UPnP stands for Universal Plug n Play. It is a standard for letting computers, routers and other devices that are connected to a network share information with each other about which services they are running and then automatically connect to those services when they need them. For example, a computer which has a bunch of movies or lots of music stored on itself can announce that to other devices on the network. If you then boot up your Smart TV which is connected to the same network you could then use your Smart TV to browse those movies, pick one and start playing it on the TV over the LAN network. Another function of UPnP is that a router could announce to the LAN computers that it has the capability to do automatic Port Forwarding.
Once the computers hear about that they can then automatically tell the router to perform any Port Forwards that they require. For example if you boot up a game and the game tells the computer that it wants a couple of Port Forwards to function properly, the computer can then ask the router to perform those Port Forwards.
6 UPnP/DLNA Servers for Streaming Media to Your Devices. Ironically the development team seems to blame the hardware manufacturers, which is funny because every other program on this list has no such problems, I would therefore conclude the problem is indeed with XBMC.
There are a number of prerequisites for UPnP Port Forwards to work at all:. The router must have support for UPnP Port Forward, and it must be enabled in the router.
The computer OS must have UPnP Port Forward support and the function must be enabled in the computer OS. The program which requires the Port Forward must have support for UPnP Port Forward so that it can tell the OS about the Port Forwards it want As you will see below, most devices come with UPnP disabled and you have to manually enable it. The major reason is that UPnP has a negative impact on the overall security of your home network. If you look at UPnP from another perspective, what it does is that it lets programs on your computer tell your home router to open up holes through its protection mechanisms.
Malware and viruses that might be running on your computer are programs too. If UPnP is enabled in your home network then malware could use UPnP to open up holes through your home router’s security features at will to let attackers on the Internet straight through into your home network. Newer home routers often have UPnP Port Forward support, but most likely the functionality is disabled for security reasons. You might have to manually enable it in your router. The function is often called something like “UPnP Port Forwarding” or just “UPnP” but it is also possible that your router manufacturer has chosen to call it something completely different. Modern operating systems have support for UPnP, but it is often disabled and must be enabled before it can be used.
In Windows, the UPnP function is called Network Discovery. Finally, not all programs have built-in support for UPnP Port Forwards. If the program does not have UPnP support then there is no fully automated way of making the port forwards work for that particular program. So the first thing you might want to check is whether or not the program has UPnP support. Luckily most modern games have UPnP support, but you still have to google it to find out for sure if your particular game has UPnP support or not. Previous part: Next part.
UPnP is a convenient way for programs to forward ports without you having to. Unfortunately, some programs that require port forwarding don’t support UPnP – that’s where UPnP PortMapper comes in. This application takes care of port forwarding for you, right from your desktop.
If your IP address changes, you don’t need to log into your router and change your port forwarding rules – you can have the application update them for you. If you visit a friend’s house and join their network, you don’t have to ask for their router’s password to forward ports – just fire up the application and activate your preset rules. Installation UPnP Port Mapper is written in Java, so you’ll need the installed to run it. After installing Java, you can.
In addition to Windows, this application also works on Mac OS X and Linux. UPnP Port Mapper communicates with your router with the UPnP protocol, so you’ll also need a router with UPnP enabled to use this application. If UPnP is disabled on your network’s router, this program can’t do anything.
After downloading UPnP Port Mapper, double-click the.jar file to launch it. Forwarding Ports To get started, click the Connect button in UPnP Port Mapper. If you see a Windows Firewall pop-up window, click the Unblock button. You may have to allow Java network access in the Windows firewall pop-up that appears. If UPnP PortMapper informs you that it can’t find your router, click the Connect button again unblocking the application in the Windows firewall. If it worked, you’ll see a list of UPnP port mappings in the top pane (this list will be empty by default), as well as your router’s external IP address on the Internet and its IP address on your local network. To create a new port forwarding preset, click the Create button.
Enter a description for your port forwarding rule and provide a list of one or more ports to forward. You can specify port ranges or forward a list of ports using a single preset.
You can also specify a specific remote host. If you enter an IP address, only traffic from that IP address will be forwarded to your computer from your router. For example, you can use this feature to only allow connections from a friend’s IP address on the Internet. The Use local host box is checked by default, making it easy to forward ports without having to double-check your computer’s local IP address.
However, you could also use this application to forward ports to multiple different computers on your network. Port forwarding presets you specify will appear in the Port mapping presets box.
![Upnp program Upnp program](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125394816/536352617.gif)
Select a preset and click the Use button to activate it. Clicking this button forwards the ports on your router – they’ll appear in the Port mappings box at the top of the window. You can remove port mappings by selecting them and clicking the Remove button. The port mappings will be saved on your router until its UPnP data is cleared – depending on your router, this may happen when your router is restarted. If you open UPnP Port Mapper later and click the Connect button, you’ll see your active port mappings.
You will also need to reapply port mapping settings if your computer’s local IP address changes. With your presets, you can quickly and easily apply these port mapping settings on any network with a router that supports UPnP – this can be convenient if you move around and need to forward ports for gaming, servers, or other purposes.