Mac Server - Unable to Open Port. Belkin Router

I have a pretty good internet connection and want to get a Bukkit server up and running.

From the wall plug the phone cable goes to my Belkin WiFi VoIP router. My main computer is connected by ethernet cable to the Belkin.

The main computer has Firewall enabled and runs OSX 10.6.8. I have Bukkit server installed and it works fine for local minecraft clients. I allocated 3GB of memory. I am admin.

I have port forwarded correctly port 25565 on the Belkin.

Free online port testers tell me that not only is 25565 closed but *all* ports are closed. Disabling the firewall seems to have no effect. I have of course done cold reboots of the server and my main computer after any system/config changes.

(I should point out that I play World Of Warcraft. It and its loader needs several ports open. I have not had to open these ports on the Belkin but instead just "Accept Incoming Connections" through my Mac Firewall when the Firewall prompts me)​

I do NOT have a static IP but that should not matter at this stage providing that the external accessing client knows the current (and liable to change at some time!) IP address. I make sure of that. (Hey I am not gonna blow good money on a static IP address from my ISP if I can't get a proof of concept happening here!)

My main computer has a static local address. I have altered the Server.Properties file to reflect the current static local and liable-to-change external address. I have also tried not making these changes to Server.Properties.

Any help appreciated here. I am at my wits end. I have viewed many YouTube videos and read many web-pages about port forwarding.

There must be something else in my computer setup that I missed.

(By the way I have an Apple router (Airport) also connected by cable to the Belkin and the Airport is in bridge mode and serves other Apple computers/devices over WiFi. The Belkin serves other devices by WiFi. The local minecraft server is happy serving clients located anywhere on my home network. My main computer is definitely using ethernet to the Belkin and not accidentally using WiFi from either WiFi router)​

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Edit: Dang. I had so many tabs open i didn't realise that the thread got posted to Discussions and not Help... Aw heck. Hoping an admin can move it. Sorry

 

Have fun.

 

Finally a solution. I am not sure what happened here but....

For the gazillionth time (and that's a lot by the way) I went to my Server.Properties file. I noticed that the line "public=true" was missing. I added it and.... voila! Of course passing an open port test from a free Internet service is not exactly a full test of the server for external clients but it sure as hell helps to make things possible.