Port forwarding TO Mac OS X Server

We just bought a Mac Mini server (10.6), and we're setting it up. Let me admit that I know little about how the server software works, but I have been playing around with it for the past couple of days.
I have Mail, iChat, webpage, wiki, screen sharing, SSH, and file transfer (AFP and FTP) set up. I would like to forward the ports for those services from my FiOS router to my Mac Mini.
Which ports should I forward? Is it possible to just forward EVERY port?

In reverse order...
Is it possible to just forward EVERY port?
Yes, but you really do not want to do that. It's asking for trouble. Are you sure you want every service on your machine to be publicly available? really? including Open Directory? I doubt it.
Which ports should I forward?
Each service has its own ports. You need to open/forward the ports appropriate for each service (except FTP which is a PITA and I never recommend running anyway).
Apple public a technote on the common port numbers used by Apple's software.

Similar Messages

  • Port Forwarding to Mac Pro with 2 different internet connections

    I have my Mac Pro connected to the back of my cable modem. I have given this service the name "Cable" in my network preferences. The details are:
    IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.100
    Subnet: 255.255.248.0
    Router: xxx.xxx.xxx.1
    I have the other Ethernet port of my Mac Pro connected to the back of my Airport Extreme which runs ADSL+ from another ISP. I have called this service "ADSL". The details for this connection are:
    IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.188
    Subnet: 255.255.255.0
    I run a calibre server on the Mac Pro and on my PC (the PC is directly plugged into the back of the Airport Extreme). I have a Dyndns service that works on the address of the Airport Extreme base station.
    I can access the PC's calibre server via the mobile network but NOT the Mac's. Even though I have port forwarding to the Mac's reserved IP address of 188, I can't access the server. I can access it on my iphone/ipad via WIFI but not from the mobile network.
    If in my Network preferences I change the order of the services i.e. make the ADSL the top service and cable the second, I CAN access the server from the mobile network. It works as it should. If I change the order so that the Cable service is on top, I can't access the server again.
    Why does this happen? Can I fix this? Do I need to set up another Dyndns service on my Mac Pro?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to post this as a new post as well because I'm not sure whether the people that were so helpful last time will know that I have updated the post.

    Just installed TeamViewer and we're using that. Works great.

  • Port Forwarding on OSX 10.5 Server using Dynamic External IP Address

    I have been able to get Port Forwarding to work properly on OSX Server by following the documentation and following discussion:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6700460
    The problem however, is that you specify a static ip address on the natd.plist file.
    I do not have a static ip address, and sometimes it changes. When this happens, of course all the port forwarding configuration will not work, and I need to replace the old external ip with the new external ip address.
    This is an easy task to be accomplished, however having the internal network down just for the change of ip address is a hassle.
    Is there any way the string entry can be updated with the ip address of the external interface (en0), instead of applying an ip address?
    <key>aliasIP</key>
    <string>17.128.128.128</string>
    I would like to have the ip address (ex: 17.128.128.128) to be updated automatically from my interface ip address. So if my external ip address changes to 17.128.30.30, the natd.plist file will be automatically updated with correct values.
    If I could do the following would be great but doesn't work
    <key>aliasIP</key>
    <string>en0</string>
    Any ideas on how to get this accomplished?
    Or better yet, can it be accomplished as of now?
    I know I can use IPNetRouterX (www.sustworks.com) and that will work just fine. Have tested using the trial and it works, however I do not want to spend $100 for the software either, and I bet there should be a way this can be done on OSX 10.5 Server.
    Thanks a lot!!!

