Xbox Live and OS X Server NAT

Ishcabittle

Ishcabittle

Registered
Hey y'all,

I've got a 10.4.6 server running as the internet gateway for my home network. It was relatively easy to configure Firewall services to allow Xbox live to run, but there were still people (sporatically) that I could party up with. I went to xbox.com to see if there was anything I could do differently and here's what I came up with:

Not all devices perform this NAT function the same way. We’ve classified NAT types into three categories: open, moderate, and strict. Devices that perform strict or moderate NAT can limit the ability of gamers to find each other, participate in sessions, or hear each other on Xbox Live.
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I've determined through the Xbox Live diag utility built into the Xbox that Xbox live considers my server's NAT service to be a "moderately strict" router.

Moderate NAT means that the port assignment policy is minimal, but there is address or port filtering taking place.
Click to expand...

Xbox Live Article

Is there a setting that you can change in Terminal that will change the NAT setting from "moderately strict" to "open"? Server Admin's NAT services settings are near non-existant, and third party apps like TheNATural don't seem to have the settings I'm looking for.

Thoughts?
 
While this doesn't answer your question directly, it may help...

If you don't have a computer already assigned to the DMZ, it may help to place your XBox's IP address in the DMZ so that it has unfettered access to the internet. Of course, this would mean that the XBox is exposed completely to the internet, which may or may not be acceptable to you -- frankly, I don't care if someone tries to "hack" my XBox, but would never place any of my other computers in the DMZ.

With the XBox in the DMZ, no port forwarding or firewall rules would be necessary.
 
I'll give that a try... When in the DMZ does that unrestricted access carry over to the NAT?

I'll post back with my findings as soon as I can get to my rig. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
That did it, adding the Xbox IP to the DMZ worked perfectly. Xbox Live now shows a router status of "open". Well done, ElDiablo!

Although there's no way to do this in Server Admin's settings, TheNATural has a spot for one IP address labelled "Default Address:" with a subtitle of "This is sometimes referred to as a DMZ or target address."

And yeah, as far as someone hacking my Xbox goes, have at it. It keeps me from studying anyway. ;)
 
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