Correct port-forward with Ngrok?

[gleeby deeby]

Hi! I have my own dedicated server up and running and I'd like to play with my friends. However, my router does not have any settings regarding port-forwarding whatsoever, so I'm stuck with Ngrok (not saying it's bad or anything. It's actually quite a good program). So I run the server, I run Ngrok, and I put "connect" followed by Ngrok's generated address into the console, only to find out that connection has failed after 4 retries.

I've had issues with forwarding my Minecraft server, and when looking up the issue, I found out that the IP setting needed to be empty (undefined). So I tried doing the same with this server, setting the IP to localhost, 0, 0.0.0.0 and * but none of those options has worked. What do I do to successfully forward my server?

[꧁Jay꧂]

On NGrok's site it seems to be specifically for TCP and HTTP/2 uses, GMod does use TCP & UDP though if I remember correctly only UDP is used for actual game transmission.

If you submit your router model number here I can look up to see whatever your vendor rewords port forwarding to, it can be under PAT or NAT if there's features like that.

Or, you can setup a virtual machine and setup a DMZ to the virtual machine's IP address and put your GMod server there.

[gleeby deeby]

Originally posted by Soarin':

On NGrok's site it seems to be specifically for TCP and HTTP/2 uses, GMod does use TCP & UDP though if I remember correctly only UDP is used for actual game transmission.

If you submit your router model number here I can look up to see whatever your vendor rewords port forwarding to, it can be under PAT or NAT if there's features like that.

Or, you can setup a virtual machine and setup a DMZ to the virtual machine's IP address and put your GMod server there.

Okay, 2 questions. First, is UDP used in all Source games? And second, will the Garry's Mod server be able to run on Windows XP?

[pivotman319 (Trans Rights FTW!)]

Originally posted by ❤ Loona Helluvaboss ❤:

Okay, 2 questions. First, is UDP used in all Source games? And second, will the Garry's Mod server be able to run on Windows XP?

1. Yes.
   
2. Sure, but why? Support for Windows XP ended six years ago. At any rate, upgrade your operating system IMMEDIATELY to the latest version (as it is now completely vulnerable to numerous security flaws) or get a new PC if it can't handle Windows 10.

Linux is also a viable, faster alternative OS if you want to host a SRCDS server. Either way, I'd recommend getting a new PC.

[꧁Jay꧂]

Originally posted by ❤ Loona Helluvaboss ❤:

Originally posted by Soarin':

On NGrok's site it seems to be specifically for TCP and HTTP/2 uses, GMod does use TCP & UDP though if I remember correctly only UDP is used for actual game transmission.

If you submit your router model number here I can look up to see whatever your vendor rewords port forwarding to, it can be under PAT or NAT if there's features like that.

Or, you can setup a virtual machine and setup a DMZ to the virtual machine's IP address and put your GMod server there.

Okay, 2 questions. First, is UDP used in all Source games? And second, will the Garry's Mod server be able to run on Windows XP?

1.) Yes, here's from Valve's official Wiki.
27015 TCP/UDP (game transmission, pings and RCON) - Can be changed using -port on startup
27020 UDP (SourceTV transmission) - Can be changed using +tv_port on startup
27005 UDP (Client Port) - Can be changed using -clientport on startup
26900 UDP (Steam Port, outgoing) - Can be changed using -sport on startup <--- That is outbound, don't wory about that. Only important port is 27015, you do need TCP/UDP both enabled but game transmission itself is UDP.

2.) I highly advise against any unsupported and/or operating systems with poor security. Consumer operating systems shouldn't be used for servers even though they work, even if it is in a VM it can still spread outside into your network unless if you put it on a separate network and firewall properly.

Try looking up tutorials for Linux, if you require an interface then I personally would recommend openSUSE as the kernel is the same kernel used in SUSE Enterprise Linux which is a well respected secure kernel. Ubuntu Desktop is another popular one, there's a lot to choose from and they're free.

If you do require Windows then you can get a free Windows 10 ISO off Microsoft's website if you visit via your phone or from a non-Windows device. It's the full Windows 10 Pro, but again I would consider this more of a last resort. Servers are less secure under Microsoft & run poorly compared to Linux for SRCDS.

As Pivot said, if you have another PC it'd be better to use that since VMs are more secure than running it on your bare host OS but they're still not as secure as segregating it completely. Also uptime. performance, and stability is affected when you're sharing your daily PC with your server, but since this is a server for friends it shouldn't matter too much.

[gleeby deeby]

Originally posted by pivotman319:

Originally posted by ❤ Loona Helluvaboss ❤:

Okay, 2 questions. First, is UDP used in all Source games? And second, will the Garry's Mod server be able to run on Windows XP?

