something about ports i can't seem to grasp

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doh-nut

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im trying a new router, its a dlink DI-624. anyway, ive used a linksys before, i got by, but i dont know how exaclty and its irked me to no end, there were two sections, the UPNP port section where you could specify one port to be opened, and the applications section to specify port ranges. now with this new router there are the following:

virtualserver.jpg

applications.jpg


what is the difference between these two sections? i dont see why there needs to be two sections? in applications section, you can't specify what IP's they are going to, so do they go to all IPs? what if i opened up 21 in applications and set up 2 ftps on 2 different private IPs on my lan, where would the WAN user be redirected to? everything would make sense if there was only a virtualserver section. this alone i understand, but the fact that theres an applications section just confuses me to no end. can anyone try and clear some of this up?

and why does the steam website tell you what ports to have open? i don't have them forwarded on my router, yet steam works fine in every respect?
 
The difference in the two sections is this:
the first one ("Vitual Servers") Is more commonly called Port Forwarding, This means you forward all traffic on that port to a certain IP on your network. This is for stuff like web servers or game servers that are always on a specific ip and port on your network and don’t change.

The second section is Port Triggering. Its the same concept as Port Forwarding, However the KEY difference is that its dynamic. If the router detects outgoing traffic on the trigger port from a certain computer, it forwards all the ports listed there to that computer. This is useful in situations with multiple users who all want to use BT, so setting up a static forward would be restrictive.


Hope this helps some!
 
ok cool that makes sense. i also found the site portforward.com which also says the same thing and has some cool info. makes sense now. thanks
 
Rombus said:
The second section is Port Triggering. Its the same concept as Port Forwarding, However the KEY difference is that its dynamic. If the router detects outgoing traffic on the trigger port from a certain computer, it forwards all the ports listed there to that computer. This is useful in situations with multiple users who all want to use BT, so setting up a static forward would be restrictive.
Click to expand...
Basicly its like netfilter/iptable's connection tracking system, although probably with either simpler, or more specific protocol identification.
 
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