ANSWERED Port forwarding with VPN different than without?

[xinga 2]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm not a network buff and only understand the basic concept of port forwarding.

 

· How does port forwarding in connection with a VPN work? Does it come on top of the local configuration, instead of it (because of some tunneling or what), or does it have no effect..?

 

My problem is: I cannot get a certain port open (52070 TCP or something), neither with nor without VPN. I explicitly opened the port in Windows (10) Firewall, and configured my Wi-Fi router accordingly, to no avail. I tested the port by going to a website. With my limited knowledge, the only possible explanation for the closed port to me is that the Wi-Fi router does not support port forwarding to a certain (fixed) local IP, but only based on a MAC address. It was suggested to me I do the former (whatever the possible advantage is).

 

What should I do? What can I check to find out what's wrong? And how does VPN affect all this?

 

Thank you.

[zhang888 1065]

Make sure your port is assigned to you here:

https://airvpn.org/ports/

 

Depends on how you connect to the VPN, you have to configure either your Windows firewall if you are running

the VPN client on Windows, or the router firewall in case you run the OpenVPN client on the router.

I am not aware of a consumer (GUI) router that forwards ports by MAC addresses - it's not a practical setup.

 

The port won't be open by itself, you also must have a software that will be accepting connections on that port,

whatever it is a torrent client, web server etc.

You can then use the above URL to check if the port is forwarded correctly.

[xinga 2]

Hi,

 

Is airvpn.info the exact same as airvpn.org..?

 

I cannot assign the port I want as it is already used by another user, so it says...

[LZ1 662]

Hello!

 

I recommend checking this Staff FAQ post if you didn't already. Note the warning.

 

Secondly, it would be helpful if you tell us why you're portforwarding, as you're perhaps doing more than necessary.

 

As Zhang suggested, you can test the assigned ports ability to reach you, in his link.

 

If the port number isn't crucial, you can simply "Add" in the Client Area ports section and the system will automatically assign you an available port.

 

As Zhang also suggested, the port number you pick, needs to be put into whichever program you're wanting to use, such as a torrent client. So that something is "listening" on the assigned port, for a connection.

 

Both .org and .info are the same, but .info is used as a back up in case .org is blocked, such as by an ISP. If you start on .org and end up on .info, it may thus require you to login anew .

[xinga 2]

Hello again,

 

I read the FAQ you mentioned, thanks.

 

Apparently, Soulseek requires me to open a specific port in order to work properly. Currently I'm already able to exchange files, but occasionally I cannot see other users' shares and I suspect the service is hampered, if not blocked, because of the unreachable ports. However, the ports (52050 and / or 52051) are already reserved - even though I'm not sure whether that is for specific servers or all servers.

[LZ1 662]

This thread should hopefully be a little enlightening