Firewall problem

Saint_Dude · #1 August 1st, 2007, 02:01 AM

Very sorry about the delays that I have caused. The realities of moving with my family cross country and starting a new job have left very little free time to trouble shoot my Internet connection issues. Thus my gaming responsibilities have suffered.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #2 August 1st, 2007, 02:56 AM

Windows? What version? Linux? (I'll assume WinXP for the moment)

Find the IP address of your machine. (See TOC, starting page 19)
Go to the start menu, and look for "Run"
You'll want to open up a command prompt "cmd"
In that command prompt, type ipconfig.
You'll get a number that looks something like
192.168.1.# or 192.168.0.#. The pound is some number from 1 to 255. This number represents your machine's ip on your network (not the internet as a whole). Remember this number.

As a side note, if this works for a while but then stops, consider asking about static IPs. I'll tell you how to assign yourself a permanent one. Thats another lesson though.

Use that user guide for a reference.
You'll want a custom policy page 27 (33 out of 130). Also see page 28 (using the first number displayed by my reader from now on- adjust if it doesn't match).

As described on page 29, you may want to start from the high template, than customize. My hardware firewall doesn't need any particular customization, so I'm not certain exactly where the problem you're having originates.

Consider the DMZ your very last resort. That puts a your machine outside of the firewall. It's practically the same as turning your firewall off, except it won't expose other machines on your network.

TCP, port varies based on game, continued tomorrow. Sane tomorrow? Lucid.

Late night.. short form, not certain which method to use ATM.

Port Forwarding (try second) pg 40 something.
If networked game has port 2222, than
set at start and end range. Put IP from above in lan Ip address (192.168.1.#). Enable then add, then test.

First thing to try
Port Triggers p48
Protocol is TCP.
Port Start/End is 2222
Session Chaining Disabled (this game only needs one port).
Session Interval Zero.
Address replace probably disabled.
Multi host almost certainly disabled, if player.

Uhmm... sorry for scrambled brains. Starting point this hopefully is.

Saint_Dude · #3 August 1st, 2007, 03:24 AM

Should have stated at the outset that I am on a Mac.

As far as IP address goes. . . I know the IP address of the modem (but I assume this is not what you are talking about). I can also see several Mac "addresses" for my machine (a different one for the firewire, ethernet, and airport), but I am not sure which (if any) of these to use. They don't look like IP addresses.

I have tried to disable the NAT (network address translation), and to set my machine (at least on a temporary basis) as a NAT passthough device using the aforementioned Mac addresses. Both to no avail.

As for port forwarding. . . . am I understanding you correctly that I am supposed to set my machine to the same port as the host computer is using (and change the port setting on a game by game basis)? Sure seems cumbersome.

It is getting late, so I am going to have to call it a night. Will try to play around with the port triggers tomorrow.

Thanks for getting me started.

atul · #4 August 1st, 2007, 04:00 AM

Do you want to have the modem firewall specifically or is any firewall ok? I mean, there's OSX's own firewall, which I have put on, that doesn't interfere with gameplay.

To use the native firewall, go to system settings (or equivalent, my system isn't on English), pick Sharing, and there you should see button to enable firewall. Has worked for me, and Macs really aren't that much in the wild as it comes to nasty stuff floating around. But I'm not expert so I might be endangering all reading this, so at everyone's own risk.

And I think the IP address can be seen from the system prefs -> network. At least to me it says the IP address for ethernet and that I'm connected to internet via it.

PashaDawg · #5 August 1st, 2007, 10:59 AM

I have a Mac, too. I wonder about the problem you're having.

Maybe you can turn off that firewall and either use the OSX firewall or buy a firewall program. I use Intego's NetBarrier.

Is it possible that the OS modified the network settings somehow when it was reconnected in your new location?

Lazy_Perfectionist · #6 August 1st, 2007, 04:43 PM

I'm not certain what you need to do... I'm just giving you somethings to try. If I was in your area, I'd be happy to tinker with it until it works, but all I can do is see if I can find a way to break my firewall, and see if I can extrapolater from that.

Quote:

Apple Macintosh Users

1. From the Apple menu, select the "Apple System Profiler"
2. Open the "Network overview"
3. Open "TCP/IP"

Within this window the user will be able to see the computer's network information including the IP address.

Saint_Dude · #7 August 1st, 2007, 07:19 PM

Wow, thanks for all the help, especially from the not-so Lazy_Perfectionist.

I also called tech support (several times) and got essentially the same advice as LP's. I have tried both port forwarding and port triggers to no avail. Although, when I try port forwarding I get a message that indicates that I also have to open said port in my firewall (but doesn't indicate how this would be done).

I think despite all the helpful advice I have received, and the many hours that I have put into the problem, I am going to have to punt. I think I will run both the mac firewall, and the modem firewall, and just toggle off the modem firewall when I am uploading/downloading turns. Not exactly convenient. But it is secure and I can stop pounding my head against the wall trying to come up with something more elegant.