Quote Originally Posted by Charlie View Post
Dave, I have a pretty good understanding of how routers work. If you want to get to any device from the internet, it needs to be at a publicly routable static address, regardless of the port number. It can not be hidden behind a NAT segment.
Wrong, I have several servers behind NATs on different ports on different LANs.
When someone wants to reach that server, however, the router THEY are behind will block OUTGOING requests on ports not specifically opened. Since the vast majority of those requests are on port 80, it's almost universally open. If you put your server on another port, it may be difficult to reach from many locations, unless you create a specific application and use UPNP or something.
Wrong again. If the device is on a port other than 80 for http request all you have to do is add a ":" then the port number. abc.com:1234
I suppose what you are doing is having the fixed IP source router route a specific port request to a specific internal address and port - clever idea. But if you are doing this, and no other server is hosting anything on this address, why isn't port 80 as good as any other? Or are hosting companies blocking this to prevent people hosting from their homes?
Now you are getting it! Yes, a port is a port as far a working, it is more to do with security audits. And yes, some hosting companies block 25, 80, and others.
I really am just curious - most of the things I do in this space are on private networks, and I'd be looking to serve internally only from this sort of device, with no need to access it from beyond the corporate firewall.
Then you should not have any problems. Unless you are crossing different sub nets... but that is another story... Contact your IT department if that is the case.