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A known problem with the Alcatel SpeedTouch modem is the lack of an webinterface, enabling the user or administrator to map particular IP-ports to a specific server (or PC). Much cheaper hardware, like D-Link, SMC, etc., have this feature,... makes you wonder why Alcatel doesn't. The ability to map a port is very important if you are running a, let's say, webserver in your local network which you would like to have available on the Internet as well. The explanation shown below is usefull for most Alactel user, but more particular for user of a hacked Alcatel modem or any Pro model. Tip: Maarten has created a really helpfull tool for this, visit his his website to monitor updates and subscribe yourself to his newsletter! Take a look at the tutorial I wrote on How to use the AutoPortMapping tool. Tip: (thanks to Mathieu) failing to create a port mapping (“Failed to create static link”) can be caused by: either the port is already mapped (the list command can confirm this) or you will need to upgrade the firmware. Tip: (thanks to "FireBlack") many games have an option-menu and/or a preference menu where you can either find or set the port to use. It's also a good idea to visit the website of the maker of the game, in order to find out what ports are used..

Overview

• Why should I map ports? Do I need it?
• Mapping ports using a Telnet session

Why should I map ports? Do I need it?

Why?

The firewall, but most of all due to NAT (Network Address Translation), no-one from the Internet will be able to see what's going on on your local network.

This can be a pretty good thing, if you don't want hackers to screw with your hardware. It can be a pain too, when you want for example a web (HTTP) of FTP server that must be available for folks on the Internet.

For a server to be visible on the Internet, you will need to tell the Alcatel that request from the Internet should be redirected to your server (a particular internal IP-address).

Like I said before: unfortunally, Alcatel forgot to include such an interface.

After reading this, you might wonder: do I need this?

It depends, here you find some examples where you might need to map a particular port:

• FTP-server (port 20 and 21)
• Web (HTTP) server (port 80)
• MSN messenger (ports 6891 - 6901)
• Postbank Online
• Hosting games (for example, Quake uses port 26000)
• etc.

I collected some data drom to Internet and create a huge list of commonly used IP-ports. If you're missing an IP-port, mail me that port or application so I can add it to the list!

Mapping ports using a Telnet-session

Depending on the server you would like to use, ie. the application you want to be available on the Internet, you will need an IP-port.

Once more, take a look ath IP-ports list I made.

Now let's assume you want a webserver available, which uses HTTP, commonly using port 80. You can use, for example, IIS or PWS that is available for most Windows versions.

Now we need the modem to re-route packets that arrive on that particular port to our server, let's assume the server is the PC with IP-address 10.0.0.150, and out modem has the IP-address 10.0.0.138.

Mapping a port

1) Start a Telnet session to the modem.

• Choose"Start" -"Run"
• Type: "telnet 10.0.0.138" (always without the double quotes)

2) Login into the modem

• Press enter and enter the username "User" (unless you changed username and/or password).

3) Go to NAT and set a port

• Type "nat" and press ENTER,
  The NAT-prompt appears: "[nat]=>"
  
  
• Type "create" and press ENTER.
  
  
• The first question appears: "protocol =", type "tcp" and press ENTER.
  
  
• The next question appears: "inside_addr =", now enter the IP-address of your server (10.0.0.150) and press.
  
  
• The next question appears: "[inside_port] =", type "80" and press ENTER.
  
  
• The next question appears: "outside_addr =", type "0.0.0.0" and press ENTER.
  
  
• The final question appears: "[outside_port] =", type "80" and press ENTER, you're now back to the "[nat]=>" prompt.

You can enter this all by typing one single line:

"create protocol=tcp inside_addr=10.0.0.150:80 outside_addr=0.0.0.0:80"

(without the double quotes) and press ENTER.
Needless to say that the previous method is easier.

Save Changes

To save the settings into your modem (so they stay there even after shutting down the modem), you must use the "save" (still in the telnet session) command.

When done, you can close the Telnet application.

You can map all the ports you like to a specific PC.

Removing a port

Ports kan be removed, by using the exact same sequence as when you create a port-mapping. However, instead of the "create" command in step 3, you must use then "delete" command .

Overview mapped ports

You can get a list of all mapped ports by using the "list" command.

Everything on one server

You can also map ALL ports to one particular server, by using the command "defserver".

To do this, once more open a Telnet session.
When getting to step 3, type once more the "nat" command followed by an ENTER.
Now you can type "defserver addr=10.0.0.150" and press ENTER again.
Here you will need to save the settings as well by using the "save" command.

If you would like to see what the default server is, type "defserver" and press ENTER.
You might now see "Default server is 10.0.0.150".

You can disable the default server by typing "defserver addr=0". When typing "defserver" you will see: "Default server is undefined".

Note: DEFSERVER will ALWAYS be overruled by mapped ports! (thanks Bas for the tip!)