    This would be best reposted in the appropriate Leopard server forum
    http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=96

  • I need help changing settings (port forward?) after a physical server move

    Hi! I have a 10.6 server that I use at home. All is well and good there. The Airport Extreme assigns IP addresses for the network. I have www.mydomain.com that runs on the server -- I use it for testing web apps, etc. I use DynDNS with their client app that send the Comcast dynamic IP address back to DynDNS to keep the server on the grid.
    My friend has a 10.6 server. He has www.hisdomain.com as a home business. He also uses DynDNS in a similar way. His landlord just informed him that his apartment is going to be sold from underneath him and he has to move ASAP. It looks like he won't have a permanent place for a month or two, so I offered to let him keep his server at my place.
    We both run websites on port 443 and port 80.
    After attaching his server to my network, his domain name updates, but typing www.hisdomain.com into a browser lands me on www.mydomain.com. I guess that the problem is port forwarding... the router sends all 443 and 80 requests to my server.
    How do I configure this so that services for hisdomain.com are forwarded to his server while services for mydomain.com are forwarded to my server?

    Short answer: you can't, although there are a couple of ways to sort-of kluge it.
    Long answer: When your router gets an incoming connection, the only thing it has to go on is the IP address and port number (the domain name is sent much later, after TCP session with the server is established). So unless you have multiple public IP addresses (and a router that can handle them), or want to put the sites on different ports...
    Speaking of which, here's kluge #1: run his server on different ports (e.g. 81 and 444, or maybe 8080 and 8043) and set the router to forward them to his server. Problem: the user has to include the port number in the URL when they connect, or they'll get your server.
    Partial solution (and kluge #2): add a virtual site on your server, with the hostname www.hisdomain.com, go to its Aliases section, and add a rule in the URL Aliases & Redirects section, with these settings:
    Type: RedirectMatch
    Pattern: (.*)$
    Path: http://www.hisdomain.com:81$1
    Then build an SSL version that redirects to https://www.hisdomain.com:444$1. Problem: when the client connects, they'll get your SSL certificate instead of his (again, it happens before the client sends the domain name it's trying to reach), and get a cert error. No fix for this.
    Kluge #3: instead of making the virtual site redirect clients to his server, add a reverse proxy so your server'll transparently forward requests to his server, and proxy the replies. I haven't done this, but I think what you need to do is make a virtual site (as above), and under its Proxy tab (the one under the virtual site, not the one under the Settings section), check the Enable Reverse Proxy box, leave the Proxy Path as "/" and the Sticky Session Identifier field blank, and add a Balancer member with the Server URL "http://hisinternalipaddress" and a blank Route. Or something like that. Again, you could do the same for https as well, but you'll have the same certificate problem.

  • Port forwarding for Mac that shares internet to Airport in bridge mode?

    I use Air Video server, which allows me to stream movies from my Mac to my iPhone or iPad. It sits on port 45631 and that's closed.
    I recently moved from NYC to CO, and because of my cable modem not being compatible with my older Airport router, I must use my Mac Pro to forward my Internet service from one Ethernet port to another - so that my older Airport Extreme can then broadcast wirelessly.
    Since I use the AirPort in bridge mode, and the Mac is forwarding the connection - how do I forward the port so Air Video can send through to the internet?
    thanks for ANY help, I'm a bit lost here

    I use Air Video server, which allows me to stream movies from my Mac to my iPhone or iPad. It sits on port 45631 and that's closed.
    I recently moved from NYC to CO, and because of my cable modem not being compatible with my older Airport router, I must use my Mac Pro to forward my Internet service from one Ethernet port to another - so that my older Airport Extreme can then broadcast wirelessly.
    Since I use the AirPort in bridge mode, and the Mac is forwarding the connection - how do I forward the port so Air Video can send through to the internet?
    thanks for ANY help, I'm a bit lost here

