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Airport port forwarding for Mac

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Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by Guest »

benblue20 has explained that you have to establish fixed forwarding of port 28000 in your router, if you have one, and want to use your computer as a server for ThinkTanks.
benblue20 Jan '07 at: http://forums.planetthinktanks2.com/Thi ... ilit=+port

After searching this forum for a while, though, I gather that no one with a Macintosh has been able to get this working. Things look a little different because Apple provides an Airport Utility. Once into the Airport click "Advanced," then "Port Mapping" and "+". This pops up a window in which you can put in a "public port number," a "private port number" and the fourth number in a "private IP address." I put in 28000 for both port numbers and some number above ten or so but less than 255 for the end if the IP address and clicked OK. The map porting table then shows a single line entry of "28000 -> 10.0.1.33:28000" Looks good to me. But it doesn't work.

I have tried other local address numbers besides 33. And I have tried forwarding eight sequential ports, 28000-28007.

KillinBrainCells suggestion about the Mac's firewall is not the answer. It can be turned off in Security Preferences, and this makes no difference to ThinkTanks server behavior. (And with OSX 10.6 you can click for ThinkTanks coms to get through even when the Mac firewall is otherwise on.)

If I connect my machine directly to my cable modem box everything is fine. Others on the internet can then see and "join" ThinkTank games that I "launch." With the Airport in the middle, though, my ThinkTanks sever can not be seen by others on the outside world of the internet. It can then be seen only by machines in my local net behind the Airport. This is with the Airport forwarding port 28000 or 28000-28007 as described.

What's wrong? Does ThinkTanks really use port 28000?
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by LGM »

ThinkTanks does use 28000-28010.

I'm not familiar with the Airport setup for port forwarding... I don't have an Airport for my macs. I bought a cheaper router.

I have servers running, but one of the issues was getting that router forwarded properly. In the modding section there is a link to portforward.com (click image to go there)

Image.

Have you tried the info there?

I had issues getting my server running a while back... here's the thread about it:
http://planetthinktanks2.com/forums/Thi ... =23&t=4540

The forwarding setup got figured out, and some firmware upgrades made it all work right. I'm not sure about using wireless for a server, but have at it.
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by Guest »

Hi LGM. Thanks for such a fast note.
Went to PortForward.com, paid $19.95 for PFConfig, got no software download and then found a notice on the bottom of one of their pages that it wouldn't run on a Mac anyhow. It would run on an old PC laptop that I have somewhere, but I would have to buy PC ThinkTanks, too. I might if I have to, but first I'll wait a couple of days to see if someone has an easier idea.

You could solve the problem, I think. You apparently have three things: 1) a Mac,
2) an Airport with the needed internal settings that work for ThinkTanks, and 3) Airport Utility on the Mac. If you run Airport Utility to get into the Airport and click "Advanced," what table does it give you for map porting? I have just one line as I mentioned, "28000 -> 10.0.1.33:28000", and that doesn't work.
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by Guest »

On more careful reading of your notes I see two more things now: that TT apparently uses ports 28000-28010, but that the port mapping table actually in your working Airport is for only 28000-28006. I tried 28000-28007 earlier and that didn't work. I'll expand to 28000-28010.

Notes:
1) It may be a little risky using the number 2 for the last (4th) number of your private address for mapping the TT 28000.. ports. The router probably assigns itself to be number 1. Then it will want to assign local address ...2, ...3, and so forth to the other devices connected to it. I have three Airports (a base station, one to play music remotely on my hi-fi, and one for wireless printing) plus a laptop, and sometimes visitors with one or two more laptops. And if you don't lock them out, neighbors might join and use up more private addresses, too. So for me it is not safe to use the first ten or so private addresses. On the other hand routers are limited in the number of devices they can run. Apple brand Airports support addresses up to ...254 So I used 33 in my most recent try.

