This guide provides ‘how to’ instructions for port forwarding on a TalkTalk Huawei HG533 ADSL router.
Introduction
I wanted to view a webcam on my home network from the internet. This meant I had two options, either to setup port fowarding, else to use a DMZ option on my router. For me personally, DMZ seemed overkill. So I sat down to work out how to configure how to route from the internet to my router, and then onwards to my network webcam.
I’ve just returned after being away for five days. During that trip, I was able to remotely log into my networked webcam. So success! These instructions should prove useful, not just for IP camera configuration, but for those linking to a NAS box, desktop computer, printer or another device.
Also this guide doesn’t deal with DDNS. i.e. finding out an IP address which might of changed dynamically. I will likely cover that in a later post, once I’ve settled on a solution. What this post does do, is enable someone to connect to their router’s external IP address and then be forwarded to a network device.
Warning: By following these instructions you are exposing a port and device to the internet, which is a security concern. In addition to your network security, I suggest whatever you are connecting to should require a username and password. You’ve been warned!
How to port forward on a Huawei ADSL router
You should of already done or know the following:
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Have a static IP address for the network device you are connecting to.
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Have administrator level access to your router.
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Have a second internet connection, to help you test your setup. *
* When I originally setup the port forwarding I was frustrated that it didn’t work. Unfortunately I was trying to test from ‘within’ my network! Then when I tested using my mobile phone via a different ISP, it worked fine. I will provide more details below about this.
How to configure a Huawei HG533 for port forwarding:
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Open a web browser, type the router’s IP address and log in as an administrator.
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Selected ‘Advanced’ from the left-hand side menu options.
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Select ‘NAT’ from the menu options and then click on the ‘Port Mapping’ tab.
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Click on ‘New’.
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Now fill in the details. *
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Press ‘Submit’ when ready.
* Say you’ve got a webcam setup with a static IP address 192.168.1.24 and it uses port 44. You could fill in the details as:
Type: Customization
Protocol TCP./UDP
Remote Host: (leave blank)
External start port: 44
External end port: 44
Internal host: 192.168.1.24
Internal port: 44
Mapping name: Type in whatever you want.
I didn’t have to reboot the router and immediately it was ready to accept a connection.
How to test the setup!
These are the exact steps I took to test that my webcam was accessible via the internet.
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I visited this website to discover my IP address and check that the port was open.
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I then connected to that IP address and port number via a different ISP connection (not via the HG533 ethernet or WIFI connection). In this instance I connected using a web browser, but obviously how you connect, will depend on what you are doing.
How to find out your external IP address
There are a couple of ways I use to find out the IP address assigned by my ISP. One is via a web service and the second is via my router.
Either visit the ‘Can You See Me‘ website or do the following:
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Log into the router and select ‘advanced’.
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Click on the ‘WAN’ option under the ‘Basic’ menu.
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If your ADSL router is connected and working, the IP address will be shown for the PPPoA connection.
Conclusion
Once you know how, it is straightforward to setup port forwarding with this router, but when not in use I plan on removing the port mapping settings.
Usually I welcome feedback and try to provide support via the comments, but in this instance I don’t want to! So I hope you’ve appreciated this blog post and find it useful. Please expect future ‘how to’ guides about networked devices, including setting up DDNS to track a dynamic IP address.