  • Use iptables on DMZ server to port forward

    Hello!
    My ISP have this great idea that we have to go to their site to do port forwarding and changing settings on the router/modem, so I was thinking to just set one of my servers as a DMZ, and do port forwarding with iptables on that server.
    The problem is that I can't find out how I can make packets coming in on one port go out to another ip in the LAN.
    Here is my network setup:
    1. Combined router, modem and wireless AP.
    2. Apple AirPort Express connected to the Wifi
    3. switch connected to the AirPort Express with ethernet.
    4. two servers connected to the switch(also with ethernet).
    the two servers have ip adress 192.168.2.3 and 192.168.2.4. And I have set up 192.168.2.3 as DMZ.
    How do I use iptables to route connections that is coming to 2.3 on a speciffic port to 2.4?

    hunterthomson wrote:
    Well, I have kind of turned into an arno-iptables-firewall fanboy. I mean really, you can read through the script in /usr/sbin/arno-iptables-firewall  Super well commented and written very well. It covers all your bases.
    You will want to use the updated package listed in the comments.
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1367726/arno-ip … all.tar.gz
    You will also want the SystemD Unit file
    https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/syst … -firewall/
    To do NAT and Port-Forwarding... basically just read through the whole firewall.conf and when you hit the bottom your done.
    But really, you just need to change these things.
    /etc/arno-iptables-firewall/firewall.conf
    Line #41, put your Internet facing interfaces here.
    Line #46, Probaly want to set this to '1' becuase it sounds like the server dose get it's IP from DHCP... but that is a bad idea because it needs to have the same IP all the time... so maybe leave it disabled '0'
    Line #87, Put your LAN facing interfaces here
    Line #94, Put the LAN network here, So like if your Internet facing network is 192.168.2.0/24 you could make the LAN 192.168.4.0/24
    Line #140, Change this to '1' to enable NAT for your LAN
    Line #162, Change this to '1' to enable Port-Forwarding
    Line #193-195, Here is where you define your port-forwards,
    Example: Forward TCP port 22 to host 192.168.4.55 and TCP port 80 to 192.168.4.66
    --> Line 193, NAT_FORWARD_TCP="22>192.168.4.55 80>192.168.4.66"
    Then open port 22 and 80 on the WAN side so they 'can' be forwarded.
    Line #1170, OPEN_TCP="22 80"
    You should also check out the config's in the plugins directory. This is where you get your moneys worth...
    ssh-brute-force-protection.conf
    ids-protection.conf
    traffic-shaper.conf
    ipv6-over-ipv4.conf
    traffic-accounting.conf
    transparent-proxy.conf
    multiroute.conf
    ipsec-vpn.conf
    And More !!!
    Thanks for answer. But it seems like you missed that the server is only connected to the LAN, never to the internet.

  • WRT610N V1 will not allow port forwarding via HP Mediasmart Server

    I have the WRT620N router and an HP MediaSmart server connected to it.  My source is a cable modem.  WHen I try to set up the server for remote access, the router is not found.  I am continually getting "Port Forwarding failed" errors from the server.  I also have several iPhone apps used to control devices on the network (DVR, BluRay player,etc) that will not connect.  (These worked before I changed to this router.) 
    I have verified that the UPnP is enabled.
    I have been struggling with this issue for several months and have not had any luck getting help from the forums, but will tryi again.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Joel WZ
    Thanks,
    Joel WZ

    Did you tried to enable Remote Management Access on the router setup page?
    If no, then Enable Remote Management Access under Administration tab and then check.

  • Port Forwarding for Minecraft - Port not recognized as open

    I am trying to set up Port Forwarding to host a Minecraft server on a local machine. I am able to connect to Minecraft from within the network, but when I try to use my external IP, it fails. I have port forwarding (supposedly) set up on my Airport Extreme base station, for TCP/UDP port 25565. When I check on canyouseeme.com , it says that the port is not open. Do I have some configuration wrong in Airport Utility? I'm pretty sure it's not something wrong with my Ubuntu box (the one hosting the server) because I am able to connect to it without any problem using it's Internal IP.
    Any help is greatly appreciated.

