ip address of my "local server"

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flyingmeatball

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Jan 5, 2004
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hi, im a kid trying to play an internet game, but i am currently not allowed to because of ports in my router. I have figured out what port needs to be opened for the game to work, but in my router they ask for the port/s and for the ip address of my "local server". What exactly is that ip address and how can i find it? How safe is opening this port to play a highly popular online game? Thankyou
 
IP = Internet Protocol... the IP address is the Address of your computer... like when you type www.msn.com that name is resolved to an IP address... for example www.msn.com may be 68.54.122.187... how this happens is called domain name resolution and is done on a domain name server (aka DNS). Every computer out there has at least one IP address... you can figure your computers address out by opening a command propt window and typing IPCONFIG ... your IP address will be displayed... as far as your computer is concerned this is your local server, this is what your router is asking for... the local server to map to. Many ports are already open on your computer... to see this web page you have to have port 80 open... email is port 21 or 25... think 25 is news... anyway... ports have to be open for communication... the port is more likely something very high... like 62300 or something like that... people who know what they are doing can hack in through an open port but this is where you get a firewall program that tracks what is going on on open ports... that way if you see something executing that shouldnt be you can stop it.
 
on a slighty different note, how much harder is it for someone to hack into an open port that is high like 6234, instead of the regular internet and ftp port. Would the risk of being hacked be any higher?
 
Maybe not higher but of course easier.
Hackers scan for open ports and if theres many of them... well, then they dont have to search that much.
But. If youre using a firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, none of this should be a problem to you.
 
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