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Quick Guide on VPN Port Forwarding
List of Contents
What is Port?
Before we move forward to understand what is Port Forwarding, let’s first see what is a Port. Our daily work on a PC relies largely on the data that we receive from the Internet. Emailing apps, Weather Apps, etc. rely on the incoming data from the Internet.
A Port number is like an address to your device. Now you may ask “What is an IP Address then?”. IP Address is also used as the device address but there can be multiple devices using the same IP address of the router itself and all the computers behind that IP Address are invisible to everyone else.
Like in a home network, all the devices connected to the same router have the same IP address. But the incoming data is only meant for one of those devices and that device is identified by the port number.
Due to mathematical reasons, port numbers vary between 0 and 65,535 out of which the initial 1024 Port numbers are assigned to common services.
What is Port Forwarding?
Thanks to NAT, the devices connected to a Router are hidden from any person from outside. When you send a request/data over the internet, your router replaces your device’s IP Address with its IP Address, and this way the person from outside never knows which device sent the request. Also, when you receive data from the Internet, your router then reroutes the data to the device it was meant for.
By setting up Port Forwarding on a router, you allow devices from the outside to connect to a specific device in the network. If we put it simply, the person from outside can now connect to a device directly without any interruption from the router.
For Example, if you have set up a Security Surveillance Camera at your home and Port Forwarding is not enabled, your request to access the camera remotely wouldn’t be successful because your request doesn’t know which device to go. On the other hand, when you enable Port Forwarding, you would be able to send requests specifically to your Camera and access it remotely because then you would know the exact address.
VPN Port Forwarding and Need for VPN Port Forwarding:
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are useful tools to maintain the online privacy of your device. Because we are here talking about VPN Port Forwarding, not many VPNs offer Port Forwarding; not even the most famous of VPNs in the market like Systweak VPN and Surf Shark.
Click Here to Download Systweak VPN
VPN Port Forwarding can be helpful for a lot of people in a lot of different scenarios like:
- Accessing Home Network: If you have set up a VPN and want to access your PC remotely, you will only be able to do so when your VPN has the capability of Port Forwarding.
- Creating Secure Home Networks: Not many people use this functionality, however, if you do, VPN Port Forwarding is the only option to create a secure connection between home networks.
- Seeding Torrents: If you want to upload torrents and let people download them whenever they want, it is only possible when you have a VPN Port Forwarding option enabled. Because NAT Firewall only allows you to make a connection between devices if you primarily request the connection. But for Torrents being available to be downloaded by anyone anywhere, you would need VPN Port Forwarding.
As you saw, though, there are multiple scenarios where VPN Port Forwarding can be helpful, but there are only a few people who would require port forwarding in their day-to-day scenario.
Is Port Forwarding Safe with VPN?
As we saw earlier, Port Forwarding is only beneficial for certain types of users and not for everybody. Also, there is a price you pay for the Port Forwarding Option on a VPN.
We generally employ VPNs for anonymity and online privacy. However, Port Forwarding can make a dent in the security because it can sometimes leak the Actual IP Address of the device which defeats the whole purpose of using a VPN.
Hence, you should bother yourself only if you are Pro User who has to have a VPN with Port Forwarding otherwise it isn’t an additional benefit that you would enjoy.
Port Forwarding vs Port Triggering
Port Forwarding and Port Triggering are almost the same concepts except that they function differently. In Port Forwarding, the port is always open for anyone to connect at any time without the need for interruption or access from the device itself.
On the other hand, Port Triggering also opens the port but only at the request of the device in the network itself. When the device itself requests information, the port opens and only stays open until the response is received and then is closed. This means that no person from outside can primarily send the request, the request has to be sent from the device in the network itself.
Wrapping Up:
So, this was all from our end on Port Forwarding. We suggest that you sort your priorities first, before deciding on either going with or without a VPN Port Forwarding. We hope we can provide you the information you were looking for. Keep Visiting Tweak Library for more such tech-related content.
Recommended Readings:
Surfshark vs NordVPN vs Systweak VPN – Full Comparison
Is VPN Necessary? If Yes, Which One Should You Go For?
Top 7 Uses of VPN – When to use a VPN
VPN vs TOR Browser | Difference between TOR and VPN
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