What is Port Forwarding and why it needed? Explain

Probably you may be heard about it but you weren’t exactly sure what it was or how it works? So basically Port Forwarding allows you to interact with a specific computer or services over the internet.
It’s basically directing traffic from the outside world to the appropriate server inside a local TCP/IP network.
So for example, if the local network hosts a Web server that is accessible on the public Internet, the port forwarding panel in the router would be configured to direct Web/HTTP packets that are port 80 traffic to the IP address of the Web server in the local network (LAN).

 

What is a port?

Port is a point where a certain connection established it may be hardware or software.

The example of Port:

• a hardware-based port is USB, HDMI cable, etc.
• For software-based it is TCP and UDP.

Both TCP and UDP have 65535 ports each.

Port Forward a Router

I am here using a TP-link router. You can do the same way with other routers just by following my steps:

• Step 1: Log in to the TP-Link router via the default gateway address. To find the default gateway address just type IP config on the command prompt. Here You see this is my default gateway address.
• Now open your browser and paste the default gateway link on your terminal. It will show you a login page. Here login with your user name and password.
• Step 2: Click on “Forwarding” and then “Virtual Servers.”
• Step 3: Click “Add New.”
• Step 4: Enter the Service Port, Internal Port, and IP Address. Then select “All” under Protocol and “Enabled” under Status.
• Step 5: Click “Save” to save.

You should now be able to connect to your device via a web browser. Simply enter your hostname followed by the port number into the address bar.