Configuring Routers To Use Dynamic DNS and Port Forwarding

When you first connect the server/pc to the local network, set the network settings to allow "auto assign ip" or enable "DHCP" services. This is to allow you to connect into the network and also gain access to the router. You may also access the router via another existing machine on the network. With this step you will usually have a rough idea what machine ip to set for the EMP server. If you still find yourself unable to get an internet connection, this may mean that the router did not enable the DHCP and proceed the next steps by using an existing machine in the network.

Determine the ip of the router. By default this should be 192.168.1.1. (Some places might also use 192.168.2.1).

Next,  open a web browser and type 192.168.1.1 as its url. You will come to a page where they prompt you a username password.

The next step is to determine a machine ip address for your server. First you have to check to see if the DHCP feature of the router is enabled. If it is, usually the router will auto-assign an ip to a pc connected to a network. If a pc's network configurations is set to "auto assign ip" or "DHCP", it will have a so called "dynamic ip" where you will be assigned a ip from the router but each time you reconnect to the network you might have a different ip. For EMP server, we will keep the server's machine ip static(permanent) by assign it a specific machine ip. The static machine ip that is configured should be within the ip range that available. How do we check? Go to the "setup" tab, usually the main settings including " DHCP Server Settings" can be found there. The rest is quite self explainatory. After you set a machine ip to the EMP server, test to see if it is connected to the network. Check if you are able to load webpages.

Then, to do the port forwarding for example port 8080. Explore the tabs. This is because for different router, their interface are different.

LinkSys,for example, usually has a tab "Application & Gaming"  where it's very straight forward: just key in the name of the application ("emp") then key in the start port ( "8080") and end port ("8080") the machine ip address with the emp installed (" 192.168.1.xxx") and check the "enable" box.

For D-Link, try to find the tab labeled "virtual server", usually this is in the "advanced" . Some D-Link router also have a "port forwarding" tab. You may set the configuration in either one I guess.

For other routers I not sure but I guess if you explore the tabs enough and you see key words like "port" and "ip adress" in the same menu page. That should be it.

To set a domain name for the server, go into the router and look for the "DDNS" tab. (It may be "tools" or "setup" tab.) Enable DDNS and select one of the DNS server (dyndns) and add in the username(vincent), password(wavelet), and domain name( wavelet.biz) you created at the DNS server ( www.dyndns.org).

p.s.  www.dyndns.org is recommended as I observed both LinkSys and D-Link has the website in its "DDNS" tab.

After you do the configurations, make sure you further explore the menu to find the key button with the key word "save" or "save settings". If you do not click it, the settings of the router might not be permenent. For instance, the D-Link router, clicking "apply" is not enough. There's a "save and reboot" or "save settings" button in specific tabs(may be in "setup" or "tools" or "status") that you have to click on it so that the settings will be saved.

After saving, restart the router.A simple way to test is of course to type the domain name (http://wavelet.biz:8080) in a web browser and see if it loads accordingly.

If not:

1) test the port forwarding, here's a very useful website which is www.canyouseeme.org. It will show your current network ip address.
Key in the port that you opened(8080) and if the port forwarding is successful, the results would be positive. Else, check your router settings for port forwarding again.

2) if you go to the DNS website (www.dyndns.org) login with your account, usually they will update your latest network ip address. If your address is a dynamic ip, each time you reconnect to the internet it will be different. Thus, try to ping the domain name ( http://wavelet.biz:8080) using command prompt or linux terminal to check if the domain name matches the ip address inside the website. Sometimes the DNS website updates the ip too slow or the router did not send the update to DNS fast enough. EIther way you managed to determine that is the DNS/domain name problem and start troubleshoot by resetting the DDNS settings in your router or visit www.dyndns.org for more solutions.

In practice, for an EMP server, the important ports to port forward would be 80, 8080(or other port if the client do not wish to use port 8080), 20 to 25( most importantly port 22 for server maintenence purposes).

The steps to port forward is quite self explainatory if you are actually doing it. ^_^
1. access the router
2. set the port that you intend to forward
3. key in the domain name and details
4. save router settings
5. test