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Under normal circumstances this is more than fine. Your iPhone doesn’t care which internal IP
address it has. But if you’ve created a port forwarding rule that says your game server is at a certain
IP address and then the router gives it a new one, that rule won’t work, and nobody will be able to
connect to your game server. In order to avoid that, you need to assign a static IP address to each
network device you’re assigning a port forwarding rule to. The best way to do that is through your
router. Check out this guide (
https://www.howtogeek.com/69612/how-to-set-up-static-dhcp-on-your-
) for more info.
Know your IP address (and set a dynamic DNS address)
In addition to using static IP assignments for the relevant devices inside your network, you also want
to be aware of your external IP address—you can find it by visiting whatismyip.com while on your
home network. Although it is possible you might have the same public IP address for months or
even over a year, your public IP address can change (unless your internet service provider has
explicitly given you a static public-facing IP address). In other words, you can’t rely on typing in
your numeric IP address into whatever remote tool you’re using (and you can’t rely on giving that IP
address to a friend).
Now, while you could go through the hassle of manually checking that IP address each time you
leave the house and intend to work away from home (or every time your friend is going to connect
to your Minecraft server or the like), that’s a big headache. Instead, we highly recommend you set up
a Dynamic DNS service which will allow you to link your (changing) home IP address to a
memorable address like mysuperawesomeshomeserver.dynu.net. For more information how to set
up a dynamic DNS service with your home network, check out our full tutorial
(
https://www.howtogeek.com/66438/how-to-easily-access-your-home-network-from-anywhere-with-
.
Pay attention to local firewalls
Once you set up the port forwarding on the router level, there is a possibility that you may need to
tweak firewall rules on your computer too. For example, we’ve gotten a lot of emails over the years
from frustrated parents setting up port forwarding so their kids can play Minecraft with their friends.
In almost every case, the problem is that despite setting up the port forwarding rules on the router
correctly, somebody ignored the Windows firewall request asking if it it was OK if the Java platform
(that runs Minecraft) could access the greater internet.
Be aware that on computers running local firewall and/or anti-virus software that includes firewall
protection, you’ll likely need to confirm the connection you’ve set up is okay.
Step 1: Locate the port forwarding rules on your router
Exhausted by all the networking lessons? Don’t worry, it’s finally time to set it up–and now that you
know the basics, it’s pretty simple.