your router for the default login.

Once you are in the router web interface, you will have to poke around to find the settings for port forwarding. In many interfaces, it's part of the default menu or the advanced network settings. Every router has a unique web interface.

As a side note, FG attempts to auto-configure port-forwarding using a network service called UPnP (universal plug-and-play). If you enable this service on your router (another setting), FG should be able to handle the port forwarding automatically. Otherwise, any time that your internal IP address of your machine changes, you will need to update your port forwarding rule on the router.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

Thank you very much for the explanation.

This:

If your router was provided by your ISP, you will need to contact them to get your login information.

... was the missing piece. My area is in the middle of a war between AT&T and TWC, so they don't bother to treat us very nice. My ISP just came in and set things up without giving me any information or manual. I found a way to access the router software from my browser, but each character I entered in the password field added 5 (black circle) characters for the password. Needless to say my account info didn't log me in, so I figured it was technician software and not what I was looking for.

Guess I have to wait until tomorrow to give them a call and find out how to access my router. :/
(I hate networking....)

Thanks again.
- Nick

[joeru]

That should be the correct place to log into your router.

Found a screencast of the port forwarding process here (yes, has a Verizon logo, but it's a Westell router just like yours so the interface should be similar):
https://www.screencast.com/users/vztester/folders/Jing/media/7a8b2077-b807-457c-9f97-18d3c8f4ce38

(note, if you haven't set up anything, the default login account should be 'admin' and password 'password' or 'password1' )

[Nickademus]

the default login account should be 'admin' and password 'password' or 'password1' )

Thank you very much. This would have been immensely helpful if I had checked this forum BEFORE calling my ISP. Alas, should be fixed now. Still strange that the router password inputs 5 characters per keystroke.

I assume the alias's are still broken (or disabled for server migration)?

[Moon Wizard]

As far as I know, aliases are working. However, they may not work when connecting from an internal machine to another internal machine.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

Aw, so I can't call myself a smelly goat herder. Oh well.

Good to know. I'll have a friend try it out later. Thank you all for the help. I really dislike networking for some reason.

[Nickademus]

So, I got the port forwarding completed. Yet www.canyouseeme.org/ still can't see port 1802 and my friend can't join. Checked my firewall and FG still has full rights through. (Even tried with all firewalls completely off.)

I have no clue what's going on or what to do. I'd rather make a new ruleset than deal with the networking bs.

Edit: Set up a static IP. Not sure if that could have been the problem. Will test as soon as I have a player available to attempt to connect.

[joeru]

Did you open the port in your router's firewall as well?

[damned]

Nick - you online? Send me a PM and I will help you out.

[Griogre]

Thank you very much. This would have been immensely helpful if I had checked this forum BEFORE calling my ISP. Alas, should be fixed now. Still strange that the router password inputs 5 characters per keystroke.
You can ignore this (even though it is really distracting), its just a way to stop "over the shoulder" peeking to see the number of letters of the password. The best way to deal with it is don't watch the screen when typing in the password.

[Nickademus]

Damned, sent you a message. Might not need the help now though. I think I fixed it.

Just need a guinea pig.

[damned]

guinea pig...

[Nickademus]

I appreciate all the help from everyone (and the offered help from damned). I got it working finally.

The lesson of the day: Never trust auto-fill...

[Griogre]

Glad you got it working, and thanks for the use of your TS server.

[Nickademus]

No problem. It's based in New York, NY so it might be closer to some people.