    I am having this same problem.  My AirPort Utility is v6.2.  I have followed a tutorial labeled for v6.  I cannot open my ports.
    I have a static IP address with the following:
    Router Mode: DHCP and NAT
    I increased the DHCP Range so it would include the static IP address I selected.
    DHCP Reservations
    Description: Minecraft
    Reserve Address By: MAC Address and entered my MAC address
    IPv4 Address: the static IP address that I created in System Preferences- Network
    Port Settings
    Description: Minecraft
    Public UDP Ports: 25565
    Public TCP Ports: 25565
    Private IP Address: same as above which is the same as the statis IP address
    Private UDP Ports: 25565
    Private TCP Ports: 25565
    I also checked with Comcast, my internet provider, to make sure they were not blocking port 25565.  The person on the chat said that that port was open.
    I have been using yougetsignal.com to check if my ports are open and so far nothing.
    Does anyone have any suggestions?

  • How do you port forward on an airport express?

    So I am trying to port forward because of my minecraft server. I have made the server yet i am trying to port forward. I found my IPv4 and I put it in the DCHP reservations, I also added the MAC adress. Then I went to port settings and in every port I have put 25565, I went to server.properties and checked if that was the port and it was. Then in the Private ip I put the IPv4 in. I have done all steps but My friends arent able to join it. Did I miss a step in the process?

    Let's backtrack to your current network configuration. Is the AirPort Express the only router in your network? That is, is it connected directly to an Internet modem and not to another router upstream of it? Regardless, what is the make & model of that modem?
    Does your ISP provide you with a dynamic or static public IP address? Is that address reachable from the Internet or do they have you connected to their private network?
    Does the Minecraft server have a static or dynamic local IP address? Is it running a software firewall?

  • RV042 vpn&port forwarding problems

    Hello,
    I spent a few days trying to configure  the RV042 router but I messed up. I need this router for VPN access on my  site and Port Forwarding to an internal web server. Apparently very  simple task, isn't it?
    So:
    1. PPTP is working fine but I need more than 5 concurrent accesses.
    2.  Quickvpn does not work when the DHCP server is checked  and I can't  access any computer from my lan. I have a DHCP server in my LAN but when  I'm conected through Quickvpn I never reach it. In the log file there  are messages like:
    Connection refused - Policy violation TCP 169.254.x.x->192.168.1.2 (DHCP server from my lan)
    3.  On Setup > Forwarding I added a Port Range Forwarding for HTTP port  80 to an internal IP address (192.168.1.x). I although added a firewall  access rule to allow traffic to Port 80 from any source interface and  any source IP to 192.168.1.x.
    From the internal LAN, using the WAN IP of the router,  the Port forwarding works but not form the outside, though in the log file of the router it appears to work:
    Connection Accepted TCP 208.64.252.230:33027->192.168.1.x:80 on ixp1
    What could I have done wrong?
    The  router is configured with a static address as a gateway and it has the  latest firmware 1.3.12.19-tm. The access rules are the default ones and  the one I added.
    Any help would be much apreciated.
    Thanks.

    Can't answer as to why QVPN fails when you enable DHCP on the router, but concidering your requirements it seems to be a moot point. So, you have a DHCP server on your network which I will guess is also running your Web service. If this is a Windows server does your current configuration allow you to enable PPTP on it? If so, that would solve the five user limit. You will need to turn off the PPTP server on the router and then forward port 1723 TCP to your server and you are done. As for your http access, remove any rule that you have in reference to "allow" port 80 connectivity to your web server. Not sure why but this tends to confuse the poor little things. Once you have verified that port 80 is active on the server via the LAN (which you already have) then you are done. If you are still not successful with the connection to the server from the WAN you may want to default the router and start over (lame I know).
    *** SORRY, just noticed that you stated that you added a "port range" forwarding rule. Remove that, and configure a UPnP rule for the same server instead. Do not know why they call it that, they just do. This is the same as configuring a single port forward they just call it something different. So just port forward 80 tcp to your server on 192.168.1.x and you are done.

