Port Open Indicator

[josephj]

I just found that my port for Transmission was closed again in my gateway. I had a port that it liked, but it changed its mind. It only remembers some ports when it is power cycled. I have no idea how long the port was closed this time. Having the port closed dramatically reduces performance because my client has to do all the work of finding peers and no one who finds me can get in.

What I'd like to have is a small indicator like a panel light on the main Transmission window that's green if the port is open and red if it's not. Since this is a dynamic status, it would be checked when Transmission started up and then repeatedly at an interval. This could be a user set parameter or just something like once an hour or once every three hours. It would also be updated when I checked the port status manually from the Network tab (or maybe by clicking on the indicator). For added spiffiness, it could display a tool tip of the time it last checked the status when the mouse hovered over it.

This, obviously, is not a biggie, but it would be nice to have.

The best solution would be to completely open my gateway and then bridge it into a real router that I could control with foss software, but I think that's a little beyond my level of expertise.

Thanks.

Joe

[vitorg]

Just use UPnP.

[josephj]

Huh? I tried UPnP awhile ago. It likes to fill up router tables and my ISP uses a lame (best way I can describe it in polite language) one (Actiontec). My port forwarding table had a bunch of added rules. I'm not sure exactly what happened any more, but I don't think it helped - especially because my router's long term memory (ie. between power cycles) is non-existent unless you use a port that's predefined for one of the games/services they "support"/tolerate. I know I could bridge the router into a "real" one that works right, but that's beyond my current level of networking expertise.

[killemov]

You could put your computer in the DMZ of your router and all data should be forwarded unfiltered to it. Or you could flash it with a proper firmware: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Su ... #Actiontec . I have flashed Linksys and Asus routers with it and they performed better and had loads more functionality since. Remember, it is at your own risk though.

[josephj]

I've heard good things about dd-wrt. I didn't know it was available for Actiontecs. I'll check it out. I have to see if I own the gateway or not. I might not.
But, I'd still like the port open indicator in Transmission.