NAT Port Forwarding

Port forwarding is a built in feature of the GTI supplied router.   It allows the router to forward traffic generated from the Internet side of the router to a specified internal host.  For example, if you run an Email Server on port 25 at machine 192.168.1.10, and you want the server to receive inbound email, a rule would be created in the router so that any requests to port 25 are forwarded directly to that machine.  You may have multiple port forwards to multiple machines inside your network.

Some common port forwards are for Web Servers, Email Servers, PC Anywhere, Terminal Services, etc.  This can allow users from the outside to connect to the internal network without having to open up the entire network to the Internet.  Please keep in mind that this does open the machines particular port to the internet, and you still need to worry about security on that particular port.  In general, if you keep current with System and Program updates, it should keep it secure from the outside.  If you want more protection, a VPN router would be the solution.