2) Definitions is response to Mr Phobik:
Private addresses are the IP address assigned by a router to boxes that are behind it. They must all have the same first three numbers
Public address is the outside IP address assigned to you by your ISP. This resides in your router, not in your computer.
DHCP = "dynamic hardware configuration protocol." Works both on public and private side of router unless you manually specify.
UDP = "user defined protocol"
(Seems a little silly to me for software to ask you to specify UDP at the same time you are manually overriding DHCP.)
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by 00E »

Also you can check this topic out...

http://forums.planetthinktanks2.com/Thi ... 4&start=10

I've yet to solve this problem too...
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by 00E »

Sorry for DP but, I just think I've come to a solution... When I got on my Airport I found a page that looks like this... I know you said that UDP ports should be set to 28000 - 28010... But what about TCP Ports? Also what do I fill out on the top two columns...
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by LGM »

I've never needed to use the Airport Utility, because I'm using a Belkin router.

However, it seems that you're having trouble getting your internal IP figured out... maybe a little dashboard widget will help.

Do you have iStat Pro? Great little tool... tells you a lot about your system. One section includes network info like internal and external IPs. You might want to get it and use the data it gives you. It's free... http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/ Get the internal IP from that and use it in your setup.

Maybe this article can give you some more hints... sounds like you need the internal IP and the ports to be correct.
http://homepage.mac.com/car1son/static_ ... rtfwd.html

@00E- TT doesn't use TCP, it uses UDP... so that setting isn't any help. Good try, though.
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by 00E »

$%#*!

Well I got the password for my airport... It really didn't do me any good... What happens is, I get to this screen "v" and don't know what to do! Is it on the Airport Admin Utility? Santa Gift 07 is the name of our network... Lame... I know...
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by Guest »

The Airport Utility that comes with Macs and runs on Macs only is apparently rather similar to PFConfig which is a $20 purchase from PortForward.com and runs on PCs only. The latter will work with Airport routers, but the fit there is for PC users that have an Airport and no Mac. For Mac users PFConfig is an unusable waste of money.

For Mac users:
There should be no problem the first time you run Airport Utility to get into a new Airport router. But by the time you finish that session you will have set at least two passwords and maybe three. If you forget those passwords by the next time you want to change some settings (like port mapping) you can push the Airport's reset button. There are three kinds of reset, and Apple has a help page about this.

Once into your Airport router using Airport Utility, click on "Advanced" and then "Port Mapping". Then clicking "+" gives a window in which you can enter the set the numbers needed to for one port, and then by doing this repeatedly you can enter a table of port maps. (See discussion above about what the numbers and terms mean.) Here is what my port table looks like:
Image
Unfortunately, this doesn't work.

Some say you need to fix port 28000, others say all eleven ports 28000-28010, and when that didn't work I added ports 57546 and 60890, but all to no avail. (The latter show up when running the stand-alone TT server script. Communications with the master TT server is by port 280002. When a second Mac behind my Airport joins the game it is by either port 5746 or 60890.) (It turns out that the stand-alone TT server can be joined by a user from a different log-in account on the same machine. In that case the server log file shows no record of a port being used. Hum. Reasonable, I guess.)

I am finding that the firewall in each Mac makes a difference. Using Security in Systems Preferences the firewall can be turned on, off or mostly on. For the latter click "Advanced." Here is the way the OSX10.0.6 utility window looks when only ThinkTanks, iTunes and QuickTime communications are allowed through:
Image

The trouble with this is that Apple got too smart. The first time a TT communication comes in you are given a screen asking you to approve the com. But the only way you can see this and approve it is if you are running the stand-along TT server. Then when the other gamer wanting to join clicks "Refresh," the second com is allowed in and the other gamer sees your server in the list. If you ran the game itself and clicked "Launch," the game is filling your whole screen so that you are unable to see or approve the inquiry from Apple's Security Preferences utility. Running the game and clicking "Launch" works only if the Mac's firewall is turned totally off.

At least that's the way things work between the two Macs behind my Airport router.

Have been able to be seen by my son out on the www only if I remove the Airport router and connect my mac server directly to my cable modem box.

So I am still stuck. Wow. What else could be wrong. Help!
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Re: Airport port forwarding for Mac

Post by LGM »

Have you tried putting your server computer in a DMZ setup?

Also, you can leave TT fullscreen and go into windowed mode with command-return... and then you can command-tab between programs. May allow you to enable more connections. When I run a server and play on the same computer, I run one dedicated, and play on a second TT copy. That way you would need to have more connections open (I think)

Wish I had more familiarity with the Airport setup... it sounds annoying to try to get past the security.
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