Understanding the mule

[Phuzzy4242]

There's no good reason to change your IP addressing and lots of reasons not to unless you're a techie and know how to fix it... but if you were a techie, you'd've already tried it and seen no real difference.

If you can use the internet - and you're here, aren't you? - your IP address isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. Botch it up and you may need your ISP's help to get back online.

[emuler]

LOL, not that scary, Phyzzy4242. A safer way to do it is to look at the status of your network adapter that's connected to your router, in details, see and NOTE DOWN the ip addresses that it is currently using, and then go into the adapter properties and set the same IP addresses there as static IP.

You need the folowing information. Do not proceed until you know these (you can see them from the details pane mentioned above):
1. IP address. Common example 192.168.1.5
2. Subnet mask. Common example 255.255.255.0
3. Gateway. Common example 192.168.1.1

4. DNS server. These change from ISP to ISP. Get this from your ISP's website, or from the details pane mentioned earlier.

Remember, a static IP address is essential for trouble free port forwarding. The port forwarding rules that you need to set in your router will send the incoming traffic on that port to the IP address of your computer. These rules will fail if your computer's IP address changes, eg. when you reboot. Hence the need to set a static IP for your computer.

An alternative to all this is uPnP. Some of the later eMule clients support this. Basically, the client (eMule) talks to the router for you and sets up port forwarding on the fly. If your router supports this, you're good to go.

[Image]

[Phuzzy4242]

LOL, not that scary, Phyzzy4242.

Phyzzy?!? Well, maybe. LOL

I've used DHCP on my home network for years. My server or router provides the address, not the PC's built-in random IP, but it really makes no difference. I haven't had any problems with eMule, LimeWire, or any of the others because of it. I've also seen (and fixed) dozens of networking problems because people changed things and couldn't figure out how to change them back. All I'm saying is if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Most routers I've seen let you open ports without requiring a specific endpoint to be the only device inside the firewall allowed to use them. There are seven PC's and laptops on my home network right now and any of them can use the opened router ports. I'm using a Westell router, which definitely isn't top-of-the-line, but I've done this on Zoom, NetGear, Seimons, Linksys, and others without setting a static IP.

[emuler]

LOL Sorry, typo.

Most routers/modems in this part of the world are sorry creatures that start to falter if more than 8 devices are connected. Now, a Cisco 877 DSL modem...

AFAIK with static IPs and port forwarding, the router has very little to do. Your approach needs it to do more advanced NATing.

I gave what I consider failsafe instructions for setting static IPs - get the information from the NIC while everything is working fine (under DHCP), and put those same values in IPv4 settings. Some instructions on setting things up your way would be nice too.

[Phuzzy4242]

Most routers/modems in this part of the world are sorry creatures that start to falter if more than 8 devices are connected. Now, a Cisco 877 DSL modem...

I seldom see a home network with more than two, sometimes three computers, so that issue hasn't come up. I'm running gigabit on two Netgear switches, not running everything through the router, and we've had online LAN parties here with 9 PCs connected to big online RPGs with no hiccups. Cisco is fine, but way overpriced.

AFAIK with static IPs and port forwarding, the router has very little to do. Your approach needs it to do more advanced NATing.

The router has to NAT anyway, whether it's static or dynamic, one PC or a dozen. Your internal network is always private (in the 10.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x ranges) and the router itself must always use an address that isn't private so the rest of the world can address it. That's what a router is for.

I gave what I consider failsafe instructions for setting static IPs - get the information from the NIC while everything is working fine (under DHCP), and put those same values in IPv4 settings. Some instructions on setting things up your way would be nice too.

There are already a lot of instructions out there for doing this. I recommend people use something like Simple Port Forwarding because it does the work for you (including static IP if you want it to) with a step-by-step checklist and instant help. Here's a screenshot...
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[loverboy]

I suspect that you two may be over-complicating the situation & actually confusing berg-man even more. My understanding of the problem is he's not interested in setting up any sort of network & simply wants the easiest way to instruct a single router to open the necessary ports for eMule when confronted with a dynamic IP address. No disrespect meant, but a total idiots guide sounds appropriate here!
I'm certainly not the person to advise ........I had similar issues with attempting to port-forward a particularly nasty router with a dynamic IP address that also had the endearing habit of disconnecting at regular intervals. My less-than-ideal solution was to revert to using an elderly Speedtouch USB modem (fortunately I have several) that removed the need for bothering with the nonsense of port-forwarding.
I'll wait for the howls of derision.............but, IT WORKS!

lb

[Phuzzy4242]

I suspect that you two may be over-complicating the situation & actually confusing berg-man even more. My understanding of the problem is he's not interested in setting up any sort of network & simply wants the easiest way to instruct a single router to open the necessary ports for eMule when confronted with a dynamic IP address.

That's why I recommend Simple Port Forwarding or one of the other programs that do similar things. SPF has over 1200 different routers, and the author even gives you an easy way to collect the information he needs to add a new one. It detects your router's address, you tell it what ports to open, and it sets your router and Windows' firewall. It'll also set your computer's IP to static and test everything afterwards, and help figure out problems. If something's not right, it'll revert to the original settings.

Call me lazy, but anything I add would be redundant with all the help that's out there. It's Friday night, I've had a long week, and I'll have to think about whether I want to do that much work.

[berg-man]

First, I’d like to thank everyone for their long and detailed instructions. I think my basic problem is the router (it’s not even listed in Phuzzy’s Simple Port Forwarding, which is too bad because it is a very easy, very detailed program) so I’ll just try again some time this month when I’ll have a new router.

[…] the author even gives you an easy way to collect the information he needs to add a new one.

Indeed, but it can be done only through IE browser which is not an option for me – one more reason to get rid of my present router

No disrespect meant, but a total idiots guide sounds appropriate here!

No offense taken, being a total idiot was my very first feeling when I tried emule… (now I do feel slightly better, though)

Call me lazy, but anything I add would be redundant with all the help that's out there.

As far as I’m concerned, this is very true; I’m sure it will take me seconds once I get a new router, with all the help all of you provided.


Loverboy, Phuzzy4242, emuler, Popdrome, idler, thank you for the valuable info!

[emuler]

If the router is giving you problems, by all means get rid of it. If it does the job, why waste money?

Why not post screenshots of your network adapter details (like the pic I posted) and router settings pages? You can black out the places where it shows personal information like public IP address, username, password, etc.

No pressure. You don't have to take our advice right away - by all means mull it over in your head until you feel comfortable with it, (I remember, years ago, being very nervous about using fdisk to partition my hard drive - you know that sick feeling you get when you know you're going to do something stupid? so I do understand your trepidation. ) The only thing that's going to get rid of your jitters is thoroughly understanding what you need to do, and then doing it a few times.