Using BitTorrent

DaRuSsIaMaN · 28-12-2006, 01:32 AM

I don't understand the concept behind it. Could someone explain to me why I have to forward ports in order to use BitTorrent? With other P2P programs like Kazaa Lite or BearShare, I don't need to mess with port settings at all. The only thing I need to configure during installation is where to dump my downloads and what my connection speed is and some other minor junk. And then it works! Both downloading and uploading. Despite having a router. Now I wanna try Azureus (since AT recommended it in the free software thread and I have absolutely no experience with BitTorrent on my own so I'll just take his word for it), but it's telling me I have to set up port forwarding b4 it will ever work. Why is this? Or, perhaps the real question is, why did I not need to do this on the other P2P programs?? It actually makes more logical sense to me that I would need to go through this process, so why was it so easy on those other programs? What's the difference?

Thanks!

Impotence · 28-12-2006, 01:06 AM

You don't *have* to set port forwarding for BT to work, but it works alot better if you do... as without it other peers cant start a connection with you, you have to initiate the connection (and if they don't have port forwarding set, the clients cant connect to each other).

If you have Upnp enabled on your router, Azureus will set port forwarding for you. however, nearly every security guide advises you to disable Upnp on your router...

DaRuSsIaMaN · 28-12-2006, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Impotence

You don't *have* to set port forwarding for BT to work, but it works alot better if you do... as without it other peers cant start a connection with you, you have to initiate the connection.

What do you mean by that -- "other peers can't start a connection with you"? Does that mean that no one will be able to download anything from me? So I will never upload anything?

Addis · 28-12-2006, 12:44 PM

Using BitTorrent, other peers can only connect to you if your router allows a connection to a certain port. If a peer tries to connect to you, at your designated port like 30000, and you haven't set up port forwarding in your router then the router will simply block the attempt, it is doing its job.

The reason port forwarding is seen as almost essential is that you will basically have a non-existent download speed if you do not upload. With other systems like Kazaa and Limewire, it is not compulsary to upload.

The BitTorrent system, although it may seem like a pain at first (its really not hard to set up port forwarding) is a much more stable method of distribution. As more peers join the swarm, assuming that they don't leech and leave, the torrent will become stronger.

Port forwarding is just a thing you have to do to allow people to make a connection to your computer, if you run a home web server, or a game server like Ut2k4, Halo etc then you will need to port forward also.

DaRuSsIaMaN · 28-12-2006, 09:48 PM

Alright, well in that case, why were people able to download stuff off me in BearShare and Kazaa, even though I did not set up port forwarding?? I definitely remember seeing some uploads.

over7x · 28-12-2006, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaRuSsIaMaN

Alright, well in that case, why were people able to download stuff off me in BearShare and Kazaa, even though I did not set up port forwarding?? I definitely remember seeing some uploads.

I believe thats because BearShare and Kazaa are P2P whereas bit torrents clients are all Upnp.

DaRuSsIaMaN · 29-12-2006, 06:44 AM

Ohh! Yes, they are P2P! So what the hell is the difference lol? I thought it all boils down to the same thing: that routers simply reject everything that was not initiated by the user behind it, therefore rejecting any "random" requests from others to access your computer (and its contents). How does this general principle not apply to P2P?

Impotence · 29-12-2006, 07:11 AM

i don't know for sure, but thats possibly one of the tasks ultra peers do... (not sure if i have got the correct term but hey)

if the client is frequently talking to the ultra peer, then i guess its possible that the ultra peer informs your client that peer X wants the file you have, and then your client connects to them (assuming they have port forwarding set).

Off Topic:

over7x,

Bit Torrent is a Peer2peer network, P2P is just the name for the type of network. Peer-to-peer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upnp stands for Universal Plug and Play, it has nothing to do with bit torrent

although many of the bit torrent clients available do make use of it to configure the routers port forwarding.

DaRuSsIaMaN · 01-06-2007, 08:10 AM

Okay new topic: I have my bittorrent client working now; how do i get torrents themselves? I find a site, right, and download a small .torrent file or something? And then put it into the directory my client recognizes and it will complete the full download? Am I understanding it right?

