Blocked Ports

[Mi Lo Fu]

Hello all. My 2 friends and i had a lan a while back (they braught their comps to my place with a router) we got it all hooked up and had fun on our mini lan. When we dis=assembled and they went home something strange happened. Im no longer able to direct connect to one of them. With file transfers and things it says we cant connect and we cant even stay connected to each other on online games. Somebody suggested to me that our lan might have caused ports to be blocked preventing us from connecting. I was just wondering if this was possible since i dont use a router on my computer. If so does anybody know how to unblock ports so we can connect again? help is much appreciated

[Marble]

Basically how a network works:

View this Basic Network (http://www.mardala.com/john/net.gif)


The WAN comes from the outside to your modem/router. The LAN is what you have on your side of the modem. So if you take one of those computers out of the LAN and set it up to a different modem at your friends house it is no longer on the LAN, it is part of its own LAN.

There is the IP address that comes from your ISP, whether it is static (a fixed IP #) or Dynamic (it changes based on a number of preset addresses your ISP can use.)

Then when you create a LAN you create a batch of IP #'s designated for LAN's, for instance, 192.168.0.1 would be your router (which is actually a computer.), 192.168.0.2 would be computer #1, 192.168.0.3 would be computer #2, etc like this. All under a subnet of 255.255.255.0....

These IP's only work on the LAN, if someone runs a port scan on your computer setup, then they would hit the router based on the IP that your ISP has you on. There is one way to make this LAN larger - using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) which opens a secure tunnel across the WAN. This also can jeopradize your security depending on how you have it set up.

Your router also acts as a firewall in that someone scanning your router will not be able to detect any info on you (like active ports, which processes you are running, and what OS you are using.), and most you can set to not respond to pings, which makes them even more invisible. This is good though. If you set it up so that you can get into your friends LAN game - ie, make the Game server run in the DMZ - Demilitarized Zone, you are essentially letting any wanna be hackers hack you in about 2 minutes. So I wouldnt advise doing that unless you have a secure server computer set up outside of the Router in the DMZ and you know how to secure it, and I wouldnt advise using a windows OS for something like this - and one note - there has been some real serious game server hacks recently, most using the Game Spy. I know they found a big one in all versions of Unreal, that is pretty serious.

I think what your problem is that you took the computer out of the LAN and now you cant connect to it.

[Marble]

I read over your question again and I am not sure what you mean by "dissasembled" your LAN. Are those computers still with you? or did your friends take them home with them?

[Mi Lo Fu]

no my friends took them home with them. All we did was, my friends brought their computers to my house. One of my friends also brought his 4 port router. We set all the computers up and plugged them into the router and got them all working on our own little network. We werent worried about hacking and stuff because none of the computers or the router were hooked up to the internet. Hmmm perhaps in using the wrong word. HUB may be a better word. We set it up played some games on tcp/ip through the HUB and then the next day, my two friends took both of their computers back home with them and i moved mine and hooked it back up to the internet.


Now i cannot connect two one of my friends even through the internet. We try file transfers and it says i cant connect, and we cannot play online games if one of us is the host

[Marble]

Yeah before you were on your own LAN, now you took the other computers away so they arent part of that LAN anymore. The router (if it was a router and not a hub) will block any outside WAN access to your friends LAN. That is why you cant access. You would have to set up a server and run any processes outside of your friends network - ie the game server or an ftp server to transfer files. So not much you can do right now.

[Mi Lo Fu]

there is no way to reverse this or fix it? cause im not currently on a home network

[Marble]

You would have to set up some sort of server to connect to your friends computer.

[Techwizzard]

Your friend has to look into his router and check the forwards of his ports. It's possible that his router might have resetted back to factory defaults. For example if you want to use PcAnywhere on both of your machines he would have to open ports 5631 and 5632 and add his ip address for those ports in his router. If you need to transfer files to each other you don't need to get a file server. You can do it with remote software or the both of you if you want to can always get FTP-ServU and run it on your machines. Timbukto Pro is another remote software.

[Marble]

If you use a VPN you will have to look into using a dynamic IP, it is a bit trickier than just giving it an IP. I think you have to set up some sort of domain naming otherwise your dynamic IP will keep changing and you will have to manually reset the IP every session or few days. (I am assuming you are not paying for a static IP, like most people.)

As far as hosting a game server you would need to set it up outside of the router, unless there is another way?

[Mi Lo Fu]

but neither of us are using the router anymore lol. We only use the router for that purpose. i dont understand why it cant be fixed really. Neither of us use a router or a firewall that cant be taken down.

[Marble]

What is blocking it is probably the firewall built into the router. Just be careful, it takes next to nothing for someone to hack into your standard windows box, there are all sorts of active services that run by default. If you plan on using some kind of broadband/baseband isp service and dont have an around the clock security, then get some programs that monitor your port activity adn dont leave your computer running when you are gone for any length of time.

