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Port Forwarding on AirPort Extreme 5thGen

Hey all,

For the past month I've been trying to port forward on our AirPort base stations. Today, we upgraded from an AirPort Express (with no N capabilities) and bought the AirPort Extreme 5th Generation.

Most of today was getting the AirPort to run PPPoE instead of Ethernet. Our Westell 6100 modem was running PPPoE, but I set up as Bridge Ethernet instead. I set up our information in AirPort Utility to run PPPoE instead, and now I'm stuck. I'm trying to port forward for a Minecraft Server, if that helps, and the port for that is 25565.

The steps I've done to try to set up the port forward are as below:

I've set up a static IP I believe. I've got a screenshot from the Network pane from System Preferences.
The next thing I've done is configure the port mappings. I have them set for the Minecraft standards, and the IP is set to the IP as above.

Any help you can give is appreciated! I bet it's just one setting I have missed... thanks for your time.

-Justin

iMac (iMac7,1), Mac OS X (10.6.8), Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

Posted on Jan 9, 2012 6:24 PM

21 replies

Tesserax

Level 10

148,781 points

Jan 19, 2012 9:35 PM in response to Justin: Mac Man

I missed your earlier reply where you stated that your modem is a Westell 6100. This device is actually a combination modem & router or gateway device. If you are getting conflicting DHCP addressing then both the Westell AND the AEBSn have their DHCP Server service running.

If the Westell is bridged, both its NAT & DHCP services should be disabled. There should be a Public, not Private IP address at the WAN-side of the AEBSn. The DHCP error is (most likely) due to the WAN port receiving a Private IP address.

I would strongly recommend that you start over. I would further recommend that the Westell perform as your main Internet router and have both NAT & DHCP enabled. The Westell should also handle the PPPoE authentication. Once you have re-established Internet connectivity via the Westell, you should (as a test) connect your Minecraft Server directly to the Westell. Go ahead and configure the port mapping on the Westell, and then, verify that the server can be accessed from the Internet.

Once verified, you can add the AEBSn back into the configuration ... but, before doing so, reconfigure it as a bridge. Disconnect the server from the Westell, and then, replace it with the AEBSn. Using a second Ethernet cable, connect the server to one of the available LAN ports on the AEBSn. In this configuration, test that you can access the server from the Internet. If successful, you can disconnect the server; place it at the desired location and establish a wireless connection with the AEBSn.

Jan 20, 2012 3:29 PM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax wrote:

I would strongly recommend that you start over.

I went ahead and did all of that - however, after restarting everything, I was able to configure PPPoE on the AEBSn. The reason why I want to keep the AirPort handling PPPoE is so that I can still use the Guest Networking feature.

So now that I have the DHCP problem resolved, I still can't figure out the port forwarding. Since I reset, some new things did come up:

The AirPort's IP is now 10.0.1.1
My computer's static IP is 10.0.1.243

Do I need to adjust any IPs? I put 10.0.1.243 into Port Mapping to the public TCP port 25565, and other computers still can't connect.

Tesserax

Level 10

148,781 points

Jan 20, 2012 8:50 PM in response to Justin: Mac Man

Sorry, but you added a "new" requirement (guest networking) that would mandate that the AEBSn retain both NAT & DHCP services being active. That would put your network in a Double NAT condition as you would have two routers in series with NAT enabled. That's not a bad thing by itself, but would make port mapping more difficult.

You will now need to configure port mapping twice; once for the Westell to the AEBSn, and then, for the AEBSn to the Minecraft server. Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary equipment available to verify that this would work, so I'm afraid I won't be able to offer you any additional advice on this matter.

Maybe, if someone else in these forums have accomplished this, they can chime in and offer you some advice on how they did so. Good luck!

Jan 21, 2012 3:33 PM in response to Tesserax

I tried messing around with the settings and features, and I couldn't figure it out. So just to try it, I decided to use the AirPort as the bridge and the Westell as the handler, as you suggested earlier.

I have it set so that I think all I have to do is fill the information here out right - but I'm not sure how. What are the steps I need to do to get it working?

I think Global Port Range would be 25565 - 25565, but do I put it into Base Host Port as well? I have done that, but after I put my static IP into the next menu, it still wouldn't work.

Tesserax

Level 10

148,781 points

Jan 21, 2012 4:34 PM in response to Justin: Mac Man

I think Global Port Range would be 25565 - 25565, but do I put it into Base Host Port as well?

Yes for both parts. Be sure that Protocol is set to TCP. When you are at a remote location, can you now get an Open port status for this port using the Open Port Tool?

Jake135

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2012 10:16 PM in response to Justin: Mac Man

Did you ever fix your problem? I have the same EXACT problem too. If you fixed it do you think you could email me some simpler instuctions at jakelesher7@gmail.com please reply i need some help...

Port Forwarding on AirPort Extreme 5thGen