  • Port Forwarding Stops Working WRT400N

    Is anyone else having a problem with port forwarding on their WRT400N? I'm forwarding one service (https) and this stops working if it's not accessed after a 10 days or so. The only way to get it to work again is to reboot the router. I’m running the “latest" firmware, which is an oxymoron considering it's been over 12 MONTHS since Linksys updated the code... Which is appalling considering this appears to be their flagship wireless N router.

    I tried the hard reset and still the same problem, port forwarding stops after a period of time.   Sometimes 1 day, other times 10 days.  I have 2 servers on the local network, each running Remote Desktop on port 3389.  I have 2 ports forwarded to get to either server depending on the external port number.   E.g.:  The external port forward is {wan_ip_addr}:33389->{server 1}:3389 to get to server 1 and, {wan_ip_addr}:23389->{server 2}:3389 to get to server 2.  Works great when it works, but then, without error, just the port forwarding stops, and all other router functions seem to continue working.  Has anyone else come across this?  Any fixes?  Help!!!!
    Thanks in advance to any help!!

  • Port forwarding details

    Hello, I want to port forward protocol 8443 to a server behind my Cisco router.
    My Cisco router is in turn connected to an ADSL PSTN facing router.
    I understand the command to do this would be:
    ip nat inside source static tcp {localServerIPAddress} 8443 fastethernet 0/1 8443
    My question is; do I still need to define "ip nat insde" to fa0/1 of my Cisco router ?
    Do I need to do anything else ? (n.b. I have already opened ip the port on the ADSL router and pointed it towards my Cisco router)
    Thanks for confirmation.

    You could just point your ADSL NAT directly to your sever as well. That should work if your Cisco router isn't currently NATing and the ADSL router has a route to that subnet.
    Also no you don't need the IP NAT source list. The static NAT is all you need.
    Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

  • Port Forwarding on a Router

    I'm getting quite frustrated with ARD 2.2. I'm trying to use ARD over the internet to teach my parents how to use their iMacs. I have all of the Network and Sharing settings turned on at their end, which isn't easy to accomplish since they are novice users 1500 miles away. I can use ARD to access and control the macs on my local network, but every time I input my parent's IP addresses, I get the message "Verify Failed", and it can't be because I have the wrong User Name or Password.
    I've read a lot about port forwarding for macs behind a router and I may need to do it. But it seems like everyone but me knows how to forward a port and nobody has given step-by-step instructions on how to do this. So I have some questions.
    1. I have a Linksys router on my end and a MacSense router on theirs. Do I need to enable Port Forwarding on both routers?
    2. When I enter their IP addresses, their computers are "seen" by ARD. How can it "see" these computers if the port forwarding is not enabled?
    3. My Linksys router has a web page that controls it, but nowhere is there a "Port Forwarding" option. Where is this located? Is it called by another name? Does it have something to do with NAT? How exactly do you "adjust" NAT settings to open a port?
    All the macs in question are using OS 10.4.5 or 10.4.6. My version of ARD is 2.2. Here is the line of connection between their macs and mine:
    Parent's iMac : MacSense Router : Cable Modem : INTERNET : Cable Modem : Linksys Router : 4 Port Hub : Airport Extreme Base Station : Powerbook G4.
    I would appreciate any suggestions at this point. Thanks!

