Port Forwarding ExampleĪs explained in the above diagram, by setting the forwarding rule on the home network, one can access the network even from the far end and the router will grant access to the right application with the right host computer. It is also used when you need to bypass the firewall in the network that resists access to the outside network and applications. This is used when the client is working on an untrusted network and needs additional security for the transmission of data. In this method, the client is securely connected to the destination server by using an SSH or SOCKS proxy server for transmission of data over the Internet. Thus to deploy this, it is required to know the address of the destination server and two-port numbers of the client hosts. This can also be used by the employee of an organization to connect to the office network from home while doing work from home. This is used to share the internal web application on the public platform. Then the connection will be tunneled to the host computer to port 80. This kind of method will allow anyone from the remote end to connect to the remote server in the local network on TCP port number 8080. This is used in the secure file transfers tunneling and for connecting to a remote file share over the Internet. Thus it forwards the data securely from the host computer to another server running on the same network. This forwarding technique is used to bypass the firewall in the network to access other computers or services which are primarily blocked.
It is used for accessing e-mail and chatting online like using SKYPE from the home network.It is used to run the video games on the publically available server within a home network.It is also used when it is required to grant the FTP access to the host computer on the private network from the Internet.It is used when the host computer needs secure shell access to another host on the LAN network from the Internet.In general, the TCP port 80 is used in the port forwarding method for web-based services so that all the Internet-based applications can run over it. It permits the remote end host computers to connect to a particular host device on the network, on the Internet, within a LAN or WAN network.
> Recommended Reading -> Port Triggering Vs Port Forwarding This is the kind of configuration method which is available in the NAT enabled router and it routes the communication request from the combination of one IP address and port number to another when packets are sent in the network through the gateway such as a router or firewall. This technique is deployed to grant external devices access to the host systems on the networks like home or business LAN networks. Thus to run some other services on the home network like gaming, e-mail, remote access, etc. The router is pre-configured in such a manner that it will give the key of only a few locks to access the Internet, keeping other locks closed. Here the router will behave as a shield from the outside Internet network with only some locks open and all others closed. Now you need to forward some ports of the router to allow external traffic into the network. Take the case of a home or small office LAN network. Let us understand the concept of port forwarding with the help of an example.