Stupid Question: Port Triggering vs. Port Forwarding

I am a total newbie to firewalls, however I understand their basic purpose.

What is the difference between Port Triggering vs. Port Forwarding? I would like an example of how and when each might be used.

I am running a fairly small home network. Should I use DHCP or Manually Configured IP? Each PC has Trillian, ICQ, and various other internet applications which require ports to be open. I am currently using Port Forwarding, with each computer having it's own ports that are open for various reasons. However, I only have 10 port ranges I can use, and I am running out of ranges.

All the computers are configured with DHCP, except my wireless printer which seems to work 10x times better when its IP is manually configured.

Thanks in advance,

--Bryce

Port triggering opens and closes the allocated ports as needed. Port forwarding leaves them open all the time. Port triggering is more secure. If you run out of one, you can use the other.

Personally, I prefer to use triggering over forwarding, but sometimes forwarding works better.

One nice program I use now is 'Port Magic' which automatically detects what ports need to be opened and opens and closes them in the router, automatically. No more trying to figure out what ports need to be opened to get that game or app to work properly.

Normally DHCP is the best way to go because it's easy, but if you have static port sets on those computers, manually configured is best to keep the IP from changing.

"Bryce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:m8c7b.24605$(E-Mail Removed) et:

> I am a total newbie to firewalls, however I understand their basic
> purpose.
>
> What is the difference between Port Triggering vs. Port Forwarding? I
> would like an example of how and when each might be used.
>
> I am running a fairly small home network. Should I use DHCP or
> Manually Configured IP? Each PC has Trillian, ICQ, and various other
> internet applications which require ports to be open. I am currently
> using Port Forwarding, with each computer having it's own ports that
> are open for various reasons. However, I only have 10 port ranges I
> can use, and I am running out of ranges.
>
> All the computers are configured with DHCP, except my wireless printer
> which seems to work 10x times better when its IP is manually
> configured.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>

Port Forwarding will map a port or ports to a single IP/machine and only
that IP/machine can use the port or ports that were forwarded to it the
ports cannot be shared. An example is ports 20 and 21 the FTP ports being
port forwarded to a IP/machine that has FTP services running on the
machine.

Port Triggering allows a port or ports to be mapped to multiple IP
(s)/machines and the IP(s)/machines share the port or port(s). An example
for Port Triggering is if you have a game being played over the Internet
and your LAN had two machines/players playing the game with a player or
palyers over the Internet. The IP/machines on your LAN would be able to
share the ports required by the game on each machine.

If you start mapping ports, then they should be to router static IP(s),
otherwise, if mapped to a DHCP IP, the IP can change and the mapping to
the ip/machine may not be valid.

Also, you port forward or trigger those ports to machines, the ports on
the router are being open to the public Internet and the protection of
the router is out of the picture. You had best have a host based firewall
on the machines for protection.

Duane

Thanks...I downloaded Port Magic and I'm just running the Trial Mode. In
the applications list, there are no apps listed. And I have Weatherbug,
Trillian with AOL and MSN on, and nothing..

--Bryce

"John Eckart" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:_Cc7b.4207$(E-Mail Removed) nk.net...
Port triggering opens and closes the allocated ports as needed. Port
forwarding leaves them open all the time. Port triggering is more secure. If
you run out of one, you can use the other.

Personally, I prefer to use triggering over forwarding, but sometimes
forwarding works better.

One nice program I use now is 'Port Magic' which automatically detects what
ports need to be opened and opens and closes them in the router,
automatically. No more trying to figure out what ports need to be opened to
get that game or app to work properly.

Normally DHCP is the best way to go because it's easy, but if you have
static port sets on those computers, manually configured is best to keep the
IP from changing.