VPN port forwarding is key to creating secure servers and home networks, but this only applies to the most advanced users. Creating secure servers and home networks That’s when you need a VPN that forwards those ports. If you set up a virtual private network at your home, you may want to access it from a remote location. Although port forwarding might not be necessary for most VPN users, there are reasons why it might come in useful. Want to connect to your Internet of Things cooker while away on holiday? Need to access your home computer while at work? Have a baby cam and want to use it while away? All of that is made possible by port forwarding. Thus, your home network is expanded to encompass all the amazing gadgets you own. By setting it up on a router, you can enable easy connections to other devices connected to the router. Port forwarding tells the NAT to expect and allow outside connections for a specific IP and port combination. What does this have to do with port forwarding? It becomes an issue when you want to connect to such devices outside your home network. However, anyone interacting with the router only sees its IP address, while the IPs of the devices connected to the router remain invisible. The NAT collects data packages from connected devices, writes down their addresses, slaps its own unique address on top, and forwards it online. The connected devices – phones, laptops, smart washing machines – get non-unique ones to communicate with the router only – they’re called “private IPs” as nobody on the internet can see them. Only your router’s IP address is unique – it’s called “public IP” as it’s the one online services see. The Network Address Translation (NAT) exists because there is a scarcity of IP addresses online.

If your IP was 321.45.678.90 and you used a POP3 email client, then data addressed to the email client would go to 321.45.678.90:110.īut then you need to deal with the NAT. The first 1024 are historically assigned to the most common services.įor example, POP3, the protocol an email client uses to retrieve mail from the server, uses port 110.Īnd when the time comes for the internet data to be sent and received, the port number is added to the device’s IP (Internet Protocol) address (which is like the device’s home address, but on the internet), thus allowing the various processes involved to know which data package goes where. Due to mathematical reasons, port numbers range from 0 to 65,535. In more technical terms, ports are addresses a device assigns to services and apps that need input from the outside (usually the internet).

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