what is port forwarding?

Question

why do we need to forward ports from routers nd how does it help programs access the internet

Answer 1

when u are connecting to a router, the web connects to your router and the router to your pc. so in simple terms port forwarding is making ur software directly speak to a specific port on your router so it seems to the web that the software is in your router. some softwares need to be connected directly nd may not work correctly if behind a router. so we need port forwarding

Answer 2

Port forwarding sends information from the internet to specific addresses on the LAN. It can be limited to specific ports or ranges of ports. One or more ports for each service: web sharing, file sharing, ftp, etc. Using port forwarding, you could allow some access to your Mac directly from the internet, but keep your vulnerable Windows machine hidden from hackers and malware.

Answer 3

There are over 65000 ports on a computer. All traffic on all ports goes first to your router. Port forwarding on the router is used to forward specific traffic to a specific IP address. Thus you can point all port 80 and 443 traffic (http &https) to your web server; port 25 and 110 (smtp and POP) to your e-mail server; port 23 to your telnet server, etc.

Answer 4

port forwarding is a technique by wich the hardware only allows access of foreign (served) software to your computer, through a specific port number, and making everything else, believe that the port is closed. Thus, the system remains secured.

check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_forwarding