Fine-Tuning Your Network; Allowing Inbound Connections To Your Network - NETGEAR RangeMax NEXT WNR854T User Manual

This chapter describes how to modify the configuration of the RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router
WNR854T to allow specific applications to access the Internet or to be accessed from the Internet,
and how to make adjustments to enhance your network's performance.
This chapter includes:
•

Allowing Inbound Connections To Your Network

• Configuring Port Forwarding to Local Servers
• Configuring Port Triggering
• Using Universal Plug and Play
• Optimizing Wireless Performance
• Changing the MTU
• Optimizing Your Network Bandwidth
• Overview of Home and Small Office Networking Technologies
Allowing Inbound Connections To Your Network
By default, the WNR854T router blocks any inbound traffic from the Internet to your computers
except for replies to your outbound traffic. However, you may need to create exceptions to this rule
for the following purposes:
• To allow remote computers on the Internet to access a server on your local network.
• To allow certain applications and games to work properly when their replies are not
recognized by your router.
Your router provides two features for creating these exceptions: Port Forwarding and Port
Triggering. This section explains how a normal outbound connection works, followed by two
examples explaining how Port Forwarding and Port Triggering operate and how they differ.

Fine-Tuning Your Network

v1.1, January 2007
Chapter 6
6-1