Control Network Newsletter
New Video: Using Port Forwarding to Access a Private Web Server
Our Skorpion Gigabit IP Router Series provides wired, cellular and VPN options for IP networks. In our new video, we explain how to use port forwarding to access a private web server.
The EIGR series of high-speed routers link two 10/100/1000 Mbps Internet Protocol (IPv4) networks together—passing appropriate traffic while blocking all other traffic. One network is the local-area-network (LAN) and the other is the wide-area-network (WAN).
The lower part of the router connects the LAN side. The upper part connects the WAN side, and a firewall (which can be disabled by the user) separates the two parts.
A firewall controls the passing of messages from one side of a router to the other. The EIGR series has a built-in stateful firewall which acts on the structure of the message as well as who is initiating and who is responding.
With stateful firewall, originating requests from the LAN side and corresponding responses from the WAN side pass through the firewall. Traffic originating from the WAN side is blocked unless the firewall is adjusted to allow it. This protects the LAN side from unauthorized WAN access.
Port forwarding allows computers on the WAN side to access devices on the LAN side by opening up selected WAN IP ports. The only WAN-side requests that will be forwarded through the IP router are those that specify both the router's WAN address and a destination IP port number that exists in the router's IP port forwarding table. When this match is made, the message is forwarded to the indicated IP address on the LAN side. This is very useful when only one public IP address is available, but there is a need to access multiple LAN-side devices.
The routers also feature Port Address Translation (PAT) which allows LAN-side clients to access the Internet. Network Address Translation (NAT) allows a one-to-one translation between LAN-side and WAN-side devices. With port forwarding, LAN-side devices can also be accessed from the Internet. The EIGR series routers incorporate a four-port Ethernet switch for multiple LAN-side connections. An external Ethernet-based modem-cable or DSL-can be used to connect to the Internet. DSL modems connect via the PPPoE protocol.
Learn more by watching the video:
To learn more about our Skorpion Gigabit IP Router Series, visit the Skorpion Gigabit IP Router product page.