[Techwizzard]

Are you using any firewall protection software on your PC? Also, if you're using Windows XP do you have the firewall enabled?

[Mi Lo Fu]

i dont run XP or a software firewall and he doesnt have his xp firewall enabled. I will soon be upgrading to XP pro though

[Techwizzard]

I'm just curious to know how the two of you attached to each other outside of the local home without going through the router. I'm not really into playing games online. Anyhow, you might have to go through a server or I'm wondering if your friend had a static ip address and somehow it was changed in your game config.

Here's a link that's talk about the popular games and how to setup and online server.

http://www.gameadmins.com/modules.php?name=Sections

[Marble]

I am not sure about game servers, but back when we used to play Unreal1 we had to set up an Unreal server outside of the Router to get it listed.

What they had before was a Lan party and then they all took their computers back home and he wants to keep that LAN feel, but over the net. Problem there is you can make it so its anyone who sees your IP, it'd be their LAN as well, which is bad. Unless you dont mind the script Kiddies having fun on your computers as well.

[Mi Lo Fu]

i dont want to keep the lan feel at all really. We just want to be able to transfer files through the internet. I dont want to be able to access his comp. Just want to be able to send files through msn and if he hosts an online game server so a bunch of my clan mates can play i can never connect to it

[Marble]

You will have to search for the game you play and setting up a server with a router. There should be plenty of help on the net.

As far as file sharing, try some of those VPN software and see what you can come up with. But just remember you're using a Dynamic IP more than likely and you will have to configure it so it will work. Also the Router will have a setting that will have to be enabled so that VPN can happen.

What game are you talking about and also what is the model of the router?

[Mi Lo Fu]

neither of us are using the router anymore though lol. We only use it when we want to have or home network. Im talking about counter-strike, command and conquer generals, black and white, bf1942. Neither of us uses the router any more. We cannot connect to each other through a standard internet connection

[Marble]

If your friend doesnt have a router, or a firewall active, then he should check to make sure his server settings are correct. Does it need some type of uplink? Can you see his server? If so does it not let you connect?
You should be able to connect easily without any port protection. The Router is hardware I am assuming, so that wont change any settings on your computer so if you remove it from the chain it wont block anything anymore. If you are running DHCP then when you add a router you only have to set the router. So that should answer your blocked port issue.

[Mi Lo Fu]

then i am thoroughly puzzled. When he makes a server others can see it and join and i cant even see it.

[kds]

who is ur isp if it’s university/college network then they might block all ports. Chk wit ur isp first tell u friend to configure his server to some other port and try to access it

[Marble]

Are the others trying to access it from the LAN or over the Internet. Just remember to clarify how you are connecting to the server or what not because connecting on a LAN and connecting on the Internet are a bit different.

[kds]

yea on lan uses netBEUI to share files but u cant do tat wit internet u have to use the tcp /ip

[Marble]

you only use netBEUI if you add it to your protocol. I think by default you are just using tcp/ip as your LAN connection.

[kds]

netBEUI is the M$ protocal U need tat to share files on a local lan I dont think u can share files wit tcp/ip just like tat U need a server software to share wit tcp/ip I might be wrong

[Marble]

Check your LAN properties. It will show M$ Client, File/Printer Sharing, and tcp/ip. Hit install --> add protocol --> there should be a list of protocols that you can add, and one is netBEUI. so its not on by default. The main reason is it only works with Microsoft computers and I think it is pretty insecure as well. I dont mess with it so I dont know much about it.

[kds]

I cant use Client, File/Printer Sharing wit out netBEUI enabled

[Mi Lo Fu]

i am trying to do this all on the internet now, no network or anything

[Marble]

I guess what i was trying to find out Mi Lo Fu is how are your friends connecting to the server, because you said you are not able to, so we ruled that out, but are the others going over the net as well?

[Marble]

Originally posted by kds
I cant use Client, File/Printer Sharing wit out netBEUI enabled

You shouldnt have to enable netBEUI for file and printer sharing. netBEUI is used the way tcp/ip is (they are not the same, but you would use it to connect to other computers like you do with tcp/ip)
You might have netBIOS enabled, which works on LANs, but not over the internet.

Here is a little ditty I grabbed off the net:

"Because NetBIOS does not contain a mechanism for routing data outside its LAN, applications communicating on a segmented network (often called an enterprise network) or WAN (Wide Area Network -- the Internet is a WAN) must use a "transport protocol" such as IPX or TCP/IP.

The IPX (Internetwork Packet eXchange) protocol, enabled by default on Win/NT machines, is comparable in function to IP. IPX establishes the format of network data packets and like TCP/IP, can serve to implement NetBIOS over a larger network.

NetBIOS is typically paired with a protocol called NETBEUI (Netbios Extended User Interface), an extension of NetBIOS which also serves to implement NetBIOS over a WAN."

[Mi Lo Fu]

yes they are also going over the internet. There is no network anymore