[Release / Tutorial] NAT Traversing via UPnP

[Jash]

Introduction to UPnP (From Wikipedia) :

Spoiler:

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence on the network and establish functional network services for data sharing, communications, and entertainment. UPnP is intended primarily for residential networks without enterprise class devices.

The UPnP technology is promoted by the UPnP Forum. The UPnP Forum is a computer industry initiative to enable simple and robust connectivity to stand-alone devices and personal computers from many different vendors. The Forum consists of over eight hundred vendors involved in everything from consumer electronics to network computing.

The concept of UPnP is an extension of plug-and-play, a technology for dynamically attaching devices directly to a computer, although UPnP is not directly related to the earlier plug-and-play technology. UPnP devices are "plug-and-play" in that when connected to a network they automatically establish working configurations with other devices.

Introduction to NAT Traversing from Wikipedia:

Spoiler:

NAT traversal is a general term for techniques that establish and maintain Internet protocol connections traversing network address translation (NAT) gateways. Network address translation breaks end-to-end connectivity. Intercepting and modifying traffic can only be performed transparently in the absence of secure encryption and authentication. NAT traversal techniques are typically required for client-to-client networking applications, especially peer-to-peer and Voice over IP (VoIP) deployments. Many techniques exist, but no single method works in every situation since NAT behavior is not standardized. Many NAT traversal techniques require assistance from a server at a publicly routable IP address. Some methods use the server only when establishing the connection, while others are based on relaying all data through it, which adds bandwidth costs and increases latency, detrimental to real-time voice and video communications.

Right, so to summarize, this allows your program to port forward / map a port programmatic-ally on without having to manually access the firewall. What benefit does this bring? Here's a couple :

Spoiler:

1) No need for knowledge of credentials to access router to port forward
2) No need to go through the pain of manually port forwarding on a router
3) No need to create tutorials to help others to port forward
4) No need for hamachi
5) I'm sure there are many more

Here's how to do it:

Spoiler:

Add a reference to the COM assembly "NATUPnP 1.0 Type Library." Then, you can access the collection of port mappings via UPnPNATClass. Here are a few examples.

IStaticPortMappingCollection mappings = (new UPnPNATClass()).StaticPortMappingCollection; // Fetches the collection of mappings
mappings.Add(8484, "TCP", 8484, "192.168.1.101", true, "The Banana Program"); // Maps a port to external port 8484, protocol TCP, internal port 8484, internal client 192.168.1.101 with description "The Banana Program"
mappings.Remove(8484, "TCP"); // Removes a port mapping with external port 8484 and protocol "TCP"

Will be releasing a GUI and Command Line for port mapping separately.

[MentaL]

[Jash]

Just found out a more elegant way for port mapping!
However im too sleepy to do anything. Stay tuned for more updates!

[Jash]

Updated!

[Jordan]

It would be interesting if somebody posted a TCP or UDP hole punching demo along similar lines to this since i know there often used in NAT traversal. :)

[SilentThief]

"The Banana Program"

I trawled when I saw this. :P

[Jash]

"The Banana Program"

I trawled when I saw this. :P

What??? Where did you find this o.o i think i forgot to remove that

[-DefaulT]

its in your code block.