Port Forwarding LinkSys WRT160NL

After managing to acquire an account with DynDNS,  I am now ready to configure the  router to allow me access my home computer over the internet. I am using a LinkSys WRT160NL and I have already installed DD-WRT.

Steps

  1. Open web browser and type the address of the router. I have changed the default address from 192.168.1.1 to 10.0.1.1

  2. Type the User name and password to log in to the router. The default use name and password is admin. I have already changed this to reduce chances of anybody who may know the default username and password from logging in without my permission.

  3. The first thing you need to do is set a static IP for the computer to which you will forward ports. Select the Services tab and under DHCP Server and below Static Leases, click on the Add button. Type the MAC Address for the computer, the host name and the static IP address you would like assigned to this computer. Apply and save the settings.

    alt=“DD-WRT - Set static IP”

  4. Click on NAT/QoS tab , Port Forwarding.

  5. Under Forwards, click on Add button and type name of application (you can use any name you like). I am forwarding HTTP so I will type HTTP.

  6. Select protocol or just leave it set at the default (Both)

  7. If you want to place a restriction on the IP that may be forwarded, type the IP under Source Net otherwise leave it blank to allow forwarding from any IP.

  8. Port from will be the external port as will be seen by users on the internet. I am forwarding port 80 and will therefore type 80.

  9. Type the static IP Address you defined for your computer above

  10. Port To will be the internal port used by your application. Most times this will be the same as the Port From

  11. Check the Enable check box.

  12. Save the settings and you are ready to test.

    alt=“DD-WRT - Forward network port”

To test whether you have successfully forwarded the port, navigate to you get signal and click on the Check button.

After forwarding, initial tests indicate that the port is not open. Doing a http://localhost test works ok but a test on the LAN gives an error of timeout on Firefox. Windows network diagnostics indicate that the website is online but isn’t responding to connection attempts.

To resolve the issue, I followed the following steps (Windows 7).

  1. Click on Start and select Control Panel

  2. Select System and Security

  3. Under  Windows Firewall, click Allow a program through Windows Firewall

  4. Click Change Settings

  5. Locate World Wide Web Service and click the check boxes to turn ON and allow this feature.

  6. Click OK

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