DG834 netgear router - advice

[#1]

Can anyone explain in simple terms how to block Peer to Peer networking through a DG834 router?

[#2]

I suspect not easily.. you could block all outbound services and then enable ports one by one until things work that you want.
You could use opendns to block access to the sites in the first place.

[#3]

Hi journeys,
Although actually blocking the use of Peer to Peer might be a little difficult, it might be easier to go into the 'Block Sites' section and you will see another section whoch says "Block Sites Containing these Keywords or Domain Names:" - meaning you could type in there various key words related to peer to peer downloading such as 'Torrents', if you typed that key word in, it would block access to any sites with the keyword which matches that.
I hope that helps

[#4]

Chris, dvorak:- thanks
Had a house guest last week who was 'bit-torrent' downloading, rather hammered my usage, didn't realise at the time. Which also explained why the service was running slow.
If there was a way to disable Peer to Peer would save me a lot of grief. If I block key-words the user gets a black screen with Netgear Blocked in red letters.
If I try and block P2P, it just dosent connect, if I identify all the possible P2P clients, search http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers, then set up a list to block those port numbers could it work?

[#5]

you can change p2p clients to use pretty much any port.
if you block all ports but TCP 21,22,80,110,443 UDP 53 you should be ok, but other apps may use other ports.

[#6]

Blocking the specific ports will help but many P2P clients have a work-around for port blocking by allowing alternate port numbers to be selected.
Have you enabled PlusNet 'surf'? https://portal.plus.net/surf/ may not work (for the same reasons as above) but may help in some cases.
I see dvorak beat me to the reply.
@ dvorak,will UPNP bypass blocked ports?

[#7]

Yes, in theory that should work. Bear in mind that some Bit Torrent programs use a range of port numbers, so as dvorak said, you're better off blocking them all and just opening the ones up that you need.

[#8]

UPnP shouldn't open blocked ports.
The other option you could use if you have a spare / old pc lying around is smoothwall to get all your traffic going through that, possibly easier and more flexible in the long run.

[#9]

@walker23:- thank you, PN surf does seem to be what I want.
Can it just be activated/deactivated by clicking the box? So I could turn it on/off as required
Is there a charge for this service?
I sometimes use Peer-to-Peer for downloading large map images distributed by US government, I'd want to be able to deactivate as required

[#10]

As far as I know it can just be turned on and off, though you may need to disconnect and reconnect your router to start a new 'PPP' session.
There's no charge and it's dead simple.  Just beware that it can be bypassed by choosing non-standard ports in most of the software it's designed to block.

[#11]

I don't think the surf option is that effective, as bittorrent can use any port - it's a simple config change and a lot of clients pick a random port at startup and don't use the usual suspects.

[#12]

Quote from: dvorak

I don't think the surf option is that effective, as bittorrent can use any port

Good point:- But the effectiveness is something I can live with, the point is I can define a 'local policy' by blocking P2P, but allow house guests, to email, surf, game and watch Iplayer.
If they choose to by-pass that policy by using another port, yet continue to use P2P, I can always choose to 'switch off the WiFi'. (my own PC's are hard wired)