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7 virtual servers – PLANET XRT-501 User Manual

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3.7 Virtual Servers

This feature, sometimes called Port Forwarding, allows you to make Servers on your LAN

accessible to Internet users. Normally, Internet users would not be able to access a server

on your LAN because:

Your Server does not have a valid external IP Address.

Attempts to connect to devices on your LAN are blocked by the firewall in this device.

The "Virtual Server" feature solves these problems and allows Internet users to connect to

your servers, as illustrated below.

IP Address seen by Internet Users

Note that, in this illustration, both Internet users are connecting to the same IP Address, but

using different protocols.

For Internet users, all virtual Servers on your LAN have the same WAN IP Address. This

WAN IP Address is allocated by your ISP.

This address should be static, rather than dynamic, to make it easier for Internet users to

connect to your Servers. However, you can use the DDNS (Dynamic DNS) feature to allow

users to connect to your Virtual Servers using a URL, instead of an IP Address.

Connecting to the Virtual Servers

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