A few questions about port forwarding and opening ports (Moderate User)

So as the title hopefully indicates I am a moderate user, or I know enough to get by with regards to setting up and using consumer electronics. I don't even come close to being an expert, but I am also not an idiot. So with that in mind, super technical
responses may fall on deaf ears. Also, before I start thank you in advance for any assistance.

First the relevant setup of my network. I have comcast cable internet with a supplied modem (connection speeds paid for are 100 Mbps down) and the modem is not wifi. Connected to the modem is my TP-Link WDR-3600 wireless router, which I have a direct
wired connection from it to my Xbox One (no swtiches in between). Not sure if this is relevant, but I have a basic switch connected to one of the ports to allow me to connect more devices, but the Xbox One is direct to the router.

I recently have been receiving error codes while playing Destiny on my Xbox One. They are typically Centipede and Weasel. My NAT was always open and I have Upnp enabled, but I looked into the error codes a little on bungie.net and found that they suggest
opening and forwarding ports. So I worked towards that end. I found this article to help me that guides you through the process on a similar router:

http://portforward.com/english/route...-_Xbox_One.htm

This link is an actual simulator of my router software:

http://www.tp-link.com/resources/sim...3600/Index.htm

The things that I have tried was under DHCP -> Address Reservation, I setup a static IP for my Xbox One using it's wired MAC address. I then went to Forwarding -> Virtual Servers and port forwarded all the ports listed in the first link above. I used
both TCP and UDP protocols on all the suggested ports from the first link above.

Well I am still having some of the same error codes. So I have been looking into it further, and I re-read this article:

http://www.bungie.net/en/Help/Article/11931

It makes a distinction between opening ports (which it lists a lot of them to open), and forwarding ports (which I forwarded all the suggested one within both TCP and UDP protocols.

Q1: In simple terms that can help me fix my issues, what are the differences between opening and forwarding ports? In particular, if there is a difference from what I have already done, what else do I need to do and how?

Currently I am under the impression that the changes I have made I have basically opened and forwarded the ports outlined in the first link above. But there seem to be a lot of them that need to be opened, and from what I can tell I can only open/forward
them one at a time. I am assuming my thinking is incorrect, or mislead.

Basically my questions are above under the part labeled Q1 in orange, and in general I just need help so I can stay in a PvE match for more than just 2 minutes. I apologize for the length, but I figure the more information the better.

:)

 

I have a problem

HI there,

-

did you disable UPnP and use opening/forwarding of the ports, or did you disable the ports opening/forwarding and have UPnP on?

Most of the cases when UPnP is available it is better to use that then opening ports.

 

Port Forwarding Question

@TheTroGIN

thank you for answer. That was what I want to know. I have all the ports 3074 was an example.

 

The difference between opening ports and forwarding ports is an advanced question but I will try to explain.

First off, most consumer level gateway/router/firewall devices will link the two, so that when a port is forwarded it is also opened, or vice versa.

Forwarding the port is related to routing network traffic, whereas opening the port is related to firewall rules.

In more advanced firewalls and gateway routers you can do one without doing the other.

When forwarding a port, you are telling your gateway device that when it receives traffic on a certain port (eg. 3074/TCP) to route that traffic on to your XBox.

Opening the port is telling the firewall component of your gateway device to allow the traffic that matches the firewall rule you created to pass from the internet to your XBox.

The same can be said for outbound traffic. Typically your devices inside your network (your PC, your XBox, etc) are configured with a "Default Gateway" also known as the "default route" to send traffic that is destined for locations not on your network.
The default gateway is typically the next hop out towards the internet, usually your gateway router/firewall device.

You don't need to set up port forwards for outbound traffic, because by default the devices and routers know which way is "out" and can already do that. You do however need to make sure that if there is a firewall built into your gateway router that it
is configured to allow traffic to port 80/TCP on remote servers. Note that 80/TCP is the standard port for web pages (HTTP) and therefore is likely already "open" outbound.

My question to you would be, when you log into your WDR3600, if you see the WAN and LAN IPs, do either or both start with anything like "10." or "192.168." or "172.16." (could be anything from 172.16.X.X to 172.31.X.X)?

If both WAN and LAN IPs are in the above ranges then you might be behind a double NAT. If the WAN IP is NOT one of those then you are unlikely to be behind a double NAT.

 

I checked my WAN and LAN IPs. The WAN starts with 50.166 and the LAN starts out with 192.168

 

Not sure if this matters, but looking into the router settings I found that both selections for "Current NAT Status" and "Current Hardware NAT Status" were both enabled. Just reading the descriptions of them it seems like one may counter the other, do you
think that is the case or is influencing anything not in my favor? You can check out a simulation of my router software at this link:

www.tp-link.com/.../Index.htm

Thanks.

 

Have you tried to do the port forwarding on the Comcast modem? If your have a double NAT, you would need to set the port forwarding on both the modem and the router.

 

Does the router offer DMZ? If so put the X1 on a fixed I.P. with the router and put that I.P. in the DMZ zone. That should offer the one device a clear shot to the internet with no ports blocked at all. If you can do this un-do any port forwarding i.e. maybe
even put the router back to defaults and then proceed to DMZ.

 

Given the IP on your WAN, you are *not* behind a double NAT which is good. It makes the configuration easier.

Is UPnP enabled on your router?

 

Never mind, I see you say that it is.

 

More information. My cable modem is the ubee ddm3513. I forwarded more ports that bungie lists that they should be opened, they are listed in this article:

www.bungie.net/.../11931

At first the problems seemed to have gone away, but last night I was getting the Weasel and Centipede errors again.

 

i had the same problem and all I did was make a new IP address in my advanced settings. Make sure its one thats not being used

 

Thanks for helping out PsychoKings77!

Because this thread is a bit older I'll be locking it Be sure to help out folks in newer posts, as older posts like this most likely have a resolution by now. Thanks dude!