Software Hosting lets you pass specific types of network traffic through the Netopia router's NAT interfaces. Once configured, selected types of network traffic, such as FTP requests or HTTP (Web) connections, will be forwarded to a specific host or server behind the Netopia router.

This technote will guide you through the setup process for Software Hosting in your Netopia.

PLEASE NOTE: If your router is currently running Netopia Enterprise Firmware version 8.0.10 and later, this technote is not applicable to you.

Related documents: Address Forwarding  |  Port Forwarding

Firmware Reference

• v7.2 and later -- Netopia 3300 Series

Before You Start

Browse into the Netopia's web interface at http://192.168.1.254 (if using the default IP setting). If your network has a different IP addressing scheme, modify this accordingly.

Login with the admin user name and password. Admin login is required to save changes. If you are unsure of this, contact your network administrator.

Once logged in, click on the Expert Mode link in the left-hand side menu (if that link is visible). In the Expert Mode Confirmation screen click on Ok to continue. This menu bar will be visible at the top of your screen if you are in Expert Mode.

Remember to click the Submit button to save any entries. Hitting the back button without clicking Submit will undo any changes.

Once you have completed your configuration, click on the symbol in your upper right hand corner to validate the changes. Then click on Save and Restart.

The Netopia Web GUI Home Page in Expert Mode (Firmware v6.3 and later)

Configuration for Software Hosting

1. Click on Configure in the upper Menu bar.
2. Click on Advanced.
3. Under the Miscellaneous heading, click on the Software Hosting link.

The screen that appears contains a drop-down menu at the top. This menu prompts you to Select a User(PC) to Host Games and Services. The selections offered are the valid IP addresses on your LAN, or the name that has been assigned to that individual PC. A link to Rename a User (PC) is to the right of this field.

1. Click on the field indicated.
2. Select the IP of the User(PC) to rename.
3. Enter the New Name.
4. Click on the Update button.

Enabling Games

The first tab gives you a predefined selection of popular Games. Interactive games typically use a range of ports to forward the traffic, and the selections provided will open those ports.

1. Select the User(PC) that you will forward the game service to.
2. Next, in the Select Games box, highlight the game to be activated.
3. Click on the button.
4. That Game will be transferred into the Enabled Games and Services box for the specified User(PC).
5. Repeat this process for additional games and/or users.
6. Conversely, a game or server can be disabled by clicking the button.

Enabling Services

The second tab gives you a predefined selection of commonly used Internet Protocol Services. These services, such as mail (SMTP), web (HTTP), name resolution (DNS), file transfer (FTP), et cetera, use pre-defined port numbers that are used consistantly over the internet.

1. Select the User(PC) that will act as a server for the desired protocol.
2. Highlight the service you wish to enable in the left-hand field.
3. Click on the button.
4. The service will be transferred over to the active column for that individual workstation.
5. Repeat for the additional servers you wish to enable.
6. Again, clicking on the button will remove that service from the designated PC.

If this completes your configuration, click on the in the upper right hand corner. This will validate that the settings are legal for your network.

Click Save and Restart. This will restart the Netopia and save the configuration.

PLEASE NOTE: if you have selected the service for HTTP, or a web server, to forward back to a local server, you will get a warning that you may wish to change the router's internal web server to a port other than port 80, the standard default setting. While it will validate with this setting (as shown above), it would disable web access from the WAN. It is strongly advised that you change this setting. The same would apply for telnet.

1. Click on Configure, then Advanced.
2. Click on Internal Servers (under Miscellaneous).
3. Change the value for HTTP from 80 to some other logical, easily remembered value, such as 8080.
4. Click on Submit.
5. Click on the and then Save and Restart (if finished with configuration).
6. After making this change, future browser access into the router would be made by going to http://192.168.1.254:8080, for example. WAN access would require substituting the public WAN IP address for the internal LAN iP address.
7. This completes the configuration of the Netopia for Software Hosting.

Conclusion

You have now configured your router for TCP/UDP port forwarding. These selections have been preconfigured for a wide variety of popular services including mail server, web server, file sharing, remote computer access, Internet Phone, Microsoft XBox, Chat, online games and Virtual Private Networking (to name a few). Each specified game and service has the relevant ports and protocols preconfigured once they have been enabled. Be sure that you have saved the configuration and restarted your router for the Software Hosting List changes to take effect.

Should you need to add a service for something not included in this list of Software Hosting services, see the Related Documents at the beginning of this technote.