Troubleshooting Network Configuration

Here you will find help to troubleshoot network configuration problem when using the Nodezilla Network Agent.

The network agent uses a configurable TCP port to be contacted by other Nodezilla nodes. This port is configurable in the NodezillaIni file, by default the port is 4242. This port should be authorized in your firewall for inbound connections from the Internet and also forwarded on your home router to the machine running nodezilla.
Another TCP port is used by the Nodezilla clients (running on your home PC), and should not be opened in your firewall, by default this port is the 2525.

A network configuration problem is often noticed when you have this in your Nodezilla Client's statistics tab, or when a pop-up informs you that no connections with other nodes can be established and you're probably behind a closed firewall:

You can use the Network Diagnostic Tool (experimental) to check your network setup. You need to run it on the machine your Nodezilla Network Agent is running on.
To start the tool, click the following link Network Diagnostic Tool

Installing the Nodezilla Network Agent

Select the machine where you want to install the Nodezilla node software (called the Nodezilla Network Agent), you will later will be able to access the Nodezilla network either from this selected machine, or from other machines from your home network by installing Nodezilla's Clients on your other machines.

The installation instructions for the Nodezilla Agent is here: http://www.nodezilla.net/install_guide.html

If after following these installation steps, and running the Nodezilla Agent for 10 minutes you get a pop-up stating your firewall is closed or the number of active nodes in your statistics tab is 0, then you will need to either to open your firewall abnd/or configure your internet router.

Before proceeding with the following paragraphs be sure to take note of the IP adress of the machine where you just installed the Network Agent.

• In your Start Menu, select Run type in cmd.exe then press return;
• In the just opened black box, type ipconfig then press return;
• Take note of the line showing:

• Proceed with the following paragraphs

Configuring your home Cable/DSL/Broadband Modem/Router

If you are connected to the Internet through a router (or a modem with a router feature), you need to configure NAT on it for Nodezilla to run. If you don't know if your modem includes a router, then use the following wizardry to guess:

• If you have more than one device connected to your modem (either wire or wireless), i.e. 2 PCs?, PDAs?, Consoles => You have a router and need to configure it;
• If the IP address of the machine you installed previously looks like:
  • 192.168.*.*,
  • 10.*.*.*,
  • 172.[16,17,18...31].*.*

Then you have a router and need to configure it.

For this you have to refer to your device user guide, and make sure to forward port TCP 4242 (or the one defined in NodezillaIni) to the IP address of the machine where the Network Agent is running.

You can now proceed with the firewall configuration. @@Make sure the IP distributed to your Home PC are static

Configuring your host firewall

On the machine where the Nodezilla Network Agent you need to configure the firewall if you have one (Windows XP SP2? includes a firewall that can be configured through the Security Center).

Refer to your firewall's user guide to perform the following operations:

• Authorize the nodezilla.exe process to open internet connections to any TCP ports;
• Aurhorize the nodezilla.exe process to listen to incoming TCP connections on the 4242 port.

Additionaly, you can consult this HOWTO:

NetConfigFW : HOWTO: Opening Port 4242 (Windows XP-sp2Firewall)