Notice that the router has a port-forwarding rule defined such that it allows traffic on port 25565 and forwards it to IP 10.1.10.16, which is our Minecraft server.Let me walk you through Figure 4.7, because I packed a lot of information into that picture: The router’s NAT capability takes care of routing the port 25565 traffic to our server. We will give our Internet-based friends our router’s public IP address, and they’ll use that to connect to our Minecraft server. You might be wondering, “How can an Internet player get Minecraft traffic to me when my server has a private IP address? The router has NAT and a public IP address, but the router isn’t the Minecraft server!” Figure 4.7 summarizes port forwarding.įIGURE 4.7 Schematic diagram showing how port forwarding works. What we want to do is forward inbound traffic on port 25565 to our Minecraft server that’s located on the private internal network. Of the previously given ports, the only one I want you to memorize is 25565, because that is Minecraft’s default port number. Here’s a rundown of some of the most popular, well-known port numbers: Here’s the deal: Different network services use different default port numbers. That’s a lot of network traffic, and it’s all different. Think of it: You’re browsing from your laptop, while your mom streams YouTube clips to her iPad, while your sister uploads files to her WordPress blog. TCP/IP ports are cool because they allow your computer, which typically has a single IP address, to participate in all sorts of communication and not get “confused.” This is even more important for your router, which is handling different traffic for different internal devices. That is, unless you forward the appropriate port(s). The problem, if you want to call it that, is that your router’s firewall will block any Internet-based player from accessing your internal Minecraft server. The firewall is a good thing, believe me.
In a TCP/IP computing context, a firewall is hardware and/or software that by default blocks all incoming Internet traffic to internal devices. A physical firewall is a divider that separates the passenger compartment from the engine compartment in an automobile here the word “firewall” takes on a literal meaning. Your Internet-facing router acts as a firewall to protect your private internal network. Learn More Buy Allowing Minecraft Traffic Through the Firewall