    Things have taken a turn for the worse. After my last solution, we found that my Mom's iMac could not send email. She could receive mail and surf the internet, but not send. The problem showed up as soon as I mucked about with the router ports. She has a .Mac account, btw.
    To complicate things, my ARD connection shows my Dad's iMac, not Mom's. I could connect to Dad's iMac through ARD but not Mom's. Only if we shut down Dad's iMac could I connect to Mom's. The odd thing was the connection I was getting to Mom's iMac was listed as Dad's computer!
    I have read that ARD can only connect to one computer behind a router. No biggie, I'll just have them turn one off when I use the other. But how to solve the send email problem?
    I decided to use the DMZ (De-Militarized-Zone) setting of their router to open all ports on one IP address. When I did this we could finally see my Mom's iMac with her proper name in ARD. But joy was short lived because my control and observe attempts failed. I get the message "Connection Failed to XXX" where XXX is the name of Mom's iMac. Adding insult to injury, the mail still won't send.
    ARD shows the Current Application, Current User and Status (Available). I can send messages through ARD and they are received successfully (they can see the messages on their end).
    If I can get this far, why can't I observe? And what happened to the sending of email? Help me Obi Won Kanobi - you're my only hope!
    1Ghz Aluminum PowerBook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Time Capsule disconnects internet when using web server through port forwarding

    My current config is: 2TB Time Capsule running 7.6.3, Mac Pro running Lion (10.7.5), MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion (10.8.3), and a couple of MacBook Pro Retinas running Mountain Lion. My current ISP is Comcast.
    I have the Time Capsule set up to port forward port 80 to the Mac Pro for the purpose of running a web server. Most of the traffic is shuttling fairly large m4v files back and forth to work (work product from video editing work). I can reach the webserver on the Mac Pro just fine from the outside world, and can list files in the directory just fine. When I initiate a download (via right click on a link, "Save As..." or whatever), the Time Capsule reports that the Internet has been disconnected, and all machines inside my network lose access to the outside world. I have to either power cycle the Time Capsule, or disconnect/reconnect the Cat-6 cable between the cable modem and the Time Capsule to re-establish the connection. Interestingly, the download continues and completes on the other end without issue (so, the connection is actually still there!).
    Before switching to Comcast, I was on AT&T Uverse - Uverse includes a router, so I had the TIme Capsule set up in Bridge Mode. That worked fine. I also have an older 500GB 1st generation Time Capsule. I set it up with the same config as my 2TB TC, and it shows the exact same behavior - internet disconnects upon initiating a file download through a forwarded port. I then hooked the Mac Pro up directly to the cable modem. I can initiate a download without issue, and I continue to stay connected to the Internet without problem. Called Comcast anyway - they report no errors on the line, but reset the whole device chain anyway. No change in behaviors.
    I tried downgrading the Time Capsule software to 7.6.2 (the earliest version that came on it). No dice, same behavior.
    So... I called Apple. Complete and utter FAIL. Apple Support reports that they have no training in the port forwarding features of the Time Capule or Airport products, and cannot help me resolve the issue because of that. So, I have a $300 router that apparently cannot perform a simple routing function (download through a forwarded port), that I cannot troubleshoot (because Airport software v7 is an epic fail in that regard), made by a company who cannot support it - and everything this $300 device is doing can be done by a $50 device with a $100 external hard drive?
    Do I understand this situation correctly? What have I missed in trying to troubleshoot this thing?

