Once more I seek computer-related help...

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Yes, it's time once more for your semi-computer literate Eyebrow to come crawling to the forum in search of knowledge.  It's not a regular occurrence, but you always know it's only a matter of time before I come up with a new one.

The problem this time is one of port-forwarding.  I've been trying this out to see if it'll improve online gaming on my console so, as you can see, it's a worthy cause...  I did some Googling and found this:  http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=psnetwork&thread.id=281242

I managed to do the required PS3 modifications all right, but my quesiton is in relation to forwarding the ports on my router.  The instructions are that i need to forward the following:

TCP: 80, 443, 5223
UDP: 5223, 3478, 3479, 3658

I've managed all of them, except the TCP80 port.  When I try this I get told that there is a conflict with internal web tcp service 80.  I have no idea what this message means, let alone how to fix it.  Is there some way of getting around this conflict?  An easy one preferably... 

Anyways, any help would be greatfully received - you'se lot have yet to steer me wrong!

[thalaw2]

I usually don't go messin with port 80 cuz that's the main port.  Lots of your TCP/IP goodness goes through that port so that's probably why you have a conflict.  There is some setting somewhere in your setup using port 80 and you have to change that setting to another port.  Sorry I can't help more than that now....it's 6:30 am.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Thanks for the reply thelaw - I'll be careful before I do anything to that port. 

I've looked into it a little more - the 'Internal Servers' menu it says that my 'Web (HTTP) Server Port' is 80. Can I just change this to another number, and would that just free the TCP 80 port I mentioned earlier? Or is this just repeating what you were saying above?

[stumpy]

I should state at the outset that I am not sure things (still) work the way I think they once did, but...

Any service can be on just about any port, but 80 is the default for web services. I would guess that changing the web server port to something other than 80 may be a headache-inducing process. Many sites you connect to may be assuming that your web services are there and may not look for them at another port. In other words, if some game you play is looking to see if your browser handles server connections, it may only check on port 80.

That said, I do about 99% of everything I do online with my firewall set to refuse HTTP server connections (which, to some client looking for a server connection is probably pretty similar having port 80 misconfigured) and I don't suffer from it, as far as I can tell. Occasionally an image on a web page won't load or some such, but most of those are ad images, so it doesn't bother me. Then again, if the game you are trying to speed up needs that port, that won't work for you...

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Thanks for the feedback Stumps - I'd sort of forgotten I'd been trying to do this, hence the lack of reply by mr bfore now.

I'm still not able to manage this - I've tried a lot of websites with various tips and they're just not working for me - likely due to my lack of knowledge of all things internet.  Then, all of a sudden, an idea so deliciously simple hit me, that it must be considered either genius or idiocy.  I wanted to bounce it off some folks here before trying it...

You see, I have a wired connection.  The line comes in through the wall, into a router and then into my computer.  When I want my console to go online I connect it up to the router instead.  What I was thinking was, 'what if I just plug the console directly into the wall?'

As I understand it, the router is restricting access for the console to the 'net, so if I bypass it, surely it'd be a case of all ports are open, happy days.  My concern is though that without the router I would be losing some essential aspect of online security.  I'd only be using it in this mode to play online games on the console though, so is there even a risk in this case?

Anyways, that's the idea.  Would this even work and, if so, does it create too much of a security risk?

Once again, any help would be much appreciated!

[Avalon]

1. If you connect the PS3 directly to your internet bypassing the router it will work. I wouldn't worry about security since you are only accessing the PS3 web servers. I would browse the web on the PS3 if you are worried about security. This will not give you internet for anything else like your computer.
2. If you are computer literate enough, you can open ports in your router. That webpage you cited gives you some guides for Linksys, but the router you have will have some information on the web about opening ports. You need to dedicate a TCP port and UDP for the PS3 as indicated.