All About PORT FORWARDING ON NETGEAR ROUTERS

What is Port Forwarding?

Port forwarding, also known as port mapping is a technique of configuring a router to make a network device that is connected to it accessible to other computers and network devices outside the local network.

In simple words, when you enable Port Forwarding on a port, you enable the remote internet access for the device on that port.

Let’s say you have an IP camera and your computer connected to the same router. The router assigns the internal IP address to your camera and the computer so that they can communicate with each other in a local area network (LAN). The router is connected to the modem which provides internet connection to your LAN. Modem is also assigned an IP address which is a public IP address by ISP but this is different than the local IP address. This allows communication between devices on your LAN and devices on the internet.

For security reasons, there is a firewall so that no outside device can get access to your devices in your local network. But what if you want to grant access to other devices over internet so that they can access your devices on the local network?? This is why we need Port Forwarding.

When you set up port forwarding, it allows internet traffic inside the network but only on the specific port that you have forwarded. Let’s say your IP camera is running on port 5000. So if you forwarded port 5000, outside traffic will now be allowed inside the network on that particular port and router will let any device over the internet remotely access the IP camera.

Setting up Port Forwarding on NETGEAR routers:

1. Launch a web browser from the computer which is connected to the router and go to http://www.routerlogin.net or the IP address of the router written below the router.
2. Enter router username and password when prompted.
3. Go to ADVANCED> Advanced Setup > Port Forwarding/Port Triggering.
4. Select Port Forwarding as the service type.
5. From the Service Name menu, select the service or app/game you want to host. If the service is not listed, you have to add the service on your own. The instructions are given below under Adding Custom Service.
6. 6.       In the Server IP Address field, enter the last digit of IP address of your local computer which will provide the service.
7. Click Add.

Adding Custom Service:

Before adding a service, application or a game in Service Name menu, you must need the port number or range of number used by it. You can get this information by contacting the publisher of the application or user groups.

1. Go to ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > Port Forwarding/Port Triggering.
2. Select Port Forwarding as the service type.
3. Click Add Custom Service.
4. Enter the name under Service Name.
5. Select protocol in Protocol field. Select TCP/UDP if you are unsure.
6. If the application uses single port, enter the port number in the Ending Port field. If application uses range of ports, then enter the beginning port number in the Starting Port and ending port number in Ending Port field.
7. Enter IP address in the Server IP Address of the computer which will provide the service
8. Click Apply.

If you are facing any issues regarding the Port Forwarding, feel free to contact Netgear tech support. They are available 24 x 7. You may contact Netgear tech support on 1-877-777-8906 (Toll free).