Port Forwarding Glossary

Computer Network/Home Network

A computer network is the group of computers and other wi-fi capable devices connected to a network router. Devices may connect to the network either wired with ethernet cables or wirelessly using wi-fi. A home network is a computer network in someone's home.

Network Router/Modem

A network router is a device connected to your modem to allow computers to communicate with each other, to block unwanted communication from the internet, and to rout expected internet communication to the correct computer. Most routers also provide wi-fi capability. Therefore, your router is the device that usually has one or more antennae.

Your network router is usually a separate device from your modem. A modem is a device provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to allow communication from the Internet into your home. The modem is the first device connected to the cables that enter your house from your ISP. Some modems act as both a modem and a network router. If your modem has an antenna, it is likely also your network router.

Port Forwarding

Port forwarding causes all expected internet communication coming to your home to automatically be redirected to the correct computer in your home.

Public IP Address

An IP address is simply a number assigned to a device, in the form of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. You can think of a public IP address as similar to an area code of a phone number, the xxx portion of a phone number (xxx)yyy-zzzz. The public IP address is the IP address assigned to your home computer network by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Therefore, all the computers in your home computer network that are connected to your ISP-provided modem have the same public IP address.

The game server program window for the Godtland Software games displays the public IP address of the computer on which the game server is running.

Private IP Address

An IP address is simply a number assigned to a device, in the form of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. You can think of a private IP address as similar to the local portion of a phone number, the yyy-zzzz portion of a phone number (xxx)yyy-zzzz. The private IP address is the unique IP address your network router assigns to each of the devices in your home network. However, unlike a local phone number, no one outside of your home computer network can see or look up the private IP address of any of your devices.

The game server program window for the Godtland Software games displays the private IP address of the computer on which the game server is running.

Port

A port is simply a number in the range of 1 and 65535. You can think of a port as similar to the extension added to some phone numbers to direct your phone call to a specific service departmeent at some location. A port number identifies what kinds of programs might be able to use the communication coming into the network. For example, port 110 is used for POP3 data, so email programs like Thunderbird and Outlook handle any information coming in on port 110. Numbers between 1 and 1023 are reserved for standard data used by most computers, like POP3 data, and numbers between 1024 and 65535 may be used for any other program, like game server programs. When you assign a port number for a Godtland Software game, you claim that any data coming to your computer with that port number can be processed by that game.

The game server program window for the Godtland Software games displays the port the game is using.

Server Program/Game Server

A server program is any computer program that provides services to other computer programs. Because you wouldn't want all the players of a game to directly access the computers in everyone else's home networks, the Godtland Software games are designed to communicate through a game server program. All the players send data to the game server, the game server controls the flow of the game, ensures that everyone follows the game rules, and returns game status to each player.

Internet Browser

Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome are all examples of internet browsers. You use internet browsers to view web pages on your computer.

Host

The classic definition of "host" is "a person who receives or entertains other people as guests". If you run the game server on one of your computers, you will act as the host much like a person who hosts a party at their home. You must invite others, let them know the time and address of the event (the game), and start the game server program so the event is ready to take place.

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