BitTorrent

[aj_86cc]

I found a thread like this from a while ago, but I decided to make my own since it was kinda old. Anyways, I use BitTorrent to dl but I always have a yellow light. My dl speed never goes higher than 16k/s and I see some of the peer dl rate at 40+. My connection is through a router and I am on one of three computers attached (my roomates use the others). I think the router ports have something to do with it, so I created a DMZ. This made the light go green...but is that a good thing to do?

[Big Weapons]

You need to open the ports correlating to your BT client on your router.

Putting your computer on DMZ for extended periods is not a good idea; it exposes you to potential hackers and whatnot.

[faulkner132]

Since home routers can only forward ports to one computer, perhaps your roommates already have the default BitTorrent port forwarded to their computer. Some BitTorrent clients (Azureus) will allow you to configure the port to use in the options. Try changing it to a port which is not in use and set up a port forward for that port to your computer. This way you can remove the DMZ.

[aj_86cc]

Yeah, I know that I have to open ports 6881-6889 but I couldn't figure out how from my router setup screen. The only thing that looks similar is labelled "client filtering" under the firewall category. But the description for this reads "You can block certain client PCs accessing the Internet based on time." I don't think this is it.

[faulkner132]

What you need to get to under your router configuration is called "Port Forwarding".

[aj_86cc]

oh yeah, i found that...one more thing though. Where it says "server IP" do I put in the gateway IP or mine? And where it says "Mapping Ports" do I put in like 6881? or do i put something like 6881-6889. There are multiple slots so do I just put in ports one at a time?

[faulkner132]

Where it says "server IP" do I put in the gateway IP or mine?

Enter the IP address of your computer on the network, something like 192.168.x.x. You can get it by going to the command prompt on your machine and entering "ipconfig".

And where it says "Mapping Ports" do I put in like 6881? or do i put something like 6881-6889. There are multiple slots so do I just put in ports one at a time?

You should be able to enter a range, so under the start column enter 6881 and end column 6889. If it doesn't offer a range, you may have to enter each manually.

[bigandy]

The easiest thing to do is probably set each computer in your network a static internal IP. Then you can forward the ports to each of the computers you want.

To do this, open up a command prompt and enter ipconfig /all. This will give you all the information you need to set up an IP for the computer. Then open up your control panel and open up the network connections applet. Right click on your active network adapter and choose properties. There will be a list of different protocols in a box, choose TCP/IP and click the properties box.

Once there, select the box that says "use the following IP address". In the first box is where you choose the IP you want. I use 192.168.1.20 for the first computer in my network, but it doesn't really matter. Once you've done that, check your command prompt window where you've run ipconfig, and enter the subnet mask information from that window into the next line. After you've done that, enter the default gateway address that is given to you from ipconfig.

Then choose the box that says to use the following DNS servers. I set my preferred server to my default gateway (AKA the router). And then set the secondary to the address given by ipconfig.

That's about it. I always do a reboot, and then it's good to go. Remember that if you want to do this for multiple computers, you'll have to go through the process for each one. And you'll need to set a different address for each one. So if you set the first computer to 192.168.1.20, then you could set the next one to 192.168.1.25, then 192.168.1.30, or whatever you'd like.

[aj_86cc]

Server IP......................Mapping Ports.................Enabled
1. 192. 168. 2.X ___ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
2. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
3. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
4. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
5. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
6. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
7. 192. 168. 2.X____XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
8. 192. 168. 2. X___XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
9. 192. 168. 2. X___XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
10. 192. 168. 2. X___XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This is what it looks like on the port fowarding screen. Of course I click enabled. I put my IP address in the server IP and the port in 1 thru 9 I put 6881 then in the next I put 6882...etc. This still hasn't made a difference. I tried that static thing but I lost my internet connection when I did it.

[bigandy]

Yeah, when I first do it, I lose it for a bit too. I just give it a bit of time and a reboot and it is back to normal.

[aj_86cc]

Ok, I did the static internal IP. My internet works, but I still get a yellow light.