glytch

...or just anyone that knows more than me, basically.

I apologize if this has been covered. I tried doing a search but didn't really have an idea where to start.

I have a cable connection that runs through a router to my computers. Is there any way I can find the IP address that can be used to get to me from the "outside world"? What I mean is, if I try ipconfig, it of course gives me my local IP on my network (192.168.x.x). That's all fine and dandy, but I'd like to know what IP to use if, for instance, I wanted to create a game server for a few friends to connect to.

This has been bugging me since tonight I tried to take the role of server in a Halo match and the IP they were telling me to use was a LAN IP, which instantly threw up a red flag in my head because, while I know very little about networking, I know that address wouldn't be reachable to anyone outside my LAN, right?

I apologize if this post is somewhat rambling, I should be asleep by now.

Vanquish

www.whatismyipaddress.com
its fairly straight forward

But, if your running through a router, they still might not have access, you might have to forward the ports used by the game to your internal IP, or just make your machine the DMZ

glytch

That told me my IP but is there any way for me to do it without the use of a site or anything? Also, I have absolutely no idea aboug port forwarding or anything like that, so I'm absolutely lost on that. Thank you anyway, though.

__________________
If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

cliche

Seeing as only the router actually connects to the internet, you need to use either something on the outside that looks at you (actually your router) and says your ip - like Vanquish mentioned; or you need to find out from your router. There's nothing actually on your computer itself that knows the real ip address unless told from outside - your computer thinks it's 192.168.x.x and it's only cunning redirection by the router that sorts things out.

So your other option is to log into the router and have a look there; there should be a page showing the current configuration.

Port forwarding's easy: just find the ports Halo uses (default 2302, 2303 UDP) and put them in your router's "port forwarding" section with the ip address of your server (the 192.168.x.x address). You may have to reboot the router; then things should work fine.

Alternatively, as Vanquish mentions, you can put the 192.168.x.x in 'DMZ' (demilitarized zone). Basically, this acts as if you'd port-forwarded all the ports. Good on an ease-of-use standpoint, but not so secure as your private ports will be exposed to the internet unless you have some kind of firewall on your PC.

Hope that helps...

__________________
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)

glytch

Thanks for the great help, cliche. After looking up how to log in to my router, I think I have my problem fixed and also have found my outside IP address. Again, thanks for your help.

Oh! Just thought of another question. I'm giong to be purchasing a notebook soon and would like a wireless connection to my LAN. Is it possible to simply connect a wireless router to the router I have now, or should I simply forget about the router I have now and get a combination router?

*Edit: And since this is a general networking thread anyway, basically, is there a way to send a message to everyone in my LAN? I'm talking about a built-in windows program. I realize this can easily be done with an IM program, but I think it'd be pretty useful to talk to everyone in the house when they don't have their chat programs running.

Thanks again.

__________________
If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

poof

<b>glytch</b> I had a Linksys router that was all cable. I bought a different Linksys router so I could use my notebook without cables. I guess to try and answer your question, yes, you can get another router for wireless and uplink it from your old router, but, why bother. Just buy a wireless router/switch and the required nics? If you only need wireless 802b or g for one machine then the others can still plug into the router/switch with cables while the other machine has a wireless nic.

I hope that helps. I have a desktop hard wired into a Linksys wireless G router/switch and two other computers using their (Linksys) nics.

My opinion and setup is in no way saying buy Linksys. Actually, Linksys works fine most of the time, but their stuff can get pissy. Don't even try to get customer service from them.

Hope this helped.

heyal256

glytch,

for your wireless connection, it would probably be cheaper to buy a new combination router/switch. Just don't forget to turn on/up the security for the wireless connection. here are a few links that might help
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,844020,00.asp

http://arstechnica.com/paedia/w/wire...802.11b-1.html

onto your note:,
There is a winpopup program that comes with windows (9x) or the net send command (2000/xp) which uses the windows messenger service, but I have found that runing a seperate IM program (for lan use only) works best.
I use realpopup ( http://www.realpopup.it ) on my own home lan because it is small, easily put into the startup and also because it doesn't rely on the windows messenger service. I am sure that you could probably find several programs that can do the same thing but when I originally looked for this sort of program this was the best and only freeware one I found at that time ( few years ago).
I know that you didn't want to have another program, but having people use net send (without some sort of graphical interface/ help from a different program) can be a pain to those not comfortable with using a command line. Hope this at least gives you an idea about an internal lan chat program.

glytch

You guys are great. Poof, I'll look into going with just a wireless router and putting the one I'm using now to another use somewhere. Thanks for your advice.

Heyal256, thank you for all the links. I'm convinced on the combination deal. I'm also definately going to give realpopup a try. I dont mind at all using another program. My concern was with using an IM program because I know most of us don't like to keep those on all the time. If realpopup is just a network program and isn't very obtrusive, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for the recommendation.

Thanks again for all your help guys.

__________________
If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

cliche

On the 'send to everything on the LAN' front, the 'net send' heyal256 mentions can be made easier by getting GUI for NET SEND which is pretty handy. You can send messages to any computer with the Messenger service running (I think all versions of Windows have this enabled by default). Saves you installing things across the place.

__________________
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)

glytch

Well since I've set up all the computers in the house, It's been a habit of mine to make disabling messenger the first thing I do. About the realpopup program, we've been using it all day and it's exactly what we wanted. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it shows up in the system tray (I'm a stickler for keeping as much out of there as I can), but that's not a huge annoyance, seeing that it uses almost 0 resources.

__________________
If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg