Topic: SME 5.12 and Online Games ?

[Fred Knight]

Hi

I am running a 20 PC (Win98) network on SME 5.12 using an external ISDN TA for internet access without any problems. I would like to be able to allow some of the PCs to be able to play online games.

A) Is that possible without affecting the security of the network?
B) If so could some one point me in the right direction (Practical tips,How To's,Links,Etc) to achieve this.

Many thanks in advance.

Fred

[chris meredith]

It depends on the games you want to play.  Most games work fine with the client behind a firewall with NAT, unless you are blocking outgoing ports.  If your default rule blocks all ports, you would need to open the ports for the individual  games you want to play.

You may also run into problems with multiple client machines connecting to certain online game servers, as the server sees all the connections coming from your external interface on the server, which probably has only one IP.

If you mean hosting a game, you should be able to play LAN games, but would have to forward the required game ports to the box behind your firewall that acts as the host for outside clients to acess it.  Some games also require ports for the server to communicate with a master server.

Hope that helps.

[Andrei Taylor]

I have successfully used Gamespy Arcade from behind SMEv5 with no problems on the default settings. The only thing I couldn't do was for example run a Tribes2 server from behind the firewall. I had to install the port forwarding rpm and configuring it for the ports that Tribes2 uses. You will probably have to do this if you plan to host any game servers.