Impotence · 01-06-2007, 09:31 AM

the best bt trackers/index's that i know are Mininova : The ultimate BitTorrent source! isoHunt - World's largest BitTorrent and P2P search engine Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The worlds largest BitTorrent tracker www.demonoid.com...

if any of thoose send you to advert pages trying to sell you something, i have got the address slightly wrong (i can't check them atm because im at college)

thomas234 · 01-06-2007, 06:54 PM

Also try btjunkie... btjunkie - the largest bittorrent search engine

DaRuSsIaMaN · 01-06-2007, 07:01 PM

Sweet, got 'em bookmarked. And they were all correct addresses, btw =)

This makes me wonder why bittorrent is so popular. Aren't there loads of these torrent sites, all of which might have different content? Then you'd have to visit each and every one to get access to everything, don't you? Wouldn't it be better if there was just one huge site?

Big B · 01-06-2007, 09:06 PM

Opera also accomodates .torrent files...

Impotence · 03-06-2007, 11:29 PM

Look what i found!

Torrent Links

DaRuSsIaMaN · 04-06-2007, 12:19 AM

Oh snap! Haha nice one, dude

28-12-2006, 01:32 AM	#1 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Using BitTorrent I don't understand the concept behind it. Could someone explain to me why I have to forward ports in order to use BitTorrent? With other P2P programs like Kazaa Lite or BearShare, I don't need to mess with port settings at all. The only thing I need to configure during installation is where to dump my downloads and what my connection speed is and some other minor junk. And then it works! Both downloading and uploading. Despite having a router. Now I wanna try Azureus (since AT recommended it in the free software thread and I have absolutely no experience with BitTorrent on my own so I'll just take his word for it), but it's telling me I have to set up port forwarding b4 it will ever work. Why is this? Or, perhaps the real question is, why did I not need to do this on the other P2P programs?? It actually makes more logical sense to me that I would need to go through this process, so why was it so easy on those other programs? What's the difference? Thanks! __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro

28-12-2006, 01:06 AM	#2 (permalink) Top
Impotence May the source be with u! Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 19 Male Posts: 1,878 Times Helpful: 126 My Mood: Stressed Status: Offline My Computer	You don't have to set port forwarding for BT to work, but it works alot better if you do... as without it other peers cant start a connection with you, you have to initiate the connection (and if they don't have port forwarding set, the clients cant connect to each other). If you have Upnp enabled on your router, Azureus will set port forwarding for you. however, nearly every security guide advises you to disable Upnp on your router... __________________ Dear intel,Already Made My Decision Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself. Windows Vista - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware Why Linux is Better!\|Pastafairianism\|Say no to National ID\|Firefox Extensions Guide scientology has been getting alot of attention recently When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. Where are the WMD's that our governments used to justify the war? Last edited by Impotence; 28-12-2006 at 01:09 AM.

28-12-2006, 12:44 PM	#4 (permalink) Top
Addis The King Join Date: Jan 2004 Age: 18 Male Posts: 5,255 Times Helpful: 403 My Mood: Drunk Status: Offline My Computer	Using BitTorrent, other peers can only connect to you if your router allows a connection to a certain port. If a peer tries to connect to you, at your designated port like 30000, and you haven't set up port forwarding in your router then the router will simply block the attempt, it is doing its job. The reason port forwarding is seen as almost essential is that you will basically have a non-existent download speed if you do not upload. With other systems like Kazaa and Limewire, it is not compulsary to upload. The BitTorrent system, although it may seem like a pain at first (its really not hard to set up port forwarding) is a much more stable method of distribution. As more peers join the swarm, assuming that they don't leech and leave, the torrent will become stronger. Port forwarding is just a thing you have to do to allow people to make a connection to your computer, if you run a home web server, or a game server like Ut2k4, Halo etc then you will need to port forward also. __________________ Never trust a program you don't have the source code for. My website \| Powerful Desktop Linux \| Linux for human beings \| Linux for power users \| Linux for ricers

28-12-2006, 09:48 PM	#5 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Alright, well in that case, why were people able to download stuff off me in BearShare and Kazaa, even though I did not set up port forwarding?? I definitely remember seeing some uploads. __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro

29-12-2006, 06:44 AM	#7 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Ohh! Yes, they are P2P! So what the hell is the difference lol? I thought it all boils down to the same thing: that routers simply reject everything that was not initiated by the user behind it, therefore rejecting any "random" requests from others to access your computer (and its contents). How does this general principle not apply to P2P? __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro

