Security
66
R6250 Smart WiFi Router
Using steps similar to the preceding example, the following sequence shows the effects of
the port triggering rule you have defined:
1. You open an IRC client program to start a chat session on your computer.
2. Your IRC client composes a request message to an IRC server using a destination port
number of 6667, the standard port number for an IRC server process. Your computer then
sends this request message to your router.
3. Your router creates an entry in its internal session table describing this communication
session between your computer and the IRC server. Your router stores the original
information, performs Network Address Translation (NAT) on the source address and port,
and sends this request message through the Internet to the IRC server.
4. Noting your port triggering rule and having observed the destination port number of 6667,
your router creates an additional session entry to send any incoming port 113 traffic to your
computer.
5. The IRC server sends a return message to your router using the NAT-assigned source port
(for example, port 33333) as the destination port. The IRC server also sends an “identify”
message to your router with destination port 113.
6. Upon receiving the incoming message to destination port 33333, your router checks its
session table to determine whether there is an active session for port number 33333.
Finding an active session, the router restores the original address information replaced by
NAT and sends this reply message to your computer.
7. Upon receiving the incoming message to destination port 113, your router checks its session
table and learns that there is an active session for port 113, associated with your computer.
The router replaces the message’s destination IP address with your computer’s IP address
and forwards the message to your computer.
8. When you finish your chat session, your router eventually senses a period of inactivity in the
communications. The router then removes the session information from its session table,
and incoming traffic is no longer accepted on port numbers 33333 or 113.
To configure port triggering, you need to know which inbound ports the application needs.
Also, you need to know the number of the outbound port that will trigger the opening of the
inbound ports. You can usually determine this information by contacting the publisher of the
application or the relevant user groups or news groups.
Only one computer at a time can use the triggered application.
Port Forwarding to Permit External Host
Communications
In both of the preceding examples, your computer initiates an application session with a
server computer on the Internet. However, you might need to allow a client computer on the
Internet to initiate a connection to a server computer on your network. Normally, your router
ignores any inbound traffic that is not a response to your own outbound traffic. You can
configure exceptions to this default rule by using the port forwarding feature.
A typical application of port forwarding can be shown by reversing the client-server
relationship from the previous web server example. In this case, a remote computer’s
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