Gaming and the Northwest Firewall

From Missouri Academy Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Northwest Firewall
Firewallfinal300.jpg

The Northwest firewall is very restrictive, and many games do not work online because of port restrictions. In case you are considering buying an game, you may want to consult this list. Note that even if a game works, you probably can't host games to clients on the internet. Also, almost all games work over the University LAN. Please add games in alphabetical order.

If a game does not work, you may be able to get the ports unblocked. It seems like your best bet is to talk to a Computer Services in person at the library, rather than emailing someone. Your results may vary. Often requests are denied for silly or nonsensical reasons.

Games that Work

  • Blockland (TCP/UDP 28000-28030)
  • Cube (TCP/UDP 28765 and 28766)
  • Diablo 2 (TCP 6112 and 4000)
  • Dofus (free MMORPG)
  • F.E.A.R. (Demo) (TCP/UDP 3783,6500,6515,6667,13139,27900,28900,29900-29901)
  • Halo (TCP/UDP 80,2302,2303)
  • Quake 4 (UDP 28004, 27950)
  • Perfect World
  • Runescape (43594 and 43595, also 8010 for 'file server', probably TCP)
  • Starcraft (TCP 6112)
  • UT2003 (demo and full version) (TCP/UDP 7777,7778)
  • UT2004 (demo and full version) (TCP 28902, UDP 7777,7778,7787)
  • Warcraft III (TCP 6112)
  • World of Warcraft (TCP 3724, 'Blizzard Downloader' used to update WoW uses TCP 6112,6881-6999)

Games that do not Work

Other Services that do not work, so don't even try

  • Just about any P2P file-sharing program, including Limewire and BitTorrent.
  • rsync - The "syadmin" refused to open up the gates for rsync, claiming it was "too much of a security hole."
  • Secure POP3 (ie: can't check GMail with Outlook and other programs)
  • SMTP (outgoing mail) ... You can use the Northwest SMTP server, but it has historically taken some work, as the Northwest computing staff brings new levels of depth to the word 'incompetent'. You might be able to connect to your SMTP host if they also run on an alternate port. For example, Dreamhost allows connections to their SMTP server on port 587 because many ISPs have begun to block port 25.
  • XBOX Live (It is purported that connecting an XBOX to the internet causes instability in the university's network)
  • XFire

Currently Not Accepting Requests

If you sumbit a port or list of ports to the sysadmin to be unblocked at the current time (November 2005), your request will be denied. You'll probably get an e-mail response that looks something like this:

"Thank you for completing the game port request forms. However, I am sorry that I cannot open game ports at this time. We are currently maxing our Internet connection and the decision was made that academic pursuits have priority.

When the situation changes, I will again evaluate each request individually. You will not have to send a new form. However, the ports for the game Steam will not be opened due to the huge range of ports involved. I appreciate your patience and your assistance in keeping our Northwest Missouri State University network running efficiently.

Have a good school year."

This is just the man trying to keep you down. Don't be discouraged, remember- The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Update for 2007-2008: The sysadmin is now more than willing to open ports, however, you absolutely must have every bit of information on the application sheet--and from a reliable internet source. Feel free to request port openings at your own risk, however, as long as you're patient with them they'll be patient/polite with you.

External links

  • Firewall Ports Request Form - Either fire up your favorite PDF editor (right) or print this thing out and bring it to the library desk. It's the official way of getting your request rejected by the sysadmin.