Transcript Document
Greg Van Dyne
December 4, 2007
Agenda
Introduction
Technical Overview
Protocols
Demonstration
Future Trends
References
Introduction
Port Forwarding
Opening a port in a router or firewall residing in a
private network in order to let a party from the outside
world contact a user inside. For example, opening ports
for VoIP and videoconferencing traffic makes two-way
communications easier no matter which side initiates
the call. Also called "port mapping," port forwarding can
be done by manual configuration or by software.
*definition courtesy of PCWorld.com
Ports
What is a port?
represents an endpoint or "channel" for network
communications
One computer sends data from port of one IP address to
another
Port numbers can theoretically range from 0 to 65535
Only one application can be used at a time on any given
port
Why forward a port?
With routers, firewalls prevent direct comm. between
IPs
A Few Common Ports
21 – FTP
22 – Secure Shell (SSH)
23 – Telnet
80 – HTTP
110 – POP3 mail
3389 – Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
6112 – Blizzard’s Battle.net gaming service (Unofficial)
*Unofficial – not registered with IANA (Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority)
Some Familiar Concepts
TCP – Transfer Control Protocol - 2 computers directly
connect, and remain connected for duration of session
*similar to a telephone call
UDP – User Datagram Protocol – sends data and relies
on devices in between to deliver properly. Not as
reliable *like putting mail in mailbox
NAT – Network Address Translation – determines
destinati0on of packets sent to network. This is where
port forwarding comes into play.
Static vs. Dynamic IP
Static
Usually ocnfigured within OS
Ensures that internal IP never changes
Ports can be forwarded once, and will not require any
changes in the future
Dynamic
Internal IP fluctuates
Can cause port forwarding not to work
Port Triggering
Dynamic port forwarding
Port triggering allows for port to to
open only when a certain application is
running
Once application stops, access to that
port is turned off
Slightly more secure
Things to consider
The need to forward the packets that come to the
router's forwarded port, and the need to rewrite them
so that the private machine sees them as originating
from the router
Only one networked machine can use a specific
forwarded port at one time
Traditional port forwarding allows the entire world
access to the port, thus security is reduced
Ports can be changed within registry if unofficial
Reverse Port Forwarding
Also called reverse tunneling
Composed of session server (SS) and session client
(SC)
SS connects with session port, SC connects with
session server component
SS tunes in to port that needs forwarded
When connection is done, it’s forwarded directly to SC
with an accessible destination to that SC
Usually needed when a port is behind a router or
firewall but that router or firewall is not configurable
with normal port forwarding for one reason or another
References
Cadden, C. (2006) “MP3 Player Market to Reach 286
Million Units by 2010.” In-Stat.com. Retrieved Nov.
23, 2007.
http://www.instat.com/press.asp?ID=1648&sku=I
N0603155ID.
Snell, J. (2004) “How AirTunes Works” Macworld.com.
Retrieved Nov. 23, 2007.
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/archi
ves/000212.php.
Wikipedia. (2007) “Digital Living Network Alliance.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network
_Alliance