----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Wellesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Devinfo@Lists" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 2:58 PM
Subject: [e-smith-devinfo] Server and Gateway?


> Since SME is designed to operate as the internet gateway it would be
optimal if
> the administrator could "open ports" simply as one can with a standalone
> firewall.
> Port forward is fine (thanks Darrell) where you want to direct a request
to a
> single server but is not much good when a port needs to be just "open" to
the
> LAN.

Due to the fact that SME server implements a NAT firewall, what you're
asking for isn't possible.

> 1. Is there a development path that will see this "feature" arrive? Or am
I
> really missing something here?
> 2. Can someone point me to anything that will help me understand why it
> can/can't be done - (learning, learning, learning :-)

NAT firewalls translate traffic between a private sub-net and a single
public IP number.  Just imagine your public IP number is 100.100.100.100 and
your private sub-net is 192.168.1.*.  If someone sends a request to a port
on 100.100.100.100, how does the server know which IP in the private sub-net
to forward the request?  Similarly, if someone sends a request to
192.168.1.*, then the packet will never arrive on your server in the first
place.

It's one major problem with a NAT firewall.



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