Okay, homing in on the problem. I need to shut down DHCP on my home computer... just trying to figure out how to do that.

Ok... it seems like I need to disable DHCP on my PC, and then turn on DMZ on my router. When I tried to disable DHCP, I lost internet connection... so I must be doing something right. Now I think I just need to figure out where to type in the static IP addresses and such.

i think i can i think i can i think i can...
-Bridget`

Running in DMZ would be dangerous I would think, but then I am a bit on the paranoid side, and not a network person by any stretch. I know we do have some people on here that are very good on networks and hopefully they can give their thoughts on DMZ vs port forwarding.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Enabling the DMZ option on the router will remove all firewall protection. All traffic not handled by another rule will be passed to the machine. This could lead to exploits.

Most of us Network Admins do not use DMZ, but use the port forwarding as it gives us better control to who accesses what.

Thanks for the safety tips, will definitely NOT use DMZ. I'm just having a hard time getting port forwarding to actually work, and allow requests from the outside to enter my computer's game server. Thanks everyone for your help so far! -Bridget`

You would have to look at your router documentation for how to forward ports. I use a Netgear and these are the steps I use on my router:

Edit Services

Service Definition
Name : TWGS1
Type : TCP/UDP
Start Port : 2002
Finish Port : 2004

Then I want to add the port to my router table:

Service Name: TWGS1
Action: ALLOW always
Local Server Address: 192.168.0.4 --> this is the internal IP the router assigned the machine running the TWGS. Routers can be set to DHCP and will assign IP's.
WAN: Users Address: Any
Log: Match


The above is my router config. Again you will have to check your manual for the exact port forwarding steps. On mine, I have to specify the service, then add it to the ports option. Hope that gives an idea.