Question about Port Forwarding

[gunnclarke]

I am new to VPN.

Just bought a 3-day trial from BolehVPN and has been achieving 'admirable' download speed.

My question is:

Since VPN is a direct encrypted tunnel between a client and a server, is configuring Port Forwarding on my router necessary?

Thanks.

[kitsuna]

only for bolehroute connection need port forwarding

[gunnclarke]

Why is that?

[kitsuna]

because the normal bolehvpn connection are behind the server proxy
so the tracker wont detect directly to your router ip

on bolehroute, you need to port forward because all your pc connection are going through the vpn server
roughly, its like your pc virtually at the bolehroute server data center, except the ip are shared with the server

i hope my explanation is understandable 

[Reuben]

furryness' explanation for the most part is correct.
the bolehvpn configuration will not allow you to get an open port as it's behind a socks proxy.

This however in our experience does not result in any significant loss (if any) in speed unless there are very few seeders.

On Bolehroute it's fine if you don't forward as well but defeats one of the main advantages of Bolehroute for those people who want that open port perhaps for better seeding.

[eugenet]

Hi there... I am lost like a kid crying for his mama in a big mall....

My configuration:   Belkin modem-router, 3 PCs and uTorrent client.

Prior to using VPN, I didn't have to do port forwarding because UPnP seems to do that for me. I don't know how UPnP works but the built in test in uTorrent tells me I am forwarded correctly. So I love UPnP. Tell me if I am wrong about this.

Now that I am using BolehRoute, it seems that I have to do Port Forwarding. This is based on what I read in this thread and also in this pinned topic:
http://www.bolehvpn.net/forum/index.php/topic,1903.0.html

"Pick a port between 1024 to 65000 to forward in your router and specify it as a listen port in your torrent client."

This is where I got lost.

1. If I have to Port Forward to BolehRoute, I have to go to my router to specify the IP address of my PC and a port. Now, how does BolehRoute know which port to listen to? Shouldn't I have to open up OpenVPN and configure something so that it knows which port to listen?

2. uTorrent knows which port to listen coz I have set the port number inside the setup. Is this port the same as the port I forward for BolehRoute? Should I use the same port number?

3. If I port forward, should I specify TCP, UDP or both?

It is as clear as mud now... but I'm sure you guys will clear it up. Thanks in advance!

[Chris]

The way I see it, BolehRoute is a, tunnel for all your network traffic to go through. You don't need to portforward anything for BolehRoute. Portforwarding is like opening up specific lanes for traffic. BolehRoute does however, slow down your surfing considerably.

When you portforward, you're basically portforwarding for the torrent client. Let's say you open port 60000. Go to your torrent client, utorrent/vuze/bitcomet/whatever, and specify port 60000 as the listen port.

This will instruct your client to listen for all traffic that comes through port 60000.

[eugenet]

Thanks. Configured my router to forward to the port specified in uTorrent.

[Chris]

Random bit of trivia here.

Apparently you should change ports every once in a while, something to do with TMNet sniffing for p2p ports and throttling them, or so I heard.

I don't remember, I think that some trackers automatically block connections from clients using the default ports, due to the fact that they generally have a low upload speed.

Just something I heard off the net and thought you might like to know.