Port Forwarding in uTorrent

[jessewest]

What do you mean by mapping to a different port on my device? I don't understand.

I have three separate utorrents running on three devices in my home because if those computers are running ( which they are not always running only one computer is always running) I want it to be uploading. And even though all computers are connected to the same VPN server they all were given three different ports it was not my choice.

[᠎]

Forget about what I said about mapping, it's an unnecessary complication and your VPN may not even support it.

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Now, just to be sure I have this right, you have one utorrent running on computer A, one on computer B, and one on computer C, correct?

I mean you don't have three copies of uTorrent running on computer A, three copies running on computer B, and three on computer C.

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Assuming that is correct, and recapping because I've lost track of what you're actually asking.

- on your VPN server, you have forwarded three ports to three computers.  The ports are different numbers.  So, lets say Port 1, Port 2 and Port 3

- on your router, you have forwarded port 1 to computer A, port 2 to computer B, and port 3 to computer C

- on computer A, you have set uTorrent to use Port 1

- on computer B, you have set uTorrent to use Port 2

- on computer C, you have set uTorrent to use Port 3

[jessewest]

That is all correct except I have only forwarded one of the ports from one of the computers in my router. I want to know if I need to also forward the other two as well in router and if so how do I do it properly like do I have to set it to the computer 's ip then the corresponding port?

[᠎]

Yes, you need to forward the other two as well and yes, you set it to the computer's IP and the corresponding port.

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Two "types" of messages are sent to your utorrent from computers around the world.
1. Replies to requests you have sent for pieces
2. Requests for you to send pieces

With the former, you have made an initial request.  The request has gone from your computer (say, computer B) out through your router (which makes a note of the port you used) and out through the VPN (which makes a note of the port you used).  When the reply is sent, the port is included in the reply.  Your VPN receives the reply, recognizes the port no. as being the one you used, and forwards the message to your router (instead of the routers of any of their other customers).  The router receives the reply, recognises the port no. as being the one Computer B used, and forwards the message to your computer (instead of any of the others computers in your household).

With the latter, someone somewhere in the world has obtained your IP address and port no. (which will in this case be your VPN's IP address) from a tracker (or DHT, or Peer Exchange; because your torrent client, running on Computer B, has "announced" your IP address and port no. to the tracker/dht/Peer Exchange but not directly, to the peer) and they have sent a request. But when the VPN receives such a (to them) unsolicited request, they don't know which of their customers it is intended for, so they ignore it. But, if you have told your VPN provider that any incoming messages on a given port are going to be for you (ie. if you have forwarded that port on the VPN to the IP address of your router) then they can forward the "incoming" messages to your router.  

But when your router receives such a (to it) unsolicited request, it doesn't know which of your computers it is intended for, so it ignores it. But, if you have told your router that any incoming messages on a given port are going to be for your computer (ie. if you have forwarded that port on the router to the IP address of your computer) then it can forward the "incoming" messages to your computer.  

[jessewest]

So without port forwarding how is all of that possible?

[᠎]

It isn't.

That is why you benefit from forwarding ports.

Bear in mind that in the first case, which covers most of the traffic, ports are forwarded automatically, so it doesn't particularly matter.

It only becomes a significant problem when no members of a swarm have forwarded ports. In other words in very small swarms. If there is only one seed, and they haven't forwarded a port, and you haven't forwarded a port, and nobody else in the swarm, if there is anybody, has forwarded a port; then you won't be able to download even though there is a seed, because you will never be able to connect to them and they will never be able to connect to you.

The larger the swarm the greater your chances are of being able to find someone you can initiate a connection to even if nobody can initiate a connection to you.

[jessewest]

So you can't upload torrents at all unless you are forwarding a port?

[᠎]

Of course you can fucking upload. You know damn well you're already uploading using computers for which you haven't forwarded a port.

And I've just told you, twice, that most of your traffic is completely unaffected by whether you have a port forwarded or not.

I can't tell, at this point, whether you're simply not reading what I write or whether you're fucking with me. Either way, I've given you as much of my time as I'm going to.

If you really can't get your head around it, just forget about it, it won't make a great deal of difference either way.

[jessewest]

One more thing please, how do I find the computer's ip address so I can enter it into my router and set up the port for each computer? I have my vpn so I don't want the ip address of the vpn, but of the computer, right?

[ShadyJay]

windows button + R. CMD enter ipconfig or ipconfig all