Topic: Bit Torrent Firewall Problems

[Patrick]

My connection is firewalled. 

I am set up through a Linksys wireless router, however I am connected to the ground (we have a wireless laptop roaming around the house, and the router is there to split the signal, obviosuly.)

I have read the FAQ on bt.etree.org, and followed all the directions to open the ports, but I can't seem to get it working.

Can anyone help me?


This has been cross posted, btw.

[Patrick]

My connection is firewalled. 

I am set up through a Linksys wireless router, however I am connected to the ground (we have a wireless laptop roaming around the house, and the router is there to split the signal, obviosuly.)

I have read the FAQ on bt.etree.org, and followed all the directions to open the ports, but I can't seem to get it working.

Can anyone help me?


This has been cross posted, btw.

[chase]

In order to get bittorrent to work behind a router you have to forward ports 6881-6889 to your computer.

check out this site for instructions on how to forward those ports using your specific router.

http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm

[Idle Wind]

first you have to open your browser, and get to your routers set up screen
try typing 192.168.1.1 in the address bar - that's the default address - it may
have been changed to 192.168.2.1 or some such, if you also have a DSL modem
or something.

it will ask you for the user and password - default is admin / admin

this will bring you to the router set up screen - click on "Applications and Gaming"
first tab is "Port Range Forward" go  in there - fill in these values

application = bittorrent
start = 6881
end = 6889
protocol = both
IP Address = put in the IP Address of your machine from the network card
click enable
click save settings

and you're done.



the IP address has to be that of your local machine -
I forget how to do it in Win XP - in 98, click
start / run / winipcfg
then select your Network Adapter from the drop down menu
and it will give you your IP addy.

it may not be the perfect or best way, but it worked
for me.  good luck.

[kindms]

something that alot of folks miss or dont know about that can be a big problem when you map ports to your computer.

By default the Linksys and others are setup as DHCP servers and your computers on you LAN will automatically grab IP address from the Linksys and others if on the computers the computers are setup to "Obtain an IP address automatically" (PC) or Ethernet using DHCP (mac)

So if you map ports to the IP address of your computer and it set to get an IP automatically when it reboots or is restarted etc it might not get the same IP address that it had before and then the port mappings will not work. So it is a good idea to set the IP address of the machine you are mapping to STATIC (meaning you specify the IP address on the computer soit is always the same). It is also a good idea to choose an IP address that isnt part of the DHCP IP Pool. If I remember correctly the Linksys has a default IP address of 192.168.1.1 and the first IP address in the DHCP pool is 192.168.1.100. So that means that u could use any address from 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.99 (thiese arent the only ones but lets keep it simple for now) to address the machine/s that you would like to STATICALLY assign IP addresses to.

FOR EXAMPLE

Your P0rt mappings in the Linksys would look something like this:

6881 to 6889   (which point at)   192.168.1.2


The Computer which is 192.168.1.2:

The IP addressing should look like this

IP Adress: 192.168.1.2
Subnet     255.255.255.0
Gateway   192.168.1.1

DNS         (depends on your ISP)

[Kyle]

With my linksys router, if you go to 192.168.1.1, go into the config, select apps/gaming, then select dmz to your ip - prolly 192.168.1.100. DMZ forwards all ports to whatever ip you select.

if you shut off and there are other computers on the network, when you restart you will get a new ip address, and you will have to change the dmz address. At my house, the other users are rarely on and I am always on, so in over a year I have only fixed my ip address maybe 10 times. Sounds like alot, but it only takes a couple of seconds, no big deal, ymmv

edit - the linksys router assigns ips starting at 192.168.1.100. So your ip address will only change if you log off, then the others users log off, and then someone logs back on before you do. So if you were originally 192.168.1.100, logged off, everyone else logged off, then one person logs back on before you, he is 192.168.1.100, then you would be 192.168.1.101, and so on.

[ford prefect]

With my linksys router, if you go to 192.168.1.1, go into the config, select apps/gaming, then select dmz to your ip - prolly 192.168.1.100. DMZ forwards all ports to whatever ip you select.

This is essentially opening your computer to all outside traffic.  Your computer just got dipped in fish guts and dropped into a tank of great whites...

Port range forwarding lets you select only the ports necessary for the application.  That is more appropriate and safer for your computer.

[chase]

setting your computer to to be the dmz server isn't necessarily a bad thing.  as long as you have all your windows updates and a firewall turned on, you should be ok.

[ford prefect]

setting your computer to to be the dmz server isn't necessarily a bad thing.  as long as you have all your windows updates and a firewall turned on, you should be ok.

Yes, you are right Chase, software based firewall will definitely protect you, but then you have to go into that and do the same thing - open the correct ports for BT to work. 

IMO, you are better off learning how to do this behind the router rather than using the DMZ function and installing firewall software or (god forbid  ) using the windows firewall.

[chase]

i agree that i'd rather be behind the router's firewall than the windows one since microsoft products always seem to develop some vulenrability. 

[rerem]

I do BT and we use a Linksys wireless though I link via cable. Its port forwarded but NOT DMZ mode. I set my address on my machines LAN card config,in Control Panel and never need to change it