Connect across NAT/Firewall - how to?

[joe_s]

Hi there,

I'm testing RC3, which looks very promising. Congrats, Rudi!

Until now I've been using two PCs -- one for the server, one for the viewer -- connected to the same LAN behind a NAT/Firewall. Details are below. Everything works like a charm since I opened ports 5351-5352 + 5670-5671 (incoming), as well as 5351-5352 + 5570-5571 (outgoing) in the firewall. Apparently, these ports are needed to establish a connection to an access server on the Internet. (Correct?)

Now, there is a problem when I try connecting the PC running the server to the Internet via a UMTS connection, while the other PC (running the viewer) remains behind the NAT/Firewall. Both PCs are seeing each other. However, when I do "Setup P2P" on the viewer side, this is what happens:
- Icon in viewer's left navigation pane starts flashing green.
- Server pops up a banner indicating "Initializing connection..."
This lasts for a while (less than 1/2 minute), then the server indicates "Closed connection", while the icon in the viewer reverts back to orange.

I thought the problem might be related to more holes being needed in the firewall. So, after some trial & error, I ended up opening the firewall completely (both incoming and outgoing). Unfortunately, that did not fix it.

So here I am clueless. Is RC3 supposed to work across a NAT/Firewall at all? Maybe some NAT port forwarding is needed? (I've read that it's not supposed to be needed, but who knows, given it's only an RC...) Anything else I am missing?

Thanks in advance for any tips or pointers!
- Jo

Details of my setup:
Both PCs used for testing are Win7/32 with both UAC and Windows Firewall disabled.
NAT/Firewall is pfSense Version 2.0