29-12-2006, 07:11 AM	#8 (permalink) Top
Impotence May the source be with u! Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 19 Male Posts: 1,878 Times Helpful: 126 My Mood: Stressed Status: Offline My Computer	i don't know for sure, but thats possibly one of the tasks ultra peers do... (not sure if i have got the correct term but hey) if the client is frequently talking to the ultra peer, then i guess its possible that the ultra peer informs your client that peer X wants the file you have, and then your client connects to them (assuming they have port forwarding set). Off Topic: over7x, Bit Torrent is a Peer2peer network, P2P is just the name for the type of network. Peer-to-peer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Upnp stands for Universal Plug and Play, it has nothing to do with bit torrent although many of the bit torrent clients available do make use of it to configure the routers port forwarding. __________________ Dear intel,Already Made My Decision Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself. Windows Vista - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware Why Linux is Better!\|Pastafairianism\|Say no to National ID\|Firefox Extensions Guide scientology has been getting alot of attention recently When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. Where are the WMD's that our governments used to justify the war?

01-06-2007, 08:10 AM	#9 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Okay new topic: I have my bittorrent client working now; how do i get torrents themselves? I find a site, right, and download a small .torrent file or something? And then put it into the directory my client recognizes and it will complete the full download? Am I understanding it right? __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro Last edited by DaRuSsIaMaN; 01-06-2007 at 08:14 AM.

01-06-2007, 09:31 AM	#10 (permalink) Top
Impotence May the source be with u! Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 19 Male Posts: 1,878 Times Helpful: 126 My Mood: Stressed Status: Offline My Computer	the best bt trackers/index's that i know are Mininova : The ultimate BitTorrent source! isoHunt - World's largest BitTorrent and P2P search engine Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The worlds largest BitTorrent tracker www.demonoid.com... if any of thoose send you to advert pages trying to sell you something, i have got the address slightly wrong (i can't check them atm because im at college) __________________ Dear intel,Already Made My Decision Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself. Windows Vista - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware Why Linux is Better!\|Pastafairianism\|Say no to National ID\|Firefox Extensions Guide scientology has been getting alot of attention recently When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. Where are the WMD's that our governments used to justify the war?

01-06-2007, 06:54 PM	#11 (permalink) Top
thomas234 Big Geek Join Date: Feb 2006 Age: 16 Male Posts: 753 Times Helpful: 33 My Mood: Bored Status: Offline My Computer	Also try btjunkie... btjunkie - the largest bittorrent search engine __________________ Nikon D40 + Sigma 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 + Nikon Speedlight SB-600 Nokia N95 & 8gb card

01-06-2007, 07:01 PM	#12 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Sweet, got 'em bookmarked. And they were all correct addresses, btw =) This makes me wonder why bittorrent is so popular. Aren't there loads of these torrent sites, all of which might have different content? Then you'd have to visit each and every one to get access to everything, don't you? Wouldn't it be better if there was just one huge site? __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro

01-06-2007, 09:06 PM	#13 (permalink) Top
Big B HWF Godfather Join Date: Dec 2001 Age: 28 Male Posts: 9,636 Times Helpful: 585 My Mood: Devilish Status: Offline My Computer	Opera also accomodates .torrent files... __________________ Hardware Forums\|HWF Rules\|My DVD's\|PSU FAQ\|HWF Folding Team\|2CPU

03-06-2007, 11:29 PM	#14 (permalink) Top
Impotence May the source be with u! Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 19 Male Posts: 1,878 Times Helpful: 126 My Mood: Stressed Status: Offline My Computer	Look what i found! Torrent Links __________________ Dear intel,Already Made My Decision Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself. Windows Vista - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware Why Linux is Better!\|Pastafairianism\|Say no to National ID\|Firefox Extensions Guide scientology has been getting alot of attention recently When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. Where are the WMD's that our governments used to justify the war?

04-06-2007, 12:19 AM	#15 (permalink) Top
DaRuSsIaMaN Geek Comrade Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 22 Male Posts: 749 Times Helpful: 12 Status: Offline My Computer	Oh snap! Haha nice one, dude __________________ Ignorance is bliss. Oedipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions... "So, got any kids?" - Stephen Colbert My computer is not much to brag about, but I shall do so anyway. AMD 1800+ Athlon XP..............SoundBlaster PCI 512 ASUS A7N8X..........................WD 80GB ATI Radeon 8500....................WinXP Pro

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