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I have DSL internet at my house, with some Windows servers running on my LAN. I've set my router to forward port 80 to one of them, and likewise set a firewall rule to allow port 80, and that works great. If I connect to X.X.X.X (my home IP address) from a remote site, it connects to that server and displays a web page as I would expect it to.

However, I have other applications running on different ports, and those don't seem to work. I followed the exact same procedures -- set up port forwarding on my router, and made sure the firewall was open -- but anything besides port 80 does not seem to get through. I try to connect to X.X.X.X:5432, for example, and that doesn't work.

I suspect that my ISP blocks the other ports somehow? (Is there any way to test my hypothesis?) I'm wondering if there's some way to open a (restricted) port through another (open) port, with a proxy or a tunnel or something like that. Any suggestions?

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  • Don't do it, use a port forwarding tool like localtunnel or ngrok to outerworld.
    – ShrekOverflow
    Jan 10, 2015 at 18:19
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    @Abhishek What is wrong with port forwarding? Why should localtunnel or ngrok be used? I have a computer at home that I use for a server (HTTP/SSH/SMTP/IRC/DNS and other things), and port-forwarding through the router always worked fine (I now have that computer set as the router, so no port forwarding anymore).
    – BenjiWiebe
    Jan 10, 2015 at 19:11
  • The best way to test your hypothesis is to call your ISP and ask. Once you know whether or not they're a factor, we can probably help you better.
    – user388043
    Jan 10, 2015 at 20:53
  • @BenjiWiebe Ngrok and localtunnel are way easier to start and use and are usually more secure, If DDoS or anything occurs it goes on their infrastructure not yours.
    – ShrekOverflow
    Jan 11, 2015 at 10:27

2 Answers 2

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It's a good idea that you use a static IP address to connect your computer to your router. Then, using your router's settings, you can forward any port to whichever PC you want. Sometimes, your router may have a firewall installed which is stopping the ports you want, so check that in the settings. (router settings are usually located at 192.1.1.254 on your PC's browser). Also, check your computer's firewall. Windows by default often blocks most unused ports, so you'll want to go into firewall settings and allow UDP and TCP outbound and inbound for the specified ports.

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  • Thanks, but perhaps my question wasn't phrased in a very clear way? You just described are all the things that I have already done. But the problem is that even if I open up various ports to the world, they still don't work. The only exception is port 80. What I'm asking is how do I get other ports to act like they were port 80? So for instance, connecting to X.X.X.X:80 would actually connect to 192.168.X.X:8080.
    – soapergem
    Jan 10, 2015 at 19:30
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use this online tool to check your port forwarding http://ping.eu/port-chk/ If it says that your port 80 is open and the other ports you try to use are closed, then you either did not forward them correctly or the apps/games you try to run do not listen on these ports at all. For this you should run command netstat -a on the pc you try to connect to to see what ports is your computer listening on. You can also add -b parameter to see a process name listening on that port. If you don't see those ports then it is not a network problem. If you do see the ports being listened on then from another pc on the same LAN try running "telnet otherpcIP portnum" and if you see a blinking cursor then you are connected and the port is open and accessible from LAN. You will probably have to add telnet in programs and features / turn windows features on or off. If all this works and ping.eu says your ports other then 80 are closed, then it may be really an ISP blocking it...

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  • Thanks. I tried out the tool you linked to and all but port 80 is "closed" to the outside world. When I run netstat -a I can see that the ports I'm interested in are, indeed, listening though. And I have port forwarding configured in the router for those ports exactly the same as port 80. So this is confirming my hypothesis, I think, that my ISP simply blocks all other ports. I'm going to reach out to them and confirm that, but it wouldn't surprise me. I suspect they will want to charge more to open up those ports because they might see that as a "business" use rather than residential.
    – soapergem
    Jan 11, 2015 at 15:15

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