    Apple Support reports that they have no training in the port forwarding features of the Time Capule or Airport products, and cannot help me resolve the issue because of that. So, I have a $300 router that apparently cannot perform a simple routing function (download through a forwarded port), that I cannot troubleshoot (because Airport software v7 is an epic fail in that regard), made by a company who cannot support it - and everything this $300 device is doing can be done by a $50 device with a $100 external hard drive?
    Do I understand this situation correctly? What have I missed in trying to troubleshoot this thing?
    Excellent summary.. I think you have covered all the salient points most thoroughly.
    Port forwarding on the TC I would put into the category of "epic fail"
    I have a nasty feeling it just doesn't work in many cases. Clearly from your situation the port is forwarded correctly.. it is the actual download that is causing the device to crash.. which is probably not the port forwarding itself that is at fault but rather the external link and opening another port for the download to happen.
    Many of the issues were caused by using icloud and btmm.. which would work a lot better btw. Although the hassle there is needing to offer that as a service to any Tom Dick or Harry.
    Let me suggest a work around or other things to try.
    I also have an older 500GB 1st generation Time Capsule. I set it up with the same config as my 2TB TC, and it shows the exact same behavior - internet disconnects upon initiating a file download through a forwarded port.
    Use 5.6 utility.. more info below. And take the firmware of this unit (Gen1) back to 7.5.2 (before icloud mess ups in 7.6).
    You can go back to 7.5 firmware also in Gen4 TC if it is more than about 14months old.. Simply hold down the option key when you select firmware and the old versions will show up. If your TC came with 7.6.1 (the 7.6.2 was withdrawn as it was even bigger failure than 7.6.3). then you cannot go back.
    You might also find downloading via http is not as reliable as using FTP.. FTP is a better and more efficient protocol. It should be no problem to setup ftp server on the mac pro to allow download via ftp even with a browser.
    But in the end.. your $50 router suggestion.. well perhaps a little more than that.. $80-100 will work very well.. also this router can be setup with a Hard Disk and offer the files to the internet via FTP.. without needing full network access to your internal network.
    How to load 5.6 into ML.
    1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
    Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
    2. Download and install unpkg.
    http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
    Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
    You cannot uninstall 6.1 (now 6.2 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.
    For screen shots see this post.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

  • Are "Back to my MAC" and "Port Forwarding" mutually exclusive?

    I have been using APExtreme and Port Forwarding successfully for several weeks now. The PF is to allow access to game players on a PC which acts as a server on the web. All Good.
    One more thing, I have a ISP provided wireless modem/router to talk to the cable and the world. It seems to work either bridged or un-bridged.
    I have disabled the wireless on the ISP's modem/router. (Actually the ISP's device doesn't hold a candle to the APE.)
    Still all good.
    So the firewall is on in the APExtreme and none on the modem router, and I have a port defined for my gamers to get access to my server in the APExtreme.
    I now want to implement Back to my MAC on my MBP and my other Apple devices. I believe these use iCloud for which I have an account and it seems to be working well with my iPhone.
    In Properties, when I select BtmM, iCloud says communications will be slow if I have port forwarding on. Also I will not be able to use the router function in my Modem/router.
    I'd really like to have the modem/router firewall up, and do the port forwarding there, but the BtmM will likely not get through.
    So what does anyone suggest?
    Can I use BtmM and port forwarding without too much degradation?
    Please advise.
    Thanks
    Barry

    To best answer your question on whether the two are "mutually exclusive," let take a look at how Back to My Mac (BTMM) basically works.
    BTMM - General Requirements
    OS X Leopard 10.7.3+
    Active iCloud account. Each Mac & the AirPort router, that will be relying on BTMM, needs to be configured with the same account.
    A publicly reachable IP address for your router.
    A router that supports either NAT-PMP or UPnP. For AirPorts, be sure it is running 7.6.1+ firmware.
    BTMM uses TCP port 5354 and UDP ports 4500 & 5353 for communications.
    BTMM - Basic Communication Flow
    For a computer connected to the Internet via a router, BTMM "asks" the router for its configuration information. For a router, like your AirPort, that uses NAT-PMP, BTMM will ask the router to assign arbitrary public ports. In turn, the router will provide these port assignments (& the router's Public IP address) back to BTMM.
    BTMM then sends this information to the iCloud account. In background iCloud updates a special set of DNS entries to be used by BTMM. These entries are then made available to all BTMM clients using your iCloud account. When a computer, with BTMM enabled, uses your iCloud credentials, it automatically retrieves a list of all other computers/routers that are registered with the same account. All these devices should then appear under the SHARED section of the Finder.
    When attempting to connect to a remote computer (or router), BTMM creates a secure connection to that remote device using the information from the iCloud account.
    Once the connection is established, the devices can then communicate with each other.
    So potentially, unless you are using Port Mapping for any of the ports BTMM uses, they should not conflict.

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