What is port forwarding? #
Port forwarding/triggering is a way to open a port to allow connection from external networks through your router. By default, most of the ports are closed or filtered on your router. Hence, if you need any device to be accessible from anywhere, you will need to open the ports used on this device on your router to allow the connection to come through. Otherwise, the connection will be dropped at the router level.
When you want your Proxidize host machine or proxies to be accessible/managed from anywhere in the world, you will need to forward the service ports: 80 for your Proxidize web interface, 22 for terminal access (SSH) to your host machine, and the proxies range 2001-200x.
The proxies’ port range starts at 2000 by default and the “x” will vary depending on the number of proxies you have.
As per the illustrative example below, by default, the Proxidize micro/standard server will only be accessible through the internal network and using the local IP only. Meaning that, any internal device within the same network will be able to access the web interface, proxies, and the terminal using the local IP, 192.168.1.2 (as per the example)
Once the port forwarding rules are added in the router, any external device should use the external (public) IP to access As per the illustrative example below, the Proxidize micro/standard server will only be accessible using the address 87.23.14.5 (as per the example)
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you are within the same local network as the micro/standard server, access will only work if you use the LOCAL IP. Any Device outside the network will only have access using the EXTERNAL/PUBLIC IP
Finding the IP address of your PC and your router #
The first thing you will need to do to add the rules in your router, is finding the IP address of your router. This can be done by opening a command prompt in your Windows PC.
Once the prompt is opened, type the command ipconfig /all to identify your IP address and the default gateway
If you are using a PC with MacOS installed, then you’ll need to go through System Preferences. Click Network, choose the network connection you’re using, then click Advanced. Click the TCP/IP tab and locate the IP address next to Router:
Adding the rules #
Each router has different port forwarding settings, but they all share the same concept. Since we recommend the router TP-Link AC1200, you will find the port forwarding section under Advanced, NAT Forwarding tab, called Virtual Servers.
Here are the fields you will need to fill in to configure the rules:
- Service Type: Can be named anything
- External port. Same as local port for the proxies and interface.
- Internal IP. This is your Proxidize host machine internal IP address
- Internal port. This would be 2001-200x for proxies, 80 for Proxidize interface, 22 for SSH
- Protocol: TCP
- Status: Should be enabled.
This step is optional and is only needed if you want to use your proxies/interface remotely.