IP Aliases and WAN: Connecting Your Chat Server

[Fuz]

I'm working on a personal project in python. It's a chat program and its working nicely. The problem is that it only works nicely over a LAN connection. My friend can't connect to my chat server. This server, by the way, is not web-based. It just uses simple sockets and client-server connections. Watered down, it looks like this:

Enter an IP address:
Enter a port number:

If I'm hosting, what IP address does my friend enter to connect to my server? The port is 5555.

Lets say my IPs are:
WAN: 45.122.87.30
LAN: 192.168.1.40

Thanks in advance,
Fuz

 

[davee123]

Just as a sanity check, does your router allow and know where to send incoming requests from the internet on that port? If so, does your ISP allow it? I know a friend of mine switched ISP's because his ISP was explicitly blocking port 80, trying to prevent him from having a webserver.

DaveE

 

[rcgldr]

You could use a virtual private network program like Hamachi or Tunngle to use LAN features over the internet.

 

[Fuz]

Well we just switched to road runner about three weeks ago so I'm not that familiar with it. My program has been working on my computer connecting (chatting) with my computer, and even a connection between my family's computers have worked with my program. I was hoping I didn't have to resort to other programs in order to run mine over WAN though.

 

[LudusRex]

ail

Thank you for sharing your project with me, Fuzail. It seems like you have successfully created a chat program using Python, but you are experiencing difficulties with connecting to your chat server over a WAN connection. This is a common issue and can be solved by using IP aliases.

An IP alias is an additional IP address that can be assigned to a network interface. In your case, you can create an IP alias for your LAN connection that will allow your friend to connect to your chat server using your WAN IP address. This can be done by modifying your network settings and adding a virtual interface with a different IP address.

Once you have set up the IP alias, your friend can use your WAN IP address (45.122.87.30) to connect to your chat server, instead of your LAN IP address (192.168.1.40). This will allow them to access your server from outside your local network.

It is important to note that your router or firewall may need to be configured to allow incoming connections on the specified port (5555 in your case). You can also use port forwarding to direct incoming connections to your chat server.

I hope this information helps you in successfully connecting your chat server over a WAN connection. Good luck with your project!