1. Yes.
   
2. Sure, but why? Support for Windows XP ended six years ago. At any rate, upgrade your operating system IMMEDIATELY to the latest version (as it is now completely vulnerable to numerous security flaws) or get a new PC if it can't handle Windows 10.

Linux is also a viable, faster alternative OS if you want to host a SRCDS server. Either way, I'd recommend getting a new PC.

I have a literal garbage can for a PC so even running an XP VM simultaneously with Garry's Mod is going to ♥♥♥♥ some ♥♥♥♥ up.

[gleeby deeby]

Originally posted by Soarin':

Originally posted by ❤ Loona Helluvaboss ❤:

Okay, 2 questions. First, is UDP used in all Source games? And second, will the Garry's Mod server be able to run on Windows XP?

1.) Yes, here's from Valve's official Wiki.
27015 TCP/UDP (game transmission, pings and RCON) - Can be changed using -port on startup
27020 UDP (SourceTV transmission) - Can be changed using +tv_port on startup
27005 UDP (Client Port) - Can be changed using -clientport on startup
26900 UDP (Steam Port, outgoing) - Can be changed using -sport on startup <--- That is outbound, don't wory about that. Only important port is 27015, you do need TCP/UDP both enabled but game transmission itself is UDP.

2.) I highly advise against any unsupported and/or operating systems with poor security. Consumer operating systems shouldn't be used for servers even though they work, even if it is in a VM it can still spread outside into your network unless if you put it on a separate network and firewall properly.

Try looking up tutorials for Linux, if you require an interface then I personally would recommend openSUSE as the kernel is the same kernel used in SUSE Enterprise Linux which is a well respected secure kernel. Ubuntu Desktop is another popular one, there's a lot to choose from and they're free.

If you do require Windows then you can get a free Windows 10 ISO off Microsoft's website if you visit via your phone or from a non-Windows device. It's the full Windows 10 Pro, but again I would consider this more of a last resort. Servers are less secure under Microsoft & run poorly compared to Linux for SRCDS.

As Pivot said, if you have another PC it'd be better to use that since VMs are more secure than running it on your bare host OS but they're still not as secure as segregating it completely. Also uptime. performance, and stability is affected when you're sharing your daily PC with your server, but since this is a server for friends it shouldn't matter too much.

The router model is Asus RT-N18U

[꧁Jay꧂]

Originally posted by ❤ Loona Helluvaboss ❤:

Originally posted by Soarin':

1.) Yes, here's from Valve's official Wiki.
27015 TCP/UDP (game transmission, pings and RCON) - Can be changed using -port on startup
27020 UDP (SourceTV transmission) - Can be changed using +tv_port on startup
27005 UDP (Client Port) - Can be changed using -clientport on startup
26900 UDP (Steam Port, outgoing) - Can be changed using -sport on startup <--- That is outbound, don't wory about that. Only important port is 27015, you do need TCP/UDP both enabled but game transmission itself is UDP.

2.) I highly advise against any unsupported and/or operating systems with poor security. Consumer operating systems shouldn't be used for servers even though they work, even if it is in a VM it can still spread outside into your network unless if you put it on a separate network and firewall properly.

Try looking up tutorials for Linux, if you require an interface then I personally would recommend openSUSE as the kernel is the same kernel used in SUSE Enterprise Linux which is a well respected secure kernel. Ubuntu Desktop is another popular one, there's a lot to choose from and they're free.

If you do require Windows then you can get a free Windows 10 ISO off Microsoft's website if you visit via your phone or from a non-Windows device. It's the full Windows 10 Pro, but again I would consider this more of a last resort. Servers are less secure under Microsoft & run poorly compared to Linux for SRCDS.

As Pivot said, if you have another PC it'd be better to use that since VMs are more secure than running it on your bare host OS but they're still not as secure as segregating it completely. Also uptime. performance, and stability is affected when you're sharing your daily PC with your server, but since this is a server for friends it shouldn't matter too much.

The router model is Asus RT-N18U

If your PC is slow then a Linux VM would probably be equal or lighter weight, my production Linux VMs used 55MB of RAM and 0.0% CPU at idle.


But on your Asus RT-N18U, if you login to your admin panel and go to Advanced Settings -> WAN -> Virtual Server / Port Forwarding and you'd be able to put in your port forwards there for 27015.

Edit: If you can port forward then you don't have to worry about that VM idea, only reason I brought that up is because if you DMZ you *DO NOT* want that on your host OS (your Windows, outside the VM).